Icemat Siberia Headset - How do they sound?

We've seen what they look like, but how do they sound?  Well, for the answer to that, I must trust the experts I have on hand:  my ears.  I've reviewed a good number of headsets and to be honest, have liked most of them. With that in mind, I plugged in the Icemat Siberia headset and pulled out my CD collection.

I started with some soft music, moved on to jazz, and then into some heavy rock.  These headphones picked up every nuance of the music that I was looking for.  I switched to some old school bass music, looking for something to exercise the lower end of the spectrum.  Here, I found that the headphones did a decent job representing the bass, but didn't have the depth I was looking for.

Done with my musical analysis, I moved on to movies.  I listened to choice scenes from a few favorites of mine, in this instance looking to discern distinct sounds around a lot of commotion.  I started with the battle for Helm's Deep from Lord of the Rings.  When it started raining, I would have sworn I could hear each and every raindrop as it pinged off the armor of the army of Saruman.  I needn't go much further than that, the sound was rich and full.

When I moved on to gaming, the sound was once again excellent.  Whether is was Quake, Unreal tournament, or F.E.A.R., the audio quality was excellent no matter how much action was happening on screen.  I also tried the microphone in various arrangements.  When I had it clipped to my shirt, it worked best when it was directly below my chin, clipped to the very center of the shirt collar I was wearing.  If I moved it to any side, my voice seemed to fade a little.  When I moved the microphone to the monitor, instead of my shirt, I saw a huge improvement in sound quality.  I was actually able to turn down the gain on the microphone, since I was speaking more directly at it than when it was clipped to my shirt.  And turning down the gain also meant tuning out more background noise.

Overall, the microphone performed very well in the test.  Icemat's decision to make the microphone cable separate was one of pure genius, as I have now detached mine permanently and have the microphone mounted to the top of my monitor.  The sound quality the microphone captured was also of high quality, no matter how I used it.

That being said, it's now time for my coveted pros and cons for the Icemat Siberia:

Pros:

• Lightweight
• VERY comfortable
• Adjustable strap hugs your head snugly
• Extension for headphones
• Detachable microphone cable
• In-Line volume adjustment
• Excellent sound quality
• Large speakers
• Decent price for good quality headset ($60 at the time of this writing)

Cons:

• Bass response was decent, but not good.

Based on the above, I give the Icemat Siberia Headset a rating of 9 on a scale of 1-10, and Dev Hardware's coveted GOLD AWARD.

A little better bass handling would have scooted this headset to that of a perfect 10.  If you're looking for a quality headset, and don't mind looking like a Jedi Mistress, then this headset may be just what you are looking for.

I'd like to take a moment and thank Icemat for sending us the Siberia Headset for review.  If you would like more information about this, or any of Icemat's other fine products, visit their website at http://www.icemat.com.