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 Post subject: Anyone know headsets?
 Post Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 3:32 pm 
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LOL! I really don't but I'm looking for a surround sound set.

Here two that I'm currently looking at.

1) A Corsair VOID that is reconditioned and carries a price of 2/3 that of new. It gets a rating 0f 4.8/5 but only 13 reviews. Stated as 7.1 surround sound. $67.99 & free shipping, $99.99 new.
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Wireless-Premium-Headset-Surround/dp/B083TM8WYT/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top

2) An ABKONCORE B719M Pro that is new. One thing that intrigues me is that it has an external USB sound card to handle the surround sound. It gets a 4.5/5 rating but only 5 reviews. One concern is that it is stated as [Virtual 7.1 External USB Sound Card]. $69.99 & free shipping
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088GJ9XKF/?coliid=IRQI6RNK7BO71&colid=SRHA307LM2IK&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

To be honest I have no idea if there is really a difference between 7.1 surround sound and virtual 7.1 surround sound. I sort of feel that any surround sound headset is probably virtual in this price range.

If you know anything about headsets I'd appreciate any opinions. Going through many pages of sets on Amazon and New Egg these were the highest rated in the price range. If you have a personal recommendation I don't want to go over $150.00. Funny thing is that the two I linked have higher ratings than those I saw in the $120.00-$150.00 range but much fewer reviews.

<edit>
I should add that the main purpose of this headset is for watching movies and playing games. I don't really care a lot about the mic.

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 Post Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 5:18 pm 
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Sorry to report that I don't have experience with either brand for a headset. I am familiar for Corsair as a brand for computer stuff, though, having purchased a Flash drive of that brand quite a few years back on a good sale. I own several headsets, but one is a cheap Logitech that is so old I had to replace the foam earpads due to them disintegrating. I own two very good Bluetooth headsets, neither surround capable, but both above your budget. One is made by Mobius that I bought via crowdfunding a few years back. And I have a pair of the Surface Headphones. I think that the Corsair sounds like a good deal and I believe you can return them if you are unsatisfied with them.

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 Post Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 5:42 pm 
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sboots wrote:
Sorry to report that I don't have experience with either brand for a headset. I am familiar for Corsair as a brand for computer stuff, though, having purchased a Flash drive of that brand quite a few years back on a good sale. I own several headsets, but one is a cheap Logitech that is so old I had to replace the foam earpads due to them disintegrating. I own two very good Bluetooth headsets, neither surround capable, but both above your budget. One is made by Mobius that I bought via crowdfunding a few years back. And I have a pair of the Surface Headphones. I think that the Corsair sounds like a good deal and I believe you can return them if you are unsatisfied with them.

Yes, the Corsair can be returned with free shipping under the Amazon refurbished warranty within 90 days. The ABKONCORE B719M Pro appears to have an 18 month warranty.

I like the price reduction on the Corsiar but am intrigued by the ABKONCORE having an independent USB sound card to handle the surround sound. I'm not locked into one or the other but, with other Corsiar sets I've seen a lot of complaints as to the software that controls the set's sound such as an equalizer.

The way I'm set up is that I have a USB extension cord going from my main system to a 4 port (unpowered) hub that connects my headset and game-pad. This may not work well with the ABKONCORE as I'm sure that the external USB sound card draws power. Still this is not an issue as I happen to have a 7 port self powered USB hub that I could use if needed.

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 Post Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:18 pm 
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I just noticed that the Corsair is a refurbished/renewed product. If I were in your shoes, I'd gamble on the ABKONCORE set since it can also be returned plus has that fairly decent warranty -- assuming that the company is easy to deal with for warranty issues, as you won't be dealing with Amazon after the return window.

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 Post Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:30 pm 
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sboots wrote:
I just noticed that the Corsair is a refurbished/renewed product. If I were in your shoes, I'd gamble on the ABKONCORE set since it can also be returned plus has that fairly decent warranty -- assuming that the company is easy to deal with for warranty issues, as you won't be dealing with Amazon after the return window.

Ya, I hear you on that Steve. Thing is that I've had REALLY good experiences with refurbished as my laptop, router and a few hard drives are all in that group and I've never had an issue. Still, all my refurbished have been through Tiger Direct and New Egg. I've never dealt with refurbished through Amazon.

Personally, between the two, I'm leaning toward the ABKONCORE but not mainly due to the warranty difference. My main interest in the ABKONCORE is it's having a separate sound card to handle the surround sound.

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 Post Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:52 pm 
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I've bought refurbished through Amazon and have not had any issues. They are generally manufacturer refurbished anyway and Amazon's return policy is pretty good. The only problems I've read about are items that are "warehouse" reduced pricing items, usually scratch and dent, packaging missing/damaged, but sometimes reviews note that the item was clearly used and returned...

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 Post Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:53 pm 
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The Amazon Warehouse items in the UK come with detailed descriptions of any defects for the particular items on sale, put another way, in the UK there are often multiple numbers of items for offer as a Warehouse Deal under the same listing but each item on offer details the individual flaw... e.g. 3 x identical headphone under the same offer, one may be unboxed but in perfect order, another with a scratch, the third with a part missing... each will be graded and priced accordingly. The devil is in the detail if you look.

