Sennheiser PC 363D 7.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset Review

It looks like even Sennheiser, cannot resist trying to get a share of the gaming audio market as it tries to blend its style of audio perfection with the needs and wants of the modern gamer. Enter the Sennheiser PC 363D 7.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset which is touted by the German audio juggernaut to deliver ‘pure emotion and excitement’.

As you probably can guess, the PC 363D is a 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound headset and it achieves this effect through the use of a USB soundcard. It boasts a frequency range of 15 Hz – 28,000 Hz.

With a (huge) price tag of SGD 419, this pair of headphones is clearly not meant for the casual gamer.

Design & Features

Much like the majority of Sennheiser’s products, the PC 363D looks sleek and elegant with its matte black finishing and velvety ear cushions. Though to be fair, the construction of the headset could use some improvements: though the black matte plastic lends elegance on the headset, the dominant plastic build of the headset can’t help but make me feel that the product falls short of being premium – especially considering the price that Sennheiser is asking for.

As expected of a gaming headset, the cables are rugged, tough and seem to be able to handle quite a bit of physical wear and tear. It comes with two standard 3.5 mm audio jacks for its microphone and audio.

The headset is also pretty light at a weight of 280 grams, making it easy to bring to LAN parties or competitions.

What I enjoyed most about its design was the placing of the volume knob on the right side of the headphones, making it really simple and convenient to adjust the volume on-the-fly. The microphone’s intuitive mute function is a godsend too as one only simply needs to stow the microphone upwards to mute it and bring it down to chat.

Performance

Given Sennheiser’s reputation as a leading audio brand, it is natural that the Sennheiser PC 363D sounds great, easily surpassing rival headsets such as the ASUS Orion Pro with its huge soundstage and rich audio reproduction.  In Battlefield 3, the battlefield cacophony of explosions, gunfire and footsteps can all be easily heard and distinguished from one another – making this pair of headset worthy for the serious FPS player where the approximating of the opponents’ movements is half the battle won.

The headset did well in RPG games as well. The world of The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim came alive with the headset default 5.1 surround sound system. Leaves rustling in the wind, water gently flowing along a stream or the crash of the water at the waterfall… all these sounds could clearly be heard and enjoyed. In combat, weapon strikes and parries also felt more realistic.

I did not really use the virtual 7.1 surround sound feature for gaming as I felt that the virtual-ness of it is pretty distorting and unrealistic. The virtual 7.1 surround sound worked its magic in movies though, as the virtually enhanced soundstage and audio helped make the numerous movies and shows that I watch on my computer much more exciting.

The headset worked great when used for general music listening. As with the majority Sennheiser products, the Sennheiser PC 363D was pretty bass-heavy, making it a warm and mellow pair of headset. The bass was solid thumping goodness while the midranges still remains clear and is not masked by the bass. The treble was warm though I would have preferred a brighter, lighter treble.

Throughout testing, the sound isolation offered by the headset was good while the convenient volume knob on the headphones really made adjusting the volume a much simpler task. The microphone also worked well and was able to capture voice without dissonance and echo. It’s auto-mute function also worked great and saved me the hassle of manually muting the microphone.

Conclusion

So is this pair of gaming headset worth a buy?

With a hefty price tag of SGD 419, only gamers who are also passionate about music beyond the gaming sphere (and have the cash to spend!) should give this gaming headset a listen. Otherwise, there are numerous cheaper gaming headsets out there that can get the job done for the average gamer with no qualms.

The above article can also be found at GX.com.sg here!

Sennheiser IE 800 Review: Portable Audio at its Best

Overall Score: 9/10

Let’s me just get this out of the way: Sennheiser’s IE 800 is probably the best pair of  In-Ear Microphones (IEMs) out there bar custom IEMs – and thats only if you can afford it. Despite its hefty price tag of about 1,100 SGD, the IE800 only utilises a single dynamic driver unlike rival multi-driver, high-end IEMs like Shure’s SE353 or UE’s UE 900 which are also in this price range albeit a tad lower.

Nevertheless, Sennheiser touts its IE 800 to have a frequency range of 8 Hz – 41,000 Hz. For comparison sake, the hearing range of a typical human is 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz – making the IE 800 capable of producing sound that our ears can’t pick up.

Having said that, let’s take a closer look at these beautiful IEMs.

Design & Features

For a thousand dollars, the Sennheiser IE 800 reeks of elegance. The earphones are made of dark ceramic which possesses a rather classy grey-ish hue while the trademark Sennheiser logo is subtly embedded on the sides of the earphones. The earphones also have a unique twin bass port design while the presence of two wire meshes – one in the ear cushion, one in the cone – help to prevent earwax from damaging the interior of the earphones and to facilitate easy cleaning. Those seeking a pair of ‘fashion loud’ earphones (think UE 900’s bright blue colour) will be disappointed as these IEMs are inconspicuous at approximately 2 cm in length. The IE 800 also ships with five pairs of earbuds, making it easy to find a pair that fits your ears perfectly. Though for a thousand-dollar price tag, I was a bit disappointed that Sennheiser did not include complimentary foam eartips in their packaging.

The cables come in a beautiful, intertwining black and green design and are reinforced to prevent breakage. The lower part of the cable is detachable, allowing for easy cable swapping or replacements. As expected of a thousand-dollar product, the cables conclude to the gold-plated 3.5mm jack. Although it is debatable whether the gold plating actually helps to boost sound quality or not, it does improve the overall look and feel of the IE 800.

To protect these babies, Sennheiser has included a sleek leather carrying case reminiscent of leather flip protectors for smartphones. The carrying case is designed to neatly house the IE 800 by nestling the earphones in the middle while the wires are coiled around a groove lining the case. There’s space to house the earphone cleaning tool for those emergency eartip cleanings. Each case even comes with a metal plate stating the model number and serial number of the earphones. Though the leather design may raise some concerns about the extent of protection that this carrying case can provide,  it is hard to deny that the leather carrying case looks elegant and professional.

