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Top Customer Reviews
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Definitely worth the money.
By
Richard MacAleese
on
January 12, 2010
Verified Purchase
After owning at least three of each of Logitech's past hundred thousand generations of $10 Wal-Mart headsets, I finally decided it was time to hunker down and buy a real one. I'm glad I did. After having used the headset for several months now, I can share the following experiences:
The product name for this headset is misleading. This is not a USB headset in the normal sense of the word. You can use it via usb, but in order to do so, you must use the included adapter, which acts as a sound card. This means the headset will have its own volume mixer within Windows. I found it extremely annoying trying to keep this mixer in balance with my default mixer due to different volume levels between games, movies, etc. There is an alternative, though. You can use this device with normal pink / green analog connectors. Doing so will retain the full functionality of a headset while eliminating the annoyance of the addon sound card.
The headset is very comfortable when worn without glasses. I can wear it for hours on end without discomfort. This brings my headset inline with my regular high-end cans. I can wear one or the other all day depending on my need for voice. When wearing my glasses, the headphones put enough pressure on the side of my head to cause my glasses to dig a bit into my temples. It's not enough to hurt, but it does get uncomfortable after an hour or two. This could be something that would resolve itself in time as the headphones "mold" to the shape of the glasses, though, as I rarely wear my glasses when at the computer. I'm nearsighted.
The quality on the mic is fine. It's hardly amazing by any standard, but your voice will go through crisp, clear, and without distortion. More importantly is mic volume: while other mics I've used have lacked sufficient amp power to let your voice be a voice rather than something of a whisper, this one worked well right out of the box. No more dealing with "Turn your mix up!" and "Stop talking, your mic is breaking up," requests in Vent or online games.
The sound quality of the headphones is above average as well, as far as headsets go. I personally wouldn't use this to listen to music--it seems to play back gunshots and explosions far better than harmonies and melodies for some peculiar reason--but for gaming it does a grand job at sound placement and such. I'm able to tell well enough where enemies are from the sound alone. Though hardly a first in the headphone world in general, this is something I haven't been able to find in a headset until I bought this unit. There very well may be others--just none in my price range. And though I said I personally wouldn't listen to music with this thing, there's really no reason you can't. It sounds good. Just not as good as I like it to sound.
For final notes, the volume dial is marked with a curved line rather than numbers or the like, making volume adjustment something of a guessing game if you don't already have sound playing. This is annoying to me, but this is probably a personal preference. Also, my cat likes to sit on my lap and chew on the plastic shirt clip. When he gets bored with that or I make him stop, he sometimes walks up onto my desk directly in front of the monitor, plops down in an upright sitting position so as to block as much of the screen as possible, and watches whatever I'm playing. He can do this for hours if I don't throw him down. This never happens when not using the headset, and it never happened before receiving it. Therefore, the headset is hypnotizing my cat. Beware pet owners!
Overall a great buy considering the money I will save by not having to buy a new $10-$20 headset every 6 months. It's holding up very well and looks like it will last a good long while, provided my cat doesn't eat it.
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If you're looking for mic quality, it's 2nd best to Sennheiser -- and at a great price
By
Koenigs
on
May 17, 2014
Verified Purchase
Recently ordered 6 different headsets: The Microsoft LX-6000, Microsoft LX-3000 (this one), Logitech H390E, Logitech H650E, Sennheiser PC 36, and the Sennheiser SC 660 USB CTR
I've yet to receive the SC 660s, which are the most expensive pair by far, but I can tell you that out of the above, I far preferred the Sennheiser SC 36 for pure "like you're there in the room" quality and the LifeChat LX-6000 for noise reduction.
However, the LX-3000 has the second best mic out of the 5 headsets I tried above, as well as several gaming headsets I've gotten to use over the years (including Turtle Beach and Sony).
It's one of the few where the boom goes goes right IN FRONT on your mouth, where it should for the best quality.
It also has nice big earpieces, which can be good if you're seeking a bit of isolation from your environment for listening.
Noise reduction wise, though, the LX-6000 has some additional circuitry this doesn't. However, that comes with a higher amount of self generated noise, what audio engineers would call a high "noise floor", which this doesn't have. i.e., when you're not speaking, the LX-3000 is less noisy than the LX-6000 overall.
