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For the Alliance! Nay, for the Horde!
Creative’s new World of Warcraft wireless headset is one of the most attractive gaming headsets we've seen…as far as looks go. Each side of the ear cups comes adorned with a glowing orb decorated in your choice of swappable Alliance or Horde symbols. You can customize the color or let it cycle through a range of hues, and the lighting is pretty, with extremely vivid colors and a nice glowing effect. Of course, being worn on your head, they’re more or less for the enjoyment of those around you unless you play in front of a mirror. The rest of the headset is done in matte gunmetal, with glyphs and runic symbols surrounding the cups to provide its finishing touches.
The wireless version communicates with your PC or Mac via a 2.4GHz USB transmitter. The wireless range is impressive, as even while in another room, we could still hear the chatter clearly over Ventrilo. Comfort-wise, the headset is quite heavy and while it has lots of padding, your neck will start feeling sore after a few hours. The left ear cup has controls for volume, while mute and power buttons are cunningly concealed as part of the rune design. Unless you can read runic Braille however, it's easy to hit the wrong buttons if you try to adjust the controls with the headset still on.
In your Ear Action
Sound quality was decent, but not particularly impressive. There didn’t seem to be any World of Warcraft special features in regards to the audio, but the set will be the first to feature THX TruStudio technology (co-developed by Creative and THX) that improves audio quality and deliver a surround sound effect. When we tested it though, TruStudio seemed to be spotty and only managed a general sense of direction (behind/ in front etc), and was more distracting than helpful.
As a gaming headset, it comes with a detachable microphone that plugs into the left ear cup. The mic is actually quite sensitive; guild mates reported a clear voice transmission, but they noted that it was also picking up a lot of background noise. It also wouldn't be a World of Warcraft headset if it didn't come bundled with some WoW friendly features, and you get them in the form of a voice changer module. You can pick from a range of Warcraft related voices, ranging from a Gnome Female to the mechanical XT-002 Deconstructor. Unfortunately, most of the voices sounded quite similar and didn’t seem that faithful to their in-game counterparts, though the Mal’Ganis voice effect was a decent approximation.
Too Expensive?
The headset is priced at $249, and you can also get a regular wired version for S$189. Comparatively at those price points, you could get a Razer Megalodon or Logitech G35 which admittedly, are older models but definitely better products. Overall, while this Creative Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Wireless Headset has style in boatloads, it’s definitely a case where audio fidelity takes second place to being cool. The actual hardware performance and features just don’t seem to justify its hefty price tag, unless you're really into the game.
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