Medusa surround headset (gamer or home?)

jubei

jubei

jubei

Soldato
Joined
3 Apr 2003
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Hi guys,

I am in the market for a 5.1 headset for playing games and think i am going to settle for the medusa set after reading some good reviews. To be honest all good reviews are followed by mixed comments but its the same with all headsets i have looked at.

The problem i have is whether to get the progamer version or the home version that comes with an amp.

I cannot say i am overly fussed about having an amp for my headset though it would certainly be useful. All i really care about is which are the better quality set.

One review on this site says the home edition allegedly use better components than the progamer. Yet all progamer reviews i read talk about how the gamers sound amazing where as the ones with the amp included mention a lot of problems with Bass on center and rear speakers making explosions/gunshots sound tinny unless they are beside you.

If anyone can help me out that has these sets and give an honest opinion of how they fare in a game like COD4 i would really appreciate it. My friend has barracudas and you can literally pinpoint everyone around you with the surround sound on them, but they just arent very comfortable.

So anyone tried the home/progamer editions and can give me some feedback before i buy this weekend please, please make it clear which headset you are talking about (gaming/home).

Thanks all :)
 
Get the ones with the amp mate loads better tbh , ive had the normal ones and the usb ones which were not that great.

Cant really go wrong for the price.
 
Cheers man appreciate the response. Was leaning towards home version with the amp anyway as read somewhere that usb power can cause distortion on the headset.

If anyone else has any input chime in please :)
 
get the ones with the amp...definatly a superb set .....the amp also has output for another set of headphones or outputs on *** back for more speakers.
 
I use the home with the amp, and its got a nice easy button on it so i can select between my 5.1 speakers or my headset. Thats a good enough reason to get it. You can even plug in a 5.1 source to the back and have it going into the headphones too.
 
PhillyDee said:
I use the home with the amp, and its got a nice easy button on it so i can select between my 5.1 speakers or my headset. Thats a good enough reason to get it. You can even plug in a 5.1 source to the back and have it going into the headphones too.
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How is the bass on them mate? one review said that only comes in side speakers and taht the center and rear arent proper drivers or something and have no bass, is that the case or does everything sound okay in games etc?

Also will my onboard hd on the asus pk5 premium cut it or would i see a big benefit of buying a soundcard?
 
I agree with C64. I'm no audiophile myself, by any means. Like you, I had some Creative 5.1 speakers, although I did get 5.1 sound with my ASUS P5K Deluxe. Anyway, I had both the Pro Gamer and Home Edition versions of the Medusas and both were absolutely useless. I sent the Pro Gamer one back straight away as I was sent that by mistake (I had actually ordered the Home Edition), although not without trying it first.

I didn't notice any differences in the audio quality between the 2, since both were very, very poor. There was very little bass, and the "subwoofer" speakers inside each cup only worked in conjuction with the "front" speakers. So if, for example, sound is coming from behind you, it'll sound very tinny.

The reason I chose the Home Edition over the Pro Gamer was because of the amplifier. I wanted to be able to have my speakers and headphones connected simultaneously, and the amplifier allowed for this and enabled me to switch between the 2 very easily. However, the actual headphones were useless.

I sent those back I bought myself a desktop microphone and a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 Pros. Even though these are only stereo headphones, they're far better for positional audio than the Medusas by miles. Plus, the audio quality is actually good--great, in fact!

I highly recommend you consider a pair of stereo headphones instead of these generally poor-quality, surround-sound headsets marketed toward gamers. They use tiny, low-quality drivers in each cup, their build-quality is generally poor and sound awful for both music and gaming.
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This is the kind of thing i am on about thats putting me off buying. Was a reply to a thread i made in the sound city forum here. Seems to be a mixed bag man, some people say they are amazing and others say useless. But this guy does mention the bass problem.
 
I've got the 'Home' set with the amp, which I find useful.

Not had a problem with the base in games or when listening to music, though you do have to have the vibrate setting down or rattles you're ears off.

All in all I am happy with them but as to the question are they worth it? I'm not sure. I have a set of Sennheiser which seem to sound slightly crisper.
 
JackRegan said:
I've got the 'Home' set with the amp, which I find useful.

Not had a problem with the base in games or when listening to music, though you do have to have the vibrate setting down or rattles you're ears off.

All in all I am happy with them but as to the question are they worth it? I'm not sure. I have a set of Sennheiser which seem to sound slightly crisper.
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Ah well i will only be using them for gaming most of the time, would you choose them over the sennheiser for that purpose or other way around?
 
I've got the amp version. I never really got the 5.1 sound to work through them (there's some ****-up in the connections I think) but they were excellent when I used 'em as just stereo headphones... most comfortable headset I've owned.
 
jubei said:
Ah well i will only be using them for gaming most of the time, would you choose them over the sennheiser for that purpose or other way around?
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I use them mainly for gaming, COD4 and the like and find they are very good. I too have them plugged into speakers and and the touch of a button I can transfer the sound to and from the headset.

The two main moans I have is I find they are a little heavy when worn for a long period and the bendyness of the mic arm. I often find it rides up and I then get shouted out for having a 'nose mic' on lol.

I think they offer slightly more than the sennheiser set, but then they were £10 more expensive.
 
Thanks a lot all for the replies, i am settled on the home version now and will go to the shop on monday for them.

Gonna stop reading reviews as they only confuse me and cause uncertainty :>
 
I have the pro gamer one that is powered by usb or mains > usb adapter and I don't notice any distortion with them, they do have an inline volume control with separate scroll wheel to adjust Center, Front, Rear and Subwoofer which the manual describes as an inbuilt amp. the vibration in it is great so thumbs up for this, though if the AMP is better and you don't mine taking that around if you need to then get that one I suppose, I had no need for an amp, overwise I would have got the home ed.

But the bass is fine IMO, I just enabled bass boost and it was great.
 
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Does the home edition have the vibration too? Not that i would use it during multiplayer but it might add some atmosphere to 1 player games....that i never play but why not plan for all eventualities :|
 
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