Sennheiser PC 350 Collapsible Gaming Headset with Vol Control & Microphone Mute
by Sennheiser
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List Price: Our Price: $141.99 You Save: $37.96 (21%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $88.01 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sennheiser PC 350 Collapsible Gaming Headset with Vol Control & Microphone Mute
Customer Review: Superb headset in every way
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned a few headsets in the past 10 years, including Logitech, Altec Lansing, Sony (without a microphone) and a lower model Sennheiser about 5 years ago. I am an avid computer gamer and often go late into the night at stretches of 8 hours at a time or more. And this is the best headset I've ever used in almost everyway.
First impressions on removing it from the packaging (which I had no trouble with, following the directions on the box) were of durability and a solid build. It's well put together, nothing seems flimsy or cheap, but its also surprisingly lightweight. The wire is quite heavy duty, unlike the Altec Lansing and Logitech headsets I previously owned. Not to mention robust strain relief where the wire connects to the headset, the control pod, and the jacks.
The control pod is perfectly positioned and lightweight, so even if it's dangling you don't even feel it, unlike the bulky control pods on some other headsets. In terms of fit, the ears swivel almost 45 degrees in each direction, and extend from the head-bar with solid clicking intervals. The headbar and ears are both covered in comfortable velor padding which unlike faux-leather on my previous altec lansings, don't cause your skin to sweat and stick to it. The earpieces swivel slightly in and out, and if you push firmly on them they will collapse inward with a snap - don't be afraid, it just prevents them from collapsing on accident, which I was concerned about when I saw them folded inward in the pictures.
They collapse solidly but will not do so by themselves. The microphone is adjustable, but not overly so - you have to bend it firmly to adjust the position and it won't bounce back on its own. It descends down from its perch vertically along the headset with a moderate degree of resistance, so it won't flop up or down on its own. And if you want to move it halfway up and leave it there, it won't flop back down, unlike my old headset, which either had to be all the way up or down. Hopefully it stays this way.
In terms of comfort, its extraordinary. Many headsets I've owned claimed to be circumaural, meaning they surround you ears and don't sit on them or in them. But most either never intended to actually follow through on that promise or they are made for people with ears the size of quarters. Even my old Sennheisers sat right on my ears, and my Altec Lansings, while a very nice headset, had padding large enough to go around my ears, but the speakers inside the earphones themselves pressed up against my ears, which became extremely uncomfortable after periods of time.
These earphones are ACTUALLY circumaural. The padding surrounds your ears but never touches them. The only pressure is on your actual head; your ears are never in contact with anything. The velor is soft and the pressure is almost unnoticeable. At first they seemed a bit tight but a little adjustment of the head-bar and a couple hours and they seem to break in a bit. the velor padding on the head-bar rests gently on the top of your head and the whole thing seems to distribute the weight of the headset evenly so you barely feel it.
Now for sound - Everyone knows Sennheiser is one of the premier names in sound quality, and these are no disappointment. Now these are probably not the headset you want if you're just listening to music in a studio or something - but for a combination of a microphone and comfort and audio quality, I doubt there's any better at this price. I began by watching a DVD of Band of Brothers on my computer. At first I thought something was wrong! It sounded like there was some kind of noise coming from somewhere else besides the DVD, when I realized I was hearing things I've never even before heard on my speaker system!
Every sound, especially the mid's and high's are exceptionally clear and sharp. And for a headset that is not a 5.1 headset, the directionality of the sound is amazing. Some here have complained that the base is not heavy enough, but honestly, if you want to have more base than this, you're not looking for audio quality and accuracy, you're just looking for ridiculous base. The base was excellent and sharp, not booming or echoing. Explosions sounded realistic and surprising, without any buzzing or crackling. For sound quality, these are better than my Klipsch Promedia speaker system, and that's saying something.
These also have a closed headset design, and I was initially worried about the sweaty-ear syndrome from this type of headset, but I was suprised and happy to find that after 4 hours, I didn't experience any overheating or sweating of my ears. Maybe in the summertime that would change, but if anything the headset just got more comfortable over that time.
The microphone quality, while it is hard for me to tell myself, I've been told it's excellent, although I had to turn my gain up a bit on my microphone, because apparently its a bit quieter because of the filter on it.
My only con with this set of headphones is the cord I think could be a bit longer, but that's not a big deal, for me anyways. Also, I think a carrying bag might be nice to go with these headphones.
Overall, if you're looking for a headset with superb audio quality, comfort, durability, longevity, and a high quality microphone, not to mention incredibly stylish looks and a classic and understated appearance, you CANNOT go wrong with these for the price. Forget the 5.1 channel headsets with bulky, powered control pods for surround sound and brightly colored headsets, get this one for a lifetime of quality and enjoyment.
