Customer Reviews

E.D.G.E. Acoustics GX400 Enhanced Definition Gaming Earphones - Black

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a FPS gamer for over 10yrs now, hitting all the major consoles and moving into PC gaming about 3yrs ago. I now game only on PCs and have a custom built, very good rig that includes a SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite sound card. Up until recently I used a Logitech headset then moved to an Altec Lansing headset. I figured that a good sound card was all I needed. I thought the headsets sounded great, but now that I have the GX400s, I can tell you that there is NO comparison.

I am in the GRAW 2 division of a clan and play FPS games regularly. As you may or may not now, GRAW 2 was nominated by AIAS for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, so needless to say, the sound is absolutely incredible in the game, and I thought my little dinky headset was just fine. However, during a night of gaming, I was getting destroyed and things got a little out of hand and I slammed my headset down on my desk and broke the heck out of it. So...I needed a new one.

During my time of researching, I happened upon EDGE. A number of top players said they were using EDGE products and recommended I check them out. Never before buying a headset over $50, I was a little apprehensive.

First of all, I wasn't sure how I would like the earphones. I was used to the big, over-the-ear headsets, but they do get quite uncomfortable after a long gaming session. Also, they have boom mics that get in the way of eating...and we all you know how much you eat while you game. Another thing is I couldn't find out where the mic was. I knew it had one, but I didn't know where it was or how good it would sound. Lastly of course was the price, if I was going to spend that much, I needed to know that they would come through for me.

I am now in the second week of owning the GX400s and let me tell you that I am astounded. I know it sounds cliche, but I really do hear things I've never heard before, like people 50ft away crawling slowly on the ground. Keep in mind I'm hearing these things over the sounds of waves, other people's guns, and my clan mates talking on Ventrilo. I can crouch down behind a corner and call out to my team mates and tell them exactly how many people are around me, be it left, right, ahead, behind, even above and below. They are absolutely amazing. My game has improved greatly, I don't feel like I'm just running and gunning and hoping for the best anymore, I feel like I have the upper hand before a gun fight even begins.

To get back to the things I worried about: It did take a couple days to get used to the "plugged" feeling. They create a very good seal in your ear canal, so it is hard to tell how loud you are talking. Also, apparently I move my ears when I smile so when someone cracks a joke, I lose the seal, but that's no biggie, just a quick tap back in fixes that. After hours and hours of gaming, there is no discomfort at all. As for the mic, it's great, nearly everyone on Ventrilo noticed that I sounded better and didn't sound like I was in a bathroom like I did before. The mic is actually located on the left cord leading to the earphone, about 4 or 5 inches down so it hangs down to the left and behind your mouth, which avoids the blowing noise some people have. And as for the price, I feel it was well worth it. These things are worth every penny and I would recommend them to anyone in a heartbeat.

I have been a PC gamer for years, and I worked in the audio/telecommunication industry for more than 10 years. Before I got my hand on the GX400, I have try the following gaming headsets: Sennheiser PC166USB, Shure E4g-Gaming Edition, Logitech Digital Precision PC Gaming Headset, and SteelSeries 5H v2. And let me tell you, all these headsets have no comparisons to the GX400, especially for the acoustic accuracy! Accurate bass response, excellent treble range extension, and perfect acoustic imaging, you can even tell (directionally) where you get shot from (just finished playing 2hrs of "Crysis"). Don't think this is just another gaming headset, use it to listen to music on your PC, then you will find out, how bad your home PC speakers sound! However, I did find out a small issue with this headset, not sure it is good or bad . . . once I put on the GX400 to play games, I can't hear a word from my wife (Perfect noise isolation)! You make the call on that!

Whether you are a serious gamer or just like to enjoy your music, you are going to love these! The audio quality is amazing! I bought them for gaming, and my game improved right away. That alone made them worth getting. As an added bonus, I listened to music with them, and the difference there was unbelievable, as well. You will not really understand until you try them out.

You can hear so much more with these over all of those other so called "gaming headsets". I thought that my $30 Logitech gaming headset was pretty good. Now, I know better. The Edge GX400 headset is worth every penny! I don't know how I was able to get by without them. My gaming scores have greatly improved since I can hear exactly where people are from much further away than before. It gives you a definite edge (no pun intended) on everybody else.

Do you remember how much of an improvement you noticed when you went from using a normal optical mouse to using a laser gaming mouse? Take that times ten and that is what you will experience when using this headset over a normal gaming headset.

