SteelSeries 5xB Headset

Ordered one of these on friday...



Lots of good reviews on them, and since there's a lot of stuff I need/want to buy this summer, I decided I couldn't afford the Astro's. Plus, i'm fairly sure the mic on my current 360 is fucked. For it to pick up ANYTHING it has to be extremely close, which is annoying as it generally catches my facial hair.

I like the fact that they have a mixamp as it means I always have the option to use any PC headset with it, or I could always use my Sennheisers and a separate mic. Speaking of which, the mic placement on these is WIN.

I'll post up a mini-review of my own once they've arrived.

Edit, the cheaper 4xB (the white ones in the intro) headset is also, apparently, pretty awesome. So, could be a good budget choice. Especially if you want a headset for PC gaming as well.

Looks cool, I will definitely check these out.

I went to their site and they are about to release a wireless version... the spectrum 7xB
http://steelseries.com/us/products/audio/steelseries-spectrum-7xb


Looks like the 5xB is $89.99
http://shop.steelseries.com/us/index.php/audio-us/steelseries-spectrum-5xb.html

and 4xB is $59.99
http://shop.steelseries.com/us/index.php/audio-us/steelseries-spectrum-4xb.html

I was really wanting some Astros, but I may go with the 5xB or wait for the wireless 7xB

According to a press release I found that was released last Jan @ CES the 7xb (wireless) is due to be out Q2... anytime now... and will be $149.99
http://steelseries.com/blog/press/steelseries-announces-the-spectrum-7xb-wireless-headset-for-xbox-360-gamers

Yeah, I saw those one the site and they have some a few cool new things, like a sound presets, one for hardcore gaming, one for general gaming, one for movies, etc.

The thing with the wireless ones (I assume), is that you can't really upgrade the headset part like you can with the wired versions of SteelSeries and Astros. Which, for me is a pretty big thing as ultimately, i'd like to end up with some premium 7.1 (or virtual 7.1) headphones and maybe a separate mic that can clip to my collar or wherever...and probably upgrade to an Astro mixamp...depending on if SS or anyone have a closer competitor at the time.

So glad that SS are producing console headsets now. They're a massive e-sports company and it's about time we had more alternatives in this price bracket instead of the Turtle Beach and the Trittons.

Very nice price points also. I may have to check in to getting the 5xbs

Very good! I love the fact that he truly understands how the gamer "thinks" and created the headphones accordingly.

Yeah, he's a great brand ambassador. Had I not already spent hours picking out a new keyboard before deciding to get a new headset too, I probably would've chosen a SS one.

On an partially related note, the new KB and headset mark the completion of my PC gamer hardware investment. I'm now ready to pwn with -

Razer Imperator Mouse
Razer Sphex Gaming Surface
Cherry Stream XT Keyboard (not mechanical though as I prefer the fast response and low profile of Scissor-Switch)
SteelSeries 5xB Headset

I'm aiming to go pro in solitaire.

Nice, I like the Imperator. I think my next mouse is going to be from the Cyborg RAT series.

I have been looking at headsets for a while now. Gonna have to check these out and compare. I am really leaning towards the Astro A40 with wireless 5.8 mixamp right now. Of course they are expensive but they also seem to be the best and most versatile on the market. Either way, I will hopefully getting a pair before the end of the year.

EDIT: Are the 7xB's 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound?

I don't think they're either, just virtual, though I hear they're excellent for locating your enemies direction via sound. This thing is developed as a pure gaming headset (hence the livemix & location of the volume balances on the controller, rather than an inline solution) and whilst i'm sure they're great for other stuff too (especially the 7xB), i'm not sure how they'll compare to the Astro's for versatility.

Yeah, the 5.8 mixamp looks sweet. I'd grab that. Then down the line you can grab a real audiophile earphone/mic combo...or even just the earphones for movies/music and single player. Nice set of Sennheiser or Bose, perhaps....

AtrumX wrote:Nice, I like the Imperator. I think my next mouse is going to be from the Cyborg RAT series.

I like that you can customise those to fit your hand but they're just too 'nobbly' for me and i'd be worried about the fastenings become loose over usage.

Still shopping headsets too - gotta have wireless so I'm checking out the 7xB. TY for posting this.

http://steelseries.com/products/audio/steelseries-spectrum-7xb

There's the product page for the 7xB, they look like they'll put the Turtle Beach's to shame....which isn't hard. They just have to last longer than a week, lol.

hey hey hey. I love my X11s very much, and they have served me faithfully for 6 months.

they look sweet, but IMO it looks like it's enhanced stereo sound, nowhere on the product page does it say dolby, or 5.1 or 7.1, but hey I can't say that the 7.1 in my x41 is that great and they crackle alot

S7 Epic wrote:http://steelseries.com/products/audio/steelseries-spectrum-7xb

There's the product page for the 7xB, they look like they'll put the Turtle Beach's to shame....which isn't hard. They just have to last longer than a week, lol.

Still doesn't say if it's 5.1 or 7.1!?!? WTF? Are they Stereo? Other than that, I like the look of these a lot better than the Turtle Beach X41's which are their main competitors. Just gotta find out what kind of surround sound they produce.