The LX-6000 also has a considerably inferior mic, which is bandwidth limited and makes you sound more like you're talking on a decent quality cell phone. The LX-3000 sounds more like a mic should. It's more natural and present.
You could use this headset to do basic voiceovers for instructional videos, YouTube, podcasts, etc., without being made fun of for audio quality. That's a rarity for headsets, which tend to have awful microphones.
If you're looking for a step up, I'd go with the Sennheiser PC-36. Both male and female voices sound better when recording through it's mic, and it's also a bit easier to make out what people are saying through the Sennheiser earphones. But at the time of this writing, this headset is half of the price of the Sennheiser, with perhaps 75-80% of the quality.
Since it was so inexpensive, I'm going to keep this one around as a backup to my Sennheiser. I think it's an amazing deal overall. Basically a cheap but highly usable headset which doesn't make you sound poor or dumb. (oh, and although I had access to a PC, I tested this just fine with a Mac running OS X Mavericks)
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Excellent splicer! Does exactly what it's supposed to!
By
Tim B.
on
December 26, 2015
Verified Purchase
A while ago I bought the splicer cable from Startech to use with my PS4 and Xbox One controllers. That splicer had serious issues with the microphone having a loose connection, causing it to cut out constantly and have very low volume. I finally did what I should have done in the first place and replace it with Sennheiser's version. I was hesitant at first due to it being 3x more expensive, but after the disappointment with Startech's I wish I had just ponied up the cash for this one. It works perfectly and does everything it should, and I would much rather pay $15 for a product that works than $5 for one that doesn't. It works great with PS4, Xbox One, PS Vita, and the smartphone and tablet I've tested it with. Do not waste your time or money with a cheaper adapter that is likely of dubious quality. When it comes to gaming, the last thing you want to be worrying about is whether or not your team can actually hear every word you speak into your mic.
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Great value for the 50 dollar range headsets
By
nightshade
on
November 26, 2016
Verified Purchase
FIrst off, this is a great value for the money, its hands-down a very solid headset. I have some audiophile headsets and high end wired and wireless headsets, so I have been running the Stinger's through some gaming and music to compare. I purchased these because we have the Cloud I's and the Cloud II's in our home and I have had them for several years and they still look like new, so I knew that it would be comfortable and the sound signature would be tuned fairly well. These are a little more bass heavy in a standard gaming setup w/o a amp or Astro mixamp. The lows are very good, mids are decent, and the highs are good. Basically, the 53mm drives from the Clouds have been placed in these as 50 mm drivers because the only thing i can tell on audible testing is that the mids are clearer on my Cloud II's for gaming and music. If you use a mixamp then that is when you will not be able to tell the difference between Cloud I's or II's. I use these with a mixamp TR and they are very comfortable. I have large ears and these completely cover them while also providing decent noise cancellation. Something of note here regarding the noise cancellation, it is passive and is not as good as the Cloud II's, but I feel that the Cloud I and the II clamp down a little hard on my head and the Stingers do not clamp down. The memory foam ear pads and the lightweight frame make this a headset you will hardly notice. The build quality seems very good and as for the mic, it works fine and I have had no issues for this week of use. I would sum it up as 50 bucks well spent if you are on a budget or just looking for a comfortable headset because the Stinger's are both of those.
Now a few drawbacks I see about the headset from my perspective. The mic stays attached the entire time, so that may be a negative to some. Also no built in mic monitoring that I can tell in my mic testing I have done so far. On XB1 you can setup mic monitoring within the accesories app with a newer controller model with a 3.5 mm jack and place it to an acceptable range. On PS4 testing it is pretty much no mic monitoring, but for 50 bucks I will say that everything all works with no glaring issues and again it is mixamp friendly which is super attractive. I would definitely take these over my A40 TR's just on the fact of comfort alone, not to mention the price. I hope that Kingston ultimately takes this exact Stinger build and makes it into a Stinger II with some higher level build quality and even wireless, that would be the best gaming headset around.
TLDR; The Stinger is a super comfy, mixamp friendly headset that sounds really close to its big brother the Cloud I and II's. Your going to be hard pressed to spend 50 bucks and find a better headset. I have compared many more expensive headsets to these and sound and comfort wise, these are right there with those headsets.
If my review of the Kingston HyperX Cloud Stinger has helped you make a decision about purchasing please give me a postive rating.
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