Customer Reviews

Creative Labs 51EF0180AA001 Sound Blaster Arena Surround USB Gaming Headset

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

At the current price, you absolutely cannot go wrong with this headset. I admit, this headset is my husband's as I currently use Logitech G35 7.1-Channel Surround Sound Headset which I had received a few months prior. Due to the constant jealous glares and pouty faces I endured while my husband gamed without a quality headset, I decided it was time for him to have his own! I have tested it quite thoroughly and compared it with it's much more expensive counterpart and I have good news. The Sound Blaster Arena headset is almost as awesome as my aforementioned Logitech headset and it's currently half the price.

We game online a lot and so the mic is a necessity. After lots of surprise tests with both headsets, my friends and guildmates could not tell a difference when I was using either of the headsets. My voice was heard loud and clear on both and I had no complaints. The silencing feature present on both headsets is also very important to game immersion and I will admit, I didn't feel quite as immersed with the Sound Blaster Arena. The ear cups fit my head perfectly and very comfortably, but for some reason I could hear more background noise with this headset on than with my Logitech headset. The difference was minor and I don't think one would notice if they weren't directly comparing the two.

One thing this headset lacks are the extra "G" buttons that the Logitech headset has on the left side. I have never used these buttons so it's not really a loss, in my opinion. I do believe they control the voice changer (which is good for a few laughs and then your friends will tire of it quickly!) and can also be customized to other tasks as well, such as controlling your media player. Handy, but again, I don't use them so I can't really fault this headset for not having them.

Volume control is handled differently on both. The Sound Blaster Arena has a small piece of plastic right on the cord itself where you adjust the volume. It works fine, but I do prefer my volume control on my Logitech where it is right on the headset. I like to tuck the cord out of the way and with this headset you kind of have to have it present in your lap at all times. Not really a drawback, but I do kind of tend to think the volume control on this headset will wear out more quickly.

The Sound Blaster Arena headset also lacks the heavy duty braided cord. One thing I don't like about that, aside from it lacking some durability, is on these cold winter nights when we're gaming, I get cold and like to keep a blanket on my lap. When this cord rubs against that blanket, I get shocks sent straight to my EARS! Ouch! But if you're careful and don't like blankets, you won't really miss the braided cord of the Logitech headset.

Overall, both are very similar and if you're simply going for sound quality without all the fancy extras, you will not be disappointed with this great headset. If you're willing to pay $50 more for above mentioned features, then Logitech won't let you down. At this current price, however, this awesome headset is a steal. Very comfortable, durable and lightweight. And has one very unique feature that causes me to often steal these from my husband: The mic is removable and can be used as normal headphones. Awesome since we don't have any quality headsets just for listening to music. Every gamer and music lover should have these!

I also have the Logitech G35 headset so this will be a comparison between the two.

The Arena headset is nicely made, though not as heavily over-engineered as the G35 in my opinion. The Arena have the advantage of lighter weight and probably more comfort for most people.

The mic boom on the Arena is springy and you really can't control the distance between the mic and your mouth as a result.

On Ventrilo, people reports that I sounded better on the Arena than on the G35, so on outgoing sound quality the Arena wins. I didn't notice a significant difference on received sound quality on either when using them for gaming.

I tried the Arena on two computers, and had some issues with Ventrilo on each, once with incoming and once with outgoing voice. In each case the sound would break up and become distorted and unintelligible. I did not have this problem with the G35. I was unable to isolate the cause of the problem so I can't say for sure that the Arena headset was at fault.

The Arena headset is relatively light weight, quite comfortable, and definitely in the premium headset category. It does not quite feel as serious as the G35 with their fabric wrapped cord and additional bulk, but many people will probably prefer the light weight of the Arena.

PC FPS gamer here. I've used a variety of actual surround sound headsets with mixed results. Some of them sound terrible, some of them break within a month, some of them are great and I can literally hear people's footsteps through the walls and shoot 'em (HEHEHE...) Some were so spectacular, that I'd find myself taking the headset off to react to a sound I heard in my room, only to realize it came from the game. So I know a thing or two about surround-sound headsets from the consumer's end.

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The good news:

Flexible yet tough. RIDICULOUSLY comfortable, seriously, all headsets should be this nice. The mic works beautifully. The sound sounded nice to me (remember, I'm a gamer, not an audio artist). The price seemed okay, it was easy to set up, the mic is removable (yet not prone to droop), and it doesn't suffer from "stupidly-short-cord"syndrome. It would be the best headset I ever used if it weren't for...