But I still don't like them better than the Wireless A40's setup. I like the versatility of the A40 + Wireless MixAmp. I can upgrade individual parts later as new product become available and even use non-Astro products. For instance, did you know that the Wireless MixAmp 5.8 will work with any existing headphones? That's right, it will turn any headset into a wireless headset. Pretty slick and you just don't get that with the other setups on the market. Much more versatile.

Yeah, I put that in my post after looking at the 5.8 mixamp. Personally, I thing SS are missing a trick by not following suit. They're shown with their mixamp for the 4/5xB that they have the tech to do it.

In regards to the #xB series, they're all virtual surround but it's apparently better than most actual 5.1's. They can be 5.1 but you need a dolby mixer, like the Astro Mixamp or the DSS one.

As I said, if you can afford them, i'd go for the Astro - but for those that can't, the SS provide an alternative and upgradable route to ending up with a great audio setup.

Yeah, sorry for my personal A40 rant in the 5xB thread. Just been looking at a ton of head sets. The 5xB and 7XB really look like nice headsets. And I may end up going with them if I can come up with the $$$ for the A40's. Kinda waiting till my B-Day or X-mas so I have some extra cash.

The Astro's would be (and originally, were) my choice but i've since developed the longing for two identical new PC monitors, plus I need to buy a few TB worth of HDDs too. And ever since that Capture Card thread, i've kinda been wanting the HD PVR too....lol. Good job I have a birthday coming up.

Oh yeah, and i've decided to mod my desk to hide my PC and HDD array in. So, I can see that being a bit of a cash-sink too.

Funny how priorities can shift. Frankly it happens to me all the time too.

Don't forget to pick up some gunnar gaming series glasses. I tried some out last week and never realized how much staring at a computer screen 12+ hours daily made my head hurt.

Do they really do all that much? I spend a lot of time at the screen, working, ouring through code and such. So i'm all for a bit of eye protection but i'm a bit dubious about them.

Yeah I made fun of them since one of the guys that I work with/play sc2 with has them. He had me borrow them and my eyes felt better at the end of the day.
I think they'd be useful for the days where my head hurts early on.

"Still doesn't say if it's 5.1 or 7.1!?!? WTF? "



so?

Well, the headset came today.

Great build quality on it. This thing feels rock solid. The mix-amp part doesn't quite match the build quality of the headset but i'm fairly confident it would be ok if I accidentally stood on it. When attached to the controller, it feels very secure and I can assure you that it won't pop out accidentally. The buttons are all easily reachable and easy to change on the fly.

I haven't tried out the LiveMix feature but I hear it's great for everything other than CoD.

The retractable Mic is great. Very handy and once again, feels solid. In terms of recording quality, having tested it on my Mac, it's actually really good and i'd be more than happy to record voiceovers and stuff like that with it.

I've not spoken to anyone on Live yet, so i'm not sure how it sounds on there but I guess we'll find out on Thursday.

Boy, is this thing comfy! It's light, cool and fits great. The ear cups don't feel too tight and if I shake my head theres a bit of movement around the ears (probably due to the amount of space) but it never even feels close to coming off.

The sound quality is great. Bass is good, not as deep as TBs or Trittons but the mids/highs are where the headset shines. In CoD I could hear the enemies footsteps very easily as well as grenade pin pulling and the subsequent bounces.

In general, i'm hearing sounds i've never heard before. I tested them with F1 2010 which has amazing sounds as it is, but with these I really got a new experience, the engine sounds reverberating off of the barriers as you race by an inch away from them at 200mph.

The virtual surround is great, locating enemies from direction becomes very instinctive. It's better than quite a few 5.1 headsets i've used.

I've just been listening to some music with them and they sounded great with some Daft Punk, Led Zep, The Platters, Bob Dylan, Jay-Z, Pendulum....so pretty much across all genres, they're great. Also, they work well at loud volumes without any noticeable distortion.

In regards to movies, I watched a copy of Tron (light bike scene) and....ohhhhh. Wow. I can only imagine how awesome it'll be when I use them to watch a blu-ray or tbh, even a DVD.

I will however point out, that the music and film was listened to/watched on my Macbook Pro sans mixamp. I'm not sure if this makes a difference.

So yeah, overall. I'm VERY happy with them. They cost me £60, which I guess is about $99 USD but I imagine they're less over there as we get raped with tax on tech stuff like this. These things are designed purely for gaming and they perform great in that department but i've been blown away by how well they perform the other tasks too. I'll definitely be using them for my music and probably for my guitar too, when i'm having a 'quiet' practice.

If I had to pick some cons, i'd say the length of the lead. It's double braided nylon, so it's ridiculously durable , but expensive, so I can see why they didn't make it longer but for those using the headset with their PC or direct into the TV instead of using the mixamp, it could be a problem...i've ordered two 5m extensions from ebay, which will cost a total of $5. It would only be a $1 more to get two 10m cables, etc.

Also, the mix-amp positioning could annoy some people. That said, it's much less obtrusive than I expected and it seemed to enhance the rumble on the gamepad, which was pretty cool. Kind of gave extra feedback. Not sure if that'll be much use in shooters but on F1 2010, in conjunction with the enhanced sound, it really helped me feel how much I could push the car. Those Apexes never knew what hit them...

- Epic