Creative Labs HS-1200 Digital Wireless Gaming Headset with Sound Blaster X-Fi Technology (Black)

by Creative

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 3.4 x 8.9 inches ; 5.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001BAWX80
• Item model number: EF0170
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 1, 2008

Product Description

Digital Wireless Gaming Headset HS-1200: Experience the performance of a premium gaming headset¿without the wires. Give yourself the freedom to move around while you enjoy crystal-clear communication with your teammates by using the first fully bi-directional headset designed for full-out gaming. Send and receive in-game sound a voice communication simultaneously, with no interruption, and envelop your ears with superb Sound Blaster X-Fi audio. Powered by Sound Blaster X-Fi: Using SoundBlaster X-Fi gives you the competitive edge. Realistic audio environments enhance your entire gaming experience and accurate surround sound over your headset lets you locate your targets with sound alone. By reducing listening fatigue, Sound Blaster X-Fi keeps your mind sharp and focused -- truly an essential tool in every gamer's arsenal. Take control and start winning with Sound Blaster X-Fi today!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars After further review I'd say they're pretty awesome, August 28, 2008

By 

Jay "jason_j_a" (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Creative Labs HS-1200 Digital Wireless Gaming Headset with Sound Blaster X-Fi Technology (Black) (Personal Computers)

(What's this?)

Disclosure:
- I received this headset as part of the Amazon Vine program.
- I'm using these on Vista 32bit system so your mileage may vary.
- I write Windows drivers for a living, so know my way around Windows and hardware installation.

I have several headsets, most of them acquired in the last couple months to play Team Fortress 2 and listen to music without disturbing others in the house. The first set was a Plantonics analog set that were cheap on ear style but these killed my ears after 20 mins. Next I upgraded to the gigantic Creative Labs Fatality headset which did not hurt my ears but made me feel like a pilot. The cord on the Fatality is heavy and was always in the way.

A wireless headset was just what the doctor ordered. These headphones are compact, just barely covering my ears. They are very similar to the Bose on ear models. The don't surround your ear, but instead sit on them. This can be misleading in the picture as they look like giant over the ear phones, but they are not. Luckily these don't hurt my ears and are nice and light.

The Good:
- The sound quality is fantastic, much better than I was getting out of either headset I mentioned above. Both Music and in game sounds are fantastic. I was really surprised how much better the sound was over my built in sound card.

-Wireless range is way more than I expected, I have to go outside of my house to lose the signal and when I come back in to the house it immediately reconnects with no intervention.

- Mic works fine. I played Team Fortress 2 for a couple hours and according to the people I played with the microphone sounded fine. To confirm this I used Sound Recorder to test; confirming that microphone levels were fine. I don't use Skype or messenger but based on recordings I'd imagine those would sound fantastic.

- The rotate the mic up to mute feature is clever and suits the way I use the headset perfectly.

- Drivers installed fine, I had no issues with pairing and the battery seemed charged out of the box. You will need to know how to adjust the microphone levels in Windows to get things where you want them. This is pretty much the same for every headset.

The Bad:
- While the driver installation was fine, I can't get many of the installed Creative programs to work. The Creative volume control app, the console app, and the console launcher, all refuse to run claiming they can't find a supported device. This is puzzling since the driver for the headphone is clearly installed and working. I can live without these applications (I think) but it's annoying and is really the only thing preventing me from giving my review 5 stars. UPDATE! See below but this is no longer a problem for me.

- The charging cord is attached to the receiver but it's fairly short so you can't stash the receiver behind your monitor or PC becase you're going to need access to it for recharging. I would have preferred a seperate charging station or cable like my Logitech mouse has.

- There's no mic boost in the driver panel.

- The Play button on the headset will pause music playback (which is cool) but when you press it again it does not un-pause the music. You have to use the mouse and open media player and click the play button. Lame!

- There is no support page on Creative's website for this product. This is pretty pathetic. I'm certain this product just needs a few minor software updates to truly shine, but this has always been a problem with Creative and there's no guarantee those updates will ever come.

Other things:
- It's important to note that this is a USB sound card in a headset package. This means if you have a big fancy sound card in your machine then it's replaced and unused. On the plus side, if your machine has cheapo onboard audio then this works in your advantage. Switching between sound devices on your machine will require that you either unplug the USB receiver or manually switch the devices in the Audio/Sound control panel. Creative also allows you to switch playback device in their software.



Wrap up:
- To wrap this up, I'm very happy with the headphones. They sound great, wireless is awesome, but the included software is a mess with no updates in site. I'm not sure if my software issues are Vista only or specific to my setup. I'd easily give this 5 stars if the included applications only functioned properly.




UPDATE!

I'm happy to say that for whatever reason today when I booted my PC, all was well and the extra applications that were giving me problems are now detecting the headphones and work fine. If Amazon would let me, I would change my star rating of these to a 4 now that this issue has gone away.


UPDATE 2

I recently got a Mac with OSX 10.54 and was surprised to see that OSX supports this headset just fine. I just had to select it as my sound output and it just worked. Pretty awesome bonus that I was not expecting.

