Ok, so I gave the Roccat Kave's a short test drive last night. Nothing too involved but I can give my initial impressions.
First things first, this is running on my new build, running Win 7. The only hardware specs that are really relevant in this case is the soundcard, which is an Audigy 2 ZS (yes, older card, this was a transplant from my old PC since I figured it would be better than onboard audio, and didn't feel like purchasing a new sound card).
Installation is intuitive enough, since there is no required software or drivers to install. There IS a USB cable, but it is for power purposes only. There are four audio jacks for Front/Surround/Sub/Mic. The only caveat here is to make sure you're plugging the right jack into the right port. Most sound cards have color coded ports so you should be fine, but I've read some reviews of people hooking them up wrong....but I give the members of this forum more credit.
I like the look. Simple functional design, all black color. I tend not like the feeling of hot smoke up my ass that other brands try to achieve with over the top designs. I'm at home, alone, immersed in a computer game....I have no need to be flashy. If you feel the need to catch the attention of every person at the lan-party, whether it's good attention or bad, these probably aren't for you.
They are heavy, which can be a pro and a con. I like something that feels hefty because it gives me the warm fuzzies that there may be some chance these were built well. On the other hand, I haven't worn them for 4 hours per sitting over the course of a few months to determine whether or not they cause cervical disc degeneration. In fact, I haven't worn them yet much past about 20 minutes. In that time however, the weight was more a "learning curve" than a problem....simply because I wasn't used to having something that heavy on my head, because my old $20 plantronics tended to float away in the breeze if my chassis fans kicked their RPMs up too high.
I found them to be, at first, very uncomfortable after a few minutes. Turns out, I just didn't have them positioned on my head in a manner best suited to comfort. After some adjustment, I found they were quite comfortable....for my fat head anyway. YMMV. Since they seemed to only want to be worn a certain way on my head, I hope this doesn't translate to completely unwearable for other craniums.
I took them for a sound test with just the audio demo that was on the included CD (which contains read me file, pdf manual, and a number of nice wallpaper images if you really feel like reppin Roccat). At first....I could barely hear a thing. Checked my system sound.......all the way up. Wondered if I had a defective unit until I remember the fancy little control module (which, by the way, you better have some desk space for since its got some heft to it as well....you wouldn't want it adding any more weigh to your head). I realized all the volume sliders were on low (separate sliders for front, center, surround, and sub). Started moving all the sliders up one by one and finally got sound! Unfortunately, only from the front channel. The other sliders did nothing. Again, worried I had a defective unit. Before going into full on rage mode, I checked my settings for my Audigy, and realized I only had stereo sound enabled. Switching to 5.1 surround fixed the problem.......duh.
Playing back through the Roccat audio demo, I was definitely much more impressed. You can really tell there is distinct and discreet positional audio with good transitioning. The bass was good but can get muddy at max volume with max bass setting....though I kinda expect this since I'm sorry, anything that will fit on your head is never gonna drive REAL bass (the kind I got used to from my dual 12" Kicker L7 solobarics running on 1000watts in my car). But, for a headset, I was impressed.
I am no audiophile, and my experience with headsets is limited to my old $20 set of Plantronics. But the sound quality was enough for my tastes. I am overall pleased with my purchase, but I will reserve my full judgement until I've had some in-game experience.
Facebook
Twitter