At first, I was not sure how comfortable these would be. But, I found out that they are much more comfortable than any other headset I have ever used (and I have gone through a lot of them over the years). They are very lightweight and fit snuggly in your ear without making your ears hurt during a long gaming session. I wear glasses and my old headset (which fully enclosed my ears) would start hurting after a while and would make my ears sweaty. No such problems with these. Also, there is no mike boom to get in your way when you want to take a drink or grab a snack while playing. The mike is built into the wire of the headset and is never in your way.

To sum it all up, you gotta get these. You won't regret it. If you don't get them, then don't complain to me when I pwn you in game because I will! Count on it. They make that much of a difference.

First I must say I was rather underwhelmed by the looks of the ear buds. I have other high end around the ear head phones and in comparison, the ear buds are tiny and make you wonder about the quality. With First impressions aside...

Okay on to the good stuff. These ear buds are simply the best head phones I've ever used in a game or music. EVER. The improvement in FPS and MMORPGs is simply amazing. You know exactly what direction you are getting shot from, about how far away they are, and you can hear them above all the other sounds in the environment. The clarity and level of detail is high and the noise isolation is superb. There is no need to crank up the volume to dangerous levels in an attempt to get that next gaming edge.

On to some of the bad. Because the ear buds go into deep into your ear canal, you will hear every bump, scrape the headphone cord makes. It is a little distracting but mostly unnoticeable considering the high level of immersion these earphones give you. 2nd, the volume adjustment, mic mute on the cord feels a little heavy. There is of course the clip to make sure you don't create to much stress on the ear buds. Just don't get to excited and jump out of your seat as you might damage your ear buds.

I can not tell you how comfortable these ear buds are for me. After hours of playing I'm use to having a little ring in my ears or a slight headache due to my head phones causing pressure on my temples. No such problems with these. The noise cancelation is suprising at times. These headphones do not actively cancel background noise but with the strong seal, seems to do it better.

I highly recommend these headphones. As they are the best headphones I've ever used and for those who are willing to spend a little more for quality will not be let down. With a price drop down to $135, I see no reason not to get these headphones. They may not be have as much name recognition as Razer or Logitech for quality gaming products but these head phones come Eytomic Research, the makers of audiophile headphones for over quite some time.

If you are considering getting other ear buds from Eytomic instead of the GX400, I ask that you reconsider. My wife has the 4 series for her iPod and although the sound quality is still superb, the cabling seems weaker and more likely to break. During an emtional gaming session, your headphones may become another casualty if you are considering the Eytomic Products.

I did a demo on these earbuds back in July 2007 at the San Diego Comic-Con and was a little unsure considering the price. I did finally purchase the higher end model in red from Amazon back in May 2008. After using these against headphones and speakers I must say you can pick up and hear a wide variety of different noises in the games you would not have normally detected. These earbuds seal very well and provide enough bass for gaming. When installed properly in the ear canal you cannot hear any outside noises.
The built in mic works flawless and having the controls to set the volume near the neck area works good. Has excellent cord length. Highly recommended for serious gamers.

After reading much of the rave reviews and doing a bit of research I decided to purchase this item. This headset is referred to as an IEM or "In Ear Monitor" as an audiophile would refer to them as. So what does this mean? It means you stick it in your ear canal so the music is isolated. Despite the perfect five stars everyone else is giving them I will have to disagree as my experiences are a lot different. I have owned this for a few months now and usually don't like making reviews in the first few days but I'd rather wait a while longer so I can uncover all the bad things that may occur while using it.

-CONSTRUCTION-
The construction on this headset is decent, I wouldn't call them fantastic or great by any means but for the price of almost two Benjamins I would expect the cables to be a little bit heavier in construction. The Shure SE530 cables are a lot thicker than the GX400's so if you own a pair of SE530's just imagine half of that cable diameter. I feel they could've done a lot better on the construction of the cables and made them a little thicker because I feel at anytime the cable may snap in half. The cable is pretty long and it's about 10 feet in length which should give you plenty of room to move around while it is plugged in. I wish they would have implemented some kind of cable retracting system for it as it is too long in my opinion.

