Creative World of Warcraft Wireless Headset Review @ [H]

krotch said:
I doubt driver support from Creative will change much at all. I've got a Zen X-Fi and Zen X-Fi 2. Only 1 firmware update and 1 software package update since either of them have been released. They work fine, but it would be nice to get some apps or better EQ features.
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sounds about right. My Audigy 2zs was brand new when I bought it, but I had serious issues with some games in Windows XP. Some sounds were partially played, popping and static, other sounds were just entirely left out. WoW would not play music at all. They blamed it on the PCI bandwidth, and never updated the drivers. The Audigy 4 came out, and they touted it as a better card, but it was the same chip and drivers without the SPDIF out.

Then they up and abandoned both cards when Vista came out.

They just generally piss me off these days.
 
00PS said:
As he stated, if there are more headphone reviews in the future, he's willing to listen to ideas for comparison or testing equipment. Its getting really anoying to watch nothing but thread bashing in the reviews lately. There is a difference between posting your opinion and being rude.
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Ya, I don't really get it either.

I can see posting suggestions for future reviews, asking for clarifications, or just asking for more of a certain type of review. But, the complete bashing of the review is kind of getting old really fast.
 
Great review. I have had an interest in these since I saw an ad for them, actually my 8 year old son flipped out when he saw the ad and wants to save up his allowance for them :) Hard to justify the overprice of them, IMO. But am I reading this correctly, that it is it's own dedicated hardware device? Kind of like an external X-FI? That would help to justify the price. Or do they use your onboard/system audio for processing?
 
I've been using the Audigy 2 ZS without any probs. Course I didn't buy it when it was brand new. I think I got it a year after it was released. I also didn't use WinXP (was on Win2k) until like 3 years after I bought it. But even with the Audigy 2 ZS, I've only seen like 2 driver updates since I've owned it. One for Vista and one for Win7. Maybe I came late enough into the game, where majority of problems were fixed.

Even if Creative did make a non-WoW version of these, I'd probably end up waiting a year before getting it. I must admit though, my X-Fi 2 is pretty solid. I bought it like 2 months after release and zero issues.
 
Standpoint said:
Great review. I have had an interest in these since I saw an ad for them, actually my 8 year old son flipped out when he saw the ad and wants to save up his allowance for them :) Hard to justify the overprice of them, IMO. But am I reading this correctly, that it is it's own dedicated hardware device? Kind of like an external X-FI? That would help to justify the price. Or do they use your onboard/system audio for processing?
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Yes, it is its own "sound card."
 
Wonderful. That really does help to justify the price, since you're kind of buying a headset and sound card together.
 
I did'nt see this mentioned yet but are the batteries in the headset user replaceable? I've been burned a couple of times in the past where when the batteries fail to start taking a complete charge there is no way to replace them so this would be useful to know for this headset and any other wireless ones you may review.

Also, another thing to suggest is to try the cans out with a wireless 2.4GHz router, or maybe even a cordless phone, to see if any interference is picked up by the cans or the other devices. It's a fairly common issue with wifi networks where there is some degradation due to too many devices in the same frequency band especially in Silicon Valley where everyone seems to have a 802.11g 2.4ghz router. :(

Lastly, do you know if there are any plans on reviewing the ROCCAT Kave or maybe the Sharkoon x-tatic 5.1 headsets? I've been eyeing them as a replacement for my aging and dying Barracuda cans but the reviews that are out there for them have not really covered them as in-depth as you did with these. With these being the only three 5.1 analog (read: one-to-one connection to 5.1 sound card) headsets I've seen I'd really like to see your take on them. ^_^
 
Any time I have ever had a set of wireless headphones on my head, you could throw sound quality right out the window. It is interesting to me that these don't suffer from the same problem. I just have one problem. It's with the way they look. Seems to me like they could have gone full extreme and made a damned Viking hat, or, they could have made them to where you can be seen with a pair on. They went right in the middle. You look like a complete fool wearing them and they don't even have any horns.:D

Of course they do look better than a few pair of audiophile headphones I can think of. Have you ever seen a pair of Jecklin Floats?