YMMV.

@Jay, I'd highly recommend you always look at the refund policy for any headset you want to buy online... best practice would be to try in store if possible because comfort is paramount... e.g if after 10 minutes the headset hurts your ears then no matter the sound quality you're not going to keep them.

This is where bought from and supplied by Amazon comes in incredibly useful... buy, try, not good, return... refund in bank, happy... try again with another bought from and supplied by Amazon headset.


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 Post Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:25 pm 
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Thanks guys. :)

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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:10 pm 
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I just ordered the ABKONCORE B719M Pro. I have no idea about this company but, even though few, the reviews were good.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088GJ9XKF/
I was leaning toward the other but got taken in by the external USB sound card to handle surround sound included with this unit. This MAY mean that I'll need to add another wire going across my floor but no bid deal. The added wire would be due to needing a self powered USB hub. Right now I have a USB extension cable going from the front of my main system to a 4-port unpowered hub. This setup handles my current headset and game pad without issue. If the USB sound card for this unit draws too much power I'll just switch to an unused 7 port self powered USB hub. The added wire would be the power cord for the 7 port self powered USB hub. This is just not an issue as far as I can see. :) LOL! If I haven't tripped over three wires I doubt that I will with 4. :mrgreen: Should get it in a week. Hope that I made a good choice but it DOES advertise a free return if I don't like.

One thing that I don't get is that the ear pads have RGB lighting. I don't get that as it isn't like I'll see the lights with the unit on my head. ;) This would bother me more if the unit was to be wireless as it would lessen battery life. As it is is it seems to be a non-issue as the unit is wired.

Actually I found a coupon so my total cost went from $69.99 to $62.49. LOL! I DO tend to get decent deals by not being in a hurry as to shopping. The problem is that, once I do order, I want it yesterday. Once I order I'm just not good about waiting. ;)

Oh, there WAS another influence... The Corsair unit I was considering is now out of stock with no expected availability. LOL! Sort of made the choice a bit easier.

To be honest a LOT of my initially leaning toward the Corsair unit was due to it being wireless. I guess, since I've been dealing for over 7 years I can keep dealing with wires. ;)

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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:58 pm 
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I'm looking forward to reading about your new headset. Yes, the LED lights is a gamer thing it seems -- multicolor lights inside cases, keyboards, mice... and headsets, apparently. I have a Razer phone and the Razer wireless charging stand. The charging stand has lights that can be customized for when the phone is on the stand charging and then after full charge. I've set it to a single color for both states rather than the breathing and cycling multicolor options that it defaults to. :-)

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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 10:06 pm 
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sboots wrote:
I'm looking forward to reading about your new headset. Yes, the LED lights is a gamer thing it seems -- multicolor lights inside cases, keyboards, mice... and headsets, apparently. I have a Razer phone and the Razer wireless charging stand. The charging stand has lights that can be customized for when the phone is on the stand charging and then after full charge. I've set it to a single color for both states rather than the breathing and cycling multicolor options that it defaults to. :-)

I can see the attraction of lights on something that you can see but just don't get it on a device such as a headset where you will never see the lights. :dunno:

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:07 pm 
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Ah, but it's all about showing off! If you are gaming and streaming your session for others to watch, your image would show the headset and it's flashing lights to others. :-D

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:18 pm 
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sboots wrote:
Ah, but it's all about showing off! If you are gaming and streaming your session for others to watch, your image would show the headset and it's flashing lights to others. :-D

I'm sure that you are correct Steve. I've never done on-line gaming which is probably why I never thought of that. Actually that thought makes me smirk a bit. There is a guy I know back in Ohio that considers himself a high level gamer. Ages ago when I got the game Diablo 3 I emailed asking if he had ever tried. He said that he had but it was too hard in solo mode and you needed to play with others on-line to get anywhere. Funny thing is that I'm maxed out at level 72 in hard mode playing solo. I will say that I went about things a bit different than I normally do with an RPG game. Normally I would go for the biggest and baddest weapons and armor. In this case I still have heavy duty weapons and armor but every bit of my gear also increases healing and health. In most cases I can just sit and do nothing and I'll heal faster than the bad guys can hurt me. The guy in Ohio was quite perturbed... :mrgreen: Anyway none of this matters. Your quote just brought it to mind.

I guess my two choices were good picks as neither are available anymore. Go to either product page and you get the following message:
"Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item
will be back in stock"
At least they must be popular and my ordering yesterday seems to have been just in time. :)


<edit>
Actually, now that I think of it, the rear view mirror camera unit I got has the same unavailable message. Either I'm picking good or bad stuff. Time will tell. :mrgreen:

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 Post Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2020 5:01 pm 
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I found the following interesting. I never understood how surround sound headsets worked especially the virtual surround sound. True surround sound headsets use multiple speakers (drivers) with each handling a surround sound channel.