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The bad news:

This product was flaunted off as a surround-sound headset. This is NOT a surround-sound headset, this is a STEREO headset with "engulfing" sound. At first, you'd swear it WAS surround sound, but once you go into a 3d environment, it becomes apparent that it is simply stereo.. So it was not quuiiite as advertised. Is that illegal? No. It IS... ear-surrounding sound... But there was definitely some misrepresentation here. While it is my fault for not researching thoroughly enough into other customers reviews... that doesn't mean I'm cool with getting tricked...

If it was a surround sound headset, this product would have gotten a happy 5/5.

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I don't think I'd recommend this even if you ARE looking for stereo. The price would have been steal if it was an actual 5.1 SS or 7.1 SS headset. But STEREO? You don't need to spend 80 dollars on a set of stereo headphones... 20 to 40 dollars will get you a nice, comfortable headset.

Introduction and Backstory:

It's been a while since I've done a review but with my most recent purchase, I like them too much to keep the enthusiasm inside myself no longer. As many know from my last review [...], my laptop setup consisted of sound wise was my Sound Blaster 5.1 Surround USB External Soundcard and Razer Barracuda HP-1 5.1 Gaming Headset. Now don't get me wrong, the speakers on my G71GX-RX05 are pretty alright, especially if I want to listen to some shoutcast radio within the house while I chill writing or doing chores. It's gaming that I have a high standard for in regards to audio.
First things first though, some back story - it will be a bit long winded but it'll hit the review process sooner than you think.

Unlike alot of people, I'm optimistically positive of Creative. Yes, they have somewhat lost their touch over the years since the Audigy days we all remember. Even I had a hard time finding the right [vista] drivers for my [old/removed] desktop's Creative Xtreme Gamer X-Fi sound card. The one thing though once I did find the right drivers was fall in love with EAX and the X-Fi's sound itself(Alchemy is ESPECIALLY Helpful with my older games). I love how certain games just make the X-FI sound good, especially with EAX (like Doom 3, etc.) Because of this though, I can't suffice with onboard sound anymore, games sound lacking to me without EAX or X-Fi sound. So once I got my new laptop, I immediately grabbed the X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB External Soundcard and then I fell in love with my games sound all over again.

This may come as a shock but my G71GX-RX05 travels with me alot, unlike what people think I find the laptop to be very portable and not that heavy at all (I do go to the gym alot though). So I can't be hunkered down to my desk with speakers, it's one of the main reason why I grabbed a laptop in the first place, to lose the shackles to the desk and one room. So with the External sound card I grabbed the Razer Barracuda HP-1 5.1 Headphones... yeah I know what you're thinking but these headphones were a bit different than others I've tried. They really had three different drivers (Sides, Rear, and fronts) and sub that convinced me pretty well where things were at and bumped as well. I was happy with it so don't judge :P! I was pretty happy with the sound setup until...

We fast forward to today...

With me transporting my laptop nearly everywhere I went with my Targus backpack, it was a pain to plug in my external sound card and headphones due to how much wire they provided, too much in fact that I often just had a bundle mess of wire always. The headphones were getting a bit subjective as well as I had to always be adjusting the drivers individually all the time (yes, it had a external controller for that). I was sick of the mess and clutter and reminded me too much of my desktop days with speakers. I just wanted some good sound without the problems I was currently having. I almost reverted to using the onboard sound of the laptop and just buying some good stereo headphones but reminded myself alot of what I would be missing (EAX, X-FI, Alchemy, etc.) so I held unto my current setup.

That's until Creative decided to answer my prayers... they popped out the Creative Sound Blaster Arena Headset. The day I saw them, I knew - I wanted them, so I waited until I saw a good price (found mine for $50 during the Holiday rush) and grabbed them.


Design:

I do realize that these headset absolutely don't match my laptop but I actually like the white ! Now these do come in Three flavors and the differences are very minor (besides price):

Arena (White & Black- not Soundcard dependent),
Complexity (White and Red - not Soundcard dependent),
And Fatal1ty MKII (Black & Red- Somewhat Soundcard dependent for Silencer)

Besides the different color schemes , all three have the same design wise, each with two plush leather (non replaceable) cups with a detachable boom mic on the left side. The plush leather material is also used for the top of the head rest, but in my opinion is used at a bare minimum compared to the headphone's cups. Which is a bit disappointing as it means you could get some discomfort within a few hours of use if you have the headrest clamped a bit close to your head. Good thing the headset is adjustable on both sides as you can raise the headrest a bit from your head and for those with bigger heads, it's a bit of a good thing.

