Turtle Beach X31 Headset: Official Review

Though some may find it easy to be repulsed by the word "gamer", I proudly proclaim myself to be one. There's no denying it, so why try? I prestiged all ten times in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (legitmately) which took roughly one month of total online game time. Thank you for not doing the math. Unfortunately, I did do the math, and it equates to over 720 hours of gameplay just on that particular title.

To get to the point, all I ever heard online if I was killed playing Search and Destroy, or SnD, was "man, I heard your footsteps a mile away with my Turtle Beaches." This was just around the time I started picking up quickscoping (the reason to snipe in CoD games, except for Black Ops) and so I ignored other players' banter about killing me with their cutting edge known as the Turtle Beach headset. After some time, a few of my friends had started getting their hands on a few Turtle Beach headsets and before I knew it, I was hooked. Here follows the pros and cons of the Turtle Beach X31 headset, which I now happily own.

Pros:
1. Beautiful stereo sound in your ears! Enough said...

2. The headset immerses you into the game like never before, making reaction time just that much faster.

3. The headset has settings to change how the speakers sound. For example, you can add more bass, more voice volume, etc.

4. The headset is completely wireless, except for when you wish to speak with other members of Xbox Live (or PSN, should you be that naive to own a PS3) and even then, only a small cord hangs from the headset to the controller.

5. Very easy set up. Let me explain... I have my xbox set up with an HDMI cord to the TV. The wires to set up the Turtle Beach are component cables, so I was worried initially, but once plugged into the component wires, they still emit the right sounds even though an HDMI cord is used.

6. They are multi-faceted. I use them on my computer, which is also hooked up to my TV through an HDMI cord, and the sound is great when listening to iTunes or when streaming online videos.

7. They are very comfortable. I feel as if I am at the BOSE store at the mall, pretending to think about buying one of their very nice headsets because I know I cannot afford it, but then I snap out of my reverie back to my living room with my Turtle Beach X31.

8. If you're a CoD player, this headset will definitely help increase your killstreaks. I have found it much easier to acquire the Nuke (top killstreak of 25 kills in MW2) since I purchased the X31.

9. To come full circle, I can hear your footsteps now! I cannot tell you how many times I've heard "dun dun dun" and turned around to find someone walking towards an apparently oblivous Me, hoping to get an easy kill. But since I heard the footsteps, I turn around take my akimbo rafficas and foil your plan.

Cons:
1. They are expensive, especially if you are like me, a broke college kid. The Turtle Beach line of headsets can range from $50 all the way to $250 for their top-of-the-line model. My own pair of X31's cost around $100 at retailers nationwide, though I woud recommend using Amazon.com to find the best price. Don't be afraid to buy used, as I did.

2. They eat batteries faster than Takeru Kobayashi eats hot dogs! I strongly suggest in buying a set of four rechargable AAA batteries and a recharge stand, roughly costing $15 altogether, which I bought at Wal-Mart (the cheapest venue I found). The fact that you have to make this second investment just to use your Turtle Beach headset makes the headset more costly than previously expected.

3. When batteries are running low, but not really near end of life, headset can become staticky, especially when moving or being farther than 15 feet away from sensor.

4. The only other con I can think of is that the Turtle Beach works so well that I am rendered completely oblivious to all around me. I will be in the living room playing Call of Duty, and my roommate will come home and I will not hear a thing. The door is about 2 feet from the couch. My roommate will have to either walk into my field of vision, which makes me jump sky high, OR they will have to speak very loudly, which makes me jump sky high. No winning there, I'm afraid. Every day at 5pm, I think I'm being burglarized, but upon more thought, I'm OK with the hilarity.

In my opinion, thes Turtle Beach X31 gaming headset is well worth the price, if you use Amazon.com that is, and they are definitely worth the fun and the excitement they provide in overall gameplay. Sadly, I have not really used the headset in other game types as of yet, so I may repost an addendum at a later date if there are any discrepancies. On a final note, they are the BEEZ NEEZ if you use them to watch a movie. I use them to watch Netflix and Hulu Plus through my Xbox 360 and I have never had a more satisfying movie-watching experience. I hope you enjoyed this post and that you may enjoy the use of such a great headset, too!

Well, here are the facts before you. And by facts, I mean mostly the opinions of a Texas college kid trying to make his voice heard in the sea that is the World Wide Web.