Performance

Audio is where the Sennheiser IE 800 – or any Sennheiser product, for that matter – shines. On first listen, a casual listener would just note a large soundstage and punchy bass; nothing too outworldly to justify the outworldly price tag. But stay awhile and listen, and you’ll be making a series of discoveries.

The first of which is a vast soundstage that I never knew was possible to attain with IEMs, and the soundstage in these pair is a noticeable upgrade from soundstages found on IEMs in the 600-dollar region. The soundstage is not overly vast and possesses significant depth. Perhaps owing to the dynamic driver, these earphones have excellent layering, separation and hence, clarity. Listening to William Tell’s Overture by Gioachino Rossini, the IE 800’s immaculate layering and separation can clearly be heard; with the violins, clarinets, percussion and solo flutist easily distinguishable yet still maintaining an intimate melding of sounds.

The next would be none other than Sennheiser’s trademark bass. It is without contention that the best part of the IE 800 is its deep, resonating bass that raises the bar for bass response in IEMs. The bass is smooth yet deep, and is probably the closest subwoofer audio reproduction that you can get on a pair of IEMs. It’s depth, warmth and resonance could clearly be heard on Debussy’s Clair de Lune while I found it hard to resist the punchy bass in Adele’s Rolling In The Deep.

The bass-heaviness of the IE 800 comes at a cost, though, as the warmth may turn away classical music aficionados who are accustomed to bright and airy sounds. Nevertheless, it’s no slouch in the midrange and treble department either with extremely clear midranges. It sure looks like Sennheiser has learnt a lesson or two from the treble-poor IE 80 as the IE 800 has a high treble range which is disturbingly reminiscent of UE’s legendary treble production though it still falls short of dethroning UE as the ‘king of treble’ in my book. Having said that, the treble on the IE 800 is sweet, warm and rounded, making it a huge pleasure to listen to. On Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the warmness of these earphones is apparent even from the first note (it’s a ‘G’, if you are wondering) of the introduction Aria and provides an almost subliminal audio experience during the cadences. Though as stated earlier, those preferring a brighter treble would be grossly disappointed.

Conclusion

Honestly, the Sennheiser IE 800 are great earphones with s a sublime bass, clear mids and an absolutely beautiful treble response. The only drawback to this earphones is it’s immense price tag and (possibly) it’s warmth. Still, if one is in the market looking for a top-grade pair of IEMs and have spare cash to boot, the Sennheiser IE 800 sure be at the top of your ‘To-Listen’ list.

I know it would be on mine.

The above article can be found at GX.com.sg here!

AudioEngine A2 Review & AudioTrak Dr. DAC 2 Roundup

Overall Score: 8/10

Once in awhile, we’d experience something that would make us stop and think about what it is that makes that particular fleeting moment of life feel more alive than before. Maybe it’s the sights, maybe it’s a talented orator capturing your attention. In this case, it’s the AudioEngine A2 that caught my attention. The AudioEngine A2 is a pair of 2.0 powered multimedia desktop speakers that is a compromise between audio quality and space management.

Design and Features

For a set of speakers that are budget-priced (USD 199), it is apparent that AudioEngine paid attention to making sure that the A2 made an impression right from the unboxing of the product.

The AudioEngine A2 and its cables came packaged neatly in drawstring bags. Included in the box of the speakers are:

• Power supply with detachable AC power cable
• Speaker cable (16AWG), 2 meters (~6.5 feet)
• 1/8” mini-jack audio cable, 2 meters (~6.5 feet)
• 1/8” mini-jack audio cable, 20cm (~8 inches)
• Drawstring power supply bag
• Drawstring cable bag
• Drawstring speaker bags (2)
• Setup Guide
• Product line brochure

The impression I got when unboxing the A2 speakers was that I was getting something more than I paid for. The AudioEngine A2 speakers were also solidly built and sturdy. They are quite hefty (weighing at least 1.4kg each). The speakers come with one RCA input and one 3.5mm audio input that are located behind the left speakers with the volume control knob.

A point to note is that with a volume knob located on the back, users may find it more convenient to adjust the volume of their media via their source instead of reaching behind the left speaker to adjust the volume.

Some may also find the decision to place the volume knob and audio inputs on the left speaker a weird one as m0st speakers are designed with the volume knob and audio inputs on the right side instead. However, this is just a minor deviation from the usual and has no impact its performance.

Performance

The AudioEngine A2 desktop speakers are arguably one of the better sounding speakers for their size and price. Despite not possessing a subwoofer, the bass from these twin speakers certainly impress.

The bass is clean and punchy though it lacks depth due to the absence of a subwoofer. The mids were sweet and clean with the midbass possessing a ‘wow’ quality from speakers of these size. I found the treble a bit too mellow for my liking – though a mellow treble is easy on the ears and allows for long periods of listening.

Going beyond the AudioEngine A2

To supplement the AudioEngine A2 speakers and to further improve the sound quality, I hooked it up to AudioTrak’s Dr. DAC 2 DX Muses Edition which led to a noticeable increase in clarity and eliminated a lot of dissonance.  It is a feature-packed DAC (Digital-Analog Converter) that utilises the Muses amplifiers from New Japan Radio Corporation. The Dr. DAC 2 Muses Edition is perfect for those who want to get more of out their music by providing a very neutral boost. It comes with high quality audio-out ports too, in case you’d like to connect your headphones instead of your speakers.

The AudioEngine A2 comes in black or white editions and retails for SGD 250. The AudioTrak Dr. DAC 2 DX retails for SGD 330.