Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

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.

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.

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. :)

The Fatal1ty USB Headset (also known as HS-1000), which usually is worth for about $30 less, and this newer model, HS-1200, are both gaming headsets made by Creative and endorsed by "professional gamer" Jonathan "Fatal1ty" (if that means anything to you - personally, I can care less about that). They both connect via USB; however, the obvious main difference is that one is wired (HS-1000) and the other is wireless (HS-1200). Is it worth the extra money for the wireless luxury? Well, it all depends on your needs.

Although both headsets have the same frequency response/audio specs (20Hz ~ 20kHz, 40mm Neodymium drivers, Impedance: 32ohm), they do NOT sound the same. It's just like if you were take the same speakers and listen to it in different environments/position (a garage compared to a living room), it will definitely sound different, right? Well, I believe it's mainly because the wired HS-1000 cups are much larger and covers the entire ear, giving a more secluded, dynamic feel -- like being in a theater. However, the HS-1200 ear-cups are much smaller and does not cover the ear entirely -- it's more like the sound is produced directly to the ear; it sounds like actually being out there in the open than sitting in a theater. It does sound more clear (like removing the front covers of the speakers), but then again, it also doesn't have that confined feel of being in a large room/theater. So it all depends what you're looking for. Overall, for music and videos, and considering comfort as well (especially if you're going to be wearing it for a long time), I like the wired, more confined sound of the HS-1000 better. Personally, however, when playing Crysis and Call of Duty 4, I actually prefer the sounds of the HS-1200, as it sounds a little more clear and direct. It's just too bad the HS-1200 isn't as comfortable to wear.

I think the whole point of wireless should be that you don't have to deal with cords AT ALL. Well, you still have to deal with wires with the receiver - not only the USB wire to connect to the computer, but also another wire is coming out of the receiver for charging the headset. It would have been much nicer if the receiver just had a USB sticking out (no cords) or be the size of those laptop mouse receivers (like Logitech's wireless headset's receiver), and simply just include a USB extension cable as an extra.

When the battery is running low on the HS-1200, the headphone will start to beep. Make sure you hold the ON/OFF button for 3-seconds to turn it off after each use.

The headphones worked without installing any software (Plug-and-Play) on Windows XP, but you will need to install the Creative Software if you want to take advantage of the X-Fi Crystalizer and CMSS-3D. It seems like a gimmick feature, but they both actually make it sound better.

Advantages against the two headphones:
HS-1000 (aka Creative Fatal1ty USB Gaming Headset)
- Much better comfort against the HS-1200 - NO QUESTION!
- Sound is more like being in a theater/confined.
- No need to worry about charging.
- Better overall for other uses besides gaming: music and movies.
- Can completely detach the microphone.
- Comes with a bag to put in.

HS-1200
* Wireless
* Sound is more direct and clear/sharper.
* When you swivel the microphone down, it will automatically enable it. (and turn off when you put it up)
* Volume controls are on the right side of the headphones (although it can be annoying to the ear when you press the buttons on the headphones while wearing; like when you crunch on food when wearing earplugs)

For most gamers, when it comes to mouse and keyboard, wired is still the way to go. It's just nice not having to worry about recharging the batteries ever (or the the batteries not holding a charge anymore, for that matter) or any frequency interruption. The wired HS-1000 only has one wire on the left side of the earphone, so it really isn't a big deal to deal with one wire. (whereas the HS-1200 has two wires sticking out of the receiver, even though the headset is wireless.)

Personally, if I were to only keep one between the two, I would stick with the wired HS-1000. However, if you often do a lot of gaming -- granted, you also own a wireless controller or keyboard/mouse -- from your bed or couch late at night (and don't want to disturb others), then the wireless headset can be a nice addition. I still think wired is still the way to go for gaming (keyboard, mouse, headphones).

Although I have been disappointed with Creative Fatal1ity's gaming mouse (Fatal1ty 1010), I have to say Creative knows what they're doing when it comes to sound. I also own a SteelSeries 4H gaming headset and both Creative HS-1000 and HS-1200 sound a lot better. Both headphones have their own advantages and weak points, so it all depends what is important to you the most.

Definitely not a 5-star product, but I give this a 3 1/2 stars.

