I woke up one day with a feeling that I need a headset for my PS3. Luckily some companies already thought about providing stuff for this market.
My first try was the Turtle Beach PX21 which looked pretty cool, but you probably learned by now, looks can be deceiving. When I hooked it up to my system it immediately started a constant hiss. Tried a variety of things but it wouldn’t go away, so eventually I took it back to the store. After reading the interwebz I concluded that some people have this and some people don’t (or they are just deaf). Anyhow, I don’t recommend this particular headset for anyone.
Then I kept looking and came across Sharkoon’s X-Tatic Digital headset. It was 1.5x the price of the PX21, but I was determined. I read a lot of reviews and forums to make sure this won’t backfire on me and thankfully it didn’t.
If you are also considering to buy this baby there are a few things to take into account. If you never owned a headset such as this before, be aware that there are tons of cables involved. If you like to keep your place nice and tidy, the amount of cables will probably upset you, especially if your TV is on the wall like mine and not on a stand (less places to hide the cables).
Using the mic on the PS3 will cost you a USB slot. This may not be an issue, but e.g. if someone plays DJ Hero and Street Fighter with a fight stick actively, it might get old swapping the stuff out, since most PS3′s only have 2 USB slots. The mic is detachable, but it’s relatively small so you’ll need to keep an eye on it not to lose it. Also, it plugs into the bottom of the ear cup, so you’ll need to be a bit careful when it’s attached and you are putting down the headphones.
The phones too need to be connected to the power supply, but there’s no way to toggle the power so when you are done playing, you’ll need to unplug, otherwise it will be glowing all night. The ear cups are comfortable, but there’s only a very thin fabric on the inside and a few times the hard part of my ear made contact with the hard plastic and it wasn’t a good feeling. It’s nothing severe, but you should definitely try them out if you can before you pay as your ears are different from mine.
I tried to use it with my PC too, but as it turns out my crappy Creative Xtreme Audio doesn’t support 5.1 via optical out and I didn’t care to bother with the jacks.
A few nice reads if you want to dig deeper: