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18 MARCH 2005 |
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LTB 5.1 USB Headphones |
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In general, there hasn't been
any headphone innovations for
many years now. You have
your typical headphones which
have the usual 2 speakers, one
on the left and one on the right
with a band usually on top of
your head. Companies have
produced alternative headphones.
For instance, I have seen more
portable solutions where the
band wraps behind your head
instead of the top of your head.
Also, there have been
improvements in sound quality
while still keeping headphones
very affordable. Today, I
will be reviewing the LTB 5.1
channel USB headphones.
Yes, that's right, headphones
which incorporate 5.1 channel
sound technology. What is
also interesting about these
headphones is that it connects
with a USB port rather than the
typical microphone jack on the
back of your sound card. When
dealing with 5.1 channel sound
technology, we immediately
associate it with surround
sound. In this review, we will
examine these headphones in
terms of sound quality,
directional sound, and how well
these headphones work with a USB
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The product came in a simple plastic container,
which is probably what you expect when
purchasing headphones. The front of the
product container shows the actual product in
view. The container mentions that these
headphones employ true 5.1 sound technology,
therefore, we can somehow expect that these
headphones have at least five sort of speakers
in them. There is the word "USB Pro",
which I am assuming means that this product uses
a USB port as well as they USB 2.0
specification. The product container also
mentions that a microphone and a converter is
included. Some consumers may be a bit
confused by what they mean by a "converter",
which I'll explain later in this review.
By
looking at the back of the product container, I
was able to confirm some of my assumptions and I
was able to learn more about the features in
these headphones. These headphones contain
multiple drivers which are used for the center,
surround, and front sound channels. There
are two 15 mm drivers which are used for the
center sound, two 15 mm drivers for the surround
sound, and two 40 mm drivers for the front
channel sound. These headphones are compatible
with USB 1.0.
Since these headphones employ 5.1 channel
sound and is powered by a USB port, some of you
may be wondering how it it can have true 5.1
sound. First of all, a 5.1 channel sound
card is not necessary in order to use this
product. This makes these headphones very
portable and versatile. It can probably be
used with most desktop computers and even a
notebook computer new or old.
Included within the package is an
installation CD, and attach-on microphone, the
headphones themselves, and a converter.
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The headphones have
a black and silver color combination,
which do make the headphones look good.
The part of the unit that houses the
drivers is mainly silver. The band
that goes on top of your head is black.
The very top of the band is covered with
some cushioning that makes the
headstones more comfortable to wear.
The sides of the band are made of solid
plastic.
I found the
headphone wire to the sufficiently long
enough to use, but what is interesting
is that the end of the wire has two
connectors. This isn't meant to
plug into the small unit that allows you
to change the volume control. The
small unit has two connectors of the
same size, therefore, you might be
confused as to which connector you
should plug it into. Don't worry
though, it will only work one way.
What I really like about these
headphones, is how these were designed
to incorporate a microphone. These
headphones can be used with or without
the microphone. In order to use
the microphone, all you need to do is
plug in the attachment to the left side
of the headphones. You will see a
very small hole where you can plug in
the microphone. In order to insert
the microphones properly into the
headphones, you'll need to be sure that
the dots on the microphones and the
headphones line up and are close to each
other to ensure that it is connected.
If you are finished using the
microphone, you can just pull the
microphone out.
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Before using the headphones, it is
important to install the software and drivers on the
installation CD. If you do not do that, then the
headphones will probably not work at all. Just insert the
installation CD, and follow the directions of the installation
menu. After you install the CD, then you'll be able to
plug in the headphones into the USB port on your computer.
Your computer should then recognize the headphones and it should
show a USB icon at the bottom right of your screen. By
right-clicking the USB icon at the bottom right, you will be
able to access the sound options and features of the headphones.
Within the software, you'll be able to
select the output of the headphones. For instance, you can
select between the number of speakers use in the headphones.
I chose a six speaker configuration within the options menu.
In another tab within the software, you can select the different
environments that you may wish the sound to emulate. An
additional option is to adjust the equalizer if necessary.
I was surprised at how well the USB feature of these headphones
worked. This was one feature of the headphones which I had
initially expected would be a flaw with this product. When I
plugged in the headphones, my existing sound card was disabled
and the headphones took over. When I pulled the USB cable
out, my original sound card was re-enabled after a few moments.
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My initial test to experience the 5.1
capabilities of these headphones involved using the built-in
sound test within the software. The sound demo involves a
helicopter flying around a radar at the center of the screen.
I started to believe in these headphones when I could hear the
helicopter directionally fly around me.
I first tried these headphones with games.
I tried these headphones in games such as the Half-Life mod
Natural Selection, Doom 3, Call of Duty, etc. You might
know already that Natural Selection does not have a 5.1 channel
soundtrack, but I still wanted to know how well these headphones
worked directionally with the game. The extra drivers in
the headphones helped a little bit better in the game. A
game like Doom 3 which has a 5.1 channel soundtrack was much
more effective. Directional wise, the center channel of
the headphones seems to sound more above you then straight
ahead. Also, the front channels sounds more like an
immediate left and right. The surround channels were right
on track.
The 5.1 aspect of the headphones made
movies more immersive. When watching the train scene in
SpiderMan 2, I almost forgot about the direction of the sound
(even though I could hear them) and I was able to enjoy the
movie without having to listen for it. Keep in mind that
these headphones rely on the Xear 3D DSP which what allows you
to hear the 5.1 channels. When I plugged the headphones
directly to my computer (without the USB port), the headphones
sounded better. I suspect it has to do with the DSP.
I would recommend for LTB to optimize or choose a better DSP.
In general, these headphones do sound good.
They did sound a bit raw at first, but it required some time for
the drivers to "breakthrough" to reach their optimal sound
levels. The bass in these headphones are quite strong
which makes this the best and worst part of this product.
Even though the bass is strong, it can sometimes be a little too
overwhelming, making the sound a bit harsh at times.
Although the microphone looks plainly
simple, don't underestimate it. The microphone is pretty
good. It works well within games. In fact, I'm even
using it to dictate this review which already means that it
isn't bad at all.
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The 5.1 channel sound in these headphones
make it ideal for gamers, especially since there is a detachable
microphone. The 5.1 channel sound is incredibly useful in
games where direction can make a huge impact on your performance
in a game. These headphones portray the direction of sound
well. The sound in these headphones are good, but the bass
can be a bit overwhelming at times. You may need to tone
down or fiddle with the equalizer in order to obtain optimum
sound from these headphones. If you don't like the idea of
relying on a DSP for 5.1 channel sound and you have a high
quality sound card, LTB does offer a similar headphone set which
is the same thing expect, you can plug it directly to your sound
card. At the price of $85.00 at the website
http://www.shopltb.com,
these are quite affordable when comparing it with an actual
multimedia 5.1 speaker system.
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Reviewed by
ronald@digitalreviews.net |
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