PC Gamers like them some headphones. Whether its communicating with team members in tactical shooters, taunting n00bs in PvP, or just not waking your significant other when gaming into the wee hours, a good headset is a necessary tool for gamers.
There are a few features that make a headset helpful in the world of PC gaming. For one, it should be comfortable, since you’ll have it on your head for a good long while. Secondly, it should have a good microphone, preferrably one that can be hidden out of the way for when you don’t need to speak. As a bonus, the headset should have some sort of surround sound capability, which can help pinpoint enemies before they appear on screen.
Plantronics has developed their GameCom 777 Gaming headset, which is used by professional gamers (at least that’s what I saw at their booth at PAX 08). This gamingheadset features Dolby Headphone technology, which not only allows gamers to experience positional sound in games, but listen to music and watch movies in 5.1 surround.
The headset uses only two drivers,and the in-line USB sound card does all the audio processing to simulate positioal sounds. The headset is analog AND USB 2.0 (just plug the stereo cable into the included USB sound card), and is completely driverless, so there is no lengthy install process.
This open-eared headset with 5.1 Dolby Headphone technology gives you an unparalleled audio advantage that lets you hear your opponents before you see them. Connect with the Dolby® USB sound card for a true 5.1 experience. But if needed, an analog connection is also provided. Stay comfortable with a lightweight frame and specially designed earpods that redistribute pressure. When you’re ready to fire off orders, unveil the hidden, noise-canceling mic boom to strategize clearly with team members. Responses coming in? Adjust audio levels using in-line volume and mic-mute controls.
Highlights
- Dolby® Headphone Technology delivers a 5-channel audio experience.
- Dolby® USB sound card is the only way to get the 5.1 experience. If needed, an analog connection is also provided.
- Open-ear design keeps you connected to the game and your surroundings.
- Concealed mic boom stays hidden until you’re ready to use it.
- Specially designed earpods redistribute pressure for maximum comfort.
- In-line volume and mic-mute controls allow for easy audio adjustment.
- Noise-canceling microphone lets you communicate clearly.
- Rugged, military-grade design and extra-strength cables make your hardware hardcore.
The GameCom 777 headset was designed to be extremely comfortable. The earpieces are designed to fit completely around the ear, so they passively silence noise. There s lots of space at the temples, so even my thick-ass glasses fit very comfortably without pinching my head. The headphone’s earpieces are lined with foam, and the speaker drivers have a good deal of space away from my ears.
The headband portion of the headset is rather thick and made of plastic, and a large strip of foam is secured at the center of the band, which rests on the top of your head. The band can be adjusted easily, and is notched to fit many positions. A hideaway microphone rests in the headband was well, and is easily pulled out of hiding. The microphone can be pulled down to about 60 degrees, which sits around where most people’s mouths are.
Both of the headset’s speakers (and microphone) are driven by a single cable attached to the left earpiece. The cable is of adequate length and thickness, and has an in-line remote control. This remote control can adjust the headset volume and microphone mute. Unfortunately, there is no clip on the remote, so it can’t be adhered to a collar or sleeve. The audio cable terminates in a stereo headphone jack and mono microphone jack. You can plug these directly into your PC’s sound card for stereo sound, or plug them into the included Dolby Headphone USB soundcard for surround sound.
The Dolby Headphone USB sound card is a small little black box. On the top of the box is a printed Dolby Headphone logo, and on the side is a broad switch that toggles the Dolby Headphone technology. A small USB plug extends from the back, and can easily be tucked inside a cavity on the back of the sound card.
Installation is much easier than many other USB sound devices, which require drivers to allow the card to process 3d sounds. This sound card uses Dolby Headphone technology, so it takes any stereo source and converts the signal into a virtual 5.1 sound space. Windows sees the USB sound card as a stereo device with only two channels. Other USB surround headphones I’ve tested usually show 6 channels. We’ll see how well that works in a minute.
After plugging the sound card in, it was immediately recognized and just worked… and this was on a Vista 64-bit system, which is notorious for having underdeveloped or nonexistant drivers. The audio device is installed, but isn’t switched to as the default device. To get sound to output to the USB device, you have to go into the Control Panel’s Sound applet, and select the device as default.
You’ll then have to restart any audio application that you had open. If you had iTunes running when you plugged the unit in, then you’ll have to close and restart iTunes. Similarly, if you unplug the USB card, you will hear no sound from any programs until they are restarted. Note that this only happens when you use the USB sound card… plugging the headphones directly into your computer’s sound card works just as normal.
Since there are no drivers, then there aren’t any configuration settings either. Other “surround” headphones have some sort of testing application that allows you to adjust your audio configuration, but the only tools you have are what is included with Windows.
I spoke with the Plantronics rep about configuring the sound, and they stated that all I had to do was have a stereo source, and the USB sound card would do the rest. I shouldn’t have to configure a game to 5.1 output mode, or a software DVD player to 5.1 speakers.
