Tritton's Audio Xtreme PC USB Headset Review

By Ned Jordan

My first thought on seeing Tritton's Audio Xtreme PC USB headset was, "wow, those are really big and orange." Don't be put off by that, though, because after extended gaming sessions with the AXPC I found them to be one of the most comfortable gaming headsets that I've ever used. I've got a box filled with gaming headsets that I've reviewed for this site, and just about everyone of them inflicts some sort of unique ear pain after wearing them for a short while. The AXPC has a well-cushioned headband and its large ear cups come with plenty of padding as well. The oversized ear cups also mean that there's no direct pressure on the earlobes, removing a source of pain and ear fatigue found in many headsets. The AXPC is a heavy headset, but it feels light when you're wearing it, which is a testament to its design and ample padding.

The AXPC is a gaming headset and so it comes with a detachable boom mic that plugs into the left ear cup. It has a snake boom which makes its position highly adjustable.

The AXPC also includes a control pod along its cable that gives you individual volume controls for each surround channel as well as mute and mic mute buttons. The control pod is pretty convenient and gives you a good degree of control over the sound field. However, it's a bit on the heavy side so you'll need to either place a cord clip below it or allow it to rest on your chair or lap or you'll feel it tugging at your ear.

Installation is pretty simple; just plug in the headphones and then pop in the included driver disk. The first time I installed the drivers I ran into some issues with missing sound or sound not being restored to the speakers after unplugging the headset. However, after an uninstall and a second installation attempt things worked perfectly and there were no further issues. The included software gives you a large degree of control over the sound field and various audio effects. Many combinations of effects lead to a large amount of reverb and echo, so there are in reality only a handful of effects that are truly practical. There is also an equalizer that comes with a number of presets for different music and audio stylings which is also pretty handy when you want to pump up the bass for an action game or movie or go for a more subtle effect for classical music. Another interesting feature is the software's voice options. One will suppress the vocal track on music to allow for some freeform karaoke and another will allow you to change your voice, which is kind of fun when used for chat in online games.

The sound quality produced by the AXPC is pretty good, but the surround effect is not quite as good as that generated by a good speaker system. The headset does include a rumble feature that works well with the subwoofer channel, providing enough feedback to emphasize the low tones but not so much that it vibrates your head. The biggest drawback to the headset is that it works better for some games than others. More specifically the rear channel seemed to be absent or very subdued in some games. After a little research it appears this issue may be related to games that make use of OpenAL for their sound, so hopefully Tritton has a driver update in the works to address this issue. I should also note that this was an issue I found in games, and not when using the headset to listen to movies or music.

Overall, the AXPC is a pretty impressive headset. If you can live with the fact that you'll need to play some games in stereo mode rather than in full 5.1 until a driver patch comes out, then they are highly recommended. I've reviewed numerous gaming headsets that I've never worn again, but I'll keep these close by for when I need to use a headset with my PC.

Final Rating: