Creative World of Warcraft Wireless Headset Review @ [H]

Sure thing. I hope you have better luck with it than I did. I used it, and only it, on a fresh Windows 7 install and the WoW log would say that Hardware Acceleration was not enabled until I would set it up with XP SP2 compatibility mode. Then the dsoundlog would report software emulation.

When using the Fatal1ty Titanium and a fresh Windows 7 install the WoW log would say that Hardware Acceleration was again, not working. Setting up the compatibility mode fixed that and dsoundlog said the following:

Logging Time : 9/7/2010 at 11:35:14

Loaded D:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\dsound.ini


Using Native OpenAL Renderer
Click to expand...

If memory serves me correctly, you said you also had a Titanium no? Give that a shot and enable both THX Surround and CMSS-3D. Even with my meek RX700's, the surround produced on the Titanium are worlds better than the USB Headset - which makes me think this review was a bit... embellished.

My dilemma was that I have a mATX motherboard with a 4890 GPU and a Fatal1ty soundcard. I wanted to get rid of both of them so I could Crossfire 2 new cards and thought this would make for a great compromise. The review certainly made it seem like it was going to be the perfect sidegrade and not the downgrade it actually was.

I purchased 2 of these Headsets from Amazon after reading how the Mic is pretty crap (which was not mentioned in the review) hoping that at least one would work. Guess what! They were BOTH really horrible when it came to Skype and Ventrilo. I really should have read the reviews on Amazon or at least visited the Creative forums before I made the purchase. Both are being returned tomorrow. No Hardware Acceleration, no working Mic... no thank you.

:(

[edit]

Here are my log files in case you want to compare it to the USB Headset.

SESOUND file



7/9 11:35:14.104 => Version 3.3.5 (12340) Jun 24 2010
7/9 11:35:14.104
7/9 11:35:14.104 => Setting up Game Sound:
7/9 11:35:14.104 - SESound Engine Init
7/9 11:35:14.104 - FMOD Memory Init
7/9 11:35:14.104 - FMOD System Create
7/9 11:35:14.728 - FMOD version 00040907 detected
7/9 11:35:14.728 - Hardware is ENABLED
7/9 11:35:14.728 - Reverb is ENABLED
7/9 11:35:14.728 - 2 Output drivers detected
7/9 11:35:14.728 --- [0] System Default
7/9 11:35:14.728 --- [1] Speakers (Creative SB X-Fi)
7/9 11:35:14.728 - Using [1] Speakers (Creative SB X-Fi) for Game Output
7/9 11:35:14.728 - 64 Channels Requested.
7/9 11:35:14.728 - Querying Sound Driver for Available Hardware Channels.
7/9 11:35:14.764 - Sound Driver Reports: 118 Hardware Channels Available.
7/9 11:35:14.770 - Using 64 channels.
7/9 11:35:14.770 - DSPBufferSize = AUTO DETECT
7/9 11:35:14.770 - Detected Control Panel Speaker Mode = 5.1
7/9 11:35:14.770 - Setting WoW Speaker Mode to 5.1
7/9 11:35:14.770 - FMOD System Init OK!
7/9 11:35:14.770 => Game Sound is ready.
7/9 11:35:14.770
7/9 11:35:14.770 => User Settings Report:
7/9 11:35:14.770 - ========= PLAYBACK =========
7/9 11:35:14.770 - Enable All Sound [1]
7/9 11:35:14.770 - Enable SFX [1]
7/9 11:35:14.770 --- Enable Error Speech [0]
7/9 11:35:14.770 --- Enable Emote Sounds [1]
7/9 11:35:14.770 - Enable Music [1]
7/9 11:35:14.770 --- Loop Music [0]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Enable Ambient Sounds [1]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Sound at Character [1]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Sound in Background [1]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Enable Reverb [1]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Enable Software HRTF [0]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Sound Quality [2]
7/9 11:35:14.783 -
7/9 11:35:14.783 - ========== VOLUME ==========
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Master Volume [1.00]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - SFX Volume [1.00]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Music Volume [0.40]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Ambience Volume [0.60]
7/9 11:35:14.783 -
7/9 11:35:14.783 - =========== MISC ===========
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Sound Channels [64]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Use Hardware [1]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Mix Mode 2 [0]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - DSP Buffer Size [AUTO]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Armor Foley SFX (Self) [1]
7/9 11:35:14.783 - Armor Foley SFX (Others) [1]
7/9 11:35:14.783 => End of User Settings Report
Click to expand...

DSOUNDLOG file



Logging Time : 9/7/2010 at 11:35:14

Loaded D:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\dsound.ini


Using Native OpenAL Renderer
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I would like to test things myself, but as far as an embellished review? No. That will not happen. If you doubt my veracity, then you do not need me spending my time trying to predict what you may or may not be doing wrong.
 
This set was created for Warcraft gamers, was it not? With that said, the majority of WoW players use Ventrilo while playing and had you done the same you would have picked up on the poor Microphone.

Again, reading your post above, it would seem you do not even play this game - rather using the 10 day free trials no? This tells me that you did not try using the Titanium to compare the Headset with. Believe me when I say that the review would not have been as favorable as it was had you done so. I will leave you to test these things on your own but trust your results will be no different than my own.