Customer Review: Deserved 5 star rating
Summary: 5 Stars
First let me begin I am a skeptic of headset comfort, second to sound quality, and third to microphone quality. All are very important in my rating, and without one of the three factors mentioned, I wouldn't rate the product higher than a 2. However, this headset DESERVES 5 STARS!!!
Backlog: I have both a big head (12.5 inch circumference!) and I wear glasses. Both my large cranium and glasses usually do not mesh well, actually at all, with gaming headsets. With my previous gaming headset (Logitech clear chat) I could game for about 1-2 hours before brewing a massive headache, then I would have to switch to my lame 2 desktop speakers. I was in desperate need of a comfortable gaming headset that had great sound and great mic quality.
Enter Sennheiser PC 350 Gaming Headset:
Extremely comfortable; I have had the headset for about three weeks. Don't let this fool you on testing. I am a college student with lots of time on my hands! Over the last three days I have put in 15 hour gaming sessions, per day, (Mass Effect 2~ I was sucked in!!) and I didn't have to re-adjust or take off the headset once. The cushions on these puppies are thick, VERY sound dampening, and plush. My ears (also large) fit nicely in the cups without any contact. The ear cups (don't know what to call them) completely envelop my ears and create a nice seal (even with my thick nerd glasses). The headset is very adjustable; the ear cups swivel, and articulate in many positions to fit against your head. The head strap has many different levels of adjustment, to raise or lower the ear cups on your head. The microphone is also conveniently adjustable; a majority of the mic arm is made of hard plastic, but a portion of the arm is made of a highly flexible rubber which allows for nice positioning of the mic (Also when not using the mic it can be swung into a 'out of the way' upright position). The mic, and all of the headset for that matter, is of excellent build quality. The sound is AWESOME! :D The highs are crisp, and the bass is very deep (deepest I have heard from a headset, and I have professional Sony studio headsets). As I said before the ear cups are very sound dampening. My wife three feet from me cannot get my attention without tapping me on my shoulder. (~I read about the level of sound dampening in previous reviews and they were totally right: the headset is so quiet that your house could be burning down and you wouldn't know it) My wife sits next to me on her computer with her music blasting, and I can delightfully sight next to her and not have to listen to it. ;) Basically the sound dampening provided from the nicely sealed thick ear cups is excellent!
Conclusion:
I researched the heck out of this headset, and many others; This is my personal winner, and in my opinion, one of the best headsets out. I always base my decisions upon user's reviews and professional online reviews. I am happy to say that the Sennheiser PC 350 Gaming Headset is the nicest, high quality headset, that I have ever owned. I am also pleased to tell those of you reading this review that this headset is most worthy of your purchase.
I hope this helps those of you needing user input and opinion. Best of luck on your purchase ;)
~Pat
Customer Review: Finally... A Decent Set of Headphones
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my fifth gaming headset and from the gaming experience so far, should be the last headset I buy for quite some time.
On the objective side of things, this headset is quite comfortable with no part of either ear "cup" resting on any part of the respective ears. They don't squeeze too tightly, and do adjust for large heads that you might see on NFL football players. My ten year-old child wears these quite comfortably as well; a head size on the other end of the spectrum.
I've seen various reviews remarking of ears becoming warm and I suppose they might; a little. But nothing really worth talking about.
External noise is blocked well when gaming or listening to music.
The microphone is more than satisfactory in both design and in clarity. Easy adjustment and movement, and excellent voice reproduction- well, the various people with whom I've gamed all say it's been clear and undistorted.
The one feature very different from my previous headsets (and many others) is the link/pivot/hinge connecting the the ear cups to the headband. Very well thought-out design and allows for additional customization of comfort.
Most people, myself included, don't pick up a headset with both hands- one on each ear cup. Instead it's a quick grab of one cup with one hand whereby a fair amount of pressure is placed on that particular hinge. Over time, that begins to break or weaken components. Not so with this headset.
Regarding frequency reproduction, I've run CDs used for tuning mixers with frequency sweeps/white noise/pink noise and I am impressed. While nothing's impossible, I've not yet encountered any distortion with gaming, music or the aforementioned tuning CD.
Granted- distortion potential relies in part, on the quality of the source. On a side note, the soundcard I currently use on my gaming system is the old workhorse Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeMusic.
On the subjective side: "Properly" encoded music files have sounded delicious with clear lows, mids, and highs.
Gaming has become a new world for me with so much more clarity, lovely undistorted explosions, and arresting immersion (Bioshock!). In a previous professional life, I was a DJ and audio editor in television and radio. I'm very impressed by this headset.