UPDATE 3
I switched over to Windows 7 (64bit) and these headphones continue to work great. No drivers to mess with, it was built into Windows 7.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love this headset, specially for VoIP and PS3 !!, September 18, 2008

By 

Y. Kim "Zelium" (Champaign, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creative Labs HS-1200 Digital Wireless Gaming Headset with Sound Blaster X-Fi Technology (Black) (Personal Computers)

(What's this?)

Althought this product is named as a gaming headset, I am not a gamer myself, so my review focuses on something other than the gaming experience. The main reason why I chose this product is that I have been looking for a wireless headset that can work best for Skype and music listening. I have been using a bluetooth headset for Skype and had complaints about the sound quality of it. Yes, it works, but not the best. I have tried 4 bluetooth headsets that got the great reviews on Amazon. Sometimes I hear static noises and I cannot use my bluetooth headset to listen to the music. However, this Creative wireless gaming headset is a killer. The sound quality I got from it for Skype and music applications are terrific. Although this headset is bulkier than the bluetooth one, I don't mind wearing it to have better sound quality. An added benefit is that it perfectly blocks any external noise. I even looked up the manual to see if it was a noise cancelling headphone. When I wore it, I do not hear anything. I do not even hear my wife calling me to have dinner. This makes my wife angry several times, though. The build quality of the headset is outstanding and the sound quality of mic is top-notch. The buttons on the headset give me great feeling whenever I press it and it works as expected. By simply raising the mic to the top turns off the mic and I really like that feature. And I do not have any complaints about the wireless coverage, since I use this headset, at the most 15 feet range.

It comes with many helper applications and I love the option that I can choose to install the driver only so that I do not need to fill up my computer with bunch of unnecessary applications. Even with the driver only installation, I do not have any problems using it with Skype, iTunes and many other applications. Additional Creative applications have many features to support the sound effects for the latest games, however, I have not tried those. I installed some mixer applications and it looks cool and makes some nice surrounding effects.

Overall, this wireless headset is great, in terms of the sound quality and convenience. I would give it 5 stars if it was less bulkier. This headset is comfortable, however, I felt little pressure on my ear and might not use it for a few hours.

== Update May 21, 2009

My son happened to connect this headset to a PS3 and it works !! If any PS3 game has a voice chat feature, you can use this headset, wirelessly. My son loves to use it when he plays Call of Duty.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good wireless headset, not too tight, March 26, 2009

By 

Edward Szetela (SLC, UT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creative Labs HS-1200 Digital Wireless Gaming Headset with Sound Blaster X-Fi Technology (Black) (Personal Computers)

Creative has done a nice job with the HS-1200 headset. After a long time waiting, this is almost exactly the product I was hoping for.

The big plus, obviously, is the lack of a cord. Audio quality is excellent, although I don't listen to music on this product and I'm not an audiophile. This product is designed for gaming and it does that just fine. Range and wireless quality are excellent. I can walk 30' to my kitchen to get a snack and there is zero static. This is terribly useful for raiding and other cooperative online activities as it allows you to keep track of things and chat with your friends while not being chained to your desk. Microphone quality and volume has been universally reported as fine.

The product consists of the headset assembly, naturally, and a wireless/charging unit. The charging unit has two cords, roughly two foot long each. One plugs into a USB port for connection and power, and the other is plugged into the headset to charge it. The cords are rather short but long enough to plug into a rear USB port, place the wireless transceiver on the desk, and have enough cord left to wear the headset while charging, if absolutely necessary.

Basic instillation on Vista 64 was effortless. I plugged the transceiver unit in, Vista detected it and installed the driver from its library, and the headset worked. I never even messed with the provided auxiliary programs and have never missed them for gaming or VoIP. Volume up/down on the headset works and Vista shows the volume change on a pop-up volume meter. The phone icon key appears to act as a right mouse click.

Battery life is excellent. An all day session of roughly eight hours did drain the charge. The headset will beep repeatedly to warn of low charge and this is very annoying, however continuing to play in this state won't last long anyway. Leaving the headset plugged in when not in use and keeping to more reasonable playing sessions avoids running out of charge entirely.

I am 6'4", 250 (more or less), and have a head sized to match. I also wear glasses. Thus, most headsets for gaming are painfully tight and headache inducing. The HS-1200 is not totally comfortable in this regard, but it is considerably better than most gaming headsets. The adjustment rails give considerable room and the top band does not press too greatly. After many hours I will get a headache and need a break but I've had much worse products. The microphone boom is long enough to reach around a large head for good reception and stays where it is positioned.

The flip-up microphone boom muting feature is somewhat cumbersome. Moving the microphone to the mute position vibrates the microphone so others on the line will head a rumble when this happens if your game uses voice activation instead of push to talk.

The transceiver unit has a blue LED that is steady on when the headset is on and connected. This LED will blink slowly when the headset is off, and the headset turns itself off after long disuse. The blinking can be annoying. I hide it behind a monitor footrest.

Overall, highly recommended. It took me a while to stop automatically worrying about the position of my headset cord because I've ruined several headsets by rolling over the cord too much with my chair. It was odd to not have that at all anymore. :)