Can I play a gag: a review of intracanal gaming headset Creative Sound BlasterX P5

If you watched the championships on CS: GO, Dota 2, World of Tanks and other popular subjects, we could see kiberatlet using compact in-ear monitor instead of full-size. Layfhaker explains why some professional gamers choose earplugs.

Gaming in-ear monitor - a rare phenomenon, and produce them only a few companies. In addition to the Creative Sound BlasterX P5 can recall Razer Hammerhead, Steelseries Flux, Thermaltake Isurus, Roccat Aluma and probably everything. Other plugs are positioned as a universal and therefore can not be said to be exceptional gaming.

The peculiarity of all cyber headsets is that they are designed primarily to create maximum comfort during long hours of gaming sessions and the best orientation of the in-game space. It requires thoughtful design, high assembly precision and quality materials. The consequence of this approach is the ability to produce excellent work, not only in games but also music playback.

Simply put, any normal gamer default headset melomanskaya and Creative Sound BlasterX P5 It costs 4990 rubles no exception.

Convenience and reliability

Intracanal form factor - is the easiest kind of headphones. Total weight Sound BlasterX P5 is only 12 grams, with most of it falls on the wires, and plug the remote.

A typical full-size headset weighs about 300 grams. Whatever thought out nor was its design, this mass will still put pressure on the head and neck. Whatever the quality was not material ear pads, the skin on them is still sweating. Especially during intense games. Especially in hot weather and stuffy rooms.

Talking some time ago with the professional discipline kiberatlet League of Legends Vyacheslav Egorov, I learned that the athletes of this level training devote 10 to 14 hours a day. During tournaments they play more. Now imagine that all this time you have on your head heavy full-size headset, from which the ears are sweating ...

Lightweight and compact plugs often the determining factor when choosing a headset for gaming notebook because carry a headset, which take up more space than the computer itself - that's bullshit.

Housing Sound BlasterX P5 has streamlined tapered shape, and the outputs from the speakers positioned at a slight angle. With this headphone is slightly pressed against one side of the external auditory canal, providing additional fixation.

The headset uses an unusual ear cups with spiral ribs.

These flexible spacer increases the elasticity of the gags and with proper selection of the size is completely isolated from the surrounding sounds without unpleasant pressure on the inner surface of the ear.

Anyone who has ever been on the eSports Stadium, is just how noisy there. In the decisive moments of the audience literally go crazy. During these especially the most important moments of the players to hear what is happening in the game to a fraction of a second to take the only right action to drag and match. Without perfect sound insulation can not do here. This is why athletes use earplugs, and sometimes even put on top of another full-size headset. Just to dissociate itself from the roar of the crowd and at least something to hear.

In everyday life, a good noise isolation helps to focus on the gameplay, regardless of the situation. Mobile gamers will appreciate a gag for the opportunity to get rid of the sounds of the metro and other transport. Family people sometimes want briefly to protect itself from the bustle of home. For such situations, in-ear monitor is ideal.

When used for its intended purpose reliability Sound BlasterX P5 is not in doubt. Firstly, the fracture load of game time, is extremely rare, and secondly, when you try to break the wire headphone jack just jump out of the adapter by means of which the headset is connected to a computer or laptop.

Some concerns arise when connecting to a smartphone. Although the vulnerabilities at the junctions of wire reinforced rubber tubing long straight design of the plug is not too reliable. Constant flexing the legs when wearing the connected smartphone with a headset in a pocket of jeans or trousers, will lead to fracture even the most hardy cable. No braid will not help here. It would be wiser to use the L-shaped plug.

Sound

It is obvious that even the most complex in-ear monitor can not compete with full-size in the low frequencies. If considered before Sound BlasterX Tournament Edition mounted speakers 50 mm, the diameter of these fillers emitters of 7 millimeters.

Physical limitations affect the power of the bass, but not their quality. Headset covers a range from 10 Hz to 23 kHz, that is faithfully reproduced by even very low sounds, just makes it more balanced.

The Sound BlasterX P5 plus there is a great midrange detail and lack of over-saturation at the top. Stands out the high frequencies inherent in many compact headphones, but in this case, the headset provides smooth sound without first setting up and using BlasterX Acoustic Engine.

BlasterX Acoustic Engine - is a proprietary software Creative, is a set of preset sound profiles for popular genres and individual games. For example, in shooters program increases the emphasis on shooting and explosions in solitary adventure games like "The Witcher 3" - on the environment.

A distinctive feature of Sound BlasterX P5 - amazing fidelity audio directions. The headset is still gamer and is used primarily to understand the in-game environment, and therefore the ability of the player to correctly specify where the sound moves and shots for her very important.

In practice, in the Battlefield 1 and 4, I was able to predict the position of impersonating an opponent with an accuracy of about two hours. For such a compact headset without USB-emulation multi-channel audio is a very good indicator.

Another man, quite distant from the games, also drew attention to the accuracy of the transmission direction of the sound. In particular, when listening, he does not just hear the sounds from the hall-quality concert recordings, but also knew which side and at what distance they came about.

Microphone

The Sound BlasterX P5 uses an omnidirectional electret microphone located on the wire to the left earpiece.

About that, what are electret microphones and how they differ from the usual, familiar to audio engineers will tell you, or "Wikipedia». Speaking briefly, this type of construction allows for a cleaner sound, comparable with dedicated full-sized headsets with microphones.

In practice, the companions heard me loud and clear. Some complaints about the voice quality was not.

Control

Remote control Sound BlasterX P5 is not characterized by its numerous functions.

On it is the only music control button and calls, as well as a microphone switch.

The lack of volume control buttons can be explained by the fact that during the game, the user typically adjusts the sound directly to your computer or mobile device, but because another panel he did not needed. This fact certainly disappoint fans to listen to music, but the headset still playing and tuned for more.

conclusion

As you can see, intracanal gamer headsets have a right to exist, and in certain situations bypass the practicality of its full-size brethren. They allow you to completely shut out ambient noise, easy to transport, do not put pressure on the head, and not inferior in accuracy of the transmission direction of the sound.

Layfhaker thanks Yomo.pro - official store Creative - for a nice and useful gift.