Gainward Hollywood@Home SoundXplosion Pack Review - Checking Out the SoundXplosion Headset
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Moving on over to the headphones, we have the SoundXplosion 5.1 surround sound headphones. At first it seems strange to be making a 5+ speaker headset for two ears, but this might be a case of Gainward filling a need gamers didn't know they had. Unless, of course, you're a gamer living in a thin walled apartment or in a college dorm with a finicky room mate, in which case you've been begging for something like this. The bad news: this won't be as good as a kick-ass surround sound speaker set. The good news: this is the first 3D headphone speaker set which does a decent job of sound localization.
The headset has a conservative and comfortable look to it unlike others we've tested, which make the wearer look like a cast member from the movie Starship Troopers. The headset is of a closed-ear design which is surprisingly comfortable for long periods of time. It has a three-connector interface for front right/left, rear right/left and center/subwoofer. The design, in short, is pretty clean. Our only concern with the design was the overhead connector. Although the headphones have a self-adjustable head strap, the overhead connector is not adjustable, and may end up putting the headphones further away from the top of the ear than the bottom, affecting sound a bit. Also, it makes them a bit odd to tote around.
Gainward decided (wisely) that the only way to emulate surround sound in headphones was by actually using and properly positioning multiple speakers. Within each earphone, there are four speakers, a front, center, and back speaker, and an outside sub-woofer/rumbler. Strangely, the rear and center speakers are vertically aligned. We'll see if this has much of an effect later on, or if the proper feeling is indeed maintained.
Looking inside the unit, we find the three speakers, and the sub-woofer/rumbler. The addition of a force-feedback rumbler was a nice touch, and makes the difference between an average and a great listening experience.
Next: Exploring the USB 3D Sound Configuration >>
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