To go deeper about the cups of this headset, they are movable by the way by about 130 degrees, so it tries to conform to your head pretty well. It also means that it can also come in handy for easy packing and travel as it can lay flat unlike other headphones which stand straight up on their sides. The plush leather on the cups are very comfortable but due to personal preference, I'm not a fan of leather on headphones/headsets. They produce higher heat and sweating can happen, making the leather a bit sticky/nasty. I kinda wonder why they didn't use velor-type material, as it's more comfortable and breathable than leather. The pads are still comfortable mind you and I'll still use the headset but be ready to clean the cups from time to time.

Now the boom of the mic is pretty cool as it's not only detachable but very flexible. Now detaching is pretty easy but alot of people might have a hard time attaching the mic back as there is only ONE way to do so. You have to attach it into the hole while the portion in which you would talk into has to be point straight UP in the air (like towards the ceiling). I've read a couple reviews already of people not being able to attach it from the side or downward but reason - there's only one way to attach it and I already explained how. Anyway, the mic is very flexible and can be totally away from your face if you want but it reads best with being a bit close to your face. The mic can rotate about 180 degrees so that's also a plus.

I will come out with it as well that the headset does look a bit cheap with all the plastic around the headrest and cups but with the leather plush cups (and headrest), metal adjusters, and pretty much other pluses I mentioned above salvages that "cheap" idea quickly. I can understand that all the plastic was meant to make the headset be/feel alot lighter which it does. So thumbs up for that Creative, it's a very well rounded, well made, and lightweight design!


Software and Drivers:

Well, due to it being a usb Headset, it's surprisingly plug and play ready. With that, no drivers are really needed for it to work immediately which is nice, literally runs off your onboard sound. Onboard sound sucks IMO, so what's the point anyway. So in goes the installation cd that is provided with the headset, pretty much holds your hand through the whole installation process too - very user friendly for beginners in the ordeal. It does have Vista 64bit drivers by the way for those who were wondering, not too sure about windows 7 but forums have reported that it is working on Windows 7 (I won't take the jump until I hear that Steam and a few other programs fix their kinks to the change over).

Due to its already plug and play workmanship, if you wish to use your onboard sound and/or laptop speakers, just unplug the usb cord from the slot. Within a few seconds your onboard sound/speakers will kick in like you never even installed the headset (like regular 3.5mm headphones), nice! I do sometimes to listen to my shoutcast radio around my home while I chill writing or doing chores. It also works vice versa as well, plugging in the headset will disable your onboard sound and speakers and revert to your Soundblaster drivers. Some configuration may be needed on your part though, like for me I had to disable my optical out and HDMI out for some reason for the switching to work properly. It all varies and might be different for each owner, it does work rather well all in all.

The software that get's installed that is a bit important is... of course the driver but I was talking about the Creative Entertainment Console. Now you can't change the Speaker configuration [headphones] obviously but what is important here is the Bass Settings, which don't sound too good out of the box. Thanks to CNET Australia reviewing these headphones before me, I was able to find a great sweet spot in regards to Bass on the Arena Headset with the settings at 6dB gain and the cut-off frequency at 30Hz.
Once with those setting , the bass on the Arena can beat pretty hard, just don't go too loud on the volume or you'll distort a bit. Now the volume can be adjusted through the Entertainment Console or general volume icon on thee startbar but you can also change the volume through the attached Volume controller (forgot to mention on the Design portion of the review) along with muting the mic or turning it on. Volume on the Arena is pretty excellent as I never have to go above 10, so this can get extremely loud and blow your ear drums out as it can go up to 100.

Now I personally don't have EAX selected in the Entertainment Console as it becomes too echo like for my taste but it kinda is automatically used (no matter if the setting is off or on) in games that use EAX, so enabling it in the Entertainment Console is kinda pointless. Now the X-Fi Crystalizer is pretty well done and supposedly it makes your audio a bit crisper and clearer, to me it sound like it makes certain instruments louder, so I leave it at the Maximum setting. Personally though, I don't bother listening to my favorite mp3's on my laptop, I have a Cowon S9 mp3 player that has the Best Sound quality you can buy with BBE+ 3.0, which sounds better than anything IMO.