-COMFORT-
The comfort level of this product is okay for long periods of time but it may be worse or better depending on your ear canal size. This headset comes with 3 different ear pieces/plugs; the large gray one you see in the Amazon.com picture, a medium sized light/sky blue pair, and one-size-fits-all gray/black disposble foamy ear plug type (like the kind you can buy at Lowes or Home Depot). Wearing the large gray ones for a long game session made my ears hurt a lot so I switched to the medium blue ones. After trying the blue ones my ears still hurt so I had to switch to the foamy plugs. I will have to let you know though, although I don't have any medical history of being allergic to latex or any plastics the gray and blue plugs made my ear canals itch like crazy so I had to stop using them. I keep my ears clean and have no cobwebs but the itching was just unbearable that I had to remove them. Another negative thing about the gray and blue plugs are that they get dirty very fast and don't be surprised if they start smelling weird. If you want me to describe what it smells like then I would say ear wax and sweat mixed together. I had to clean mine after every use which is quite annoying so I prefer the foamy plugs better.

-SOUND QUALITY-
So how does the sound compare? Does it live up to the hype? Well I'll say it's not better than my SE530's for Shure or my SRH840's that I just got today (pun intended). Sound quality level I would say they are about as good as my Grado SR-60's but the bass is not as good because it's an IEM. Compared to my V-Moda Vibe Red Roxx it is a lot better. I would say if you're looking for a good audiophile headset you can find something better than the GX400's for a lot less. The only real reason you would want this is if you want an attached microphone with the headset with audiophile sound quality. Since you are required to insert the ear pieces into your ear canal to make a seal, it is like everyone else described in that you will not hear anything else when it is sealed. So if you're getting bad sound quality then it's not making a good seal to isolate the sound.

-REAL WORLD TESTING-
So people have been talking about this Marco Polo Demo thing, what the heck is it? The Marco Polo Demo is a mini-game where you have to locate where the noise is coming from. You do a series of tests and after you have successfully located the sound they test you again masking the sound further with loud engine noises which makes it a whole lot harder to find the next sound in the upcoming test session. I've got to the part where I need to find the "Sneaky Guy" with the GX400's plugged in. Needless to say I gave up after 15 minutes of searching everywhere but hold it right there, I know you're going to start calling me out that I'm using an onboard soundcard and to that I simply say "no!" I am using an HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card which is a lot better than my default sound but wait... here is the real shocker that you will NOT believe. After unsuccessfully unable to find the "Sneaky Guy" after many attempts I decided hmmm... maybe it's not me and it's the GX400 headset. So I restarted the demo with my Grado SR-60's hooked up and started back on finding the "Sneaky Guy" with all the sounds masking him. Lo and behold, eureka! I have found the "Sneaky Guy" in record time with the Grado SR-60's. It took me less than two minutes to find him, I took about a minute and a half to find him which was quite surprising. I was quite surprised myself when I found out that my Grado SR-60's had led me to find him in record time.

Here is some more real world testing I want to talk about. I tested the GX400's in many popular Source games such as Counter Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2 etc... and they didn't do much better than any of the other headsets I owned. The guy raving about how awesome it was on GRAW 2 must be an isolated incident. The company may have spent extra resources in making the sound realistic if he could hear people's footsteps and gun fire and pin point their direction. Most games these days will not spend the extra resources to do this so these headphones are going to be definitely a hit or a miss. The only time I got excellent results was when the GX400's picked up C4 plants on my tank while I was playing Battlefield Bad Company 2. I was able to hop out of the tank and kill the guy who planted the C4's before he got away and this happened many times. While I can attest that they are great in certain games, in some situations they just really didn't do much better than my Grado SR-60's because the developers didn't bother to do anything extra with the sound such as EAX or 128 channels which is proprietary to Creative and limited to only certain games.

-MICROPHONE QUALITY-
I used the microphone a few times and asked my friends and the people who I were playing with how the microphone sounded. They said it sounded good and fine to them so there seems to be no problem with microphone quality. But when I test myself in Audacity, Windows Sound Recorder, and Cakewalk Sonar the sound was okay. It's not anything to sing about but it was good enough that there wasn't any static or bad communications. But if you want a microphone to sing on then this one isn't it because the only thing you'll be singing is the blues.


