Customer Reviews

Tritton TRIAX-180 AX 180 Universal Gaming Headset

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

Length:: 7:03 Mins

I did this video review to help anyone out there with the same issues I had.

Hopefully this will help gain the insight you'll need to make a decision.

Please leave feedback, did I miss anything?

I purchased this AX180 on January 17, 2010. In spite of my headphones being handled with care and never abused in any manner whatsoever, they broke apart on the left side where the earphone connects to the headband. The earphone now dangles from the headband by one wire and are completely unfixable and totally unuseable.

The sound was very good from them and the mic also worked very well. It really is a very good sounding headset. Unfortunately, as with other reviewers of these, I've come to find out that they really are a cheaply constructed waste of money.

The way the earphone is connected to the headband is very poorly designed and constructed. If yours hasn't come apart yet, they are ready to at any moment.

We'll see how Tritton customer service handles this. Even if Tritton replaces them, which I'm sure they will, I give these a DO NOT BUY recommendation.

UPDATED:
I called Tritton Technologies and spoke to a very nice person in their customer service dept.. They were very friendly and didn't hesitate to offer a replacement. They gave me an RMA number and I will be sending these back(at my expense which will probably be about five bucks) and I will be getting them replaced. Other than me having to pay out of my pocket to send these back to them, the Tritton customer service handled it the way all companies should.

With that said, I still give this headset a one star rating for poor construction quality and I will give the company customer service a four star rating for their no questions asked approach to dealing with me. I would have given their customer service a five star rating if they paid for postage to send the broken headset to them.

Overall, the headset still gets a DO NOT BUY from me because I know they will easily break and are worth no amount of money. Sadly, I'm certain that the new replacements Tritton sends to me will also break very quickly. I know nothing about the other Tritton models and if the ax180 is any indication of how their other models are made, I don't want to.

UPDATED PART 2:
I receied my new headset from Tritton after about a two week wait from the day I mailed the broken ones to them.
They work great just like the other ones did. I'm hoping that by me changing the way I put them on and take them off they will last longer and prevent the ear cup from breaking. Instead of pulling directly on the left and right ear cups to put them on and take them off my head, which is how most people put on these headphones, I have changed to pulling on the headband part of the headphones only and I try not to exert any pulling pressure on the ear cups as I put them on and off.

UPDATED PART 3:
As of 7/2/2010, the ax180 microphone has now quit functioning on the headset. I called Tritton and they asked me to plug the mic into my computer to see if I could record something with it in order to see if the mic itself is working or not. The mic functioned fine when used on my PC, so there must be a wiring probelm in the headset causing the mic not to work while attached to the headset.

They gave me another RMA # and I have sent it back.....at my cost. We'll see what happens.

I bought these to use with the PS3. The hookup isn't completely obvious if you want to hook it up to just the PS3 and not through the TV (you need the Multi-AV out cable that came with the PS3, even if you use HDMI). But once I figured out the cabling and configured the PS3 to use the Multi-AV out for sound and HDMI for video it worked great. The stereo sound is good enough to pick up general directions. And I'm hearing sound effects in the game that I didn't know existed. Its easy to get immersed in the game play that way. So in effect these headphones add value to my $60 games.

The headset fits comfortably even over my large melon. After a few hours of gaming, though, my jaw starts to feel fatigued from the pressure. But the comfort over the ears is perfect.

The mic seems to be working fine as other people on line can hear me. Having it detachable is a nice convenience as these could double as standalone headphones.
The volume/mic controller is well laid out. The mic mute switch is the biggest button on the controller so finding it in the dark is not a problem.

The only CON I have is when no game audio is playing there is a slight buzzing. From what I understand that is a grounding issue with the PS3, not the headphones. But during the gameplay I can't hear it even when I try to. I haven't tried the headphones on anything besides the PS3 so I can't confirm this.

The cabling isn't too bad. The headphone cable is 12' long which is about where you should be for a 42-50" HDTV anyway.

I'd recommend these to anyone wanting to pipe all game play audio and have chat capabilities.

UPDATE (8/30/10):
After a few months of using the headphones I'm still satisfied with the sound/mic but as others have had problems with the construction, so have I. There is enough pressure on the ear pads that over time the thin plastic that holds the length adjustments of the headphones to the headband broke. I was lucky enough to have the pieces just fold off instead of break so I was able to McGyver them back into a functioning form with some bits of metal and duct tape. I'm not pleased with the fact they broke within the year but I don't want to send them back at my cost. I'll just bear with the cosmetic issue of tape and metal on the headphones. I'm lucky enough to have a head tall enough to allow the extra bulk of having tape wound around the area of the breakage but if I needed to push the headphones closer to the head rest I'd be out of luck. I'd bring the rating down to a 3 star due to the obvious construction issues.

Just got these today and tried them out immediately. They are pretty good for their price.

First off, they are REALLY comfortable! I would have to say the most comfortable set of headphones I've ever tried in my life. They are light, have lots of padding, and just seem to form to my head well.