Virtual surround sound headsets just have one speaker per ear which is the case of the one I ordered (expected to show up in two days). These headsets rely on external pre-amps or mix-amps to simulate the surround sound. In fact my unit includes a 1/8 inch audio cable that allows it to be connected to several game consoles and/or mobile devices. The thing is that you will only get the best performance using the included external USB pre-amp or mix-amp as it needs the external USB device to modify the sound signals to literally bounce channeled sound off of the edges of the ear to give the illusion of surround sound and, yes, it is an illusion but who cares as long as it works? :mrgreen:

Funny thing is that one would expect that true surround sound headsets would give better performance, and they do as to the directional sound, but usually will have less of a dynamic quality of sound just due to the extremely small size of the speakers. For instance the unit I'm getting has one 50mm driver for each ear which equates to 1.96850394 inches. Just due to the size difference the larger single speaker can put out a more dynamic sound.

Anyway, here are a couple of links that I used to draw the above info. I found them to be interesting reads.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2010/08/02/surround-sound-headphones-explained

https://www.howtogeek.com/295722/WHATS-THE-DIFFERENCE-BETWEEN-VIRTUAL-AND-TRUE-SURROUND-SOUND-GAMING-HEADSETS/

So which is better, true or virtual? I've done a bit of searching on this and the general consensus seems to be that virtual, in general, is better just due to the size of the larger single driver versus multiple tiny drivers.

<edit>
I just have to laugh at myself as I want to do some movies tonight but keep looking at anything else to do as I want to wait to try the new headset. I'm sort of funny that way. Take forever to decide but once done I want it yesterday. ;) I'm sure that I'll find a movie to watch anyway.

I'm also trying to decide what to watch to test the new set against the old. I'm thinking that Independence Day just might be a good choice.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 4:11 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
I'm also trying to decide what to watch to test the new set against the old. I'm thinking that Independence Day just might be a good choice.

Which one the original or the sequel?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 4:15 pm 
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The Original, not Resurgence.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 4:32 pm 
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Yes, that was good, mind you it's always the same, they make a film which is a blockbuster and try to follow it without as much success.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2020 1:04 pm 
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Headset has arrived and sounds great! :) They are huge though. The ear pads are probably 3 times the size of the old set.

<edit>
The headset sounds better than I thought! Just on their own they sounded a LOT better than the old set but then I installed the software. Now it is even better and the surround sound of obvious. Had to go to their site to get the software but that is pretty common now. When getting the software I also got the device manual but haven't looked at it yet.

The software also includes an equalizer and several effects such as living room, theater, etc.. Can also save profiles so I can setup for movies, sports and music.

The thing did startle me though. Seems there is a vibration generator attached to the sub woofer channel that can be on or off. :shock:

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 Post Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:21 pm 
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Here is just a visual show of the difference between new and old headsets. I think it obvious that the new set has MUCH larger driver/speaker surface. I've ran my finger around the inside of the ear pad on the new set and the driver/speaker totally fills it. Image below.

Another thing I like with the new set is that it totally covers the ears without touching. My ears are sensitive as to contact and it is nice to have them not touched by the headset.

It is also nice to be able to turn off the mic on the new set. With the mic turned on it will tend to pick up ambient sounds. I could do the same through the Sound Applet settings by telling it to not listen to the device but this is easier as I can turn on/off the mic through the in-line control pad.

Since I have no need for the RGB lighting on the new set it is nice that the lights are powered by a second USB cable. Since I have no use for the lights I just don't plug in that cable.

Basically I'm done and happy. Still have to set equalizer settings for different types of source such as movie/sports/music but that is just a matter playing.

One thing that I don't like is that the pliable mic cord keeps wanting to gradually drop back down in front of my face. I think that I'll use a couple of adhesive Velcro pieces I have around to 'lock down' the mic position out of the way where I want it. If I ever decide to play with voice recognition again (haven't in many years) it would then just be a matter of 'popping' the Velcro and putting back when done.

Oh, I've already found that I think that I like the vibration generator associated with the sub-woofer channel as mentiond in my previous post above. It is quite subtle but can definitely be felt.

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 Post Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 1:09 pm 
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Wow! they are definitely bigger, your old ones look about the same size as mine.

I just went to HP and got the headphones that would work with my laptop, I just keep them plugged into the side of the laptop so it means I can listen to stuff without it interfering if hubby is watching TV.

If I want him to listen to something I just unplug them and sound is back through the laptop system.

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 Post Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 1:58 pm 
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The old one is a Microsoft LifeChat LX 3000. It is really designed for things Like Skype, not media.

Both old and new are USB but the new has a cable to where the USB and sound card are removable and it has a 1/8 plug cable to replace the USB. This allows it to be used on any device but it needs the USB and sound card for surround sound.

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 Post Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 6:01 pm 
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Even more happy. :) I can use the headset for cable shows. Spectrum allows on-line access and I actually have Vivaldi set to have Spectrum Live TV as the home page. Since this is streaming through my main system the headset works.

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