I am very impressed with this wireless headset. The following are my thoughts on it's various qualities:
Sound Quality:
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This is a set of decent drivers. I'd say it sounds just like the Sony MDR-V600 but slightly less clear and tight as the MDR-V6. It's a very good, clean sound with good range and good bass response. It's not luxurious though. You audiophiles know what I mean.
Stereo vs Virtual 7.1: Okay, yes, the 7.1 is NOT AT ALL like having a real 7.1 sound system. Forget that it's called 7.1. Just call it Virtual Surround Sound. It's really just a stereo expander and it remixes all the audio channels into a much wider and dynamic range. In Stereo, everything will feel really close together and in your head, but in Virtual 7.1, all the channels feel like they're spread out and distinct with the center channel standing out clearly and cleanly. It's very impressive. Don't get caught up in verifying if it's 7.1 or not, it makes a big difference in the experience.
One important thing to note is that the audio for these headsets is controlled by each game individually. If you think there's not much bass in these headsets, try another game. I played some games where there's too much bass and others with too little. You don't really get a choice, it's all mixed on the PS3 side and sent over digitally. Here are my thoughts on some games:
Uncharted 2: Very, very good sound. Tons of positional audio and ambient sounds like birds, water, and weather. Sounds excellent and has good bass.
Resistance 1: Works well but nothing spectacular. Feels very immersive but positional audio is not that good in this older game. Bass is decent.
GT5: Actually disappointed in this one. You really just hear your own car and that's it. Hard to notice any other sounds. However, the music get's an isolated channel making it stand out better. I like this. Gah, too much bass from the engines.
Shadow of the Colossus HD: Hrmmm, not that impressed with this one. There is some positional audio but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. There really isn't much positional audio to hear in this game. Intense bass in weird places, none in others.
Call of Duty: Black Ops: Actually, this game has pretty good sound overall. I only played single player but the sound was very cinematic and engaging. The positional audio was okay but it's difficult to tell what's going on when a hundred people are firing at the same time. Bass was very, very good.
PC Use: Works great in Windows 7. You can even tweak settings and enhancements like bass boost in the control panel. No driver installation either. Can play sound through multiple devices (headset and speakers for instance). Microphone sensitivity cannot be adjusted.
Mac Use: Works great as well but no audio settings, no adjustments.
**Hissing Sound**
I read in a few reviews that they could hear a hissing sound when there is no audio playing. I can confirm this. It's very quiet though. The weird part is that it's completely independent of the volume and mixer settings. It never gets louder or quieter; it's always at the same level. Investigating it more, I found that the microphone is always on and the hissing is likely coming from ambient noise being picked up and amplified. To test this, turn on your headset and rub the microphone hole with your finger. You'll hear the scraping amplified right into your ear.
At first I couldn't figure out what this was all about. The manual mentions nothing about this and I couldn't find a way to turn it off. After going through the device settings in PS3 however, I found that there is an anti-echo feature used to prevent the microphone from picking up your own voice on the TV. It's my theory that this feature is the cause of the hissing. What I can't figure out though is why you can hear the microphone input in the headset. Everyone complains that there is no mic monitoring, yet clearly it is doing it at some level. Is this some kind of noise canceling technique? Who knows?
Regardless, the hissing is very quiet and doesn't bother me in the slightest. Actually, "hissing" isn't the right word. It sounds like wind or a river. It's a lower pitch than a "hiss".
Comfort:
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Average comfort. It's nothing to complain about. Some minor pressure points and typical fatigue after extended use. Both sides slide up and down to size. Large ear cups envelope your ears and drivers are set at an angle so nothing presses against the ear. Nothing to complain about as far as comfort goes. They're quite light as well.
Build Quality:
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It's plastic and, well, It's probably as sturdy as the MDR-V600 headphones. My V600s have lasted 11 years so far. Nothing to complain about here. I don't plan on dropping them or anything. The telescoping microphone is "flimsy" but, again, I don't plan on dropping my earphones right on the extended mic. It's not really "flimsy" in the sense that it'll break easily, more just that it's very loosely fit together. Doesn't bother me.
Usability:
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Very, very easy to use and intuitive. I read some reviews where someone had to take off their headset to adjust the volume and mixer sliders. I don't understand that at all. They also said it was difficult to adjust the sliders. I don't know what the issue was, but I find it very easy to use. Take this scenario for instance: The sound comes on too loud and you clutch your headphones on either side, thumbs pointing behind you. Well, right where your left thumb rests on the headset is where the volume slider is. I find it very intuitive and instinctive to reach for my headset to rip them off, but instead quickly adjust the slider down.
To turn the headset off and on you simply press the outside panel on the left side for 1 second and it only takes 2 seconds to connect to the USB dongle. To mute, you click the same panel. To check the battery you click the panel 3 times quickly; the microphone light will blink to indicate its charge level. To switch between Stereo and Virtual 7.1, you hold down a small button for a couple seconds on top of the left-side panel.
It's all very easy to use. Heck, you just charge the headphones with a regular USB cable. Some people complain about the USB dongle being big. It really makes no difference to me. Some people complain about interference. Yes, if you have a lot of 2.4GHz wireless devices they can cause each other to drop off. I use 5GHz networking so there have been 0 problems for me. I can get 30ft away from mine easily before I start losing packets.
Final Thoughts:
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If I'm going to review a $100 wireless headset, I'm going to do so within that range. I'm not going to compare it to the best headphones in history and give it 1 star because it doesn't stack up. These have $60-80 sound quality and the rest you're paying for the wireless and other technologies in it. This thing gets 5 stars easily. It's the best wireless headset I've ever used. The battery life is amazing and the ease of use between PS3, PC, and Mac is so appreciated. It just works.
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