Picture if you will:

It’s late at night, and being a hardcore gamer you’re lost deep in a trance as you frag n00bs half way across the world. The only thing to snap you back to the real world? The next door neighbour who isn’t as hardcore, banging on the wall because he/she doesn’t understand why you’d need your sound system so loud at 3am.

Unless you live in a soundproof bubble, or possibly in space, it’s a scenario that many of you will be intimately familiar with, or will stumble across eventually. Don’t despair, Turtle Beach can provide you with the perfect solution to your problem (sadly, they won’t assassinate your neighbour… that’s wrong).

With their X-series of headsets, Turtle Beach have revolutionised 360 gaming. Built from the ground up to provide both in-game sounds and online chat directly to your ears, there is a Turtle Beach headset to match your needs, as well as your budget.

The Turtle Beach Ear Force X31 Headset is the mid tier model which features wireless sound transmission, as well as independent chat and game volume levels.

Initial setup is simple, requiring the use of official 360 video cables as red & white sound outputs are required to carry the sound to the included RF transmitter. The transmitter itself is powered via USB, with a cable that is long enough to allow for optimum placement. The headset is powered via 2 AAA batteries, which will give somewhere in the region of 24 hours of use before replacements are required.

As someone who finds that most headsets tend to crush my skull, I was happy to discover that the X31s were extremely comfortable; in fact after a while they were barely noticeable (helped in part by their lightweight design).

The headset’s sound quality is next to perfect. In the heat of battle, each explosion and gun shot came through with crystal clear clarity, with zero lag from the RF transmitter. I also found that even though the headset is a stereo model, I was easily able to distinguish sound direction; which is all important in something as intense as an FPS game.

I did, unfortunately, find that there was a little bit of hiss. This is clearly evident when sound is whisper quiet, or even when sitting at the dash. However, it was not noticeable while in game sounds were being played.

In conclusion, the Turtle Beach Ear Force X31 Headset is the best gaming headset I’ve ever used. With exceptional battery life (even from my ageing rechargeables), crystal clear sounds both in-game and in-chat, and a whole host of additional features to help customise your gaming experience; this is one headset I’ve yet to see beaten outside of the Turtle Beach product line.

If you’re worried about splashing out a serious amount of cash on this product, don’t be. Once you slip on the X31s, you won’t want to take them off (though I’d recommend not taking them into the shower). You’ll make your ears, and your neighbours happy.

9/10

Support Old School Gamer

You can help support Old School Gamer by purchasing a Turtle Beach Ear Force X31 Headset from the following sites: -

Amazon: Turtle Beach Ear Force X31 Headset.
Play.com: Turtle Beach Ear Force X31 Headset.