Back to the headset though, Personal preference goes out to how you the user wants to have the Equalizer and Mixer set at, I pretty much left those alone. Now the one cool setting is Microphone. As stated on the box, it includes the Silencer Feature. It blocks out/ muffles outside sound in order for you to talk to your team mates or friends clearly. Now don't knock me too much but I'm not much of a online gamer on PC but user reviews say the Silencer Feature works pretty well. Hats off for that, the online community will be glad you have it as well. Now you also have a VoiceFX feature for your Microphone which can make your voice sound like various people like an Alien, to a demon, to even a Robot (heck they even have a male to female setting). It's pretty funny and fun to jerk your friends around with.


Performance:

Looks like we are now down to the nitty gritty of what this review is more about and the headset is meant for, GAMES! Now the X-Fi CMSS-3D of the Entertain Console was meant to be enable for, you guessed it, games! X-Fi CMSS-3D does what you think it should do, create a 3D like surround sound that you can't believe your headphones are producing. It's quite outstanding and jaw dropping when it comes to games. The games that I think utilize surround sound well for example are Condemned, F.E.A.R, Quake 4, Doom 3, and Wolfenstein (all used for my test/review) - all shooters, I know but pinpoint sound is really a godsend!

First games I tried were made by the same people, Monolith Production's F.E.A.R and Condemned. Both excellent scare fest first person shooters, that require a keen ear to bums who are either sneaking up on you or needing to find where the next soldier is screaming at. I will start with saying that the ambiance in both games is unbelievable! I could swear up and down all the time that I could hear stuff right outside my the headset, and you probably wouldn't believe me. Seagulls screeching off in the distance, telephones with the answering lady repeating herself from afar, stuff like that sounds like they're not even near you or near the cups of the headset. What you do hear "inside" the headset helps a whole lot, pinpointing where your bullets need to fly at. The CMSS-3D works so well, I can literally hear in between the left and right channels and literally behind me of where I need to shoot. It feels as though you have your very own cheat key and the games got easier as you can tell by the footsteps where your enemies are coming from and where they are headed, it's something I expect from a 5.1 sound system not from a headset!

Next games I tried were from the good guys from ID Software (technically), Doom 3, Quake 4, Wolfenstein (2009). Doom 3 was like a benchmark back a few years ago in various areas, whether graphics, sound, and gameplay (felt more like a giant tech demo but that might be just me). What it did pretty good was knowing the right moment to pop out the enemies when you least expect them, like those Imps right behind ya. The Arena pinpoints where they are at rather well now though, so even though it wasn't that scary then - it's not much even moreso due to this headset (I recommend setting the ingame sound to surround instead of stereo to widen the surround field) . The EAX in Doom 3 though is not to my liking though, a bit OVERsaturated so expect lots of engine noise constantly [from the machines in the game]. Quake 4 on the other hand has been perfected by the Arena headset! Let me explain, my Surround 5.1 external sound card, no matter what driver, had the OpenAL in Quake 4 broken. Popping sound in and out like you were jumping in and out of a pool, this even happen on my desktop's Xtreme Gamer sound card - which is strange that OpenAL works fine on the Arena Headset. The EAX, Ambiance, and pinpoint sound accuracy is really well done in Quake 4 in combination with the Arena Headset, so now I can finally enjoy Quake 4 like it should be (so be sure to go into Quake 4's Advanced Audio settings and change it to OpenAL). The 2009 Wolfenstein is on the same level as Quake 4 in sounding pretty great but be sure to switch to 5.1 in the ingame sound settings.

Pretty much, if the game has some in game sound settings, despite you using the headset, switch to 5.1 sound if you are able to get a broader sound stage and better results with CMSS-3D!


Final Thoughts:

Looks like we are nearing the end of the review but let's drop a few things left not mentioned in the review so far.

The last nitpicks I have might just be due to personal preference than being problems themselves. As mentioned above, CMSS-3D is pretty awesome but the same can't be said if enabled while listening to music. For some odd reason your songs will sound a bit brighter and the bass will be a bit subdued which I particularly don't like (but as mentioned before I listen to my songs on my MP3 player anyway.)
Some people may like it but I believe a few people will agree with me that CMSS-3D is meant for games.
Also, be sure not to lose the CD for the Arena Headset, because Creative has not bothered to pop some drivers on their website at all for the Arena. So if you lose the cd and want to install the drivers, you could be out of luck for a long while.

Now For those who were wondering, the cord is about 8ft long but I keep mine wrapped up a bit with some Velcro, laptop owners don't need that much cord. There is also talk of due to the usb port being used for audio, it strains the cpu a bit but in my tests it is so minuscule you don't notice the frames that are dropped (maybe 2 or 5 frames in your games, that's all). Nothing to cry over.

Other than that, the audio is great , crisp and clear and the surround is pretty convincing. Besides a few things I kinda cried about, the Creative Sound Blaster Arena Headset is worth every penny I spent on it. My games have gotten much better to listen to and play, there's less mess/cords for me to deal with, and overall is one of the best products I've seen... I mean heard from Creative in a long time. Hopefully this is going to be a trend for Creative from now but at least they brought a smile to my face. I hope this review was helpful to anyone who may become future purchasers and for those who were wondering about this new headset from Creative.
Until the next review!

Pros:
+ Fantastic Sound
+ Impressively Convincing Surround
+ CMSS-3D is a MUST for games!
+ Comfortable leather Plush Cups
+ Very lightweight design
+ Travel ready
+ Easy Installation
+ Plug and Play
+ Able to switch from headset to onboard sound conveniently
+ Generous 8 Foot cord
+ Volume controller easily accessible on the cord
+ Microphone software is pretty cool, Silencer works along with VoiceFX
+ Nice Color Scheme
+ Great Volume
+ Mixer and EQ very configurable
+ Headrest very adjustable for any sized head
+ Cups comfortably conform to head

Cons:
- Could use a bit more padding for the headrest
- Would have preferred Velor padding for the cups
- Cheap look plastic design may turn some people off
- CMSS-3D not so good for music IMO
- Don't lose the CD, Creative has not bothered to put the drivers on their website
- May be too much cord for some people
- Uses a bit of CPU but not too much to even be concerned about

Side note: Didn't use Source/Valve/Steam games due to the fact EVERYONE does for these type of reviews and I thought I'd think outside of the box. Also, no DVD playback was mentioned whatsoever in my review due to me not having the right software on my computer at the time of me writing this (getting Windvd next week) and I also watch my DVD's/Bluray's on my PS3. Thought I'd let the few people who pm'd me or future people know why neither two subjects weren't even talked about.

Here is some video's of the unboxing of the Arena headset and Complexity version along with two interview video's. I will also provide the links of CNET's Review and Kotaku's Review of the Arena headset. Hope you enjoy!

[...]

My favorite features:
- VoiceFX, a voice changer, which allows me to roleplay my gnome on teamspeak much to the annoyance of others.
- Silencer tech that absolutely kills background noise, so nobody can hear my partner yelling at me to do dishes.
- Lightweight, others complained that it felt cheap, but I can wear these for hours without getting a headache.
- 3D EAX technology. Great for arena matches. If someone casts a spell, I know which pillar they're hiding behind, and if someone hits stealth, I know where to spam my AoE.
- Foldable. I don't like my WoW addiction to be too obvious, so it's nice to be able to fold these up.

Not so favorites:
- USB. I have a decent audio card and I'm unable to utilize it with these. What a pity.

Pros

Excellent sound quality for gaming headphones. I was expecting crap, but they outperform my old music listening headphones. I have started taking them to work to listen to music.

They are extremely comfortable and I can wear them for 6+ hours at work with it only being mildly uncomfortable.

The headphones are light and adjust well to my gigantic head, and fit perfect over my ears.

Good bass response for headphones much less gaming headphones.

Mic works great, friends are surprised how much better I sound in ventrilo now.

USB so will work with laptops with bad soundcards.

Nice volume control on the cord, it controls the windows audio not the headphone audio so you dont have to worry about multiple audio volumes.


Cons

Cord has a Mic mute switch, instead of a push button, no easy quick muting there. Pretty annoying.

USB so wont work with IPOD etc.

At this point in the release I am unable to find drivers for them on Creative's website, it is a pain to have to actually use the cd.

Detachable mic seems like it could end up being a potential breaking point in the future.

Light part that goes over head + many swivel seems to be a potential point of failure too.

Plug that comes out of USB is extremely bulky.

Annoying flashy light on cord.

As usual creative software is terrible. Looks like it was made for windows 3.11

Would have been nice to include a plastic carrying case.


Overall

Personally I dont like creative as a company. I think they have really gone downhill since the SB16 days. However these headphones are quite good. I am impressed, still wouldnt buy a soundcard from them, however I have been recommending the arena headphones to friends. I feel they are worth the money. They provide a solid sound for gaming and music listening and a good mic for chatting. Now if only creative would learn to design software, and sound cards, but thats another review entirely.

