Testing Methodology
For testing we will be testing only on the PC platform since I feel that it gives better overall sound quality. We will be examining the headsets performance in Music, Movies,and PC games.
Before running these tests, the headphones were properly burned-in, in order to bring out the full characteristics of the sound. This is done in order to allow the speakers in the headphones to burn-in since they often sound different out of the box. This headset was burned-in for 48hrs before testing for the review occured.
Music
Music testing is done with the Siberia V2 Heat Orange headset being driven by the onboard USB sound card attached to the headset. Different music albums were used in order to get a feel for how the set would perform on different music genres. All music was tested at a neutral preset on the sound card in order to show what out of the box performance is like, without catering to a individual music type since very few people only listen to a single type of music.
The first album I used was Aly & Fila – Rising sun which is a Trance/ Techno album. Bass comes in very pronounced, yet is not overwhelming. On the other hand it can become muddy if lots of highs and mids are occuring at the same time. The experience on a whole is good, but it could be a little better with some fine tuning on the equalizer if you mostly listen to trance/techno.
Next up is the Folk album Bring Me your Love by City & Colour. This album is used in order to give a good sense of the mids and highs, as well as some input on the finer details in guitar chords and other sounds. Small fine details come in extremely well throughout this album. However, large heavy sounds tend to mix with small sounds when there is a combination of ranges occuring at the same time. Those instances are few and far between over the course of this album so it does not detract much from the overall listening experience for this type of music.
Next up we pick up the pace of the music and feature the A.F.I. Album, Art of Drowning.If I had to pick something that really stands out throughout this album it is the fact that it can overwhelm these headphones at times. Due to the extremely fast nature, lows , mids and highs can mix and become very messy throughout listening. If you are after a set of headphones to listen to punk/ fast paced rock music these need a ton of tuning with the equalizer in order to have a pleasurable experience.
Finally we took a look at the Rap album K.O.D. by Tech N9ne.Just like the other albums, the problem of sounds mixing was present. Bass came in deep, yet defined but if alot of other sounds occured at the same time the bass would suffer in terms of quality. Other than that, other sounds came in crisp and clear. Mids and highs when individually paired with lows were fine, but when music reached across the whole spectrum things could have been a bit more tidy.
Movies/ Video
Lots of people use their headphones when they watch movies or their favorite TV shows. Testing is done by watching two different series
Life
This BBC/ Discovery channel is a simply stunning series when it comes to visuals and audio. Once again the lack of a proper sound stage strikes again. Sounds do not come off as crisp and airy, rather a muted tone is set throughout the listening experience. I had so much hope for these headphones.
Band of Brothers
This HBO mini-series gives a breathtaking look at a group from the 101st airborne during world war II. Flat is certainly a recurring theme with these headphones. I really wish it were not the case, but it really sounds like these is something in the headphones that muffles the sound and causes it to become flat. Gunshots and explosions come through quite well, but voices and music come through with a lackluster sound. This is likely due to the sound card being tuned for gaming and positional audio because hearing where a bullet came from is quite easy but the clarity on the sound is not the best.
Lets also take a look at gaming on these headphones.
Since these headphones are made for gamers lets see how good this unit actually performs in a few games.
PC Gaming
Lets go ahead and take a look at a couple games with fantastic sound quality.
Battlefield 3
The big land and air battles, the huge maps, the 32 Vs 32 player fights,… This is battlefield and with a good headset this all gets better, you hear footsteps and you hear the direction of the bullets. I would certainly consider the headphones a game-changer in FPS games.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
A big huge immersive world is a great way to describe skyrim, the sound in the game is quite immersive as well. Moving throughout the Skyrim world was a great experience. Sadly like other types of audio, things were flat. In skyrim this diminishes the quality of the experience. Sounds are accurate and positional audio is good, but it certainly could be improved upon.