Pros:
* Clear, direct sound.
* Works with PS3. (you hear the other player's voice and not the in-game sounds)

Cons:
* Headset cannot adjust/turn inward or outward
* Not too comfortable (also because of first con). The cups are very small. I have small ears, yet it feels quite tight even after adjusting.
* Receiver has two wires (kind of defeats the purpose of being all wireless) coming out of it (USB and Charging line)
* Cannot wear the headset around the house. (However, it works fine in the same room).
* I really don't like having to hold on the power button for a few seconds just to turn on/off. This has really annoyed me in the long run. It needs a quick on/off switch.
* Slightly inconvenient having to restart certain applications (or games) if the headphones aren't connected before (no sound). [But I'm sure this is a common problem with any USB audio devices]

This is one of the most amazing electronic gadgets that I have (and trust me, I have a lot). I have a 2500 ft.sq. home and my computer is centrally located in the house so I can literally hear anything through my headset no matter where I am in the house. I am not a gamer but I do listen to a lot of MP3s and the sounds is so crystal clear that you think you're sitting in front of the band. And this great sound is without bass boost or EAX effects enabled.

First of all, I would like to thank all the reviewers of this product. It helped me understand how to set it up and what this product was all about. This headset is very light and comfortable on the ears (much more so than my wired headset).

On my 64-bit Vista operating system I first only installed the driver. I'm one of those people who do not like to put any more on the hard drive then needed. The headset worked fine, but I could not see the real benefit in having it. The next install was on my 32-bit Vista laptop. I decided to install the entire USB headset software. After seeing that it had installed the Creative audio console, the Creative console launcher, and the volume control panel, I then went back to my 64-bit machine and finished installing the rest of the USB headset software. This is the software needed to really take advantage of the headset capability. There are three other software packages on the CD that you can install, and I would recommend when you click on them to install, click on the custom button to see if this is software you really want to install on your hard drive.

After installing the rest of the software on the 64-bit machine, I plugged in the USB transmitter, paired the headphones with the transmitter again, and I was up and running. Not so with the 32-bit system. I had no sound, so I had to go into troubleshooting and try to find the problem. Fortunately, the issue was easy to resolve. Just open up Control Panel, click on Sound, and on the playback tab you highlight the headset, set as default, then click on the recording tab, highlight the headset again, also set as default, then click okay. Close the Control Panel, and you're off and running. Or should I say listening. Didn't have to do any of that on the 64-bit system. It just worked. When I disconnect the USB transmitter on both systems, I'm back using the external speakers (if you don't disconnect the transmitter you won't have sound on the computer's external speakers; I had to figure that out).

To end this review, I will tell you that I am using the headset with the microphone to dictate this review using Dragon Naturally Speaking, and I would say my accuracy without training the mike is probably about 90%. I hope this review has been helpful for you in choosing this headset. I say go for it; the sound is awesome and it's so cool being able to get up and walk around the house!

After opening the box, I couldn't WAIT to try this wireless headset. With the only requirements being Windows XP Service Pack 2, I figured there would be no problems.

I popped the installation CD into my drive, but it only loaded up to 15%. It stated the installation could not complete, and gave me an error of I-001. I tried a second time, and during this attempt it loaded up 41% and gave me the same error message. I also got an additional error message with a DoInstall error code.

Now, I wasn't willing to give up, I figured I'd swing over to Creative's website and get help there. Customer support should be able to help me out, right? Well....when I tried to find this under the Products of the website, it popped right up. However, when I visited the Support section to get troubleshooting help, the headphones weren't listed there. I was taken to my last resort: clicking on "Technical Support" in the "Contact Us" section. I thought I'd at least get a customer service rep or an email option.

Instead, I was given a 500 Internal Server Error and got kicked back to the Support page. The only place I could find to report my issue was under the "Site Feedback" link.

Okay - so at this point, I was ready to put this thing in the trash.

I thought I could at least listen to CD's or something, so I plugged the base unit into the USB port.

Lo and behold, my computer says it found new hardware and was able to install it successfully, without having to use the installation disc AT ALL. That was only an hour of wasted time.

As far as the instructions to pair up the speakers and the base unit, those were spot on - I just held the power button on both for 5 seconds and I was ready to go.

