Turtle Beach EarForce X4 XBOX 360 Wireless Headset

Reviews: Multimedia

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Max Slowik
Kurtis
Turtle Beach
Sep. 10, 2008

Specifications

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Introduction

Turtle Beach's X4 wireless gaming headset is a great way to tap the enormous console market. Wireless headset? Playing video games in the living room at night without bothering anyone? Sign me up!

Wirelessness isn't the best thing for audiophiles, but gamers [and perhaps more importantly, the people around them] are willing to sacrifice some things for a little convenience. Honestly, what's a little signal noise against a backdrop of orchestral gunfire. On top of that, the competition is a little weak. The mic that comes with the Xbox 360 is uncomfortable, ugly, and above all, it isn't a headset. It's got one Walkman-class scratchy plastic earphone with limited flexibility and added discomfort to make you avoid online gaming.

Turtle Beach, with all their experience and wisdom, is right to make a quality headset that not only slides right into place with a Xbox, but also any other analog input you care to sport around your ears. This isn't their first set of Xbox cans, so the X4s have big shoes to fill.

Features & Design

There are two parts of the X4, the headset and the stand. The headset has large velveteen ear cups over honkin' 50mm drivers, an adjustable foam-padded headband, and a detachable boom mic. It's solid, construction-wise, without being particularly heavy, even with (2 AAA) batteries. It's styled to look good next to a white Xbox.

The stand doesn't take the same approach with regards to build quality. The receiver itself is alright, about the size of a new home-grade router or switch with a chrome handle sticking out of the top (to rest the headset on while not in use). But the stand's quality is lacking. It's probably not a critical failing, since it doesn't have to do or hold much, but it feels a little cheap.

If you want to use the microphone, you connect it, wiredly, to the controller, like any other Xbox mic. Some people might not like the physical connection between the headset and the gamepad, but it's not like you're going to spend a lot of time with them apart, and a wired connection uses less power for both the signal as well as the processing, which is good for both the headset and the controller.

Included with the headset and receiver are audio cables, both digital optical and analog RCA, and a wall wart for power.

The headset is very comfortable. It breathes well and doesn't block all outside sounds, so wearing them for extended sessions isn't really an issue, and other people can still talk to you while you're getting your shoot on. They're big for their weight, which is average for a wireless headset (9.5oz). They seem inflated, or hollowed out, or something. Again, not in a bad way, the headset is quite solid.

The mic adjusts on a bendy metal arm, or comes off entirely. At about temple-level are two receiver domes, which require line-of-sight with the base (X4s use infrared, not radio for connectivity). I found that I could move around in about a 120 degree arc in front of the receiver, which is adequate.

The receiver accepts two inputs, but switches between them, so you can't mix music [from another source] with gaming in-ear.

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Page 1: Introduction, Features & Design
Page 2: Setup and Sound Quality
Page 3: Conclusion

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