Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset Review - Quite possibly the coolest headset we have ever seen. This corded headset boasts some very unique technology in the 5.1 Surround Sound space and ever comes with its own amplifier. Not only does it look crazy, but the inventor makes some big claims as well as to what these will do for the computer gamer. Are these cans a "quantum leap in headphone technology" that are worth your cash?
 
Thanks [H] you just saved me $300 :|

I was really looking forward to this review, I had read one that said it was good in games, but sucked for movies and music, but it seems you guys were not happy with either :) made my choice easier.
 
I was awe struck until:

1. $300.00 (wouldn't mind as much until #2)
2.
Music
Where do I start? I will say with every part of me, that I absolutely hated every moment of music listening with this headset.
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I too will remain $300 richer.
 
Can't say I'm all that surprised. There's just not a real good way that I'm aware of to do surround sound on headphones using hardware (hardware meaning drivers and what not in the headphones). Pretty much the kind of thing that needs to be done via HRTF calculations and sent to normal phones. What we need is something that uses the IR camera from a Wiimote and tracks IR emitters on the phones to monitor head position, and change the HRTF calculations accordingly. That would yield a fairly realistic sound that'd work on any phones.

There are products out there that do head tracking for HRTF but they are like $3000 which is a bit much, even for a [H] type.
 
I spent about $50 on TekNmotion pulsewave 5.1 surround ehadphones. they soudn great but get uncomfortable after long periods of use. Music, movies, and games sound good on them.:D There are many other surround sound ehadphones ont he m,market including oens from Razer, Alienware, Zalman and the WoW headset of course. And they all cost between $100-$200. Great Review! We need a surround head-phone round up. And how abotu a review on AMD's new CPU's?
 
I could have told you that.

Step one for buying head phones: Do you see "5.1" anywhere in the title or description? If so walk away.

The idea 5.1 audio is necessary or desirable in a headphones is absurd, and it's always a gimmick. Anyone who has listened to a stereophonic recording knows that headphones are capable of far better positional audio than any speaker system. I mean, we don't need five ears to hear in surround, do we?
 
Even if they had worked exactly as marketed, for $300, I'd expect them to step out of the box singing and dancing and be able to send them to the fridge to get me a beer when I take a break.
 
I was excited for these headsets. Needless to say, I'm not anymore.
 
I was hoping they'd be good but kinda expected this outcome. Oh well, money saved in the pocket.
 
I'd like to see some kind of ATH-AD700 vs. Senn HD590/595 review. :cool:

I had a pair of those 5.1 Zalman headphones back in the day. They were decent, but nothing compared to the sound quality of a good pair of stereo headphones. Also, they were really heavy. :(
 
I'm pretty happy with my Plantronics Gamecomm 777 headseat for WoW but I've been really looking for a good music set. I think these AudioTechnica ones linked on the egg for less than $100 might be worth a try out.

I started reading this review with an "OMG this is awesome technology" and left with a ".... ..... ...... shit..." at the end. Ergo, I am EXTREMELY glad that I read this and saved myself by finding out the expensive way just how bad these are.

Shane
 
If you spend $100-$200 on a sound card I hope it's not marked up monopolized junk with bad DACs, but rather a real quality item that actually delivers high quality sound.

And I expected the headset to end up like this. How were the old 5.1 headphones that had the extra speakers in the cans themselves?
 
I had a couple of 5.1 headsets before.

First one the wire broke from the speaker from over 2 years of use.
Second one the headband broke because of my big head and constant use. (some turtlebeach one)

3rd one I am using is still working fine and is the Tritton AX360
 
Great review. I love that you pull no punches, and the description of frequency ranges and in-game music problems was greatly helpful. I was wary about the claims of this new headset. The technology was intriguing, but if the sound quality is horrible, there's no point to it. I've been using AKG K240 Studio headphones for quite a while now, and they have the best sound quality I've experienced to date and are absurdly comfortable. No surround sound, but I prefer sound clarity and quality to positional information. I'm headphones exclusive in gaming, and usually in music as well, so quality is quite important to me. My musical choices range from Gregorian chants to Slayer, and I want to hear every note perfectly. The same with games. If the sound is muddy, it ruins the atmosphere.

So thanks again Kyle for saving me time and possibly money on what sadly is another overrated, under-performing gimmick.
 
I was curious if they had changed these cans since I demoed them last year. I told the guy basically the same thing Kyle pointed out in the article and he just shrugged and said something about you have to be a gamer to appreciate them.