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CA8QsAQwAA
 
These are very tempting.
Does anyone know how they will add up against the Creative Fatality USB set?

Also, for reference, the Fatality set also sets itself up as its own audio card, as I think ANY USB headset does (I could be wrong). Does make switching easier, though I wish there was a simple toggle as opposed to having to open the sound setting every time...
 
Kett said:
First off ...

Being as I stayed up an extra 2.5 hours to write this, :rolleyes:: it's high time I try to catch some sleep to prepare for my next slog at work. Hopefully my sleep deprived brain did not miss anything and finished all it's thoughts. :)
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Wow. Nicely done. Next time, however, be more caustinc and critical for no reason. I thought it was a pre-requisite for offering suggestions for better tests around here, though I could be wrong. ;)
 
Just a nit-pick, but a frequency response range without a tolerance level is useless. You are going to get a response from 20Hz to-20kHz from any set of headphones, it may be at -5,-10, or even -100dB but there will be a response. I don't know if this is bad packaging (it is very common for the tolleranace to be left off the packaging) or oversight in including it in the article.
 
I don't want to continue the very long line of "Creative have terrible driver support and behave like a company in a near-monopoly position, a company able to sit on their thumbs and just churn out product after product", but do they know what people think of their driver support over the years, are they working on it?

M-Audio listened to the backlash from their poor Vista and x64 support and had Win7 drivers ready for most of their equipment before it even went gold, as an example.
 
Kyle, can you find out how many speakers are actually in this thing? $150 for an actual surround headset with distinct front/rear/bass speakers in each ear is much more of interest to me than "surround" headsets that are just left/right stereo. And the fact that I can't find an explanation in Creative's website about how many speakers it has leads me to suspect that it's not real surround.
 
I have been using the previous Creative wireless headset for a year or so and these seem to be a marginal improvement.

This review states around the same battery life that I would get, in the 7 hour range. The problem is, I would have 16 hour gaming sessions and have dead headphones and mic less than half way through. While they did improve the charging cable on these so you can play and charge at the same time, this defeates the purpose of wireless.

The other thing is that the previous pair had a strong wireless signal. While it did allow me to go through most of my house with no or minimal distortion, this strong signal interferes heavily with weaker wireless signals like a keyboard and mouse.

The new ones have a removable mic which also seems like a nice feature, but I am guess it will short out if constantly removed.
 
Well, wireless only works for so long! Can't expect them to make a dark matter battery! At least not yet...
 
I think a lot of people are disgrunted because of the WoW branding.

They're shrouding their hatred of that game with these headphones.

At least thats what I'm seeing come through in the comments.

Serioiusly these may be wonderful, they may be crap. But really, how do you
review a set of headphones in a sensible manner? You judge sound quality based
on what your ears tell you.

Headphones do not have things available for them like large scale A/V magazines use
to judge their speakers. At least nothing I have seen does. So every headphone review
is going to be subjective based on the listener / reviewers personal experiences.

Different sound cards = different experience from the same headphones. I've tried my
Sennheisers on onboard and Creative X-Fi cards. The sound difference is tremendous
going from onboard to the X-Fi. Its clearer, louder, and more pronounced. But then again I'm damn near probably 60-70% deaf so my experiences WILL differ compared to someone that has much better hearing than I do.

The best decision you can make on buying headphones is to not be the first to buy them IMO. You really should let the market play out more if you don't want to take one reviewers opinions on them, and wait for more exposure and experiences to leak out.

I don't think the review was bad. Could it have been better? Maybe, but how I don't know, and I can't throw suggestions out there as to how. Because again, there's nothing out there built to gage audio frequency response in headphones that I've seen, or that anyone not dedicated to just these types of things would invest in.

Besides, lets be honest, we're not talking some $80,000 pair of Logan's. We're talking about a wireless headset for PC Gaming. Realism was thrown out the window when you fired up your Orc Warlock for the evening ;)
 
One thing to point out (unless I missed it), is that there is a WIRED version of this headset. I actually got mine before they were generally available (Amazon pre-order). I took them to my audiophile brother-in-law and he compared them favorably to his wired cans.

I was very surprised at how well they sounded and how comfortably they fit. I have a large head (can't wear those wrap-behind earphones) and only have to go up one notch on the extensions. The novelty of the light up cans is just that, a novelty, but it does let loose your inner-geek.

As to jamesrb who is complaining that these wouldn't last a 16-hour session, what else would you use? Are there headphones out there right now that last that long? If you are using wired, you already invalidate your argument due to the fact that these can become wired and serve is the same functionality space. Plus, you would have wireless for at least half of your marathon session. You could always plug it in during your down times or during breaks.

Keith
 
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stiltner said:
Different sound cards = different experience from the same headphones. I've tried my
Sennheisers on onboard and Creative X-Fi cards. The sound difference is tremendous
going from onboard to the X-Fi. Its clearer, louder, and more pronounced. But then again I'm damn near probably 60-70% deaf so my experiences WILL differ compared to someone that has much better hearing than I do.
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These have their own "sound card", so it's always apples to apples. But a better point would be that each person hears differently. Also, it's fun when they put up coat-hanger wire up against high dollar speaker cable in a double-blind and the "audiophiles" can't tell the difference.

Keith
 
This is one thing that I think everybody will like:

This headset will sound the same on every single system it is played on. YOUR sound card is not the factor here.

I feel it is important also to reiterate that I listed I was four feet from my wireless router when using these and I had ZERO problems. This is my result.

Earl Keim
 
My take:

Attempting to "review" the sound characteristics of headphones is largely infeasible due to the fact that you can't adhere to any kind of blind or semi-blind testing methodology. It's doable with sound cards, speakers, amps and so forth, but headphones are certainly the exception. And even so, I wouldn't expect for a gaming hardware site to engage in blind testing of audio products. Thus, I'd say the evaluation hit all the right marks. More than the sound of audio products in this price range are the more tangible aspects: is the packaging good? Are they comfortable? Are they sturdy? Do they function as advertised? Are they a good value? The review covered everything and didn't get too specific about the audio performance — either readers place a certain level of faith in the evaluator or they don't and they take from subjective impressions what they choose, so there's no sense in going into great depth about subjective impressions.

If we were talking about a sound card, I'd be left unsatisfied. But for a headset, the review stands up well. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a pair, but that's neither here nor there.
 
Kyle, Earl, great review. ONe question, did you get any kind of reflection from the glowing ear-parts in your screen, or are they largely shielded?
Also, have either of you used previous Creative headsets? I have the Fatality branded ones and like them, and am wondering how they compare...
 
So here's a question for you: Are the analogue or digital? By that I mean are there DACs in the headphones themselves, and the wireless is a digital signal, or are the DACs in the computer, and the transmission is analogue?
 
Creative has constantly caught a lot of crap on the [H] audio sub-forum, mostly due to crappy drivers and their tactics to protect their intellectual property (stopping third party driver hacks). While I agree that their driver development efforts could use some massive improvement I absolutely despise the little twits who chastise them just for protecting their IP.

Now that that's out of the way I am really excited to see this review from [H] and find that it's a glowing review at that. Creative's headphone line-up ranges from absolute crap to rare gems like these. I've also got a Creative Fatal1ty Pro headset that sounds glorious and has the best mic I've ever used on a headset period. (Not to be confused with the regular Creative Fatal1ty headset which is complete crap). The unit used in this review sounds like a worthy upgrade and I am seriously considering purchasing one now as the only thing I hate about my current headset is the friggin' annoying wires.
 
Good review, what makes them tempting to me is the fact that they have a built in sound card, instead of running of my intergrated realtek on the MB.

Current speakers are 15 buck throw away midilands, so I need some higher quality speakers. Although the built in sound card would mean I can't move it to the xbos though.
 
Modred189 said:
Kyle, Earl, great review. ONe question, did you get any kind of reflection from the glowing ear-parts in your screen, or are they largely shielded?
Also, have either of you used previous Creative headsets? I have the Fatality branded ones and like them, and am wondering how they compare...
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The lights were of no issue when using them. In fact you are the only one that cannot see them. :) And you can turn them off completely, but at no time did I see a reflection on my screen. I did not even think of that till you mentioned it here, but the lights are fairly far recessed into the cups.
 