_____PRO's______
Overall, great sound quality
Cable is very long
Microphone quality is decent
Provided different size ear pieces to accomodate for sizes

_____CON's______
Price tag
Ear pieces can cause your ears to be itchy
Ear pieces need to be cleaned periodically after use
If you're forced to use the foamy ear piece then you will constantly have to purchase new ones
Cable is very thin and the quality and longevity of them are in question

----???CONCLUSION???----
With the price tag of about two Benjamins you might be thinking "could I do better than this?" And to that I say absolutely "YES!" You can do much better than this headset and there are lot of better headsets being offered on the table. There is very little reason that anyone would want to buy this. If you absolutely must have an IEM set with a microphone and audiophile grade sound then this is the one to buy but other than that I don't see any reason anyone else would want to buy this. Contrary to belief, buying this will not make you a "Ninja Master Assassin Killing Machine" in every FPS you play as others would like you to believe to be true. On another note, when I received this the original box that the headset was in was quite a bit dusty. I suspect no one has been buying these and Amazon had it on the shelf or in the warehouse so long it started gathering dust which is kind of sad. But now I see why many people may not want to purchase them. As for the GX400's I use them less than any other headset I own and sometimes I even forget that I own them.

****EXTRA INFO****
These are minor annoyances that you may or may not hate but when using the set with the foamy ear pieces it gets quite annoying to insert them back in when you took them out. Sometimes I may take them out because I have a phone call or a family member is talking to me. Other times family members may be angry because they've been banging on the front door for the past 10-15 minutes and you couldn't hear them and they don't have the key to the house. Before you use seal them in, make sure you notify your wife or whoever that you won't be able to hear them. It's a minor inconvenience but you'll just have to live with waiting for the foam plugs to create a seal again. So you might not like these if you frequently take them in and out a lot.

This is perhaps one of the only reviews Ive ever written. But i'm so impressed with these gaming earphones. The only word that comes to mind when i put these on is "WOW". I'm a FPS gamer and for me, as any serious gamer. Im looking for a non cheat edge in my online game play. For me and my clan we don't use use cheats or hacks. But since Ive had these I have to laugh sometimes. Because im sure when the people i "own" must wonder how and the heck did he know I was there. Actually I was thinking about changing my clan name to Batman because these are like literally using an echo location device to spot where my opponent is. Before I got these a week ago I was using the raser headset with the 3 speakers in the ears. Having talked to a friend who's more advanced in the audio arena. He mentioned the ear processes in stereo and not surround. So I began to think perhaps these 3 speaker phones where more of a marketing gimmick. But not having anything to compare it too. At the time I thought these raser phones where the best available. And perhaps they where but i did not get any detail or accuracy I was lookin for. Maybe that because they didn't exist at the time. But that has radically changed since the GX 400 arrived lat week. Let me tell you about my first wow experience in game play. There is a map on this multi-player online game that has alot of objects such as trees, wreckage, bushes to hide behind plus 26-32 people firing all kinds of various guns. I remember as I was running with my gun out of spawn, I happen to hear this sound of someone barely moving on the ground about 35feet away from me. Normally this was a spot I wouldn't think someone would camp. But as i ran past this spot not only did I hear this sniper hiding under this wreckage. But i was able to accurately discern where this "sneaky guy" was camping out precisely, as I was running full throttle. To be more exact in my own description I could tell he was at about 4 o'clock behind me. And as I turned around there was a .50 cal gun pointed at me ready to fire. Well my fast reaction time allowed me to "own" him before he got me. And in the meantime I was able to hear this above all the other mahem such as nades, gunfire, wind, and my own footsteps. To me this is exactly what I was looking for. I can go on and on about many other times with guys hiding in buildings etc. So for me my game strategy has actually changed and has become more fun now. When i come to a corner now I stop and listen because if someone is there i can sneak up and shoot them. Whereas before it was 50% gamble now its like 90% of the time im winning in these scenarios. Im sure with more practice ill get up to 98% since im still developing my new skill in the art of listening. One thing i found really valuable in the box is a CD called Marclo Polo. It is some software program much like an FPS game in the sense of buildings and places u can walk and run too but with no gun to fire. This program actually teaches and trains your ears on how to better locate sounds!! Talk about a much neglected aspect in gaming. As an example there is this one stage where you have to find this guy called sneaky guy. You are in the middle of this map and there is a loud constant sound of a motor or machinery of some sort to mask this sound. Well it tells you to listen for sneaky guy. And the sound is a very very slight sound of someone walking or crawling somewhere on this map. So as this level starts I turn 360 degrees and listen for sneaky guy. And when i get the general direction "sneaky guy" run towards him not knowing of course where he is just like marco polo. And sometimes its really hard, but when i get closer the sound gets louder and then I find sneaky guy. I completed my task which is timed. So for me I really felt this was a valuable tool to help me fine tune my skills. The one thing I would like to see them do, is make this the full version. As this only comes with the demo version. And actually expand on this concept even more in future realeases (fingers crossed). I must say when I saw the box arrive at my house from Amazon. I was very excited to see what these look like. I didn't know what to expect but when I saw the box it was very small. I was like mmmmmmmm thats all i get LOL. But I said to myself dont judge a book by its cover. Well let me tell you these things are compact. I guess I was used to the big phones w/ the big box concept. But that has totally changed now. I can actually eat and drink and move my head unencumbered as I play. Actually i can pull one phone out and take a phone call while playing online. Another thing that was interesting but impressive was that fact there is a tool that it comes with to change out the filters. As far as the sound these phones are beautifully bright and not muddy like my other phones. Its true if you want accuracy then you must have detail. And youll get that with these. I played some music with these phones and was so enveloped in the sound. I heard things I never heard before, actually the singers voice sounds wonderfully different. So even though i got these for gaming the music is awesome. I don't know how they compare to these $1000 dollar sennheisers in music. But for gaming these thing will actually give you such imagery. You cant but help get more into the game as if your there in this digital gaming matrix. I can remember when i stood on a ridge and the ocean sound and the wind actually whirled around my face and ears. I could almost feel it was surreal. Anyways I'm hesitating the put my clan name and game on here for obvious reasons ;) But ill say this if you ever play this online game and cant figure how in the heck this one player owned U. Well.... You ll know its me :)
Cheers
O

