Creative Labs HS-980 Fatal1ty Professional Series MKII Gaming Headset (Black)

by Creative Labs

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 2.4 x 10.8 inches ; 1.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002BH3JDA
• Item model number: HS-980
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #100 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Accessories > Headsets & Microphones
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 3, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

When it's time to get serious about gaming, it's time for Creative Labs' Fatal1ty Professional Series Gaming Headset MKII. Designed in conjunction with Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel to perform at the highest levels of MMO and competitive play, this second-generation gaming headset offers extreme comfort for hours of continuous use, clear voice communication, and dynamic, precise sound.

CommandSound: Powerful Neodymium Drivers for Precise Sound
When you're in the middle of battle, you need every advantage you can get. Thanks to two large 40 mm drivers powered by powerful neodymium magnets, the MKII will capture every rumbling explosion, whizzing bullet, or clanging sword on armor in vibrant detail. By accurately producing every massive or subtle audio cue, the MKII will give you the edge to hunt down your enemies with ease.

The headphones are designed with an over-the-ear fit that provides maximum sound isolation, further enhancing sound quality so that you can concentrate on the gaming at hand. Add the system's audiophile-grade eight-foot oxygen-free copper (OFC) cable with gold-plated stereo mini plug to the mix, and you've got a headset that delivers extreme clarity throughout.

BattleTalk: Noise-Canceling Microphone for Clear Communications
The MKII features a high-quality, detachable noise-canceling microphone that lets you

1. The ergonomic cushioned ear cups offer sound isolation and all-day comfort. 2. Inline controls make changing volume and muting the microphone quick and easy. 3. The noise-canceling headphone ensures clear communication.

communicate with confidence, knowing that your commands will be clearly understood. The headset also features conveniently placed inline controls that let you easily adjust your sound level or mute the mic on the fly for private conversations.

For the best possible communication experience, pair the MKII with a Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium series sound card and experience the proprietary noise-cancellation features of Silencer technology. By isolating the sound from your voice from other sounds, such as background noises in your gaming space, Silencer technology delivers the unsurpassed voice quality that will help you stand apart from your competition.

ComfortGear: Design for Hours of Comfortable Use
Thanks to several plush design features, the MKII will give you hours of continuous, comfortable use. While your competition will be wearing down from user fatigue, the MKII is so comfortable, you'll hardly know you're wearing a headset.

The lightweight, precision fit steel-core headband features generous padding and notched adjustment points that provide a custom fit around your head. The plush, ergonomic velvet ear cups are built with memory foam, which allow them to more precisely fit the contours of your ears and provide superb comfort for extended gaming sessions. The ear cups are also reversible and can be folded flat for compact storage.

The Fatal1ty Series lets you use the same gear Johnathan Wendel and other pros use.

Silencer technology provides smart noise-supression when used with a SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium series sound card.

Fatal1ty Brand: Battle Tested by Pro Gamers
Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel is widely considered to be the most accomplished professional PC Gamer in history, having earned over $500,000 in prizes and reigning as the holder of 12 major championships. In April 2009, Wendel set a Guinness World Record for most frags in an hour--a remarkable 672 frags in 60 minutes. As the worldwide ambassador of gaming, Wendel ensures that the Fatal1ty brand name only goes on the very best products that have been battle tested by pro gamers around the world.

The Fatal1ty Professional Series Gaming Headset MKII is backed by a one-year warranty.

What's in the Box
Headset, boom mic, stereo to mono adapter.