I am a pretty hardcore Sennheiser 595 fan, but the ATH-AD700 are sweet cans. I had the pleasure of talking with one of ATs engineers at CES 2009 and I asked him about attaching one of their renown microphones to a set of audiophile cans. He said that it had never occurred to him, but expressed interest after I told him about how many people were using 590-95 and AD700s for gaming and general computer use. He gave me his card and wanted to follow up, but I never got around to it. I kick myself every so often for not calling him back.
 
I was really looking forward to a review on these. Sadly, as I feared, the review paints a horrible picture. Surprised? No.

I've thrown more money at these "surround sound" gaming headphones that I would care to remember.

What it comes down to is ... cost. These companies would probably love to stuff 5 very high-end speakers into a head-set but they just can't afford to do so. There isn't much of a market for $300 dollar gaming headphones let alone $500 dollars for a high-end, well designed, well made set.

If the next company wants a hit on their hands, it's very simple. Read the reviews of real world end users and get as much feedback as you can.

1. Comfort and 2. Sound. Cost, you have a little wiggle room. Get comfort and sound right and you can raise your asking price.

It's ridiculous for me to hear these are not designed for music. BS. Good speakers is all you need.

I love my LOVE my Sennheiser HD 497's. They just rock and I think I only paid $89 for them about 8 years ago. Still perfect after all these years.
 
I have been playing games with my Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10vi and have been looking for a 5.1 set for gaming. The Logitech G35 was a huge dissapointment and was hoping these would do the trick.

But sadly it does not look that way.

Thanks for the review.
 
You mean Terminator Salvation with Christian Bale, not Rise of the Machines (which is Terminator 3). That said, I was expecting these headphones to be poop.
 
There has been nothing as sex as the Grado line for me so far. Covers all my bases... music, games and movies. Currently rockin the 225s but I could possibly look into getting an amp down the road. Quality also seemed to go up after I recabled them. :D

Anyway, it's hard to trust these gimmick headsets because most of the time, as was the result, regular headphones seem to do better.
 
Seems to me that this is cheap product dressed up to look expensive.
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I agree 100% kyle.
Plus, WTF is with the 1 year warranty? No product confidence there being shown by the company.. If I pay $300 I want something like a 5 year.

If the things are going to fall apart (like so many headphones do) then spend some of that money in the price on making them out of stronger materials. We have so many advances in material science (like many cell phones nowadays can survive repeated drops on hard floors) and yet ever pair of headphones I've owned (even lifetime warranty ones) break frequently or stop working on one ear. And I'm nice to them, I dont sit on them, I dont abuse them, I get custom fabric covers made to cover them and protect them from dust when I'm not using them.
 
zing!

Hard to call a $300 product a "gimmick", but wow. I feel bad for anybody who has bought these.

Thanks for the review
 
Great review! You guys really improved in detail over the last one; props. :)

It's a real shame about this headset. I was really hoping that we would have the next generation of positional headphone audio here, especially because this is the first time I can remember a non-virtual surround headphone solution actually taking into consideration real sound science. I've had a bad feeling since I first saw them though. it's hard not to, considering past implementations.

After reading the review, one thing that was not totally clear to me was the following:

Does the Psyko provide any real advantage in positional information compared to other headset/headphone solutions? Despite the poor sound quality, would say, a hardcore competitive multiplayer gamer have any advantage with this headset over other players vs. say the wow headset+virtual surround? (Or any similar headphone, AD700, etc)

Is it good enough that you can pinpoint enemies via sound alone? For instance, while playing, could you be shot from some random direction, spin around and fire at that enemy nearly on sound alone? Most importantly, does it do this better than competing, cheaper products? (I noted that you stated you could discern directionality, but the key for me would be "More so or less so" than competing solutions)

If yes I would say that might be a saving grace of the headset as I think the "hardcore clanner", the kind that goes to Lans with a team and competes in tournaments, is one of their target demographics. $300 worth however? Probably not. I certainly won't be buying them now, thanks to your review.
 
Thank god I NEVER EVER considered a 5.1 headset, after I tried one back in 2004 or 2005 from some weird no name company, from newegg (labtronics or something?)--I mean that headset was SO BAD, that I couldn't even tell rear sound when an enemy plane was coming behind me in Battlefield 1942...all I could tell was it sounded "different" and totally yucky. And the positioning was just plain awful. I don't think I EVER returned something as fast as that item...I think I sent it back the very next day!

