Thursday, April 26, 2012

Taking the plunge into Wireless Headsets



The age of wireless is at hand, and what better way to enter that age then with the Logitech G930 wireless headset. The Logitech G930 is my first purchase in the wireless audio category. For years I have purchased wired headsets from multiple manufacturers. I have even gone through two Turtle Beach X11's! Suffice it to say, I will never purchase a wired headset again. While it should be expected that you're going to get better sound quality out of a 150$ wired headset, you sacrifice a lot for said audio quality. Usually you do not get a microphone and of course you get that forsaken wire tangled everywhere. If you haven't bought a sound card in the last 10 years because on-board audio is "fine" then believe me the G930 is fine for your needs as well.




Let's talk about the hardware. I looked for a headset for about six months and I must say the two things that sold me on this headset, I swear, I never saw in a review. One, the headset does come with a wire!
With other headsets, when the battery dies your gaming session is over (or you're throwing in a couple AAA batteries, adding some cost). With the G930, conveniently plug in to the included USB cable and continue gaming while you charge. Two, the G930 utilizes Micro USB for charging. Lost your propriety charging kit for your 150 dollar headset? Well, it will make a nice paperweight. Not so with the G930. Micro USB is everywhere. Buy a 1 dollar cable if you need to from Monoprice.com.


With every product there will be shortcomings. At one point when I powered on the headset it picked up the receiver; however, no sound came out. I did have to reseat the USB RF transmitter in order to get the PC to send sound through the headset. This could be isolated and I do put some blame on my HDMI monitor which has speakers included but my recommendation is to use a front USB port or a hub that is easily accessible in case you need to reseat the USB stick which is more user friendly then disabling and re-enabling the interface. I quickly learned what sidetone is used for in the Logitech audio software. When I first tried to use Skype, I could hear myself speaking through the earphones. After multiple troubleshooting steps with Windows, Skype, and the Logitech software I determined I should have sidetone turned all the way down, a recommendation received from the official Logitech forums. Unfortunately it seems as though no settings saved until the PC was rebooted.

When taken as a whole; however, the headset satisfies all my needs. Skype was clear, the speakers have adequate highs and lows and the virtual surround works effectively. The G930 gets my recommendation. Take the plunge, you won’t be sorry.

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