Gaming Headsets	HS-980 Fatal1ty Professional Series MKII Gaming Headset	HS-800 Fatal1ty Gaming Headset (Analog)	HS-1000 Fatal1ty USB Gaming Headset	Sound Blaster Arena Surround USB Gaming Headset
Headphone Quality	Ergonomic ear cups with sound isolation	Velvet Padding	Velvet Padding	Ergonomic ear cups with sound isolation
Audio Speaker Size	40mm Drivers (Full-Spectrum)	40mm Drivers	40mm Drivers	40mm Drivers (Full-Spectrum)
Type of Microphone Support	Dual Noise Canceling Microphone	Noise Canceling Microphone	Noise Canceling Microphone	Dual Noise Canceling Microphone
Removable Microphone?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Connection Type	3.5mm jack	3.5mm jack	USB 2.0	USB 2.0
Inline Volume / Mute	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sound Control Location	Along the cable	Along the cable	Along the cable	Along the cable
Sound Control	Volume control / Mute on and off	Volume control / Mute on and off	Volume control / Mute on and off	Volume control / Mute on and off
Silencer Tech Enabled	Yes (with Sound Blaster Titanium Series Sound Card)	No	No	Yes
Voice FX Enabled	Yes	No	No	Yes
X-Fi Enabled	Yes (When used with an X-Fi Sound Card)	No	Yes	Yes
Ideal For	FPS Desktop Gamer / MMO (Recommend Sound Blaster TI Series Sound Card)	Everyday Desktop Gamer/ MMO (Recommend Sound Blaster Sound Card)	Everyday Desktop or Laptop Gaming / VOIP	MMO / FPS / Competitive LAN Gamer

Product Description

Creative Labs Fatal1ty Pro Series MKII headset is the ultimate in full on gaming communication. The Pro Series MKII is high-end with ultra-comfortable over-ear memory foam padded earcups for comfort during those extended gaming sessions. Includes inline mute and volume control for your convenience. This headset is ultra-portable with a foldable feature for easy storage and traveling. The proprietary Silencer technology is a noise suppression system that works by using two high-quality microphones in the headset, one on the boom mic and one on the earcup. Noise arrives at different times across the two microphones allowing each noise to create a “noise signature” that is able to be separated from the actual intended voice transmission. Use headset with the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Card to create the full Silencer experience. (Sound Blaster X-Fi Card sold seperately.) Headphones include driver units of 40mm Neodymium Magnet and a frequency response of 20Hz ~ 20kHz. The Microphone includes a Noise-Canceling Condenser (x2), Frequency Response of 80Hz ~ 16kHz, Impedance: <2.2kohms and Interface: 1/8-inch / 3.5mm gold-plated stereo miniplugs with Oxygen- Free Copper (OFC) cable.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceeded my expectations - long road to these, February 19, 2010

By 

Anonymous Coward - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creative Labs HS-980 Fatal1ty Professional Series MKII Gaming Headset (Black) (Personal Computers)

I spend my time listening to music at the computer primarily to concentrate and/or drown out ambient/family noise. I also play FPS games. These headphones sound just as good as my Sony headphones and seem to fit my head better. I've only had them for a day so I don't know what the durability will be but for the price it's hard to go wrong.

Prior to these I lived in a pair of Sony MDRV6 headphones for about 11 years until they started to disintegrate. My requirements for a replacement were that they:
- should be less than $100
- needed to muffle sound when nothing was playing
- Should be over ear and closed design
- should have a normal 3.5mm audio plug (not usb)

I've bought 4 headsets to replace the Sonys and the HS-980 is the final solution.

First, I had a Logitech Clearchat headset from Best Buy. Fair on the ear design. Lasted about 6 months.
Second, I bought Microsoft Lifechat LX-3000. Flimsy and USB. Good sound.
Third, I had a pair of Plantronics 367 and they don't even compare to these ones. Plantronics way too big. Mic quality poor. Poor sound quality.

Things I really like about these:
- A bonus feature they don't mention in the spec is that the mic boom detaches.
- It's also really nice to be able to fold these flat so that I can put them in my laptop bag.
- They also work well with a normal mp3 player.
- The inline volume/mic control can be clipped onto your shirt pocket or something.

Creative makes great sound cards but has made serious mistakes over the last 15 years with most of their other products (dvd drives, mp3 players, speakers, etc). In this case they got it way right.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Headset, February 24, 2010

By 

W. Cooley - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creative Labs HS-980 Fatal1ty Professional Series MKII Gaming Headset (Black) (Personal Computers)

I've purchased various headsets over the years, several were decent but not very durable, some where durable with poor sound quality. I have had this headset for about a month and I can say that it is the single best one I've used. The sound quality is amazing, if you crank them all the way up, the sound fills the room, and when you put the headphones together, its all immediately silenced. While not advertised as noise canceling, these do a wonderful job of muffling out all the other sounds in the room.

