Speedlink Medusa 5.1 Headset Owners' Thread
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regul8 said:
I've just received mine and they seem to suffer the same problem with no bass from centre or rear. I've tried them with my Audgy 1 and onboard ac97 5.1, both with the same result.
Having vibration on did offer some apparent bass with centre/rear but it's not ideal and I didn't notice a difference in games.
I've sent a mail to Speed Link support to see what they have to say on the matter. I bought them primarily for games but as you say rear sound is awful, if there's nothing I can do to improve the sound I don't see much point keeping them.
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regul8 said:
Thats because the rear and center speakers are smaller than the front ones.
hi all,
A bit late but here's my mini review:
1. Packaging - excellent really has everythign bar the kitchen sink in there
2. Instructions - fair to good.
3. Sound quality - moderate to good - ignore the hype about 5.1 sound. The only thing the multiple "speakers" do is enhance the centre point - there's no real spatial enhancement over a good pair of headphones (I have a pair of Sennheiser 565 Ovations as a comparison - these were headphone of the year when i bought them and cost over 4 times the price of the Medusas).
What they are good for is tidying up your desk - I have my amplifier on top of my system case I was considering paying at least as much as the cost of the headphones to fit a break out box to stop me having to plug and unplug stuff into the back of the PC.
Build quality so far seems very good - For the cost you really can't goo wrong (just checked and the input cable on my Sennheisers cost as much as the sale price of the Medusas..)
DinAlt
A bit late but here's my mini review:
1. Packaging - excellent really has everythign bar the kitchen sink in there
2. Instructions - fair to good.
3. Sound quality - moderate to good - ignore the hype about 5.1 sound. The only thing the multiple "speakers" do is enhance the centre point - there's no real spatial enhancement over a good pair of headphones (I have a pair of Sennheiser 565 Ovations as a comparison - these were headphone of the year when i bought them and cost over 4 times the price of the Medusas).
What they are good for is tidying up your desk - I have my amplifier on top of my system case I was considering paying at least as much as the cost of the headphones to fit a break out box to stop me having to plug and unplug stuff into the back of the PC.
Build quality so far seems very good - For the cost you really can't goo wrong (just checked and the input cable on my Sennheisers cost as much as the sale price of the Medusas..)
DinAlt
Another late review!!
When I first opened them, I thought I was buying a sexy nightie for the mrs! What's with all the red velvet and lace!!!!
Anyway, plugging them in no probs, nice and clear, takes some fine tuning to get the 5.1 appreciated, but other than that does what it says on the box.
Couple of niggles...
The volume on the cable is not positioned according to my liking. When I'm working at night, it tends to bang the side of the desk, only way to avoid it is to lean forward. could have course my my personal height, my desk, or anything, but would have been so much nicer if the controls were either further down, or on the headset itself.
The hissing. That's been a problem. The only way I've managed to totally obilerate it is to lay the speaker cables in the totally opposite direction to the power (and ANY other cable), and the main power stand away from everything else. There are times it comes back, it bugs the hell outta me, but 'flicking' the cables back so they're away from all others seems to work a treat.
Final niggle, my head doesn't seem big enough to make them sit correctly, even on the smallest setting. Causes them to lean to one side and the speaker inside the ear-thing then rests on the top of my ear causing discomfort after a while.
Other than that, great piece of kit, build quality is lovely, really robust and a doddle to set up. For what they cost, excellent buy too!
When I first opened them, I thought I was buying a sexy nightie for the mrs! What's with all the red velvet and lace!!!!
Anyway, plugging them in no probs, nice and clear, takes some fine tuning to get the 5.1 appreciated, but other than that does what it says on the box.
Couple of niggles...
The volume on the cable is not positioned according to my liking. When I'm working at night, it tends to bang the side of the desk, only way to avoid it is to lean forward. could have course my my personal height, my desk, or anything, but would have been so much nicer if the controls were either further down, or on the headset itself.
The hissing. That's been a problem. The only way I've managed to totally obilerate it is to lay the speaker cables in the totally opposite direction to the power (and ANY other cable), and the main power stand away from everything else. There are times it comes back, it bugs the hell outta me, but 'flicking' the cables back so they're away from all others seems to work a treat.
Final niggle, my head doesn't seem big enough to make them sit correctly, even on the smallest setting. Causes them to lean to one side and the speaker inside the ear-thing then rests on the top of my ear causing discomfort after a while.
Other than that, great piece of kit, build quality is lovely, really robust and a doddle to set up. For what they cost, excellent buy too!
I don't know if that's the same hissing I had, but I found that if you turn the inline volumes down to 50-60% and turn either the amp or windows volume up to compensate, then it gets rid of hissing. Your hissing might have a different source though.
Is it me or has the Medusa's doubled in price. 
Also anyone know if these "ProGamer Edition" Medusa headsets are worth upgrading to even if i'm already using the standard one? By the looks of it, it's really just a detachable microphone and a combination of connectivity between the 5.1w/Amp and the USB one. 
Also anyone know if these "ProGamer Edition" Medusa headsets are worth upgrading to even if i'm already using the standard one? By the looks of it, it's really just a detachable microphone and a combination of connectivity between the 5.1w/Amp and the USB one.
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FAO fish99, BoomAM and Randell.
I've taken onboard your advice. Reluctantly moved the amp away from the wifi router and the hissing has gone down considerably. It's still there, but there's a definate and noticable improvement.
