We visited plenty of booths on our recent trip to CES. Audio is a big part of gaming and technology. I love having options in audio, and having good audio products to immerse myself further in the gaming experience. We stopped by Turtle Beach’s booth and got a chance to take a look at their new offerings.
Turtle Beach is updating their product lines. One of the new offerings is their new DSS2 Dolby Processor. The new version is a smaller unit compared to the old DSS, but still has the same function of giving your stereo headset a Dolby Digital Surround experience.
Next up is their wireless headsets. The X31(stereo) and X41(surround) were very popular units with the gaming community, heralded for their quality. They only had one issue: the wireless connection would sometimes drop or skip. Turtle Beach has solved this by implementing Dual Band Wi-Fi technology. This scans through the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrums until it finds a spot with no interference, then it takes it to use exclusively. This will prevent any drops or skips. Turtle Beach is the first company to implement such a technology. This will be available in the updated X32($99 retail) and X42($159 retail) headsets, due out soon. They both received an updated look, as well as a smaller receiver.
This technology is also being used on their updated XP300(stereo, $169) and XP400(surround sound, $169) headsets. The difference is these headsets also have bluetooth wireless chat. They include a bluetooth adapter that you plug into your Xbox 360 controller, so you can chat wirelessly through the headset while allowing you to pair with your cell phone at the same time. This allows you to play a game while chatting, and if a call comes in through your phone, you can pick it up on the headset while you continue playing. The streams will not cross, and only your caller will hear your voice. Let the gaming multi-tasking begin 🙂
Lastly I got the chance to check out Turtle Beach’s new mobile gaming line. This is made to be used with your portable devices, such as iPhones, Android phones, DS, PSP, etc. They all have built-in mics, so you can talk on your phones. The lineup includes the M($39), M1($59), and M5($49).
The M3 is a set of foldable headphones. I tried them out and the 40MM drivers give out great sound and bass. They also seem to be very durable, I folded them every which way I could and didn’t feel any signs of breakage. The M1s are ear bud style headphones with 10MM drivers. They fit snugly in the ear, and produce really deep and clean sounding music. The cable is braided, so it is more durable and harder to tangle. The M5 is another over the hear headset, non folding, more like their traditional line. They are lightweight and have twistable ear cups, so they are easy to carry and use while on the go. All of these headsets will be out soon.
Turtle Beach continues its pursuit of higher quality products at a great price. They have been very popular with gamers for a long time, and they want to continue that trend with their updated line. It looks like they are heading in the right direction. I hope to get some hands-on time with the rest of their units soon, until then, keep an eye out here for the latest from Turtle Beach.