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Roccat Kave Gaming Headset

three quarters Being a fan of online FPS games, I involuntarily sharpen my desktop under them, starting with what is “under the hood” and ending with the periphery. Today we will talk about the gaming headset Kave from the little-known in Russia German campaign Roccat .



One of the conditions for defeating a virtual opponent is its timely detection, and hearing helps the player in this. For several years for this, I used the Razer HP-1 Barracuda headset and now I decided to change it to something more modern, since the old woman completely messed up (but continues to perform its functions regularly).

The main selection criterion was the iron multichannel. Although I understand that I have two ears and two speakers in headphones should be enough, I can’t feel all the charm of surround sound in ordinary “ears”. Therefore, I do not have much confidence in the new-fashioned usb headsets, maybe I am old-fashioned, but it seems to me that the SB x-fi can handle sound processing better than a usb sound card with a price of a few bucks. Well, the support of all sorts of nice technologies like EAX also pleases your ear. Because of this, the top solution from Razer - Megaladon has disappeared , but, maybe, it is not fair.



After a long search in runet, several options were found from different manufacturers, but none of them completely suited me. Fortunately, I came across the description of this headset on one of the sites, although it was not available. But ebay helps the suffering, and I ordered it from England. It turned out more profitable (including delivery), if we compare it with the price that was indicated on the website of our online store (~ 4100r versus 4500r). The best part is that she came from England to Moscow in 12 days (she was sent on the 10th, and on the 22nd I took her by mail). Apparently the piston of the Russian mail went in favor.



By clothes they meet



Box

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The headset is packed in a large cardboard box with a transparent window and a plastic insert inside. The headphones themselves are fixed on a plastic base along with the remote control; it is pulled out of the box entirely.



Specifications:



Included are:

The headset itself is assembled with high quality, covered with something like a soft-touch, which gives it a stylish look, but at the same time there are fat fingerprints on it. The coating is not particularly reliable and is easily scratched, the areas of scuffs begin to shine.



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On both cups, the campaign logo and model name are applied, but they are not highlighted, as on the Razer. They have several degrees of freedom and should fit to the head of any shape.

The handle is attached to the cups through aluminum parts, which, according to the manufacturer, is an extended service life. At the same time, the counterpart of the cup and the bow itself are plastic. But in general, the design gives the impression of a reliable and does not “play” in the hands. The handle can be adjusted in length, the adjustment mechanism is stepped, with 10 positions for each of the cups, on my relatively large head had to push them into 7 divisions.



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So there is a reserve, but it probably will not fit the motorcycle helmet. Roccat is written in large font on the top of the handle. Bottom on the bow there are three “contact pads”, which should rest on the head, unfortunately, not everything is as smooth as the manufacturer would like.



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On my, not at all egg-like head, the main load fell on the central platform, which with prolonged use leads to unpleasant sensations, like feelings from standing on my head - as if this place is numb and begins to ache, despite the fact that pads have a soft finish on the kind of ear cushions. In this perspective, the HP-1 was much more comfortable, its belt was completely unnoticeable and did not interfere with prolonged use.



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The ear cushions are made of leatherette, which is probably more hygienic than velor, but, unfortunately, the skin under them begins to sweat, while the ears themselves are comfortable enough. The ear cushions are anatomically shaped and comfortably fit to the head, without exerting much pressure due to the large contact area. During operation, the user's ears are inside the headphone cups and are not pressed by the speakers - there is enough space inside, in any case, not protruding ears. Inside the speakers are covered with a cloth and a decorative crosspiece. The speakers themselves are located at an angle, which is not due to I do not know, but the guys from Roccat separately pay attention to the fact that the speakers are set at an angle of 12 degrees.



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There are 4 speakers on each side, 3 by 40mm - to the center, side and rear channels, plus a separate one for reproducing low frequencies by 30mm. This is based on the description of the manufacturer, since The cup could not be disassembled correctly, but I didn’t want to break it.