Ever since then, I swore off 5.1 headsets.
And, if the only thing the Psyko's can give you is the direction of a loud overpitched gunshot, good luck picking up difficult to hear ambients like someone's footstep mistep on a wooden stair or a distant thud from a jump or other audio cue....my hunch was right...these are absolutely WORTHLESS for any sort of competitive play...sounds like you would have trouble even telling if someone were running on a sandy cellar bottom or on a cobblestone path....

If you want to spend $300, instead of buying a Psyko, just buy a beyerdynamic mmx 300 for the same price and throw it in with CMSS 3D. And if you have more cash, the beyer shines with an astro mixamp, without sacrificing much at all (compared to CMSS 3D). their line of headsets are known to fit like a glove around dolby digital 5.1 (while some other headsets do better with CMSS 3D for footsteps).
 
Devistater said:
I agree 100% kyle.
Plus, WTF is with the 1 year warranty? No product confidence there being shown by the company.. If I pay $300 I want something like a 5 year.
Click to expand...

And you know that beyerdynamic stands by the quality of its products, because their $300+ MMX300 headset has exactly that--a FIVE year warranty.

I knew this was going to be a VERY negative review, when the headset specifications were being hid from the reviewer..they're probably so HORRIBLE that no one would buy them, just after reading the specs...

@Kett:
I think that there is NO saving grace to this headset, my friend. If a headset can't even REPRODUCE sound accurately in the first place, how is it supposed to convey distant footsteps or other distant hard to pick up sounds like someone picking up a new gun or the type of surface a distant footstep is being walked on? Heck you probably wouldn't even know if it's a footstep...

Why do those $1500 electrostatics let you hear EVERYTHING (that is withiin rolloff range in the game engine), including sounds that even a $300 beyer or Sennisher or Audio Technica can can't pick up? Simple: accurate sound reproduction (perfect mids, etc).
 
just by your descriptions alone, my well worn (and possibly in need of replacing) Sennheiser HD485's probably sound better than those Psyko's. And I am convinced I blew out one side. :eek:

Thanks [H] for redirecting my wallet from this horrible buy.

I can sincerely tell you that these Psyko headsets, from your description of how everything played through them, sound like a prettied up remake of the Tritton AX360's. The sound reproduction for those is, and absolutely was horrible, for EVERYTHING. Everything described in the article is exactly how the AX360's sound. I wouldn't be surprised if they basically just bought a bunch of AX 360's before stock ran out on them, dissected them and rebuilt this shit in a brand new package and marked it up about another $100-$200 dollars after getting a distributor/manufacturer lined up.
 
I have to say, this headphone review exceeded the last one in every way. Props.
 
You have a lot of money for a gaming headset? Then get these - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Want cheaper? Get these - http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-PC..._1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1273642184&sr=8-1 (Or, get the newer PC 360 which is supposed to be better for music/movies).

Still cheaper? Get the Audio Technica, then buy a zalman clip mic. http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Microp...8&s=electronics&qid=1273642248&sr=8-1-catcorr

Want 5.1? Get a 5.1 speaker set. They're cheap these days.
 
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Finally a truthful a review on these headphones that says how shit they are.
 
All I can say about this review is ..burrrnnnnn...

For 300 dollars there is no reason it shouldn't compete with the Astro A40's but wow . I was never expecting such a poor experience for the money , did they even bother to do some product testing? Geez.

Well I still will and always love my Sennheiser 650's .. they are my favorite headphones.
 
Good review in that you pointed out the bad sound quality, however bad in that it isn't really compared to other 5.1 headsets.
You need to take a load of these (and there are quite a few) and a few of your favourite stereo ones and do a proper comparison. Both of sound quality and effect placement.
 
Nothing beats a good pair of High End cans and the Zalman clip on mic. I cannot stress this enough.

I bet my 2 yr old Sennheisers sound 100 times better.
 
Thank you for what I consider an HONEST review.
So many now are not about anything bad, matter of fact they go out of their way to say anything BUT how bad something is.
I guess they are what I would call a canned or paid for review.
Again keep up the good work and thanks for the honesty.

I especially liked your descriptions on what you heard. That is very hard to do.

One thing did you remove the mic to see if that was causing some of the bad sounds....just thought of that while reading, maybe some interference.
or maybe the microsoft way.

Did you have the unit plugged in?
Did you reboot your system?
Have you reinstalled windows?
 
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