Razer Tiamat Over Ear 7.1

2 reviews for Razer Tiamat Over Ear 7.1

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   MyFingID – September 8, 2013

   Let me start by saying that I do not have a soundcard; I am running this device off of my motherboard which has 7.1 built in. I’m also a gamer not an audiophile.The bad:* The device has a Stereo button which makes things louder in the headphones at the cost of the 7.1 experience. This is fine but this mode cannot be used when you set the device to use external speakers (a great option BTW!). A possible solution is to buy some cable which join two headset outs into one. You would need 3 by my calculation. I haven’t tried it but in theory it should pump all channels into one channel, and since all channels are by themselves stereo (with the exception of the front/bass), it may work* The device isn’t very loud. Don’t get me wrong it’s not bad; I rarely play with the volume all the way up, but if you are drunk and blaring punk rock it’s not going to make your ears bleed. Then again this may be a good thing as tinnitus in the morning is hardly a good thing. A sound card may solve this.* The device takes some getting used to. When I plugged it into for the first time and fired up Bioshock: Infinite I was disappointed, and disorientated.The good:* It does work, or at least it seems to. People say you can’t get the full experience but whatever I can tell the difference between the device on surround and when it is on stereo. Case in point is when I played Rise of Flight yesterday (with the TrackIR headset attachment. Thankfully those folks know that not every headset can be clipped on the sides so the device they made is extremely flexible). The sound was terrible. The surround effect did not seem to work at all and I thought that maybe, for whatever reason, that top of the line sim had neglected sound. It was then that I realized that while blaring Youtube the night before and still had the device in stereo mode. I turned it to surround and it was awesome.* It’s still loud enough. As I said earlier I rarely play with the volume all the way up and TBH I’ve noticed sounds that I had not noticed before in some of my games.* Gunshots in surround are awesome. Arma 3 is a case in point. While it’s annoying that every time you move it sounds like you are stuck in a burlap sack, it’s great hearing the cracks and having a good idea if they are in front of behind you. I’ve actually several times found locations of firefights through faint noise and direction. This hasn’t happened before.* 7.1 isn’t going away. People talk about how games are set for 5.1, and maybe they are, but as Microsoft keeps moving with Direct X I would wager we’ll see more support. I don’t have a 5.1 to compare against but whatever, my motherboard is 7.1 and it works great on everything I have played.* Oculus Rift if coming. Lets face it if you are going to get a full 3D experience from a headset, you may as well have headphones to go with it. Talk about getting absorbed into a new world!* External speakers at the push of a button. This is unbelievably handy for someone like myself who has an old case without a headphone jack. Besides even if it did the headphones wouldn’t be surround sound.* Cheaper and easier than a real surround system. Lets face it even if money isn’t an object space is. I, for a little longer at least, live in an apartment. My computer lives in the main room and there is just way too much space to set up a true surround sound system. I also live with a cat who lives to eat cords. He will mangle anything I buy, and that I’m able to type this review is a testiment to his will to allow me to have the internet. He did not allow me to keep my 360, which is a chewed on mess that I’m not replacing any time soon (no real loss, I’m not paying $60 just so I can watch Netflix in the bedroom on a TV, the cord to which he has also devoured with his mighty jaw).In the end it’s expensive, but if you have the money, are a gamer, and can handle not having ear-bleeding headphones then I recommend it. Besides you can always get a headset for $40 that will likely be sufficiently loud. Also if you are an audiophile then you likely have a receiver. Plug your PC into that.

2. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Hucklebarry – May 20, 2013

   With plenty of detailed reviews I’m just going to offer my observations in agreement or in contrast with what others have offered.Comfort. I’m going to slightly disagree with what many are saying in terms of comfort. After having gone through many headsets to try and find the right one for me, I’ve noticed a trend. I always end up sore on the top of my head. This head set solves that problem completely. Even gaming for hours, the top of my head is extremely comfortable. However, the ear pieces cause me discomfort. The material gets very warm around the ears and causes some pain even during moderate sessions. This will vary based on various head shapes and sizes, but based on other reviews, this area is where I was most disappointed. With this said, this is still my headset of choice.I am not hearing ANY static, buzzing, or external noises of any kind. I am simply using the PC for USB power. Many reviewers complain about this and offer a work around of externally powering USB via an adapter, but I did not need one. The sound is very crisp, clear, and has no unwanted sounds of any kind.I experienced an issue I didn’t see mentioned in other reviews. If I don’t “MUTE” the mic, I can hear all external sounds via the earphones. Even if I toggle the setting specifically for playing mic audio through the earphones, the feature persists. I have to mute the mic to stop this from happening. This is a problem when multiplayer gaming. Since I don’t do that often, I am content to leave my mic muted, but you might want to search for a fix if you do plan on multiplayer gaming with these.The noise canceling is very good. This was a high priority for me since I live in a very noisy area. I can game in peace with these on as very few unwanted sounds get to my covered ears now.I’m a very big fan of the external controller. It allows management of each speaker without leaving the game or getting into complicated settings. It also lets you switch from headset audio to speaker audio with only the push of a button. (no unplugging or settings management) and finally it lets you turn off 7.1 at the push of a button.Its difficult to find a good test to sample the audio. I think most people want to hear a great 7.1 demo right out of the box. I have noticed that many people look to the web which is a fruitless effort and extremely misleading. Most video sites currently do not support 7.1 or even 5.1. But some trickery can make some sounds appear to be surrounding you. Make sure you are downloading directly from a developer and that you are getting true 7.1 or 5.1. The most popular video sites don’t support this even though you can find tons of proposed samples on them.Make sure you have a supported sound card and that you have the documentation ready for when your headset arrives. The color coding of the 7.1 connectors did not match that of my sound card and I had to match the descriptions of each port to set this up correctly. Having the manual for my sound card handy made this easy. Since its analog, there were no drivers for the headset, making for a very easy setup.I’m not a fan of retractable mics. Those tend to break first. I have not heard any complaints on the sound of the mic from those who must listen to me. The mic takes a lot of abuse in fan reviews. My only comment is that if a mic is a high priority for you, you should consider buying a stand alone mic based on its own merits and then keep the retractable mic on this headset retracted. Its hard enough to find a headset that is comfortable AND sounds good. Adding mic quality to the mix just convolutes the criteria even further. With that said, since I won’t use the mic often, it is nice to have it out of the way, especially when setting the mic down.Overall, I’m very happy. Having used this device for 3 weeks, this is my favorite set to date. I’ve grown tired of USB sets that require their own drivers or force replugging to refresh the device on occasion. I was looking for an analog set that provided great noise canceling and decent surround sound. This set accomplished all of my goals and even surpassed in some areas. If the ear pieces were more comfortable, this would be a 5 star headset.