My System:

Windows 7 64-Bit (I don't know what the reviewer with 64-bit's issues were, but it was plug and play for me...
EVGA 790i Motherboard
EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 (SLI) Video Cards
On-Board (Stock) Audio
Intel Quad-Core (3.6Ghz)
8 GB RAM
(2) 1TB Caviar Black Hard Drives

Okay...These headphones, the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Arena Surrounds, are a great one-stop solution for gaming and music. First, the benefits... The headphones come with an in-line "sound card" of sorts, that allows for many of the benefits of an aftermarket soundcard without having to spring for one. The software that comes with it is useful, but much of it is just bulk. I do like the ability to equalize my sound outside of whatever program I'm in, though. For those of use who use Pandora or watch alot of YouTube, this is a godsend. The sound in these headphones is clear and crisp, and the bass can bump as loud as you want (or not at all if you chose) with the equalizer and the Bass Boost feature. The reverb options are way better than on my stock motherboard, because it allows one to adjust the intensity of the option, not just to pick something like "Sewer" and have it just be full blast all day. This allows one to put a certain ambiance into music or games. The surround works excellently (played Battlefield 2 through them). The microphone is pretty good as well. It is too flexible, so it bounces back when you adjust it. It should be a little firmer so it stays where you put it. In other words, you have to bend it FURTHER than where you want it to be so that it will come BACK to where you want it. Everyone I've talked to on it said I was clear, though, so that is good. It is extremely light, and the earcups are plush, so it stay on my head longer with no problems than my AKG-141 studio headphones.

Unfortunately, the thing that makes it so useful (USB Plug-and-Play soundcard thing) is it's one downside. You can only use it on a computer. This is a big downside for headphones this expensive and great-sounding. You're gonna wanna hook it up to you iPod or MP3 player, but you can't. It was annoying at first (because I would forget it was USB and go to take them with me somewhere), but it's just a niggling thing that you get used to. Overall, great sound, great mic. I really like them.

What else can I say about these that other reviewers haven't? Well, I typically really don't like headphones, particularly since I wear glasses and most are too uncomfortable to wear for long, and those that are comfortable are way too heavy. These though are a really nice balance of weight and comfort. I seem to be able to wear them for a fairly extended time without my ears starting to really hurt and the top of the band is nicely padded for comfort as well. The earphones are relatively small which works well for me. The sound quality is excellent, and the included software that lets you change your voice is really cool! Hearing myself talking in a man's voice is just too funny. I can imagine teenagers in particularly having a lot of fun with that. It's neat that the mic comes off, but it's also so easy to just swivel up and out of place, that I usually just leave it attached. No problems on Windows 7, it was just perfectly plug-n-play. Highly recommended.

I did a lot of the old headset review browsing before landing on these. They had a many great reviews and they were a decent price so I bought them. Out of the box they looked amazing, the ear cups are super comfy and the headrest Deal on top has a lot of padding and is really comfy as well. Installing the software is a breeze. When playing online(L4D2,MW2,CSS,DOD)the software allows you to change the pitch of your voice(among many other sweet options) to sound like anything from the president of the lollipop guild or like you have been snorting HGH for hours on end. I read a lot of reviews that these weren't made of the highest quality materials, and were possibly too lightweight. Though, I figured since I'm not going to be playing playing rugby while wearing this headset, I'm confident they will stand up to any amount of regular abuse. Last, but not least, the silencer technology! While wearing this headset, you pretty much can't hear anything else but what's coming through the headphones. My girlfriend hates them. :)

If you still don't think these are cool enough to buy, maybe you'd be happier with a spaceship.

These are good gaming headphones. They are a little muddy and dark in the midrange for music but are fine for gaming where fidelity isn't the only factor. The bass is strong and they are detailed. The pseudo-surround is reasonably effective. It's not as good as discrete speakers but the spacial cues are present. The microphone is simply excellent. My guildmates commented how much easier I was to understand.

They connect with USB and have an internal sound card with the Creative EAX effects. This gives them maximum compatibility and you can control them independently from your system volume. The USB connection also isolates them from noisy, unshielded environment inside your PC. This is a better solution than headsets that use the analog connections from your existing sound card.

The headset is lightweight and comfortable. I only wish the ear cups were a bit larger. They do fit around my ears but rub a little. But I've worn these for 10 hour gaming sessions without discomfort so the complaint is minor.

Edit: I've now had the headphones for a few months and I use them almost every day. I don't even have speakers hooked up anymore. I've grown to like them even more than when I first wrote this review. The sound good, they're comfortable, and the surround effect can be quite good with the right game.