*Official* Alienware Engineering Feedback - Headset

Greetings!

Our engineering team is looking to get some feedback on your next headset purchase. Please help us out with your feedback.

What sound quality are you looking for in your next headset purchase (if all the other features are equal) : 5.1 or 2.0?

What do you expect to pay for the headset?

Thank you for taking the time to provide the feedback.

Mark
Alienware Social Media

 

Thanks for seeking feedback on this, Mark. It will be exciting to see what the engineering team can cook up for us.

I will make this a sticky thread for a few weeks so it is easy for NBR Members to find it.

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One feature I would like to see is either Bluetooth or wireless with a USB micro-dongle small enough to be left installed permanently. I hate wires, and I haven't seen a high quality Bluetooth headset with fancy features. I am using a very old Dell BH200 Bluetooth headset that I purchased with my old XPS M1730 because of not liking wires. It's OK, but not fantastic. My preference would be Bluetooth so no extra device is drawing power or tying up a USB port.

 

Looking for solid sound reproduction on at least a 50 hz - 17000 Hz scale.
It would be great if they avoided the common pitfall of frequency rolloff.
They have to be comfortable over long periods.
Should isolate decently.

All these being met, I would then choose 5.1 (or 7.1) because I'm sick and tired of the complete lack of positional accuracy that 2.0 provides.
I'd pay around 200$ for this.

 

I have a stereo one right now, but would love to get a surround sound. My only advise though is to do a analog 5.1 headset. I see way too many USB ones out there.... whats the point of having 5.1 headphone jacks if your headphones are USB.

With that though, a 5.1 surround sound with 3 plugs, one of the plugs should be of the trrs flavor to keep 5.1 plus a mic in a compact 3 plug setup.
All analog 5.1 headsets with mic are 4 plugs right now.

 

I have a headset with the USB setup and I gotta say I prefer it to the analog setup. Especially since the headset has it's own sound card that sounds way better than the one integrated into the laptop. Just my 10 cents is all.

 

I'd love to see Dell produce something along the lines of the Headsets that Astro produce, namely the Wireless A50 or the Wired A40. 7.1 Dolby Digital & Mix Amp. They produce some top notch gaming headsets and if Alienware were to do similar (they would have to be good, not a failed attempt at copying), I reckon they would go down a storm.

Maybe Dell could work with Astro (or any other quality headphone/set manufacturer such as Denon, Bose, BeyerDynamic & Grado, to name a few) to come up with something "made" by them, but rebranded Dell/Alienware. I'm not knocking Dell's ability to come up with something good, but it makes sense to seek advice/input/design from companies who specialize in such gear.

I know if a quality set came about, I'd certainly be interested, and would pay a few hundred for something good.

 

Had not seen the Astro. The A50 looks very nice. It's rather unfortunate that it has a huge "base station" or I would grab one. It would only interest me with Bluetooth (no dongle) or a USB micro-dongle. That kind of setup would be OK with a desktop, but not so much with a laptop. Mine rarely ever sits on a desk.

If Alienware would produce something similar with no clumsy wires or external devices, I'd be all over buying one.

 

considering their current partnership, perhaps an alienware/klipsch improvement on something like:

Razer Tiamat 7.1 Gaming Headset

maybe even with a t1 twist:

Daft Punk/Tron T1 Headphones

:thumbsup:

 

That Tiamat is a nice headset - looks very nice!. I hope Dell come up with something as aesthetically appealing with equal or more importance placed on audio output that is befitting our beasts!

Loving the twist!!!

 

I would love to see something similar to the Corsair Vengeance 2000 i am using right now.
Features i would like to see:
- 50mm drivers
- bluetooth or wireless
- 7.1 or 5.1
- priced around 100€
- and most important, a choice to get velour pads for it.

 

7.1 is a must. Make it wireless (using a simple micro USB dongle would be most convenient). Make it black. Don't overdo the price. It will sell.

Or yet simpler: Get Logitech G930, change its looks to be more Alienware-like and there you have it.

 

Yes! - seen as how Dell/Logitech had an "alliance" with the TactX stuff, this could very well be do-able....

 

The normal tactx headset is a steelseries... so maybe go along those line again and just make them with the surround version.

Would be easy enough to just slap on the same parts to some surround ones.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Very good stuff here.

I am with you on the 7.1 and wireless would be sweet.

We hope to get your voices directly to the engineers as often as we can.

Have a nice weekend! Trying to work my way finally into finishing Assassins Creed 3.

Mark

 

Thanks for asking for our opinions/ideas, Mark - as ever, it's great that you guys take us into consideration +1rep!

 

If you're still looking for input on headsets after your weekend of AC3, I have some for you. The only true "headset" I have is a Sennheiser PC360, but I also have a bunch of headPHONES that I use for gaming with a ModMic, turning them into headsets. I use the 'phones way more than the PC360 because they sound so much better, and make for a better gaming experience. Among them are Senn HD650, Audio Technica ATH-700 and 900, and AKG Q701. These headphones all sound better than even the best headSETs available, and the ModMic is as good as the mic on the PC360 (although the swing up to mute on the PC360 is a really nice feature!). The gaming impact of better sound is that the games are more immersive, and most importantly for the kinds of games I play, the Dolby Headphone positional audio is more accurate (especially with the Q701). I would love a headSET that has the audio quality of the HD650, the positional accuracy of the Q701, the comfort of the AD700, and the convenience of the PC360. Please make one like that!

To answer your questions specifically, 5.1 / 7.1 matters, a lot. However, please don't do one with 6/8 discrete drivers - it is impossible to make drivers that small sound good, and it doesn't really work well for positional accuracy either. Instead, please use two really good drivers and Dolby Headphone (not CMSS or variants thereof), in a simple USB dongle. The Sennheiser PC363 gets it right (I use the Asus Xonar U3, which is also nice).

Other stuff: The boom mic on the Senn PC360/363 is pretty close to ideal. Great audio quality, really sturdy. The way it swings up out of the way and mutes is terrific. Please also make your headset really durable. Gaming headsets get hauled around and crammed into bags a lot. Oh, also, open is better for positioning, and it helps a lot to keep cool during long gaming sessions. Velvet/velour pads with breathable foam are better than pleather for that reason. Wireless (without compromising audio quality or latency) would be nice.

 

Dont price the headphones like any of those headsets... You will sell alot more 60-70$ headsets than the 250-400$ headsets.