I toggled the Dolby Headphone mode on and off while listening to music, and music definately sounded more spacious, but also very gimmicky, much like the “WOW” effect in Windows Media Player. If you’ve ever played with your home theater’s Dolby surround mode, then this it what it sounds like… it may sound more spacious, but the extra channels are derived from stereo, so there really is little “positional” sound.
I had a similar experience when watching movies. The sound was very spacious, but it was very difficult to tell obviously positional sounds. There were a few moments when it actually sounded like something was going behind me, like when a helicopter flew overhead in a movie scene. Other than that, everything just sounded spacious… like all sound is coming from all directions at once.
The GameCom also came with a test DVD to show off all the neat audio effects in games. Some of the demos were encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1, and had specific tests like “this is the rear left channel”, etc. Like other positional headphones, I could barely tell the difference between a rear left channel and the left channel.
There are times when the Dolby Headphone technology sounded beyond awesome. There was a test of Ghost Recon where a soldier is surrounded by a bunch of wind, and with Dolby Headphone technology on, the wind sounded very realistic and actually surrounded you. The soldier’s chatter sounded very seperated from the ambient noise. This is where Dolby Headphone technology works best… making ambient noise sounding VERY ambient.
This gimmick may add a new element to music and movies, but isn’t very effective in a gaming scenario. You need to be able to tell the direction of an enemy even before you hear them. While no surround headphone I’ve tested has ever excelled at rear sounds, the Dolby Headphone mode kind of muddled the sounds so they seem to come from everywhere. Like in the movie test, there were a few times when the audio direction was very clear, but most of the time didn’t work for tactical advantage.
Dolby Headphone technology makes things sound more atmospheric, but that doesn’t help the PC gamer.
This bass test is actually very good compared to just listening to your favorite hip-hop or dance track. Sure, you can see how a particular song sounds, but the men get seperated from the boys when you mix different low-frequencies together. In addition to when the bass bottoms out, you need to hear if it plays well with multiple frequencies. You should be able to hear the individual sine waves of each frequency quite clearly. Lower-quality units cannot copy and you’ll hear some unpleasant clipping of the freqencies.
We pit the Plantronics GameComm 777 against another gaming headset, the TekNmotion PulseWave (reviewed here). We also threw in two entry-level audiophile headphones: the JBL Reference 410 Headphones (reviewed here) and Bose In-Ear Headphones to see how they perform in comparison.
Both of the gaming headsets performed adequately considering their price points. All of the headphones’ volumes began to drop at around 30Hz, and all had similar signal stregnth at 15Khz and higher. The TekNmotion PluseWave had by far the strongest bass, even when compared to audio-phile headphones! Unforunately, both of the lower-priced gaming headsets could not cope with mixed bass frequencies, and had obvious clipping. The JBL and Bose had accurate sound reproduction when mixing bass frequencies, and each individual sine wave could be heard.
This test does measure how each of the headphones performs, but in all honesty I’ve never heard any bass clipping in normal usage from any music, movie soundtrack or game.
| 11Hz | 15Hz | 20Hz | 25Hz | 30Hz | 50Hz | notes | |
| GameComm 777 | – | very weak | weak | weak | strong | very strong | severely loses volume at 30Hz, bad clipping and pulsing when mixing bass frequencies. Tops out at 60KHz |
| JBL Reference 410 | – | weak | strong | strong | very strong | very strong | Accurate bass sine wave reproduction. No clipping |
| Bose Earbuds | – | very weak | weak | weak | strong | very strong | Loses volume severely at 30Hz. No bass clipping |
| TekNmotion Pulsewave | very very weak | very weak | strong | strong | very strong | very strong | sounds like banging on a drum rather than sine waves. Can actually hear frequencies as low as 3Hz |
So there you have it. The Plantronics GameCom 777 Surround Gaming Headset is pretty good, and has several features that make it a good choice for PC gamers and music lovers. The sound quality is above average for this price range, but doesn’t have extraordinary bass performance (in range and multi-wave reproduction).
If you just use plain stereo, either by using your own sound card, or switching off Dolby Headphone support, the headset is very good. It has rather accurate reproduction, and the hide-away microphone works great. The set is very rugged and rather comfortable, even after hours of play. I just wish the in-line remote control had a clip.
Press kit pictured. Retail box doesn’t come with all these goodies
The included Dolby Headphone USB sound card is easy to use, especially since it doesn’t require any drivers. The sound card is stereo only, and relies on Dolby Headphone technology to process a surround field fom a stereo source… which is almost exactly like Dolby Pro Logic and sounds very similar. When Dolby Headphone technology is on, the sounds are very atmospheric, but in my opinion this gimmick just isn’t helpful for PC gamers, but does make music and movies more enjoyable.
Looking at online prices for the GameCom 777, this set can be had between $60 and $80, which is very good for a headset of this quality. You can find inferior headsets at your local retail store for this amount of money, so I would recommend giving the GameCom 777 a try.
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