Review: Asus Strix 7.1 headset
I ended up returning my SteelSeries Arctis 7 headset because of their lack of a Windows 7.1 surround sound (virtual) driver. Which they admitted their driver is currently broken. But I will say that I also didn't notice any improvement using the Windows or Dolby virtual 7.1 surround sound drivers with the headset either... so something is seriously wrong with them (the wireless worked great though, and they did sound great for 2.0 sound.)
I decided to give the Asus… See More
Strix 7.1 headset a shot. And wow, what a difference!!! Granted, this headset has true 7.1 surround sound (not virtual) with 5 speakers in each ear piece. So it has that advantage, plus it costs about $50 more. The big minus is that this is a wired headset, and man is that driving me nuts. I haven't quite figured out the best spot to place the main controller that they headset plugs into yet that keeps the wire out of my way yet, but I have a couple ideas I need to try.
FYI, a cool feature about this headset is that there is no software, other than a USB driver. All adjustments are made via a hardware control switch (which uses 2 USB ports). These adjustments include adjusting the audio for the front, side, and rear sound levels, plus whether or not the headset lights pulse or not, bass, and mic levels. It works great for adjustments. My big gripe is that it should light up which setting you are switched to (or all be lit up all the time), meanwhile, it lights up on a 1-15 scale for everything else. Because it isn't lit up, I end up having to turn a light on to see the controller in order to switch to what I want to adjust. Granted, over time, I imagine this won't be an issue.
My other big gripe about this headset is that while it does include a 4-wire connector to hook up to your speakers so you can switch between speakers (including 5.1 or better) and headsets with a push of a button, the sound via the speakers sounds like compared to how they sound via my Asus Xonar DX sound card. It doesn't give any surround sound via the speakers... you are back to 2.0 sound. So I ended up plugging them back into the sound card and now it takes a two clicks of the mouse to switch between speakers and the headset... which really isn't that big of a deal at all. I just hate paying for "new" feature that actually is worse than a sound card I bought 6 years ago.
I haven't tested the mic out yet, but supposedly it is one of the best for filtering out background noise of keyboard clicks and such. It's cool in the fact that you can completely detach it when not in use.
BTW, they are so comfortable, that I even forgot I had them on while I typed this. So, while I thought the Arctis 7 was really comfortable, I would say that these are even better.
Overall, I am highly impressed with sound of this headset and I think that they are well worth the money... especially if you are a FPS player and rely on surround sound to know which direction you are getting attacked from.
Are you using MaxedTech UniXonar drivers on that Xonar DX?
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Never had good audio equipment, so I am not sure how much difference I would notice.
Though an option using less software would be welcome.
Seen mixed opinions on surround, both virtual and physical.
Some people prefer virtual, and some do not, and some do not like it at all in either form.
Minimal experience myself, so wouldn't know.
Virtual on my current headset when enabled just sounds really odd, and echoey but I have not made any effort to resolve that, just falling back to stereo which I am used… See More
to.
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Thanks for the review
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