I decided to try out a movie in Windows Media Player and test the range of the headphones. I was able to hear the movie dialogue very clearly while going to another floor of my house, even outside my front door. I noticed the sound gave out around 20 feet away from the base unit. I listened to some CD's and it gave clear sound quality that I knew I could enjoy from anywhere in the room. I tried speaking through the microphone, but there was a steady hissing sound in the background throughout my speech.

I heard a click on the headphones, letting me know about a new email message. I was very impressed to see an email response from Creative - and this was at 11pm, roughly 40 minutes after I first reported my issue! They gave me a website link to try and troubleshoot the issue, and......it gave me a 500 Internal Server Error.

In the end, I had to use Google to find further assistance.

So what's the final verdict?

Well, for sound quality, I give these headphones high marks. The Windows Media and iTunes sounds came through very clear and the volume buttons were easy to find and operate.

However, concerning installation and customer service, Creative was abysmal. It felt like I was blindfolded and put in a dark room with instructions to find a black cat that wasn't there. Though Creative responded quickly to my issue, I was given a dead website link to fix the problem. With the hissing microphone, I'd have to talk quite loudly to be heard.

My main concern is this: We, as consumers, shouldn't have to search around the internet to fix these headphones within 15 minutes of getting them out of the box. They should work from the get-go!

I wouldn't recommend this product - not until the customer service and quality control at Creative improves substantially.

I had no issues with sound quality or drivers or range, but I found the physical construction itself to be quite shoddy. within 6 months, both of the clips that connect the ear pieces to the headband had snapped off.

I didn't travel or do anything out of the ordinary with the headset that might put it under abnormal stress (maybe a couple hours of warcraft raiding 3-4 nights/week and the occasional business conference call from home)

I have been using the Creative HS-1200 Digital Wireless Gaming Headset for several weeks now, and I have generally been very satisfied with their performance.

The headphones are comfortable to wear. Even though there is no noise-cancelling feature, these headphones still do a good job of removing outside noise, because they fit around my ears pretty well.

The battery seems to last a long time, but when the battery does get low, the speakers play an annoying beeping sound, that doesn't go away until you recharge the headphones. Fortunately, however, the headphones can still be used while being charged. They charge through USB, using the same connector that is used for the receiver, which is nice.

My biggest complaint with these headphones is that the range is not very good. The audio signal starts to break up when I go about 20 feet away from the receiver. (Although the signal does travel through walls, which means that the receiver does not have to be in line of sight of the headphones to communicate.) However, this is not much of a problem, since I am normally sitting at my computer or very close by when using these speakers.

Another feature I like is that these headphones have built in volume control buttons on the side, which makes it easy to change the volume. Also, I frequently switch between headphones and external speakers for my computer, and these headphones allow me to make the switch easily, without restarting my computer, which was something I was concerned about since the only connection is through a USB port. I think these headphones are possibly a little expensive, but generally a good value.

This is a fantastic headset. I've been using it for almost a year now, and it works great for me. Originally when I bought it, I had problems getting it to work properly with Windows 7, but they have solved that since then, and it works out of box without any hassle.

The sound quality is great, and the microphone quality is excellent for everything I use it for. I have used the headset for gaming, Skype, recording YouTube videos, and Microsoft's Speech to Text.

I've been able to wear the headset for over 8 hours without having any problems with comfort, but that may not be the case for everybody.

The battery could be a bit longer, as it's not exactly convenient to charge it and use it at the same time. I finally have a system worked out that lets me do this, but the charging cord clearly was never designed to allow this easily.

The best feature about the headset is how it automatically mutes if you pivot the mic up. This allows me to comfortably use this over Skype for work conference calls a couple hours a day, and still have my music on in the background, etc.

Love it! Don't know what I would do without it!

After 9 months this had to be returned to the manufacturer. I went to use the device just like I always do but couldnt for the life of me get this thing to power on and stay on. I tried multiple times to reset the headset using the small hole above one of the earcups.

I called Creative on the phone and I was told I needed to send them back for replacement. I was issued an RMA form via email and did everything according to their instruction. I was told 15 business days for replacement (although thier website says 10 business days).

This was on August 6th, 2010. Today is now September 1st (15th business day) and I am still without a replacement. Currently my receiver is in Malaysia. WTH is it doing there?!

If this headset ever breaks and you have to RMA it, you will be screwed.