Testing Methodology
For testing we will be testing only on the PC platform since I feel that it gives better overall sound quality. We will be examining the headsets performance in Music, Movies,and PC games.
Before running these tests, the headphones were properly burned-in, in order to bring out the full characteristics of the sound. This is done in order to allow the speakers in the headphones to burn-in since they often sound different out of the box. This headset was burned-in for 2 weeks (used 3 to 4 hour a day) before testing for the review occurred.
Music
Different music albums were used in order to get a feel for how the set would perform on different music genres. All music was tested at a neutral preset on the sound card in order to show what out of the box performance is like, without catering to a individual music type since very few people only listen to a single type of music. So i listened to three genres:Pop, Rap and Electronic.
For the Pop album I chose Hot Mess from Cobra Starship. I really liked to listen to the album with the Rage 7HX the highs and lows on the songs were coming really to their right, the songs where the music was supposed to coming from right or left WAS coming from those sides. If I turned up the volume it was almost of I was on a concert the music was all around me!
Then for The Rap album I chose for The Eminem Show from Eminem of course. In rap the vocals and lyrics are really important, and the Rage 7HX does make the vocals sound very good, so that’s great. I actually didn’t experienced bad sound coming of of this headset.
At last The electronic album I chose was Drink the sea from The Glitch Mob. The sound effects and drums in this album where good on this headset, I didn’t got any problems with bad quality or noise with the Rage 7HX but on higher volumes the sound is not as clear as on lower volumes but its still acceptable
Movies/Video
The Walking dead:
The Walking Dead is an American horrordrama television series. It is based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The series stars Andrew Lincoln as sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes, who awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world dominated by flesh-eating zombies. He sets out to find his family and encounters many other survivors along the way. Its a great serie and the sound with the headset are not the best available but they are not bad too, i actually enjoyed to look at the walking dead withy the headset it have a good overall sound quality.
Games
Battlefield 3:
What I find one of the best multiplayer shooters today, if you want to kill more and die less, its really important to hear footsteps and directions of bullets or grenades so you can use that to get an idea where your enemy is located. With the Rage 7HX i can really hear the footsteps and where they are, if i get shot at i can get an idea from where the are shooting on me. If you have a good headset that can really be a game changer, if you know where the enemy is that can most of the time save your live or let you kill them.
The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim:
A big huge immersive world is a great way to describe skyrim, the sound in the game is quite immersive as well. Moving throughout the Skyrim world was a great experience. the sound of the fighting, dragons swooping down upon you, the shouting,… its all good with the headset. another cool thing with the 7.1 surround is if someone is speaking to you and you turn right then you can hear them better from your right ear cup, if you turn left you hear them better on the left side.
One thing annoyed me, if the volume is a bit high say 50% then you can hear the music playing really good without the headset on your head. I personally find a headset or headphone needs to be quiet when it not on your head, not that this is a major problem just mentioning it.
