Ear force x12 gaming headset review

Educated in Political Science and Linguistics, Chris can often be found building a robot army, snowboarding, or getting ink. Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own.

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Accessibility All Accessibility. Tech Headphones Turtle Beach Ear Force X12 Review While its performance doesn't exactly stun, for the price this headset does what it's supposed to do. Written and Tested by Chris Thomas. Related content. A comfy pair of headphones with a few features geared towards gamers. The overall look of the headset feels rather appropriate for the console especially if you have the elite edition Related content feature These are the best headphones we saw at CES See all of Chris Thomas's reviews.

If you turn the "bass boost" dial all the way down, you can expect to see a frequency response like pictured below, or somewhere in between this and the response shown above. The response isn't too different outside of the fact that bass seems to be underemphasized a bit, which could be a good thing if your games feature a lot of loud, booming explosions.

Considering that voice chat clients like the one used by XBox Live are getting better, this level of distortion will start to get more noticeable as the years go by.

While it's price point is decidedly very "entry level", this is not a set of headphones you will probably want to listen to music on, nor will you get the best experience you can with a headset if sound quality matters to you. This probably shouldn't be a big deal based on the type of game you play, however, as shooters don't really require high sound quality when firefights get intense, nor can you often hear the music over the chatter of a fully automatic weapon.

If you like expansive RPGs with impressive orchestral pieces, however, you may want to forget this headset exists. When not boosted, the tracking response is fairly pedestrian, as its shifts in channel preference are measurable, but barely noticeable if they can be considered that.

Not the greatest, but it could be a lot, lot worse. It's not perfect, but you shouldn't really notice any violent shifts in channel volume. Click here for more information on our frequency response test. When you're in the heat of battle, be aware that outside noise may just make its way inside your ear canals, especially if it's a low rumble. Given that games are typically played in a bedroom or unoccupied living room, this shouldn't be a huge deal.

These puppies block out some noise, but not much. Keep your cave quiet. Click here for more information on our isolation test. Unfortunately, the s leak a fair bit of sound, but you can control this by not listening to your game above 80dB you should be doing this anyways.

If you're in a loud deathmatch, chances are other people will hear if they're close. Click here for more information on our leakage test. Pushing the s to If you listen to your games at a safe volume, you should be fine. Click here for more on our maximum usable volume test. When you first throw the s on your dome, you'll notice that not only are they light on the ears, but they also don't move around a whole bunch, which is just about as much as you could ask of them.

The band is very plush, and doesn't trap heat all that much. Over time, the ear cups can get a little warm, but it really isn't bad at all. They net the same score here too. Aside from using the RCA adapter, there's really not a whole lot you can do with this headset to make it unique or different than the stock option you bought.

If you've looked a the product tour, you know this cable is huge. But exactly how huge? An RCA adapter is included in the packaging, if need be. Possibly one of the most important features of the cable is the in-line remote, which allows you to alter the volume of game sounds, chat volume, microphone muting, and bass boost in-game.

While it does pose a durability concern, it is a very convenient feature for gamers. Because of the gigantic cord, and the lack of a carrying case, these cans are very difficult to port around other places.

If you have a large messenger bag, that could help, but don't plan on it being easy to budget your space. While there isn't much that would break on your headphones save for the cord, there really isn't much of anything you can do to clean or repair them. Be careful with these. Attached to the left ear cup is the boom mic of the. Malleable and thin, there were no reported problems with volume or static in use with MMO games on XBox live.

That doesn't mean your mileage won't vary, but it is promising. First things first: the Ear Force X12 looks cool. The large, plush ear cups boast a winter camouflage pattern with the device's logo and model name, which is a refreshing change from the plain black appearance that most headsets offer. Keep in mind that we reviewed the device's Arctic variant; if you want boring old black, you can buy that, too.

There's a fair amount of padding on both the ear cups and the inner headband. The ear cups themselves are well-designed. They're large, but not excessively so, and are covered in a pleasant, breathable fabric. They should fit just about any ear size with minimal fuss, and while the padding is a little more rigid than plush, it still keeps them in one place without any significant discomfort.

The ear cups also swivel, which should be a universal feature in gaming headsets, but, surprisingly, is not yet. The Ear Force X12 sports an unusual microphone. Most headsets have either a rigid mic or a bendable one, but this peripheral splits the difference. The microphone is located at the end of a bendable coil, but the coil itself is connected to a nub that rotates up and down. This makes adjusting the mic a two-step process, but also allows users very fine control over where it ends up.

Although you won't be able to control the fine details of bass and treble, the headset comes with a small hub that has handy dials for game volume, chat volume and Bass Boost it is what it sounds like , and a button to mute the microphone.

My one big complaint about the Ear Force X12's design is its preponderance of connectors. Since there's no software, the headset connects via standard 3. However, you need to connect a USB cable to your computer or console as well, since the Ear Force X12 requires a lot of power to function.

The Ear Force X12's feature set doesn't seem extensive enough to require this level of power, and it complicates setup. It also means that the headset is a no-go for phones and tablets. Thanks to its soft, swiveling ear cups and plush headband, the Ear Force X12 is generally comfortable.