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: awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
i bought this item specifically for gaming. like most consumers, i researched headsets exhaustively prior to my purchase. i had, repeat, had a budget, but after comparing multiple headsets i found i was willing to spend the extra money on a brand that has been getting great reviews and a reputation for quality for years.
full ear coverage blocking out ambient noise which i found a wonderful change from my sets that allowed background noise. the set is on the heavy side so after a 4 hour gaming session i found i was a little tender around my ears, but nothing a short break couldnt cure.
i confirm what previous reviewers stated about the inline volume control not being able to turn the sound all the way off. it gets quiet, but not muted. i do appreciate the inline microphone control though, as it was easier to mute myself that way than using in application controls, especially if you use hands free chatting options in ventrillo. i suppose i could hotkey a mute, but really, why do i have to now :)
sound quality is brilliant. bass is a little weak, and i hesitate to use the word weak. its [bass] there but it wont make you rumble in your seat. highs and mids are crystal clear and even at high volume there was no loss of quality. i tried them out using some of my 'speaker twisting' musical choices from classical to breakbeat and they performed on par with my $500 7.1 system. im sure a pure audiophile can find fault, but i enjoy music and i found no reason for complaints.
but here is something i was amazed by. my father came over and was fiddling around with my headset, explaining to me that his tinnitus in one ear was getting worse to the point of distraction. we searched together for some noise generators [pink,white, red/brown] online and tested them with the 350's. he found immediate relief. we played with frequency settings to get it just right for him and the headset responded to each change without fail even in ultra high frequencies. he then wanted to test water sounds as his doctor suggested they would help as well. i popped in a sounds of nature cd for him and he was like a child with a new toy on christmas morning. the only regret i have about buying these is that i have to buy another set today bcz he stole mine :P
btw, sennheiser site has msrp at 239.00 usd. i got these for @119.00 plus i splurged on shipping making my coo @130.00. money well spent to bring my father relief. i hardly ever say this about a product, but ill do so here. get these
Customer Review: Awesome!
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, the shipping was exactly on schedule. The item came in a very impressive, hard to open, box. Upon first glance at this bad boy, I was really astounded by the professional look, feel and construction. I immediately plugged it in and went online to Call of Duty 5. Not wanting to play and just check out the sound, I went in spectator mode. As soon as the map loaded, I thought my eardrums were going to burst, as a grenade just went off nearby. Coupling this monster to the Auzentech X-Fi-Forte 7.1 and turning on the 3-d surround sound mode was like I was really there. The 3-D positioning is absolutely perfect and realistically clear. Whoever complained about the lacking bass was very wrong. Playing with the equalizer can really make the bass boom in your ears. The highs are crisp and clear. I use Ventrillo and was told I never sounded better. Microphone is very sensitive, you can practically whisper in it and the sound activation detects. Music wise, I went to Windows Media Center for a quick sound demo. Excellent. However, I did have to crank down on the higher frequencies on my equalizer. They were set very high for my cheaper headset. No distortion at loud volumes. The earcups will, after a while make your ears hot-not sweaty. The ambient noise is practically nill with these on as they cover your whole ear, and I have a very large head. The mike boom is expandable and firmly holds whatever position you put it in. I found the best position to be a little higher than your mouth. These are truly a beautiful, expensive looking and sounding headsets. The frquency response is above and beyond the norm 20-20, not usually found on other sets. While in game play, I keep taking them off thinking someone in the house is trying to talk to me but found that they were sounds I never heard before-people talking in the background. It really isn't overpriced for what you get. Going to the Sennheiser website I found a merchant (in Germany) that was selling these for over $500!!! When they first came out. If you want to hear ALL the EAX sounds in your game, as clear as clear can be with precise positioning, do youself a favor and get these.
Only complaint is ears do get hot after a while, but removing for a minute corrects this. They are comfortable. The volume control does not shut the sound off completely, just lowers it to a certain level less than your main volume setting. Very long cord should allow you to get off your chair and walk a few feet away for whatever you might want.
Customer Review: Great headset
Summary: 5 Stars
I really like this headset, with a few caveats -
You need to give it ample break-in time, the sound will change dramatically over the first few weeks of use. Be sure to play a variety of music at medium to high volume for several hours (I left winamp on random for about 2 days at high volume while I was gone) to break them in. You may also find that a typical MP3 player/computer audio out wire will not push these headphones to high volume. No problem for me, I already have a high-quality headphone amp, but that's a significant investment for most (that many won't be willing to make). But this will only affect those that enjoy listening at high volumes.