They are also EXTREMELY comfortable, like two clouds framing your head in audio bliss. The only downside is that after extensive usage, my ears have a tendency to get a little sweaty, but if thats the only negative -- I have no complaints.

All in all, this is an excellent product, I'd recommend it both to the gamers and to someone who just wants to remove the mic and use it has high quality headphones.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You get what you paid for, January 18, 2011

By 

Dustin Palmer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creative Labs HS-980 Fatal1ty Professional Series MKII Gaming Headset (Black) (Personal Computers)

Whenever I read customer reviews on products, I'm looking for information that will help me decide whether to purchase a the one I had in mind or help compare alternative to weigh out my options. Considering most reviews / feedback are by average consumers and not critics with years of audio experience, I look for general pros and cons that repeat themselves. The stars give me a general overview. You'll understand why I gave it 4/5 stars if you read my review below. Basically, the initial setup knocked it down a star, but now that it is working, it is great. With that in mind, I will do my best to give a fair and honest judgment on Creative's Fatal1ty Series Professional MKII Headset.

There were three things I had to keep in mind when I was looking for a headset: first and foremost, price is very important to me as I like to get what I'm paying for, second, what features does the headset promote compared to its competitors and third, do I want a 3.5mm connector or a USB connector?

After doing some research, I discovered the main difference between 3.5mm and USB headsets. The latter bypasses your sound card and uses its own drivers. Seeing as I had recently built a new computer and bought Creative's Fatal1ty Titanium Series sound card, I wanted to see if I could take advantage of my high end sound card. After shopping around, I discovered the 3.5mm version of the MKII. The headset boasted three features that when paired with my sound card seemed to set it apart from the competition: Crystallizer, Silencer and VoiceFX.


PLEASE NOTE! If you are running Windows 7, be sure to download Creative's new drivers for the Titanium sound card and the MKII headset. Without them, the Crystallizer and Silencer will not work! I cannot stress this enough. For the first week of owning this headset, I received feedback in the headset from certain games and the microphone was a mess. However, with the new drivers, everything resolved itself and I'm very happy with the product. With that said, here is my breakdown:


Crystallizer:

Wow, that is about all I can say about this feature. Seriously, I'm no audiophile, but after enabling this feature my music was crisp, beautiful, the bass booms when playing music at 320 Kbps and I get nearly zero static (There is some when the bass is really low). I tested it with several genre's to make sure: drum & bass, rap, classical, rock and alternative. All sounded pristine! Before enabling this feature, the sound quality was pretty good, and maybe slightly better than my previous Sennheiser PC 151 due to the bass. But, in reality, without the Crystallizer, the difference between the two wouldn't be enough to make me switch to the MKII's and with that being the case, I would tell you to save 50 bucks and just get the PC 151. However, turn on the Crystallizer and you instantly notice the difference. Totally worth it!


Silencer: (Make sure you read my notice above before going on)

Here is what I want out of a microphone: no static, no ambient noise, clear audio, and easily adjustable volume. As mentioned before, none of these things seemed to be happening for me. However, after doing a bunch of tweaking, I got the microphone to work and it does its job efficiently. I've had no complaints from anyone and it seems to be doing its job. It is tricky to setup though. I had to adjust settings in quite a few programs to finally get the input working correctly. Without the Silencer feature, the microphone worked OK. Nothing really special. Having said that, after enabling the feature, there was a noticeable improvement. I'm not going to say it is crystal clear and I'm not going to gush and set the bar really high. It just worked better and fulfills the above criterion. However, in comparison to my PC 151, the microphone and this feature aren't a deal breaker, but it is nice when it works. If the microphone is a huge deal to you, then some of the more expensive headsets are probably better.

