When by activity you constantly have to play video games, in time you try to make this process as comfortable as possible for yourself. I, as a game journalist with more than 15 years of experience, all this is familiar firsthand. It's no secret that I prefer the PlayStation console family from gaming platforms. It's behind the PlayStation 4 console that I spend the most time in the process of writing game reviews for our readers. So today I would like to tell you not about the next game, but about the new "gaming headphones" In-ear Stereo Headset, which Sony released in December 2015.
I do not often come across professional audio technology as my colleague Pavel Dmitriev (hello, Pasha!), Therefore I will make a reservation: you will not hear from me the abstruse terms and sophisticated descriptions of technical characteristics, which are operated by audio experts. My review of headphones will be written from the point of view of an experienced gamer and ordinary consumer, which I, above all, am. What does the person expect from the new headphones that he buys in the store? Of course, quality assembly, nice to touch materials, easy-to-handle controls, durable cable and, of course, a decent level of sound. But let's talk about everything in order.
The packaging of the headphones is a small cardboard box made in the design characteristic for the products of the PlayStation family. White-blue palette, familiar to all fans of video games symbols "triangle", "square", "circle", "cross", the PS logo - everything here signals that this headset is designed specifically for gamers and for anyone else. This is not the first headset that Sony produces specifically for its gaming consoles. You can also find on sale pretty good unfolding headphones PlayStation Gold Wireless Stereo Headset (I myself use their first version). Complete with the PS4 console, each customer receives a basic mono with a built-in microphone, and for the PlayStation Vita, branded headphones and a stylish stereo headset were released.
Inside the box, we are met from the threshold by the headphones themselves, neatly fixed in a removable plastic backing, and also a rectangular block of active noise cancellation, which I will cover in more detail later. We remove the headphones together with the substrate from the box and study. In general, the plastic from which the headphones are made is quite pleasant to the touch and does not seem cheap to me. In addition, their outer side is covered with radial grooves, which gives them an unusual appearance.
As expected, the internal headphones are equipped with three pairs of silicone pads of different sizes (S, M and L). The lining changes, by the way, quite easily, so you will not have any difficulties with this. Initially, the headphones are wearing a pad size M, but since my ears are very specific, I had to change them to the smallest. After that, the headset became much more comfortable. In general, the headphones are not bad in the ears. At first I was very much embarrassed by the large size of their outer part, but then I realized that it is almost perfectly located in the auricle and does not interfere with the use of headphones.
Complete with headphones you will find a quality velvet bag, black outside and blue inside. The bag is equipped with a metal latch sewn into it, which automatically squeezes its upper part and reliably holds the contents inside, eliminating the need to tie the bag with a traditional lace. Of course, there was a thick instruction in several languages about the use of headphones, as well as an advertising booklet offering us free trial music service Sony - PlayStation Music.
Just want to praise Sony for high-quality fabric braid cable headphones. It is pleasant to the touch, does not allow wires to get tangled in your pocket, and also significantly prolongs the life of your headphones when you use them often. For the first time taking the headphones in your hands, immediately creates the feeling that you are holding an expensive thing, and not a trinket for five cents. Personally for me, these feelings are very important, since comfort in this case is composed not only of sound, but also of external aesthetics. By the way, the cable length is 1.3 meters, which is quite enough to use headphones in a variety of situations.
The headphones are equipped with a standard 3.5 mm 4-pin plug. You connect this plug to the connector at the bottom of the DualShock 4 gamepad, adjust the sound on the PS4 console (you can output all the sounds of the game to the headphones or, for example, only the sound of a voice chat), then just enjoy the game. But if you do not want to part with the headphones and outside the apartment, then you can easily stick them into your smartphone, tablet or laptop. Given that the headset is equipped with a miniature remote control with three buttons (two for volume control, and the third one for answering a call), it will be quite comfortable to use it during phone conversations.
Built-in microphone will be needed for those who can not live without online video games. It is vital there in real time to communicate with friends. In the settings of PlayStation 4, you can create a so-called "party" - a voice chat, where you can then invite your favorite friends and acquaintances. After that, in whatever game you play, your interlocutors will always be in touch. Especially it's convenient in games like Rainbow Six Siege or Destiny, where you can not do without cohesive team actions. The microphone produces a decent sound. Not studio, of course, but in order for combat comrades to understand what you mean, this is more than enough.
