Ear Force AKR8 | List Price: $149.99
Discount Price: $109.99
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Brand: Turtle Beach
Binding: Electronics
Release Date: 2007-04-29
Features: - True 5.1 surround sound from 8 speakers
- Ability to monitor outside sounds while wearing headphones
- USB audio interface with multi-channel amplifiers
- DSP sound environments with presets
- High-fidelity large-diaphragm drivers
windows display glitch [Posted on 2007-11-19]
I am a PC gamer how enjoys first-person-shooters and coordinating with my friends online with a microphone. I also like subwoofers and surround sound, and they add to PC gaming. I use a laptop for PC gaming, and for audio it only has a headphone and microphone jack. I also like voice activation for using the microphone, which would make headphones ideal. All of this together is why I was really turned on to usb surround sound headsets like the AKR8. Unfortunately, there are no stores nearby that have surround sound usb headsets that I can try, so I was limited to reading online reviews in deciding which headphones to buy.
I liked the reviews for the AKR8, and additional features. So I ordered these through amazon. When the headphones arrived, I found that they work well with music and movies, but imagine my horror when I heard all this static and crackle and crap when trying the headphones out for the first time with my favorite games BattleField 2 and Half Life 2. I was so dissapointed, I had not seen this problem mentioned in any of the reviews. However, it turns out that there is a work around. By reading the turtle beach support AKR8 website, they say to try changing the display properties. By going to display properties, advanced, troubleshoot, there is a slider bar labeled "hardware acceleration". After the game has started, if I go back out to the display properties and move the slider bar down a click or two, I can go back to the game and the static and crackle is gone. I don't have to change video or audio settings in the game itself, just in windows. My laptop runs Windows XP, has a 2 ghz dual core, 2 gb ram, and nvidia geforce go 7900 GS. It is annoying that everytime I want to play the game, I have to start the game, go to the display properties, and then back to the game, but once I do, I get great sounding surround sound, and lots of great subwoofer bass. I could use a little more subwoofer, but I don't know if that is possible with any pair of headphones. Mic seems to work fine. Four stars for the awesome sound, with a star knocked off for difficulty of set-up.
Be sure to know the return policy of the place you buy these from. I am going to keep these AKR8 headphones, yet it may not have been possible to return these headphones to Amazon if I had not found a solution to the glitch. If you buy from Turtle Beach directly, they promise a 30 day money back guarantee. There is no guarantee if not bought from turtle beach directly
Turtle Beach 5.1 Surround Sound Headphones [Posted on 2008-01-24]
What was I doing before Turtle Beach ? I had a pair of standard headphones which I thought were great - until I slipped these headphones on... Imagine total surround sound in 5.1.... They are fantastic. Thank YOU Turtle Beach.
Excellent, other than the crackles [Posted on 2008-02-21]
With a little messing up with the equalizer and speakers you can get the best sound there is.
The adjustable head band is really comfortable compared to the really awesome AKG K-701 that crushes your head until it hurts really bad. And the grip of the headphones are a little hard too. So i would recommend to probably put some wide object like a vase or a few dvd cases between your headphones for a couple of hours until it loosens up a little bit.
There's also some crackling sound. But that doesn't really bother me that much...
Final thoughts:
I could have rated this 4 stars but i don't think it's that bad to take a star off. Unless if I can make it 4.5, then i would give it a 4.5 stars.
Other thoughts:
I wonder how would this compare to those X-FI sound cards from dolby...
Awesome Headphone! [Posted on 2008-02-25]
The AKR8 Headphone gives me the sound I crave. I am very happy with the quality of this headphone, and highly recommend it to anyone looking for top of the line sound.
Super Ear Force!!! [Posted on 2008-05-22]
An excellant product, it's everything expected and more. The deep base and sound quality are unmatched by far, the nearest anything can come to this product are the Top of the line Bose!
Click here for more details and discount information...
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