Tritton AX Pro

I just got this headset yesterday and for the most part I feel kind of underwhelmed by them, especially after reading nothing but good reviews. My reason for putting down nearly two hundred bucks for this thing was to get movie theater-quality sound in my bedroom without needing to worry about waking anyone up at night. And thus far, the only game/movie that has met my expectations is Metal Gear Solid 4. All of the explosions, rumbles, and gunshots sounded awesome and the ambient sounds were very immersive. But virtually everything else isn't anywhere near as impressive, I tried out some action scenes in a few movies expecting them to sound epic, and was pretty let down when they only sounded "better" than my TV's built in speakers, even after turning them up to the "red" maximum setting. I then tried out some Call of Duty and was also underwhelmed, the only way I was able to get the game sounding movie-like was to turn it up to a point where I wonder if my hearing is being damaged.

I am in no way an expert on audio/surround sound, and would like some input(preferably from people who also own it) to help me decide whether I should keep the headset or return them. I don't have a strong frame of reference for what is optimal, let alone normal for any kind of surround sound system. So here are some questions:

1. Is it possible to calibrate this thing to sound better?

2. Is it "normal" for there to be a "fissing" sound whenever there is silence(at say a pause menu)?

3. Is it normal for loud sounds to drown out vocals?

4. Are movies usually quieter than games?

5. Is there a high risk of damaging my hearing with this headset? I've noticed on the higher settings, there will be times where the volume is inconsistent, and produce really loud sounds that mildly hurt my ears.

So those are my questions, I don't have much more to say, perhaps I was expecting too much, or maybe expecting the wrong thing altogether.

I just got this headset yesterday and for the most part I feel kind of underwhelmed by them, especially after reading nothing but good reviews. My reason for putting down nearly two hundred bucks for this thing was to get movie theater-quality sound in my bedroom without needing to worry about waking anyone up at night. And thus far, the only game/movie that has met my expectations is Metal Gear Solid 4. All of the explosions, rumbles, and gunshots sounded awesome and the ambient sounds were very immersive. But virtually everything else isn't anywhere near as impressive, I tried out some action scenes in a few movies expecting them to sound epic, and was pretty let down when they only sounded "better" than my TV's built in speakers, even after turning them up to the "red" maximum setting. I then tried out some Call of Duty and was also underwhelmed, the only way I was able to get the game sounding movie-like was to turn it up to a point where I wonder if my hearing is being damaged.

I am in no way an expert on audio/surround sound, and would like some input(preferably from people who also own it) to help me decide whether I should keep the headset or return them. I don't have a strong frame of reference for what is optimal, let alone normal for any kind of surround sound system. So here are some questions:

1. Is it possible to calibrate this thing to sound better?

2. Is it "normal" for there to be a "fissing" sound whenever there is silence(at say a pause menu)?

3. Is it normal for loud sounds to drown out vocals?

4. Are movies usually quieter than games?

5. Is there a high risk of damaging my hearing with this headset? I've noticed on the higher settings, there will be times where the volume is inconsistent, and produce really loud sounds that mildly hurt my ears.

So those are my questions, I don't have much more to say, perhaps I was expecting too much, or maybe expecting the wrong thing altogether.

Lehgavader

1. Read the manual, there are ways to adjust certain properties I'm sure. Not many though.

2. Yes there is noise and it's completely normal.

3. What I do for my AX360s is when I'm using them somewhere besides PC, I have the box at full volume. Then I adjust everything down to nothing. Now turn up each knob to your liking. I usually have it around 2-3 for front and surround, then 3-4 for center. Then the bass/vibration to about 6-7 cause I think it's a pretty cool feature to have.

4. I think its dependent on the movie. there are somethings, like my family guy dvds, american dad, and cavalcade of cartoon comedy do

5. Isn't volume inconsistant on almost...everything? High volume does damage hearing though, and I mean HIGH volume

Thanks for answering my questions, guess I'll just have to fiddle around with it to see if there's a setting I like enough, and if not just return it.

Yeah this headset isn't for everybody I supposed. I on the other hand love my AX360s (Except for music). If you truely want some great SQ, gotta get some audiophile/high-end headphones and a headphone amp.

I ended up returning it, if they had been cheaper I would have kept them, but for how much they cost they just weren't worth it. Aside from MGS4, nothing else sounded spectacular, they just didn't live up to my(possibly unreasonable) expectations. For a marginal improvement in audio quality $200 just wasn't worth it. Although I will give it credit, thanks to those headphones I did experience the best video game sound I've ever heard in MGS4. Its just too bad that COD and the action movies didn't sound equally as good, otherwise I would have kept them, especially with MW2 coming out this next week.

That's sucks man. I love these in L4D and CoD4. Brutal legend was awesome and so was OF:DR. Uncharted 2 sounds sweeeeet :D.

But do check out the headphone suggestion. There are some people on here who could help you pick out some headphones and an amp for them. Also give Turtle Beach a try. Cheaper and probably won't sound as good as the AX Pros but still another solution.