Sycraft said:
So here's a question for you: Are the analogue or digital? By that I mean are there DACs in the headphones themselves, and the wireless is a digital signal, or are the DACs in the computer, and the transmission is analogue?
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All digital to my knowledge. I never heard ANY static of any kind. I was actually surprised how clear they were when I first put them on. I have a $100+ pair of wireless Sony's on my TV that are TOTAL SHIT compared to these.
 
I wanted to say too, that I underestimated this headset from the start, and I was very shocked at how very much I liked them. I have been given wireless headsets many times and I could hear more static with them than I could good clean sound.

I never heard static, ever. The microwave? Yes. I did that on purpose. Wireless router (Dlink DIR 655) never even hitched. My wife walked all over the house with her Dell laptop and had no issues streaming videos, etc, while I was playing music and games.

When I did the movie and music testing, I was just hoping.........hoping they could eke out a tolerable sound. When I heard the actual playback, I was really pleased how versatile they were! The box says WoW headset for gaming so everything else was a bonus. If these said, "Concert series, 3d game audio heaven, and reunite yourself and shake the hand of Jimi Hendrix" then I would have been let down. The pre-recorded sounds for games to me, are very different from say, a live recording of a symphony, or a "gold master 24k" CD. Then I would have been busting out the wired, Audiophile headphones.
 
phide said:
Attempting to "review" the sound characteristics of headphones is largely infeasible due to the fact that you can't adhere to any kind of blind or semi-blind testing methodology.
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The problem is that what "sounds good" is different to each person. How do you review to a moving standard? Short of putting microphones in a foam head and saying, "Power output is X, measured frequency response and stereo separation is Y," it'll all be opinion.

When I look at audio reviews, I look at construction, price, and features, because everything else is opinion.

Don't even get me started on the term "Audiophile." Unless the frequency response of your ear is perfectly flat from 20hz-20khz, your experience is also opinion.
 
Kyle/Earl: I found this review very insightful and really look forward to your next review on gaming headsets.

I actually really appreciate that you guys are not crazy audiophiles because if I read a review from a site that was used to $300 audiophile headphones saying the music quality on this gamer headset was relatively crap then it wouldn't mean anything to me. I'm a gamer and that's what I would be using a gaming headset for primarily, I would also use it for watching movies/shows and listening to music on occasion just as your experience was. I really think the way you guys use the headsets was the same way that the vast majority of gamers and [H]ardforum users would also use them.

I had no idea about the alchemy system among other things in the review that were very insightful.

I think something that would be helpful in comparisons with future products would be to include some specific audio situations to compare. For example if there is a benchmark that showed a lot of ambient sounds the WoW headset picked up that weren't present on a standard $20-30 headset then I would like to know if future compared models play the same sounds in the same way.

Also I know a lot of FPS gamers would really appreciate a comparison of how clearly footsteps come through and the overall positional awareness of the headset if that makes any sense.

Kyle: Now that I think about it I think my wired headset has to be the single most annoying aspect of my computer setup. I generally hate wireless (wireless internet, wireless mice and KB's) because of latency, connection issues, and battery usage, but it sounds like this wireless headset doesn't really have those problems and I wouldn't have to curse as I ran over the headset cord with my chair as I do several times a week.

Creative reps: If you are reading this please consider offering a version of this headset that does not include the WoW branding and also does not have the lights going on. Now that the quality of these headsets is getting out there it really makes sense to offer a version with "same quality, minus the frills". I expect without the WoW branding and fancy lights you'd be able to knock off $30-40 which would make it a very attractive product. I realize there are likely issues with you not stealing sales from the WoW version, but as you can see in this thread there's a real market for a nice wireless gaming headset in the $100ish range.

I'm going to be keeping a close eye on any sales for this headset and look forward to future gaming headset reviews from [H]ardOCP. A new headset was always in the back of my mind but this review reminded me how much a headset can truly add to the immersion for gaming and that my current cheap set isn't cutting it... on top of being very uncomfortable after about an hour of gaming.
 
