Interesting review. I would say the reviewer's comments are purely subjective. I also have the AX Pros on a PC and I have to tell you that my experience was the exact opposite. 1. Sound Quality: I have used tried the turtle beach x4s, astro 41s, logitech G930s, Razer Megalons, Sharkoon xTactic Digital and the AX Pros. I used other systems to work with anything but the trittons as my system is not perfectly compatible with USB / USB-Wireless headphones. They all sound good if connected to the right system and adjusted properly. The astros and sharkoons are closest but of the bunch, the Trittons and Sharkoons have the best sound and surround 'head space' though. Bass and clarity - On a PC and depending on the sound hardware/drivers you can control the equalization on the optical spdif (Creative Labs F4tal1ty drivers don't but the onboard Realtek hd controller drivers do - go figure). This way you can tailor the sound coming out of the cans perfectly. Perhaps the reviewer's use on an XB360 with its lack of tailoring is coming to play here. Bass: Shock bass such as a kick bass or explosion rattles my brain around in my skull. The headsets with single drivers over each ear did not differentiate the bass subtleties nearly as well as those with dedicated sub drivers. Midrange: Regardless of what I use, headphones or speakers, I find I have to ramp down the 500-1k frequency range in an equalizer. I always use my EQs. Highs: All are good at the highs. The trittons and sharkoons can again differentiate a little bit better with the help of the dedicated center drivers. 2. Setup: The setup for the trittons and the sharkoons are the most complex. Why? They are not USB or analog headphones. They are designed first and foremost for use with an optical spdif and require power for the digital decoder/breakout box . They do not have USB for sound input (only for the mic). Hooking these into analog sources is a serious injustice as you then have to go thru AD conversion in the decoder/breakout box. There is always some loss in Analog to Digital conversion/ Optical spdif is the cleanest signal you can send to a digital device. Using optical spdif lets the decoder take the digital Dolby Prologic or DTS from your sound source and spit it up into true discreet 5.1 surround signals. Using Analog only pipes the signal straight from the sound controller thru the AD converter. Converting a signal to/from analog and digital is never a good thing as you lose some of the original signal. Remember too that the source (mp2, game sound) is digital. In the sound card it is converted to analog for the analog outputs. My AX Pros and the Sharkoons came with a single power brick. The brick has 2 connectors: one for the decoder, and one for the headphones themselves. The digital headphones require some savvy in setting them up & tuning them for sure. But once you have that done, you can't beat them with a sledgehammer. 3. Fit and comfort: First off, like most +100$ US headsets, these come with separate ear & head pads for isolation or comfort (the logitechs only come with the pleather isolation pads which ARE uncomfortable after about 20 minutes). The AX pro's 'pleather' isolation pads I find to be a bit stiff, but the microfiber ones to be not bad. Ear cup sizing : I am puzzled about what kind of ears the reviewer has. Vulcan or Donkey? My ears fit inside the can cups with tons of room to spare. And my ears ain't small. I have a mid-large sized head. I can wear these for hours on end without discomfort at all, The headband is adjustable like any other headphones costing more than $15. And yes, the headband is supposed to flex - it is designed to do that. You won't break it that way unless you have had your Wheaties and are intent on doing so. The clamping force on my head feels just snug enough so that I feel the headset won't go flying when I turn my head quickly. Perhaps if an aluminum headband were used the reviewer would be more satisfied regardless of tightness. Cons: There is no such thing as the perfect headset. The AX Pros do have their cons just as any other headset does: Adjustments: The ear cups are fixed to their headband mounts. They do not pivot. While not a problem with me, some like that feature. I personally don't because the joints tend to creak over time. Setup: there are a lot of wires no doubt about it. However there are only 2 wires going to the PC/Console: The optical (or analog) and the USB (or link cable)/ The only other connection is to the power brick. Yes they are powered (gasp!). These headphones do not come with drivers or installable bits. The only real way to get the most of these headphones is to adjust their equalization and driver volumes. Some systems do not allow adjusting the equalization of their optical spdif (i.e. consoles and some PC sound adapters) leaving only the individual speaker volume adjustments to tailor the sound or falling back to the analog connections. This will leave people like the reviewer feeling less satisfied. The fact that these are digital headphones that are primarily designed to use optical inputs does reduce the market for them. I thankfully do not have this problem with them. Wireless vs Wired: There are pros and cons to wireless vs wired headsets. Wireless headsets give you that degree of freedom if you want to wander about while chatting on vent or listening to some tunes. That comes at a price though. While the Logitech G930s sound really great wireless, they do suffer from interference from other wireless devices or even disconnections at irregular intervals. That can be a problem if you are in the middle of a firefight. Wireless will also clip some of the frequencies to the point they will never sound as good as a wired headset. Don't get me wrong, only an audiophile will notice the difference in sound quality from wired vs wireless headphones. When you compare wireless to optical though, the optical wins hands down. Thanks for reading.
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