HCG Review: Tritton AX Pro Gaming Headset
Posted April 9th, 2009 in Articles, Peripherals, Reviews by Drew Koehler
Tritton brings the gaming community pure audio brilliance for an affordable price.
When some companies receive criticism about their products they usually just ignore it and move on to create more products with similar problems. Not the case with Tritton. In fact they took all of the criticism from the gaming community in regards to the AX 360 headset and improved it to what we know as the AX Pros.
With the AX Pros you can easily control the volume of each channel of audio with a lighted button interface that allows you to make your adjustments in the dark. The buttons use a color coded system that as you increase the volume it changes to darker colors and lightens as you decrease the sound. The microphone provides 2 channel mono input, so instead of having the voice chat in only 1 ear you are able to hear it in both of your headsets. The voice chat is very clear and has it’s own channel which means you can adjust the volume to compensate for the volume of the game being played.
The AX Pros use real bass instead of adding a rumble feature like the AX 360s. This allows for longer gaming sessions with the Pros because your ears aren’t vibrating constantly with the headphones. You connect your headset via the optical cable to the Tritton’s direct box which you plug into a wall outlet. There is a noticeable difference with the sound quality of the Pros. With the 360’s you could faintly hear the digital optic noise which sounded much like being connected to a dial up connection via modem. That noise is greatly reduced with the Pros.
The AX Pros come with interchangeable ear covers. One is a vinyl type material while the other is a soft cloth. They are relatively light weight, after playing over 4 hours of games I didn’t feel very much gaming fatigue. The Pros can get very loud and the sound quality stays consistent. They really do give you 100% surround sound and present an amazing clarity of audio.
The only down side to the AX Pros is that they are not fold-able like the 360s. They are a bit larger to store and you must plug in two adapters into a wall outlet. One is for the direct box and the other is an amplifier for the headset which also gives the orange “T” for Tritton a glow on the side of the headset. The Pros are not wireless but they give you a long enough cable to sit comfortably in your “man cave” or living room. This isn’t much of a downside.
If you are a gamer looking for a headset to give you the optimum audio quality for your gaming needs, whether it be Xbox 360, PS3 or PC, you owe it to yourself to pick up the AX Pros. You treat yourself to High Definition TV and HD consoles, why not treat yourself to High Definition Audio?
The Tritton AX Pros have a price tag of around $150.00 (US)
What part of affordable does 150.00 dollars fall into?
For what it offers I would say it’s cheap.
I agree with Preacher. I was hesitant because of the price, but I think they are well worth it. Also, their support is top-notch (not me, but others I know have given that assessment) to fix any problem.
I am saving up for these puppies. It’s quite ironic that you would post this on the very day I decided to suck it up and start saving. I agree that it is very affordable, considering they are 5.1 surround sound with 4 speakers in each ear and you can use them on PC, 360, and PS3. Though, I will admit it took me a while to get over the price.
Seems no different then the Turtle Beach X1’s… you get great surround sound and adjustable audio channels for game/microphone with those but for 50 dollars lol
Actually, they’re called the Turtle Beach X4. I personally have those. I love them. They are comfortable and deliver an exceptional surround sound effect. I would recommend them to anyone. They’re especially awesome with the 360 because the microphone function is mixed in with the game audio so there is no shouting when you play online. They’re about the same price now.
And they’re wireless!
I’d have to agree with the assessment that $150 is in no way affordable. I’ve been giving some thought to getting a nice headset, but I’m still getting over the fact that $50 seems a bit much. Maybe I’m just cheap.
They are more affordable than most 5.1 headsets.
I have the AX 360s, and trust me, having the in game voice chat on its own channel is a must.
This particular set seems like a great pair of headphones. I’m not sure I understand attaching it to an AC wall outlet, and am not sure how that would work out with all other wireless accessories. They seem like they would be awkward if you constantly needed to be attached to the wall, however they seem to be a great pair of headphones I would love to own.
I personally own the Tritton AX360’s. I’ve has them for a year or so… and yes they are in every way amazing. The MLG Astro A40’s are way too expensive. They are $250 bucks, and don’t do anything better than the low price of $100 for the Trittons. I got mine off of newegg a while back, and was able to score the 360s for cheap.
The only real difference is that the Astro headset does an inline feedback of your own voice, that when the sound is too overwhelming, you can hear what your own self is saying. It’s really not that big of a deal, and it’s certainly not worth $100 more than the Tritton’s. If you play MLG halo, then this headset will save your life, time and time again. I swear I can hear the footsteps of my enemies, and have gotten out of tight situations several times because of them. If you can hear your enemy before you can see them, your callout come even quicker than usual. I honestly can’t play halo without my headset now… (or my wired 360 controller with vibration off). I remember when the Astro A40’s were coming out, I checked their specs and said, “For the money people are paying, they should just go Tritton”. The only thing that was bad about the AX360’s was there was no inline mute option, and my particular case did not come with the plastic boom arm for the mic. My mic ended up shorting out a few months down the road, but I’ve just been using the default Xbox mic to communicate. If I’m correct, Tritton was a sponsor of MLG Carbon back in the Halo 2 days, when they were making up prototypes for the AX360’s.
Basically, the new Tritton Pros are the best bet you can find if you don’t wanna buy the legit MLG branded items to play LANs, or events.
For MLG, I rock a 19″ Acer monitor and I like it. I was gonna buy a Viewsonic TV, but for the price a 2ms PC monitor just made a lot more sense. The Trittons work like a charm, and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.
So to all the hater who say $150 is not cheap, go check out Astro gaming, then turn right back around and buy a set of Trittons. Also, I’ve witnesses the suckage of Turtle Beach time and time again. If you are a serious gamer, buy these NAO!
P.S.
It’s official. My birthday is in less than a month. Someone (that would be me) is SOOOOOOO buying the AX PC PRO headset, w/ USB interface. w00t! Now meh can enjoy PC games in 5.1.
Oh and if you were wondering… “How does Mr. Leader not have PC games in 5.1? The AX360’s allow him to hook up to a computer as well.”
Well to answer that question good sirs and madame’s…
The AX360 came with a sound card adapter, meant to be used on a desktop PC. Also there would have been an additional adapter i would have had to of purchased to be able to use the headset’s mic on my PC.
I own a Macbook Pro, (don’t flame me for it, hear me out) and have Vista and Linux on it as a tri-boot through Refit. Basically, I use Vista to play games, and my lappy (much like everyone else’s laptops regardless of make or model) does not have the additional 4 ports required for surround sound. So adapter or not, my computer (being the awesome laptop that it is) is not capable of using the headset for gaming. I really don’t want anything for my birthday, and I’ve been planning on buying a uber nifty PC gaming headset for Unreal 3 and etc… So now that Tritton’s new line is out, I am so trusting of Tritton as a brand that I will personally be buying an additional headset just for PC games.
Bottom line. Buy Tritton. Period.
-Anni
Do the Turtle Beach headsets have that separate channel for the microphone too?