I have owned two pairs of Etymotic isolation earphones and they do have some of the best sound I have ever heard. However, both pairs broke and both just after the warrenty was up and neither lasted more than 1.5 years. This is due to their small size and plastic construction. I did not abuse them or throw them around. I kept both pairs in their protective cases. One pair had a wire go bad and the other ER4-P had one of the earpeices actually break off. Just beware to take extra special care of the headphones and do not leave them lying around and don't put them anywhere they are not protected as these look to have similar design to other Etymotic earphones. They even have the same tips as the headphones I had. Great isolation. Great sound. Questionable durability in my experience.

I bought these earphones with the following in mind:
1. Are they comfortable?
+Yes, in fact I played Bioshock with these for six hours straight and had no problems whatsoever. I removed the original gray plugs and put on the blue ones (which are smaller) that came in the box and they fit perfectly.

2. Will they cancel outside noise?
+I'm coming from an old pair of Koss TD 80's. Those don't block sound at all (of course they were never designed to anyway). Imagine putting in earplugs. It's the same thing. They definitely block out a lot of noise. When I'm in a game or watching a video I don't hear my roommate at all on his computer.

3. Will I disturb anyone else while listening to music/movie/game?
+Obviously not. And if you do you need your ears checked.

4. Is the microphone decent?
+I haven't really used it yet. If someone walks into the room and wants to talk to my I use the switch and turn on the microphone (I have it set so I hear whatever goes into the microphone) and it sounds plenty clear for Ventrilo.

Other thoughts:
+The cord is very long, allowing me to move a good perhaps 10 feet away from my computer to grab something.
+They save space.
-These are quite expensive. I'm sure you could play just as well with a cheap pair of headphones.
-Make sure your ears are clean before using them. Also, if you use them for extended periods of time, clean them after use.
-You can't really take them out and put them back in in a hurry. You need to make sure you're not going to be interrupted anytime soon when you put these in.
-How often do you have friends over and say something like, "listen to this" ? You don't want that...
-With this money you could get a nice pair of around the ear headphones. I dunno how good those are but how many gamers do you see with just earphones?

A good product. Though I may be biased because they costs quite a lot and I'm fooled into thinking they're awesome.

I like 'em.

Construction is better than most earbuds and headsets I have used. Volume and mute controls are easy to access, cord length is good, and the wire clip is durable and in a good location. Only issue I have with them is none of the changeable ear tips fit MY ears just right (my wife has no problem with them) and they are uncomfortable after more than 1 or 2 hours of use, the only reason I don't give it 5 stars. The sound quality is excellent (when the ear tips are inserted correctly) and voice pick up is excellent. If these last for more than 1 year I say they are worth the money (my wife has had a set for 6 months now and they still work fine).

One other note, I tried the volume and mic connections on the front of my case and had static/interference with the sound and voice quality. I moved the connections to the back and it cleared up.