All other comments aside, the deal-breaker for me is a non-replaceable battery.
I can't see paying this much without being able to replace the battery, even if that involved sending them back to Creative.
 
dropper said:
As to jamesrb who is complaining that these wouldn't last a 16-hour session, what else would you use? Are there headphones out there right now that last that long? If you are using wired, you already invalidate your argument due to the fact that these can become wired and serve is the same functionality space. Plus, you would have wireless for at least half of your marathon session. You could always plug it in during your down times or during breaks.
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I'm not saying there is a better wireless alternative, but at the same time someone who has [H] gaming sessions would not find these to be nearly as great as someone who plays a couple hours at a time.

As these age over a couple of years, the battery life on the lithium battery is going ot get shorter and shorter. Eventually, they will be reduced to wired-only mode due to the battery.

For the price, I expected these to be a much better improvement over the $80 wireless headset from the same company. Unfortunately, it seems to be only a marginal improvement. They seem to be a poor value compare to many other wired headsets, and only fair better in wireless because there isn't much to choose from.
 
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EarlKeim said:
I wanted to say too, that I underestimated this headset from the start, and I was very shocked at how very much I liked them. I have been given wireless headsets many times and I could hear more static with them than I could good clean sound.

I never heard static, ever. The microwave? Yes. I did that on purpose. Wireless router (Dlink DIR 655) never even hitched. My wife walked all over the house with her Dell laptop and had no issues streaming videos, etc, while I was playing music and games.
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Did you try this with weaker signaled wireless devices like a wireless keyboard and mouse? Wi-fi is typically a much stronger signal and better antennas than other things. With the other things, it isn't the headphones picking up the interference, but the weaker devices.


Also, you stated you used EQ in the review. In future reviews, we need to know how much EQ was required to get an even frequency response. EQ can get virtually any headphones to the an approximate frequency response. The headphones requring more EQ are going to have more audio artifacts or distortion compared to headphones that require no EQ. Whether one person or another can hear the artifacts is another story though.
 
stiltner said:
I think a lot of people are disgrunted because of the WoW branding.

They're shrouding their hatred of that game with these headphones.
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Or some of us just want a headset without some kind of branding for a game we may/may not play.

If these headsets came in pink with Hello! Kitty all over it, would you think the same? How about in dark blue with fat men in g-strings? It's a headset and shouldn't need anything else on it.

synapsis said:
Don't even get me started on the term "Audiophile." Unless the frequency response of your ear is perfectly flat from 20hz-20khz, your experience is also opinion.
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I love audiophiles. I'll test them too. On their own equipment, I'll run a 128k mp3, 320k mp3, FLAC, and uncompressed wav. 30 seconds per file, randomized over 20 times. Not a single person has been able to even get 25% of them right.

As for actual hardware, yes. Their hardware definitely sounds better than mine. Hardly enough to justify the huge increase in price though.
 
i dont get out to many B&M stores. are there any places where you can try headsets on ? my issue is i cant have anything pushing my ears in or i just get headaches in 15 min. all my headsets at home i broke or cut in half at the top and put spacers in. i had a decent creative set but the cables where thin and the eventually broke but they where the perfect size and design for me. they just dont make them any more. i just hate tearing apart 100$ headsets to use them rigged up. also the pair i had, had cloth covered padding on the cans instead of rubber/plastic that makes you sweat.
 
Best Buy is pretty much the only place and they just have headphones, not headsets.
 
krotch said:
I love audiophiles. I'll test them too. On their own equipment, I'll run a 128k mp3, 320k mp3, FLAC, and uncompressed wav. 30 seconds per file, randomized over 20 times. Not a single person has been able to even get 25% of them right.
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why would you compare flac and wav? anyway i certainly can't tell the difference between a v2 or v0 or 320 or flac, but if you cant tell the difference between a 128 and the rest you've got some shitty ears and/or speakers
 
Some audiophiles believe there's a difference between uncompressed and lossless. They generally blame increased CPU usage associated with lossless decoding.
 
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