Posted: 03 June 2010 at 11:00am | IP Logged

So, having had two pairs of Zalman 5.1s for the past 6 years, my second pair (which lasted 2 years) has just snapped. Therefore I have decided to branch out and try something new!

Speedlink have a new version of the 5.1 Medusas released last year, so I ordered a set yesterday. According to City Link, they should be delivered sometime today, so hopefully I can give a reasonable review of them by tomorrow.

I could have got another pair of Zalmans (only £30 now) but I fancied something a bit lighter and more comfy for long term wear (I work from home 4-5 days a week and use headphones to drown out the noise of our screaming baby so I can concentrate lol). I got the Medusas for £51 from Scan.co.uk using my lifetime free postage.

Speedlink Medusa NX 5.1 Gaming Headset

I was also tempted by the Roccat Kave 5.1 Headphones, but I thought they looked a bit too bulky and heavy, hence lacking in as much comfort.

What's everyone else using these days?

Posted: 03 June 2010 at 2:32pm | IP Logged

lol

Well I got the headphones today, rather dissapointed to find they have several scratches on one of the cans... doesnt say much for the factory QA, however they seem to be working fine so for now I will not be sending them back. I may however email scan to inform them of the mark in case they do develop a fault any time soon they cant blame it on me if I RMA.

Anyway, onto the quality! Well first I would say theyre definitely a bit more comfy than the zalmans, theyre lighter for a start. The ear covers are made of soft fabric as opposed to fake leather, which is comfy, but I think with long term use on a warm day may get a bit sweaty.

Sound quality is good, surround sound on basic tests seems fine. Bass is good and they have built in subs which the Zalmans didnt. Currently only tested by listening to some music and whacking on the XFI CMSS-3D (converts a stereo signal into 3D - great sounds awesome!) and its pretty good. Great treble, and mid range, bass is a tiny bit weak with the volume turned down (I have pretty sensitive hearing and dont like to destroy my ears by listening to stuff too loud) which is a shame, but overall pretty good.

In the package there were loads of extra cables for converting to phono if you were using it on an amp or dvd player, as well as a usb power plug convertor for powering the remote without a PC.

The remote is a bit crappy, though you can change all channels independantly, the on-off switch just mutes things (quite poorly for the first few seconds) but its ok. Only concern with that it that it may catch on stuff, the zalmans have no remote, which to me is better. I will also be concerned to see what happens if I ever break the remote by accident, hopefully if I unplug usb and set to on, itll just pass through without effect.

Overall, I would say better in some areas and worse in others than the Zalmans. Some further testing (long term use, gaming, movies etc) will be required, but at this stage, if they died tomorrow, I might consider looking at some others to replace them, such as the Roccat Kave 5.1 Headphones above.

Score so far: 7/10.

Posted: 03 June 2010 at 9:17pm | IP Logged

been using those for years now, bought them same at a similar time to Wom, whichever time it was that he broke the last pair/ i do need to replace as the left ear is not quite right anymore. always found them comfy,

didnt think you would go for a pair with built in mic as i thought you used a seperate stand alone

Posted: 03 June 2010 at 10:59pm | IP Logged

Griz:
I have a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS, which was their top of the line one a couple of years back. Onboard cards are totally random in quality and depend on the board manufacturer and chipset, but like anything else, theyre never going to be as good as a high quality dedicated card. I also find you get alot of interference with onboard sound (eg you can here when the drives are spinning up as electrical interference on the outputs, esp with optical drives).

Even the low end Creative cards are great, though their driver support has of late been utter sh*t, especially if you run anything more advanced than Windows XP. Annoyingly, it used to be awesome, but has really gone down hill. I am using a third party hacked driver on top of my Creative one, so for that reason it may not be worth looking at.

Asus seem to be the biggest competitor (used to be Hercules) to Creative now with their Xonar cards and Auzentech now make cards with X-Fi chips. I couldnt really comment as have not owned either, but certainly doing a quick review search shows the Asus ones to be of good quality.

Richie:
You are 100% correct and that is still the case. I had read that you could remove the mic on the Medusas, but I dont seem to be able to work out how (not without risking breaking them). I still dont use it though...