Since buying C an Xbox for her birthday, I’ve spent a lot more time in the computer room playing on my Xbox Elite than playing in the front room on limited edition Halo Reach Xbox, on the 52″ TV, connected to the TrueHD 7.1 Amp.
To be honest, I actually prefer it, as we’re being a more sociable with each other. In the past, I would normally spend a good couple of hour playing on the Xbox downstairs, and C would lose hours on a “Dinner Dash type” time management game.
In the computer room we both have an LG LED 23″ FullHD Monitor/TV which we have the Xboxs connected to, which we then use as a 2nd monitor. The LED TV’s are great and give a great picture, however the sound quality is only average at best. I’ve spend the last week or so with a pair of £10 Sony headphones on, which does give a lot better sound, but….I do miss the surround sound.
Now we have the history out of the way, you now know why I’ve been out and bought this headset. As I mentioned above, I tend to spend more time in the computer room being “sociable”, but miss the surround sound. I knew there were headsets out there that could product a surround sound experience, as this type of stereo expander has been mainstream for quite a while.
I did look as some headphone which actually had multiple speakers in each earphone which would give an actual surround sound, however these are advertised as being able to give a true 7.1 using only a stereo headset….obviously I was intrigued and bought them.
The DPX21 is essentially a bundle. It’s the Ear Force PX21 headet, with the Ear Force DSS digital processor. The processor itself has an optical input, which then passed 7.1 / 5.1 to the headset giving you the 7.1 surround sound experience.
Now to be honest, I was a little dubious, as everything in my head suggests, that stereo headphones and and will only produce a stereo sound ….surly ?…….I wrong was I !!! These things are AMAZING !!!
Once I’d got everything wired up (which was slightly messy to be honest), I fired up Red Dead Redemption on the Xbox and was totally blown away the the ambiance. I then fired off a couple of shots, and just sat there with the biggest smile on my face. I have to say, that my expensive amp and 7.1 speaker system in the front room has been equalled if not beaten by this £100 headset !
I then plugged these into the PS3 and put on the Black Hawk Down bluray (my Bluray of choice when testing an audio system), and again… AMAZING !
As you can probably tell from the above, the headset is universal, it works on the PS3, Xbox and Mac/PC (assuming you have an optical port)
The headset itself is very comfy, it is a little weighty, but the head strap is adjustable enough to take the weight.
All in all, this is an amazing headset, and suggest to anybody who is playing games on a Xbox, PS3 or even PC/Mac in 2 channels due to not having room to place the speakers….and have a £100 spare, go buy theses, they are amazing !
I found these at Amazon for about £110, however with shopping around I found them at just over £90 at shopto.net with free shipping.
As always, unboxing photos below, as well as the official blurb from Turtle Beach describing how these work.
Due to C taking a new job, we were forced to buy a new car. Lucky for us, in the current climate, we were able to pick up a decent car for a fraction of the price.
As you can probably tell by the title, we picked up an 08 plate Black Vauxhall Vectra SRI CDTI (150). Granted it’s a diesel, but it’s quick. The 150 stands for 150bhp, and it even pulls in 6th. On my final trek back from the garage, I had to do a junction on the M6, and I got to put my foot down a little, the pull I got from the car, but a big smile on my face. I know the car is only 150bhp, but when you’ve been used to driving a 1.4 Clio, this is a massive improvement.
The car has electric everything, really nice to drive. Couple of downsides though, in an 08 car, I expected as a minimum that the car would have an MP3 player, or at least a 3.5mm jack to connect an mp3 player.
Another weird downside of the stereo is….it doesn’t turn off when you kill the ignition ? I got out of the car last night, locked it up, and the continued to play, thinking this was some kind of delay thing, I left it for a minute or 2, and still it played. I can see the battery going flat me thinks.
Got one of these puppies for Christmas, and until today I didn’t have anything to test it with. While I was in Game today, I stumbled across Family Guy: Blue Harvest for only £4.99 ! Bargin I know !!
So I’ve just fired it up, and OMG ! this thing sound fantastic !, comes with a little carrying case which holds the cables and dock.
A ‘mini theatre’ to play movies or music. This SoundStation for PSP Slim & Lite produces astounding sound using a high class amplifier, deep bass sub-woofer and 3D surround-sound circuitry to pack a punch more powerful than its compact size suggests. Includes mains adaptor, carry-case and line-in cable
2.1 Sub-woofer Speaker System
12 Watts RMS
Operates from AC Adaptor (included) or Batteries 4xAA (not included)
Internal 3D surround sound processor
Docking station for PSP re-charging
Blue soft-light illumination
3.5mm Stereo line-in for playing other audio devices like MP3, MD, CD player. etc
Dimensions: 104 x 278 x 38mm (H x W x D)
Weight – 550g
3.5mm Stereo Line-in (Cable provided) to allow gameplay, or play back of other audio devices including MP3, CD player, MiniDisc etc.
Carry Case for Sound System & PSP console.
1 x 2.5″ Sub Woofer 4ohm = 6 Watts RMS
2 x 30mm full range 4ohm Neodymium aluminum speaker cones = 6 Watts RMS
PSP Slim & Lite not included
If you’ve got a PSP – 2000 slim, and have lots of AVI’s, MP3′s or UMD disks, looking for a dock, or just looking for some external speaks for your mp3 player, I’d highly recommend this