The other nice thing about the MKII is that the mic is removable. When not in use, I just take it off so it doesn't get in the way. It swivels up when plugged in and doesn't really get in the way when playing. Personally though, it could be better. I tried out my friends Corsair HS1's mic and found it to be sturdier.


Voice FX:

This is a fun little feature, but I haven't really used it while in game. It does what you think it would and modifies your voice to over 15 different presets. Everything from Orc to Robot. Let's just say it works and move on. I wouldn't really say this is a deal breaker as the majority of high end headsets come with this feature or features like it.



Other Thoughts:

Durability / Comfort:

Compared to my PC 151's, the only thing I've noticed so far was that the pleather material surrounding the ear cups can heat up and create perspiration around the ear. I don't recall this ever happening with my old headset, however, I have been wearing my PC 151's since 2004, so I guarantee that I've just become accustomed to it, which I'm sure will be the same case for the MKII's. The headband is comfortable. After long play-throughs (3+ hours), I have no complaints about the comfort of this headset. As for build, I haven't dropped mine yet, but they have a steel liner through the head band, so I'm hopeful if they fall. I must have dropped my PC 151's a thousand times and their plastic headband held up just fine, so here's hoping the MKII's can do the same!

I just want to take a second to address some of the complaints/comments I found around the web concerning this headset. First, the general consensus from forums and casual buyers was that they hated the headset, despite critics giving it high marks. Common complaints are that the microphone sucks, the sound quality is sub par, the headset breaks easily, and that the 3.5mm connectors split over time. Here is what I found though, the majority of users do not pair this headset with the Titanium sound card, which dulls its edge over the competition and for the price you pay, there is too much tweaking / setup involved in order to get this headset to work correctly. This comes from my observations that most users returned their headsets a couple of days after use and the fact that they never mentioned they had the sound card in their comments.

I agree concerning the price point. For the price you pay and concerning the alternatives, when you plug it in, you'd expect to be dazzled due to the word "Professional" in the product title and the fact that this is Creative's flagship headset. However, this just isn't the case. I'm a patient person, but I do want to get what I paid for and I too had difficulties with this headset within the first week. Had I not paid only $49.99, I would have felt ripped off as well, considering nothing seemed to work. After working with it, I'm now very happy with my purchase and would buy them again.

If you are looking to be WOW'ed and have everything work as expected when you plug it in, may I suggest the SteelSeries 7H, Corsair HS1, or Sennheiser PC 350. Also, opt for the USB versions unless you have a high end sound card for 3.5mm. If you are looking for a headset to make it through the long haul and sound good, I can't comment on this headset yet, but my Sennheiser PC 151's lasted a good 5 years. If you are looking for an above average headset, pick this one up if you can for $50 or less. If you have the Titanium sound card from Creative, $65 is a good price for this. You will not regret it.

As for the connectors coming apart and frame breaking, I haven't had this headset long enough to vouch for this. I'm hoping these will last me a while. I'm not expecting the longevity of my PC 151's, but hopefully a year. I'm pretty careful with my stuff. I have a Labrador that sleeps in my PC room when I play games, so there is the chance he will knock them on the floor when he wants attention, but that hasn't happened yet. As for the connectors. I don't mess with them generally, but when I do remove them, I grasp the connector by the head, and not the cord. I REALLY wish Creative had created a break away point for the headset though. That would decrease the chances of breaking the connectors. My PC rests on my desk, so the cord does not hit the floor. I did this specifically so I don't run over the cord, which happened ALL THE TIME with my old headset. That is the main reason why the mic stopped working.

I've own this headset approximately a month and upgraded from a Sennheiser's PC 151 headset. I loved my PC 151's, but the microphone died on me and I wanted to upgrade to something a little more high end. I bought my MKII's for $[...], which is the prefect price point for this headset if you ask me. Considering the alternatives out there, I wouldn't buy this for $[...]. Maybe $[...], but no more. If it wasn't for the price and the features that come with my sound card, I probably would have gone with one of the alternatives mentioned above.

Happy gaming!