Cheers guys (I assume you're all guys - lol!), I owe ya.
I've taken onboard your advice. Reluctantly moved the amp away from the wifi router and the hissing has gone down considerably. It's still there, but there's a definate and noticable improvement.
Cheers guys (I assume you're all guys - lol!), I owe ya.
Inferno99 said:Is it me or has the Medusa's doubled in price.
Thats the only differences i can see too, also with regards to the price hike- a few other places dont have stock of the medusas at the moment, so no doubt they'll go back down once other places have stock, or speedlink have increased the trade price?
I have had mine for nearly 2 years and you can have problems getting them to do 5.1 properly. The sound card/drivers can have a lot to do with it. I use the KX Project drivers for my Audigy2 and these are by far the best sounding drivers (even for normal speakers) and work well with the Medusa.
I highly recommend them (especially for music/musicans) with one caveat for gamers they don't have EAX (Creative won't release the necessary documentation).
Mine are the older ones with out the VIB control but I still get the vibration, shame I can't control it.
I highly recommend them (especially for music/musicans) with one caveat for gamers they don't have EAX (Creative won't release the necessary documentation).
Mine are the older ones with out the VIB control but I still get the vibration, shame I can't control it.
A couple of questions:
1: Does the USB pair reduce noticable performance during games?
2: Do you have to use the amp for the 3.5mm pair? Are they not loud enough If i wernt to use them?
It seems like every pair of headphones I look at there are allways drawbacks.
Either hasnt got mic, dont cover whole ear, look cheap or have crappy some sort of gimmick like vibrations or decoder with batteries.
Thanks for relpies.
1: Does the USB pair reduce noticable performance during games?
2: Do you have to use the amp for the 3.5mm pair? Are they not loud enough If i wernt to use them?
It seems like every pair of headphones I look at there are allways drawbacks.
Either hasnt got mic, dont cover whole ear, look cheap or have crappy some sort of gimmick like vibrations or decoder with batteries.
Thanks for relpies.
Hi,
Can't answer your question on the USB ones but I'll try with the ones with conventional socket.
Yes you need the amp to use them as they use a din type plug (you could possibly get an adaptor but I have no idea what the pin lay out would be
For games etc I really rate these - I'm lucky enough that I have a very high quality set of headphones if I want to listen to music - but to be honest with all the interference and sound intrusion you get from a PC I really can't see the point of worrying about it - cetainly if you're listenign to mp3 etc almost anythign with an half way decent range will suffice. BTW I agree totally about the gimmicks statement - i bought the medusa to try out the 5.1 sound and I really don't think it's that good - however taken as an headphone on their own i do think they're good value.
One other point the amplifier is very sensitive to electrical interference - position it carefully to reduce the hum people are reporting - also the potentiometers or whatever they use for the headset volume control are obviously sub par - why give them a range of 0 to 10 when the max they can be used at realistically is 6 anything above this and you can hear distortion and background distortion
I know the above sounds negative but don't take it that why - I wanted you to get a warts and all picture. the truth is they give a decent sound quality and are comfortable enough to wear for 2 or 3 hours strectches and sensitive enough to give you decent spatial clues in games like Counter Strike:Source
DinAlt
Can't answer your question on the USB ones but I'll try with the ones with conventional socket.
Yes you need the amp to use them as they use a din type plug (you could possibly get an adaptor but I have no idea what the pin lay out would be
For games etc I really rate these - I'm lucky enough that I have a very high quality set of headphones if I want to listen to music - but to be honest with all the interference and sound intrusion you get from a PC I really can't see the point of worrying about it - cetainly if you're listenign to mp3 etc almost anythign with an half way decent range will suffice. BTW I agree totally about the gimmicks statement - i bought the medusa to try out the 5.1 sound and I really don't think it's that good - however taken as an headphone on their own i do think they're good value.
One other point the amplifier is very sensitive to electrical interference - position it carefully to reduce the hum people are reporting - also the potentiometers or whatever they use for the headset volume control are obviously sub par - why give them a range of 0 to 10 when the max they can be used at realistically is 6 anything above this and you can hear distortion and background distortion
I know the above sounds negative but don't take it that why - I wanted you to get a warts and all picture. the truth is they give a decent sound quality and are comfortable enough to wear for 2 or 3 hours strectches and sensitive enough to give you decent spatial clues in games like Counter Strike:Source
DinAlt
I disagree about music, I honestly don't think the Medusa are up to music listenning. I've used plenty of headphones, from £150 Sennheisers, £90 Grados, £20 Sennheisers, £15 Sennheiser earphones, £30 Sony EX71 etc, and I'd rather listen to music on any of those than the Medusas. In stereo mode the music is hollow and empty, and in 5.1 mode, the sound is a big mess.
By all means get them for gaming (assuming you want surround sound, if not then you'll get better sound from stereo headphones for the same money) but not for music.
By all means get them for gaming (assuming you want surround sound, if not then you'll get better sound from stereo headphones for the same money) but not for music.
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DinAlt said:
A stereo adapter comes with them, so you can use with TV sets etc...
DinAlt said:
Good value at the price they were, I wouldnt pay the current prices tbh
DinAlt said:
Can I just point out
VERY
DinAlt said:
Depends what you have the amp set at really.
Amp on max, 3/4 seems to be the max.
DinAlt said:
They are very comfortable, had a few headsets now and these are most usable. Surround works quite well in games.
fish99 said:
Ive noticed theres very little bass on these.
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