Let's move on to the quality of the sound that headphones give out. Here, whatever one may say, one has to resort to mentioning some technical characteristics. The headphones cover a range of reproducible frequencies from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, their impedance (or impedance) is 32 Ohm, and the total noise reduction ratio is 20 dB. I tried headphones on the horror demo PT from the game designer Hideo Kojima and the director Guillermo Del Toro and was amazed that some of the sounds before (when playing on his TV) just did not hear. The headphones produce a very clean sound and deep bass. For the purity of the experiment, I included the game "The Witcher 3" and moved to the world of Slavic fantasy. In this case, the sound also pleased me immensely, and I was even surprised that the headphones easily transmit surround sound. By sound, you can instantly determine where the roar of the monster sounded or in which direction the referring character of the game is to you.
After that I started the music tests. What could be better for testing low frequencies than the music of Bristol collective Massive Attack, whose gloomy work relates to the genre of trip-hop? The deepest basses, coupled with the insinuating, hoarse voices of the singers Tricky and 3D, are intertwined into an incredible sound stream, captivating the listener behind them. The next track was the composition of Archangel British musician and producer Burial - in this case, low frequencies alternated with high, but the sound was still pleased with its quality. Completed this kind of test drive another UK native - SOHN with the dreary composition Bloodflows. And again I did not have a single claim to the quality of sound, except that even at maximum volume it seemed to me a little quieter than other headphones. But this is all full of flavors. I do not think that the In-ear Stereo Headset will amaze with the sound quality of any audiophile, but people who just love listening to music will have such headphones just "above the roof".
I came to talk about built-in headphones technology active noise reduction AudioShield. As you noticed, a small box is mounted in the headphone cable. This is a 170 mAh battery, which is enough for the headphones to work in the mode of suppressing background noise for about 15 hours. If the battery runs out, you can continue to use headphones without noise reduction. The same block has a built-in two-position switch, with which you can activate or deactivate the noise reduction, as well as a small switch that turns the headset's microphone into Mute mode, if you suddenly want other players not to hear you. The battery is recharged with the help of a complete USB-microUSB cable, which is also carefully covered with a blue braid.
When the noise canceling function is activated, the blue indicator lights on the battery pack. In case you are not listening at the moment, you can hear a faint hiss in the headphones, which for sure will confuse many. But do not be scared. Active noise cancellation is arranged in such a way that unwanted noise is extinguished by a specially generated sound of the same amplitude, but with an inverted phase, it is this sound that is audible in moments of silence. While playing conversations or listening to music, you will not notice it at all. Two additional microphones are built in both headphones, which detect external noises, turn over their phase and feed the resulting "anti sound" into your ears.
Of course, the headphones are not able to suppress all the sounds around you. Technology AudioShield is designed primarily to save the gamer from background noise such as traffic outside the window or a washing machine in the apartment. By the way, on the example of a washing machine, I conducted my test. My wife just loaded her children's underwear in and put out a washing program. And I have a machine, I must say, not from quiet modest people. When it erases, even my neighbors know about it on the landing. With the inclusion of noise reduction, the hum of the washing machine miraculously disappeared. When turned off again appeared. Miracles, and only! However, this only works with low frequencies. The rest of the headphones sounds if they muffle a bit, then not very high quality.
I came to talk about the cost of these headphones. In retail, their price varies from 5500 to 6500 rubles. Such a high price tag can easily frighten an unprepared person, it is understandable, because in the old dollar exchange rate In-ear Stereo Headset would have cost quite adequate 2500 rubles. But in the difficult economic conditions we have only to tighten the belts and believe in a brighter future. If you already have a PlayStation Gold Wireless Stereo Headset, then I would not advise you to switch to a more compact model. But if your soul is to a more compact form factor or to the in-ear headphones - the In-ear Stereo Headset can satisfy any gamer needs. And given that they are equipped with an active noise cancellation system, a convenient set of controls, a quality braided cable, compatible with your smartphone, moreover, they give a decent sound, I do not think you will regret buying them. In any case, Sony is slowly but surely moving in the right direction, increasing the comfort of video game lovers and releasing for them all new and new accessories.
The article is based on materials .
Comments
Post a Comment