Here are a few links I would like you to go over, when you have a spare moment.

http://forums.creative.com/t5/Headphones-Headsets/bd-p/headphones

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

http://connect.creativelabs.com/alchemy/ALchemy FAQ/Home.aspx (read quote below)

#
For World Of Warcraft only ... the game defaults to using the WASAPI audio system and must be configured to use DirectSound3D. To do this, right-click on the game executable (or a short-cut to the executable), select Properties then the Configuration tab, and under "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" choose Windows XP (Service Pack 2).
Click to expand...





As far as me wasting your time goes... well I would think that if you made a mistake that you would want to go back and correct it. As I said before, I purchased this headset based on YOUR review where it was said it had excellent sound and Hardware Acceleration. I am just pointing out that when compared to the sound card you had installed, the sound is not nearly as good (and I understand this is subjective) , the Mic quality is piss poor and that this headset does not have Hardware Acceleration.
 
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7/13 12:25:45.291 => Setting up Game Sound:
7/13 12:25:45.291 - SESound Engine Init
7/13 12:25:45.291 - FMOD Memory Init
7/13 12:25:45.291 - FMOD System Create
7/13 12:25:46.886 - FMOD version 00040907 detected
7/13 12:25:46.886 - Hardware is ENABLED
7/13 12:25:46.886 - Reverb is ENABLED
7/13 12:25:46.886 - 2 Output drivers detected
7/13 12:25:46.886 --- [0] System Default
7/13 12:25:46.886 --- [1] Headset (2- Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Wireless Headset)
7/13 12:25:46.886 - Using [1] Headset (2- Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Wireless Headset) for Game Output
7/13 12:25:46.886 - 64 Channels Requested.
7/13 12:25:46.886 - Querying Sound Driver for Available Hardware Channels.
7/13 12:25:48.620 - Sound Driver Reports: 65 Hardware Channels Available.
7/13 12:25:48.620 - Using 64 channels.
7/13 12:25:50.369 - DSPBufferSize = AUTO DETECT
7/13 12:25:50.369 - Detected Control Panel Speaker Mode = STEREO
7/13 12:25:50.369 - Setting WoW Speaker Mode to STEREO
7/13 12:25:52.196 - FMOD System Init OK!
7/13 12:25:52.196 => Game Sound is ready.
7/13 12:25:52.196
7/13 12:25:52.196 => User Settings Report:
7/13 12:25:52.199 - ========= PLAYBACK =========
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Enable All Sound [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Enable SFX [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 --- Enable Error Speech [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 --- Enable Emote Sounds [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Enable Music [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 --- Loop Music [0]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Enable Ambient Sounds [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Sound at Character [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Sound in Background [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Enable Reverb [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Enable Software HRTF [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Sound Quality [2]
7/13 12:25:52.199 -
7/13 12:25:52.199 - ========== VOLUME ==========
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Master Volume [1.00]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - SFX Volume [1.00]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Music Volume [0.40]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Ambience Volume [0.60]
7/13 12:25:52.199 -
7/13 12:25:52.199 - =========== MISC ===========
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Sound Channels [64]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Use Hardware [1]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Mix Mode 2 [0]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - DSP Buffer Size [AUTO]
7/13 12:25:52.199 - Armor Foley SFX (Self) [1]
7/13 12:25:52.214 - Armor Foley SFX (Others) [1]
7/13 12:25:52.214 => End of User Settings Report
7/13 12:26:10.527
7/13 12:26:10.527 => Shutting Down Game Sound
7/13 12:26:10.710 => Done Shutting Down Game Sound

This was achieved by adding Warcraft to Alchemy as specified by Creative Labs, and for the demo here is what I used for my Alchemy settings.....
For game path:
C:\WowTrial\World of Warcraft Trial\

and then I moved WowTrial over to the Alchemy enabled games list.

Worked like a charm and I consider this matter settled.

Cheers
 
I bought this while I wait on my HS1 to come back from RMA and I'm having nothing but problems :( Even just listening to MP3s are full of static and stuttering not to mention I have to totally restart every hour or so because the headset can't be found by windows anymore.
 
I got to use these for about 2 weeks before they snapped at the earcup. no pivot there was a stupid idea.

their customer service has asked me for pics, i sent them, got nothing but silence in response. ive been busy the last several months so i havent had time to deal with it.

regardless, im done with creative labs over it.
 
I bought a pair of the non wireless version.. and they are shit. Totally crappy headphones. I think they spent more on software and lighting then the actual speaker components.
 
Ruoh said:
I bought a pair of the non wireless version.. and they are shit. Totally crappy headphones. I think they spent more on software and lighting then the actual speaker components.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree with this post. Would not recommend these to anyone who pulls apart headphones (to any degree) to put them on their head. Which is pretty much everyone. I am not in the mood to RMA for a second time. These snapped like a twig. Happened on both sides. Took zero effort, I wanted them to last and was severely disappointed. Was able to Super Glue one side all the way inside and just tilt the headphones. 3 days later, the other side snapped. Was being VERY careful. I assume the plastic design is on the wireless and wired models. I had the wired model.


 
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