Ear Force X31 Digital RF Wireless Game Audio + Xbox Live Chat

by Turtle Beach

• Digital RF Wireless USB Powered Analog Stereo Inputs Adjustable Mic Boom
• Independent Game Volume Independent XBOX Live Chat Volume Amplifier
• Mic Mute Switch Bass Boost Microphone Monitor Oversized Ear Cups Stereo Expander
• Chat boost
• Headphone Speaker Size 40mm Battery Auto Shut-Off Battery Life > 20hrs; Range up to 30

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002KSPL36
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.1 x 3.4 inches ; 12 ounces
• Media: Accessory
• Release Date: August 25, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (361 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,031 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #40 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Accessories > Headsets
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Ear Force X31 elevates your XBOX gaming experience to a new level with superior stereo sound and a crystal-clear, digital RF wireless connection.

Overview:

With its comfortable ergonomic design, exceptional sound quality and XBOX LIVE online chat, the X31 immerses you in the game as you communicate with online players, and blocks out distractions so you can focus on the action.

Playing your favorite XBOX game with the Ear Force X31 gives you a significant advantage because you can hear sound cues that you can’t hear with speakers - the soft footsteps of an enemy sneaking up on you, or a loading weapon in the distance. By hearing sounds others can’t, you’ll react faster and take them out before they take you out.

If you’re serious about your XBOX 360 gaming, get serious about the sound. Move up to the Ear Force X31 and become a better player while experiencing XBOX 360 games as they were meant to be heard.

2.4GHz Wireless Digital RF Technology for CD quality sound! Click here to enlarge
Convenient settings on the X31 allow quick adjustments without interrupting gameplay! Click here to enlarge
Enjoy late night gaming without Xbox 360 gaming without disturbing others! Click here to enlarge

2.4GHz Wireless Digital RF Technology
The Ear Force X31 transmits game audio to the headset with an uncompressed wireless digital radio frequency (RF) signal to deliver CD-quality sound that rivals professional-grade wired headphones. Best of all, the wireless RF signal does not require "line of sight" to operate. That means you can stand anywhere near your XBOX 360 and hear a clear, noise-free signal.

Chat Boost - Dynamic Talkback Expander
If you’ve ever had trouble hearing teammates on XBOX LIVE when the game sound heats up, then you know how frustrating it can be when you have to keep adjusting the chat volume. Chat Boost fixes this problem by automatically adjusting the XBOX LIVE chat level when the game gets louder, so chat from teammates isn't lost in the exciting parts of your game. As the game sound gets louder, Chat Boost turns up the chat volume automatically so you can still hear what everyone is saying.

It's a simple solution to an annoying problem, and it all happens automatically - so you don't have to adjust anything!

Stereo Expander
The X31 headset incorporates a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) that spreads the stereo game signal to provide a "wider" sound field. This results in a richer, fuller sound than conventional stereo sound - almost as if it originates from outside of the headphones.

Bass Boost
The X31 headset DSP also lets you turn on a Bass Boost feature that produces deep, rich bass tones by increasing the volume of low frequency sounds - just like turning up the volume on the sub-woofer on your home theater system. Bass Boost improves your gaming experience by kicking-up the sound level of explosions, gun shots and other deep-bass sound effects, making them even more dramatic.

Microphone Monitoring
It's hard to hear yourself speak when a headset is covering your ears. The X31 corrects this annoyance with its microphone monitoring feature. The X31 adds a portion of the microphone signal into the headset signal, so you can hear some of your voice along with incoming chat and game audio. Microphone monitoring not only keeps you from talking too loud, it also eliminates that annoying "clogged ears" feeling when talking while the headset is covering your ears.

Independent Chat/Game Volumes
Separate volume controls let you adjust the game and chat levels, so you can easily balance them and never have to worry about missing a cue from your teammates.

Advanced Battery Booster Circuitry
The X31 has a “battery booster” circuit that squeezes every last bit of power from the batteries and assures high quality sound until they’re completely dead. This allows a pair of AAA Alkaline batteries to last for as long as 25 straight hours of game play. You can also buy standard rechargeable batteries in place of Alkaline batteries.

Powered By USB
The transmitter is powered by a single USB port on your XBOX, or from a nearby PC or laptop. So there is no need to fuss with a separate AC power adapter.