I don't care for the pivoting ear cups, but I suppose the fact that the headphones can lay flat for travel is a selling point for some. I typically pick headphones up by one site to put them on, and you really have to use both hands with the PC-350. The quality of the microphone is very good, and the pivot feels solid. Everyone I play with has no trouble at all understanding my voice. The ear cups are made of some sound-deadening foam or something, which works well for cutting off nearby conversations. Unless your listening at very high volume no one nearby will be able to hear whatever your listening to - but your very unaware of your surroundings too (it's very easy to sneak up on you, for instance). I don't care for the vinyl-slick covering of this foam, I'd have GLADLY traded hearing more of whats going on around me for the velvet feel the 555's have. When it's hot in the area where I'm gaming I typically get sweaty/uncomfortable under the headset rather quickly.
The audio quality of the headphones overall is very good, perhaps lacking a little in overall dynamic range and bass response. You can tune this to your preference using either a headphone amp or any equalizer program on your computer. The Sennheiser 555's are slightly better across the board sound-quality wise, and I still wear them for extended listening/gaming where I don't require a microphone - due to the ear-cup issue, they're more comfortable for extended wear. But nothing beats this headset for gaming w/ voice, and I find the noise-deadening properties of the ear cups handy when actually playing.
To sum up, this is a very solid product, and does a great job performing it's function.
Customer Review: Best Headset Ever
Summary: 5 Stars
I was the happy owner of a sennheiser 161 for like 2 years, it died because I had the bad habbit of chewing on the string when I got stressed programming. I gotta say this thing is far superior, I was worried it'd be expensive just because it looks a lot nicer and would not be much of an improvement over sennheisers $70 - 100 headsets. I was very impressed when they got here. The audio quality is not super improved from the older headsets, that's not a insult though as the cheaper ones have amazing quality. It has much more capacity for bass. The cheaper headsets sounded really bad on heavy bass parts. A lot of people think a better headset will make the bass louder or more noticeable at least, but its not the case unless you use an equalizer.
PROS:
The best change in my opinion is the microphone. The mics on the cheaper models were great, but this one has AMAZING noise reduction.
The next best thing is the ambient noise reduction. I honestly felt like the ear pieces were like suction cups because you can feel a noticable change in pressure when you put them on and your voice even sounds different to you when you speak. It's not exactly like ear plugs but there's definitely a noticeable drop in ambient noise.
The privacy is pretty good. People can't hear what your listening to when they're on your head, however the second you take them off its pretty loud even at low volumes.
More bass capacity.
More comfortable and nicer looking.
The wire is noticeably thicker...for me to chew on =P
Cons
Still the same cheap manual wheel to increase or lower volume. From experience these seem to break easily or cause one side of the headset to be louder than the other on certain levels.
It produces a crackling sound at 98Khz output sampling rate on my soundcard. I set it to 48Khz and it fixed the issue. Other headsets didn't have this problem.
It gets kinda hot around the ears.
One of the previous reviewers noted that the volume wheel sucks and won't turn the sound all the way off. I gotta say it makes it really quiet. If you want to mute the sound all together you can just set a hotkey with hotkeybind, autohotkey or some other free macro software.
Customer Review: Drive it right
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're like me, you bought these because they are made by Sennheiser and the mic/headphone design looks cool. Just plug it in and it should impress you right? Wrong. The key is: you need to drive these headphones properly. They have a high impedance and they need a high gain amplifier. If you do, it will destroy any other gaming headset and most likely any headphones you have. Paired with a sound card like the Asus Xonar w/Headphone Amp and Mic Pre-amp, this headset is the best I have come across so far.
There are better headphones out there but if you are looking for a high quality headset (not just headphones), this is the one. I had the Sennheiser HD-280 Headphones and had read about a 'boom-set' or some funky name version of the HD-280 with a microphone. Basically, (and using the word 'basically' generally implies you don't know what you are talking about; but in this case I just want to get a point across) I wanted my HD-280 with a built in mic. After a few years I naturally forgot about what I wanted to burn my money on, then somehow, through complex ad targeting algorithms implemented by Amazon, I came across this headset. With the Sennheiser name, I was immediately sold. My dream of having a Sennheiser gaming headset came true.
This may sound like a shameless plug for Sennheiser and Asus but seriously it sounds good. Try it out and if you disagree, I'd like to hear about it, but for the gamer entering an audiophile's sphere, this is a good start. I have slight hearing loss in my right ear but I can still distinguish audio quality. Driven correctly, this headset is awesome.
Comfort: it fits well around my ears. It presses against my head and not my ears; I suppose this is circum-aural.
Sound Quality: awesome, but there are better, more expensive headphones out there. compared to headsets, this is one of the best, if not the best.
Microphone Quality: good enough. I just use it to talk with my squad/survivors/zombies
Material Quality: fairly light. feels sturdy but it definitely sounds better than it feels if driven correctly.
Take care of these headphones by driving them properly and they will take care of you.