The microphone is located on the left cup, it is attached via a tulip connector, i.e. freely rotates 360 degrees and can be completely removed, but there is no plug for this case - you will see a hole with contacts. Around the connector is constantly (with power) lit blue ring. The microphone itself is flexible and bends very easily, which may not be very convenient when you accidentally touch it, but for that you can arrange it as you please. The length from the axis of the connector to the tip - 150mm. Microphone usual multidirectional. At the end of the microphone is a blue diode, which is lit when the microphone is turned off, which is very convenient, because it comes into view, while due to the low intensity of the glow, it does not interfere at all when working even in complete darkness.



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The second main part of the device i is the remote control. It handed over the management of the entire headset. It is a volume control - a rotating ring, and the mute button in the center. The ring rotates freely, the triggers are clearly felt, like mouse clicks. The mute button is pressed clearly and firmly, with no backlashes. Next to the volume ring is a diode that lights up with an even blue light when the headset is working and flashes if you turn off the sound (mute). On the side of the remote is a button mute microphone. As you can see in the picture, there is a cover on the console under which analog-level volume controllers are hidden — sliders, and a game / movie mode switch. The cover snaps into place, which prevents dust from getting inside. There are rubber stickers on the bottom side so that the console does not slide on the table.



The headset is connected to the computer with 4 jacks and a usb connector. What a pleasant surprise - each of the audio plugs had its own protective cap, also each of them has a color marking.



Using



Now a fly in the ointment, the fact is that the volume ring, the mute button and the mute button work (attention!) Via USB and control the system parameters. Those. volume and microphone are adjustable / muted through the system mixer. I did not know what caused this decision, but in my opinion it is inconvenient, although it worked without problems in Win7 x64. I would prefer that the remote control only controls the headset and leave everything else at my discretion. Moreover, system events of muting / turning on the sound / microphone are not always correctly processed by them (the diode mode of operation does not correspond to reality, for example, if you turn off the sound from the console and turn it on from the keyboard). To the credit of the developers, this is not always the case, as well as cavil in this case. However, adjusting the headset volume, like on the HP-1, was much more convenient for me.

Also, when switching the mode of operation, the difference is not very noticeable, the manufacturer promises that the voices in the “movie” mode will be heard more clearly, perhaps it is, but I left the game in the mode and am not going to touch.

The sound, to my ear, is very high quality, quite comparable with mid-level models from Beyer Dynamic, Koss. Compared to the ear with Beyerdynamic DTX 900 (half-open monitor type) and Koss iSpark (plug-type plugs). Crisp, with deep bass and clear treble. There are no rattles. But then again, I'm not a musician. The best part is that listening to music in them is no less great than watching a movie / playing. In this aspect, HP-1 was absolutely not usable, because the sound was disgusting.

In games, it also showed itself from the best side, the sound is intelligible and clear, the positioning is at a high level, but it cannot be said that it is many times better than the old one, it was also very good. Bass explosions and shooting endure the brain. In BF: BC2 perfectly audible where they shoot from a machine gun, where a tank is currently traveling and where the helicopter flew. In TF2, by ear, you can determine that a scout is running through the sewers, a soldier jumps onto a balcony, and a medic has a back in front of a medic. In general, I liked the sound in games more than the old Razer.

In the films, the sound is also at a height, although from 5.1 I only had a duplicate “I am a robot”, I watched several episodes with pleasure, but did not notice any special buzz about positioning. Perhaps it is worth watching some horror movie with creaking floors and howling wind.

The ability to chop off the microphone helps when you communicate through ventril or Skype.



Diagnosis



Pros:

Minuses:

I would recommend this headset to those who want to hear familiar games and movies in a new way and to those who are fond of data transmission. If you are a musician and a headset is only needed for Skype - it makes sense to look for something else, because the functionality of this is many times redundant, and the sound can hardly be called a reference.

Well, yes, the effect of the "pilot of the aircraft" in stock, on the head look solid.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/94305/

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