Keep in mind, this headset is not intended for reference audio production but they've been more than adequate for my continued amateur work with Reason, Adobe Audition, etc.
Though I was apprehensive prior to purchase, I have NO qualms about the money spent.
(edit) It's some days later I'm drinking Cuba Libras listening to Shaggy in Creative Labs "Entertainment Mode" and the bass is ... well, my only wish would be for this headset to be wireless to make dancing easier. (/edit)
(one more edit 08/12/09) This headset is _GREAT_ with Rosetta Stone! (/one more edit)
Customer Review: Uber set . . . must have for team speak or vent
Summary: 5 Stars
This is pretty cool headset. Its is large, giving you the Mickey Mouse appearance. For ultra real flight simmers, it'd be cool.
The sound is astounding. On flippin point. Currently the only game (time constraints) I play is IL-2. I have this $400 5-1 Antec Lansing speaker sets which rocks but IL-2 only does front and back, none of this surround sound.
I thought I heard all there was. However in the 350, it has this extra depth and richness to the sound. The cannon and machine guns sound synthesized in the game (and lead many Il-2 players to get sound mods) but the 350 has them sounding great. Also the engine noise now sound closer to real engine.
Whats tight is it does a surround sound thing which floored me when I was at my friends house playing left for dead. I almosted creamed in my pants when playing Rise of Flight at the surround sound.
The microphone is cool too, you can even record and for the most part, keeps your voice.
I've had other "premium gaming" headsets and I friggin sound like a chick or tinny chipmunk version of my true manly baritone. I'm there to play and relax and have fun, not entertain some of the single forever gamer dudes as they get all excited on Teamspeak, saying I'm trying to deny I'm a girl.
Well it doesn't help that my playing skills are average LOL.
But not the 350, I sound like myself, which is damn cool.
The headsets comfortable . . . The most I've worn this was for 4 hours and it sat nicely and didn't cramp my ears or slide so it felt funny. Comfy.
Its adjustable and fits my head. One thing if you don't adjust it it can slide in weird positions. My friend has a strange shaped head (his words) and it slides off because he doesn't adjust it.
The track IR pro clip fits with this headset, and holds on.
The weight is barely noticable, but it is bigger than most headsets, so sometimes if you're scratching your head, you might brush and push the headset out of position, dangerous if you're in a critical fire fight or moment in the engagement w/ an enemy ace.
It is of good make and materials. I haven't done crazy things like throw it across the room in anger, so I can't comment on its combat toughness.
Oh also remember to switch your sound from surround speakers to headphones / headset, the 350 sounds way better when your PC sound driver / audio manager is set to headphones while using it. Some people buy great headsets and complain they aren't like surround, and they suck, but they forget to switch from 9.1 / theater to headset.
Customer Review: Best headset I've owned to date!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best headset I've ever owned! Superb quality. I got this for $124 when the price went down on Amazon. I've had it for a few months now. It is comfortable enough to wear hours on end. I tend to wear a beanie a lot, so I wear the headset over it and it is still comfortable enough to wear for hours, though it starts to strain on the ears after the 3+ hour mark when wearing it over my hat. Without the hat, just over the ears, I've experienced 12+ hours of comfort because it just caresses the ears so well. On hot days it can get a little sweaty in the ears, but if you have proper cooling in your house, that shouldn't be an issue.
The sound is amazing and you can rock out all day long listening to music or have fun chatting with friends or playing a game. While using Skype and Ventrilo I've been told I sound great with the mic and everything sounds crisp and clear on my end.
There are a few adapters available on amazon for a normal cellphone or an iPhone which provide a lot more uses for this headset. I use my bluetooth while driving, but if you're like me and want to do things while you talk on the phone, these adapters are great for walking around the house and talking or listening to music. Cellphone speakers aren't always the best quality, so this additional function for the headset is amazing.
The headset is collapsible, so it's easy to pack away. The volume and mute control are simple and easy to use. This headset can really pump the volume if you turn everything up all the way. It also has a decent amount of noise canceling with the earmuffs, so if you're up late at night with someone else in the house, be careful you don't start singing along with a song and wake up others. You'll be much louder than you think! lol.
I've tried to save money on headsets in the past and the cheaper ones have always bit the dust after a few months to a year of use and I'd have to buy a new one. So my recommendation to you, if you're on the fence is to buy these! This is truly a quality item and will be well worth it in the long run. Sennheiser is a quality name and these don't disappoint.
PROS: Absolutely Everything!
CONS: This is sort of a double edged sword, but the cord is very long so its great in my opinion, but depending on how you use it, the cord can get twisted up once in a while and you might have to unwind it. But if you take care, this shouldn't be a problem.
Overall Rating: 4.99 out of 5 (-.01 cause you've got to leave space to improve)