Product Description

The Ear Force X31 is our third generation of wireless headsets for the XBOX 360. Like the X3, the X31 combines XBOX live chat with wireless game sound so you can hear the game sound and the voices of other players in the headset. In other words, it replaces your XBOX communicator headset and external speakers. By hearing the XBOX Live chat in the center of your head rather than in one ear, you can communicate better online. By eliminating speakers you can turn up the game without disturbing others. And, by having the game sound right on top of your ears, you can hear even the softest sound cues that are impossible to hear with speakers. For example, you can hear when someone is quietly sneaking up on you and react faster. That means you’ll have a totally immersive gaming experience while becoming a better player. Just like the X3, the X31 includes a headset and small transmitter. As you can see, the colors have been changed so it’s easy to see it’s a new model. What is different, however, is that we made the headset more comfortable by increasing the size of the ear cups so they sit around your ears rather than on top of them. We also replaced the vinyl ear cushions with these soft, fabric mesh cushions that let your ears breathe. The most significant improvement is that the X31 uses digital 2.4 Giga Hertz Radio Frequency wireless technology. This new digital RF technology is a huge improvement over analog IR because it delivers CD-quality sound with no background hiss, no interference from plasma TV screens and no line of sight restrictions between the transmitter and headset. Sound quality is improved with new 40mm speakers that use the same design as our high-quality X41 50mm speakers for better frequency response and improved clarity in the game sound. Inside the headset is a digital signal processor for bass boost and stereo expander effects, which can be turned on by pressing this button. This makes the expander more dramatic than the X3.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

421 of 427 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great headset, needs few improvements... September 9, 2009

By Charlotte E. Harkless

Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I waited to write my review until a week after receiving my headset. I have owned two sets of Turtle Beach headsets, I have an audio background, and I wanted to write a definitive review from somebody who has used multiple sets of their products and had knowledge in the audio field. The Turtle Beach X31's are a repackaging/redesign of the popular Turtle Beach X3 headset. I've owned the Turtle Beach X1's and now the X31's.

I'll start with the good. The X31's have some great features! Here is a list of basic features and improvements:

-Almost everything is updated! The X31's improve on everything that was decent in previous Turtle Beach headsets and you can tell Turtle Beach is definitely ironing out some of the complaints from previous model headsets and starting to get it "right."

-Newly redesigned 40mm drivers/speakers. You can hear a difference in the quality! Upper mids and highs/treble frequencies are a lot better represented, providing more clarity to the game sound.

-Chat boost. When the game audio gets louder, it slightly increases chat volume to match it so the game audio doesn't drown out chat voices.

-Effects. Bass boost button. Stereo widening button. Stereo widening + bass boost button. (each are all on the same button, you click it a number of times and hear an audible beep in your headset each step of the way)

-Power. Runs on two AAA's. I recommend Duracell rechargeable NiMh batteries. Battery life is what the package claims from my personal testing. It has a circuit in the headphones that helps use up every bit of power from the batteries. Typical battery life is around 20 hours in regular use with Bass Boost engaged. Also, the headset will shut off automatically if no signal is detected for five minutes, which is nice.

-Comfort. They redesigned the headphone cups to go around your ears better. The material on the cups is also softer and less plastic like. It's fabric mesh that is more breathable.

-Wireless. Truly wireless. Wires all plug in near your TV then you only have one wire to your controller to pick up the chat. The wire is redesigned as well, there is no "puck," it's a straight shot into your controller so that you can use the chatpad if you have it as well. =)

-Technology. 2.4ghz RF that is no longer "line-of-sight." In testing, the unit worked anywhere around my TV from within about 15 feet of the sender unit.

-Basic functions. Boom mic that bends out of your way easily. Being able to mix the chat/audio on separate controls. You can actually hear in older emulated games like Halo 2! (emulation makes the voice really soft in a game like Halo 2 if you're running it on a 360)

-Audio quality. This is a very nice headset compared to Turtle Beach's older models. I really enjoyed my X1's, but they were overly bassy, especially in the chat. This time around, it seems like the chat and audio go through separate processing. There's more mids and highs, not "bass all the time only with a bit of highs sprinkled in." The dynamic range is a lot clearer, there's more frequencies represented and better separation at loud volumes.

-Online advantage. I play mostly first person shooters online. I would say this headset has saved me at least 2-3 times PER MATCH that I've tried it out in. The better audio quality makes footsteps stand out better than with previous Turtle Beach models. The games I tested were: Doom, Halo 2, Halo 3, Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield: 1943, Call of Duty 4, Ghost Recon, and some other non-FPS games. In each game, I could clearly hear when there were footsteps around me. Also, even though the headset is only stereo (no 5.1 Dolby Digital), you can hear a distinct direction each sound is coming from with this headset. I could even hear when there were snipers around me, I could hear the bolt cycling on their sniper rifle! (even if they were upstairs...play Bad Company with this headset, it's a real treat!)