As for sound, they are great. While I havent tried other Trittons, I would assume the more expensive models would have more crisper sound, but these are pretty good in their own right, especially considering it only has analog audio to work with. Only issue seems to be a slight hum if you turn the volume dial on the headset up to max, but if you leave it around the middle and have it plugged into your receiver like I do, you can control volume on there and everything sounds great. Im playing Dragon Age Origins while writing this, I have it paused and I can hear every little ambient noise in the environment clearly.

Now as for the mic, I played with it a bit just now on Xbox 360, and there is some static when you plug the cables up to it, but if you play around with the mic's separate volume control, you can pretty much quiet that down. What you are left with is the chat volume somewhat low, I could still hear talking pretty well, but this was without any game noise, so I dont know what it would be like in a real game. If you cant hear well enough you could turn the chat volume up if you didnt mind a bit of the static.

So the mic part being not quite up to par is the only CON for this headset. This set seems to be pretty good overall, and I definitely like it over the Turtle Beach X1's I had about a year ago. Tritton seems to have a bit better quality. I would recommend these as an entry level headset; I might step up to a higher tier Tritton set after a while.

I have five headsets and the Tritton Universal Gaming Headset is THE most comfortable headset I have used. I have worn it continuously for about three hours and it never felt hot, stuffy, or heavy; it's just very comfortable. Everything that touches your ears and top of head are made of velvety soft material. The microphone is detachable, but I always keep it on, so that it can't be misplaced (the fit is secure and won't accidentally fall off). I actually did not buy this to play games. It is mainly used for Skype communication and music listening.

This headset MUST be powered by a USB connection to your PC or game console. Other than the USB connector, it has the usual 3.5mm green plug for headphone jack and pink plug for microphone jack. There is a controller box along the headset cable. It allows you to switch Audio Source between PS3 and XBOX. There are TWO volume dials: Game Volume and Voice Volume. There is also a jack for a XBOX controller and a MIC OFF switch.

The sound produced by the Tritton is crisp and clear. Probably with the help of the USB connection, the bass sound is deep and satisfying. This product is very well-made and I highly recommend it even if is not mainly used for games.

I have had the headsets for a little over a week now and so far, they have been great. I use these nearly 5 hours a night and unplug/store them after each use. The sound quality is great for me, I am by no means an audiophile and for the price the audio quality is beyond what I expected. The mic has received good reviews from players on the other end of my Ventrillo conversations, far better than the previous set of Plantronics I had. I have primarily used them connected to a Mac with limited to use on my Xbox 360. I have yet to try them out on the PS3.

So far the construction quality seems solid. Again at the time of this writing I've only logged around 40 hours of use with these. If anything changes, I will update my review.

Update to this review: I've now had this headset for a few months and I absolutely love them. They are used once or twice a week for several hours a session across multiple devices. I have traveled several times with these headsets as well for LAN parties. The headsets have held up quite well and show no signs of wear. The ear fit is perfect and for the price they do exactly what I want them to.

Had this headset since Christmas of 09'. Comfort, sound and price were all outstanding. My headset hasn't fallen apart on me yet. (knocks on wood) I hear everything in COD MW2.

This isn't a giant review, but I have to say, these headsets are freaking awesome. I see really no problems. The comfort is great, all of the sounds are great, and people can hear me. Some people complain about a ringing or screeching noise, I haven't found one with these headsets. So thank Tritton for making an awesome headset and thank Amazon for selling them!

i had just bought this headset about 2 months ago and decided to help anyone that had the same questions that i did befor i bought this. so the first thing i half to say is that this head set is not for the gamers that want to be a game battlez pro. they are for the cheep gamers that dont play 24/7 but want a good headset that wont make a hole in your wallet. now let me tell you the good things about this headset befor i get going on the down side.

the good things about this headset is that people can hear you fine and you sound amazing. the sound that comes out is ok but its quieter than the tv, so when you want to actually hear it loud, your tv is twice as loud. they feel great and i can wear them all night.

now for the bad things. there is alot of downsides to this headset, or at least there was alot in my headset. the big thing is that there is this constant ringing in the headset that can get really anoying at times. the other thing is that you cant only listen through the headset and not the tv, which i really whish it could. so if your into all night gaming and your parents still are in your house, then this isnt the head set for you.

really hope this helps with any questions.

I am on my 2nd pair of these, and not because the first pair broke. Actually my cat chewed threw the microphone housing and ate the mic, but I can't hold that against the headset.

Both pairs have served me great. Here's my rundown:

Pros:
Extremely comfortable even when wearing glasses (which I have to all the time)
Comfortable for long play sessions
Great mic for in-game chat and I've even used it for recording podcasts on my PC with excellent sound quality
Headset works with 360, PS3, and PC (even though the new boxes don't mention PC). I have all three so this saves me having to purchase/own more than one headset.

Cons:
It's got more wires than some headsets (tho less than others)
They can be finicky to set up with a PC, just in terms of making sure everything is connected the right way. The instructions included in the new boxes don't explain PC setup. Basically you throw the switch to the PS3 side and connect the green headphone plug and the USB (but leave off the pink mic since USB is handling that).

Overall I've loved both pairs, have recommended them to friends, and am now recommending them to strangers here.