You may not need that kind of built-in toughness, but if you’re going to be buying a gaming headset in this price range anyway, I can guarantee you won’t find a lot of sturdier options, if any. No, I haven’t dropped them down a flight of stairs or soaked them in rain overnight, but in more than a month of use, they’ve endured both normal and excessive wear, taking many damaging blows in stride. Whether or not you appreciate the looks of the 780 (and hey, it’s subjective… I think they look like miniature Autobots), every component is manufactured with purpose and precision. And the single-piece microphone doesn’t bend – yet it offers such clarity of sound that it doesn’t need to. The extra-long wire that connects the Gamecom 780 to your computer is coated with an obnoxiously red, rubberized material that’s nearly impossible to trip over. The exposed metal (steel?) supports that connect the earpieces to the main headband never budge or buckle. The thick, black, cloth-lined earpieces don’t look like they’ll be cracking the way faux-leather plastic does. That said, the components carry a certain heft that offers a reassurance of quality, durability, and ruggedness. No, you won’t be rockin’ out to tunes while silhouetted in an Apple-esque commercial while wearing these. It’s constructed of heavy-duty plastic, metal, fabric, and wiring, all of which are large and heavy. Sure, its looks are growing on me, but even so, the headset is bulky. I’ve joked a few times that the Plantronics Gamecom 780 isn’t exactly gorgeous. Running through Metrica Province in Guild Wars 2, the feeling of being in a living world was enthralling – voices, action, and ambient sounds fluttered around, brushing past my ears as my character bounded through the countryside. But even better than using directional sound for murder? The full-sweeping acoustics made navigating large environments much more immersive. Of course, I don’t know why anyone would ever disable the feature it allowed me to accurately track enemies in a variety of games. This is primarily due to the Gamecom’s 7.1 surround sound, which is optionally toggled with the press of a button. Videogame sound effects were crisp, realistic, and full, not to mention easily tracked.
I actually went through my entire music and video library, randomly blasting media for 30 seconds at a time just to enjoy the experience these headphones provided – a quality that I have never heard on any of the many $50-$100 headsets I’d previously owned. Movies, most notably The Dark Knight Rises, convincingly carried the acoustics of their sets and the textures of their characters’ voices. Music suddenly felt whole in a way I have never experienced at home. When I first put on my new pair of Gamecom 780s, I was blown away. Nothing really ever captured the complexity of a live orchestra or the heart-thumping beat of, well, pretty much any modern song. That said, I’ve always had an appreciation for richness and depth of sound, and I’ve always been disappointed with speakers and headphones at home. Basically just a random collection of MP3s I acquired in college. And while my Spy videos may have convinced fans I’ve got good taste in music, I don’t have a particularly large collection of songs. Sure, it wasn’t easy on the eyes, but within minutes of opening it and cranking up the music, I was converted.
Lo and behond, I happened across the Plantronics Gamecom 780 headset. If it cost less than a fortune, that’d be just swell. I was looking for headphones with a higher build quality, more responsive microphone, and (of course) killer aural impact. But they’d often break or flake out after moderate use. I’ve had a few favorites: models from Seinheiser and ABS performed admirably at the sub-$100 range. It should surprise nobody that I’ve spent a lot of time and money over the years evaluating gaming headsets for these very reasons. Little noises like an enemy reloading down the hall or the footsteps of an invisible predator become more than sound effects they become life-or-virtual-death information. Good frequency range and strong directionality aren’t just nice-to-haves they’re what often separate the guy who’s standing on a pile of corpses from the guy who’s part of said pile. And no, not just for ear candy, but the tactical implications of the waves hitting your tympanic membrane from every direction. In one of this site’s earliest articles, I talked about the value of sound in online gaming.
0 kommentar(er)