-Mic monitoring. Mixes in a bit of your own voice so you don't talk too loudly with the headset on.

Now here's a list of the negatives/improvements I think Turtle Beach could make:

-Price. Still a bit rough at $99.95. They are worth it, but a $79.99 tag seems a bit more realistic to me for Turtle Beach going forward.

-Mic monitoring. It mixes in your voice and you can hear yourself in pre-game lobbies, but let's get realistic here, as soon as all the game audio comes in, you can't hear yourself AT ALL. You still end up talking too loudly with the headset on.

-Material on earcups. The headphones are way more comfortable, but I noticed all around my ears you'll get some kind of black ink wear-off. The material they used rubs off on your skin and leaves black marks all around your ears? I can't believe somebody didn't notice this when playtesting the headphones before the company gave the green light to ship them?

-Chat. I know it's hard to take a low-level, noisy chat signal that is using really small bandwidth from Xbox Live and increase it real loud and make it sound good. The chat is a HUGE improvement, don't get me wrong. I still think they could make it better. They mention that there is no "hiss" from game audio. There isn't. The game audio itself sounds uncompressed and great. The problem is, you get a noisy chat signal, plus if you're using a wireless controller with batteries, you get an annoying hiss from that with the chat signal. I do not know for the life of me why Turtle Beach (an audio company, mind you) could not implement a "noise gate" into the chat processing so low level hiss could be eliminated and the gate would open up when speaking or voice comes through. That could be a simple button you could use to turn the noise gate on or off.

Also, with the chat, they took ALL the bass out of chat. It would be nice to have a little bass in there. Games like Halo 3 have the chat so loud that it starts to break up and distort, it's almost too much treble all the time in your ears! (and yes, I have the chat set up correctly, it's not boosted too much and my sender unit is set correctly as well along with dashboard/guide chat volume)

-Audio levels. A big one for me. It seems like you don't get audio out of the headset until it's up 1/3 of the way, then it starts increasing. You wish there was just a bit more audio that you could push the volume level to. You wish there was just a bit more bass that was added in as well. You still get a full bass sound, but it's not close to the X1's. I know it's wireless and they made them a bit quieter and with a little less bass to conserve battery life since low frequencies take more energy to reproduce notes, but you still wish there was a bit more, especially after using the X1's that get LOOOOUD and have a ton of bass! I was expecting the bass boost button to do a tad bit more...

-Battery life. Great at around 20 hours. I wanted to point out once again to buy rechargeables, because you will definitely go through batteries!

-Effects. I found the "stereo widening" function absolutely useless. It's not something they needed to add in and they could have made some other better effect or maybe another click to the bass boost instead.

Over all, I gave this headset a 4 our of 5. It's a great headset and a nice step up in features from the X1's and X3's. I think if Turtle Beach does one more headset, they will get everything right and put out an even better product. Worth the money, I would buy this headset again and recommend it to friends.

Thanks for reading my review!

70 of 75 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great gaming enhancing experience! December 27, 2009

By B. Raines

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Ok first of all, to all those who are trying to scare off potential buyers with the "popping/ crackling" noise, you don't know how to read instructions. The popping noise isn't a problem if you know where to correctly place your headphone equipment. These headphones offer quality you can't get with most t.vs. I can hear footsteps of the enemy as they try to sneak up on me, gunshots off in the distance, the action sounds like its right there.

The headphones are a comfortable fit with a decent mic. I can whisper into the mic and my friends can hear me no problem. This is an excellent alternative for gaming at night. I highly recommend this to anybody who wants to hear everything, including the chat of your friends or foe. With chat boost, chat is not drowned out with explosions.

I am purposely keeping this review short because I saw so many good reviews. I was worried about buying this because of the "noise popping" comments, and I am writing this to clear any concerns potential buyers may have. I have a wireless internet router in the same room as my gaming system and headphones. As long as you READ THE INSTRUCTIONS about placement, you can game effortlessly without any distractions. Haven't had any problem at all with these headphones. Best accessory purchase I've made.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The product that I needed! August 27, 2009

By M. Chase

Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

I bought this product after mulling over the other Turtle Beach headsets for my Xbox 360 gaming. I am very impressed with these headphones. I had no idea that there were that many sounds going on in the game until I put these on. It's amazing what I was missing just listening through my TV set. The reason I bought these is for late night gaming session where I need it quiet for the rest of the sleeping house. And, it does this perfect. The chat is also very clear. The setup is very simple. All in all a great product for my needs and wants.