One great piece of advice to any person on the verge of marriage is no matter what, under no circumstances, should one ever wake their wife once she is asleep. Maybe there are some special circumstances, but other than those your sleeping beauty should be left to rest once her head hits the pillow. In this line of work (covering video games) this simple little tip can sometimes be very hard to control. Late gaming nights and loud pounding subwoofers are commonplace in the Bush home. Headphones are nothing revolutionary, hell wireless headphones are not even that new, but ones that work well and don’t cost more than $250 were just what the doctor ordered. Turtle Beach has always been one of the better audio companies so it came as no surprise when we first got our hands on the X3 Gaming Headset, built from the ground up for the Xbox 360, and found out that the headset is the best option for 360 gamers looking to keep things quiet.
Obviously with a name like “X3” they are not the first of their kind and while both the X1s and X2s were decent headsets they don’t even begin to compare to what the X3s are. All is not perfect in the X3 universe but the small problems we did have with the headset only leave room for improvement with the next edition. From the moment that you open the package you will instantly tell that this is not your ordinary headset, first it’s wireless and second it matches the look of the Xbox 360 perfectly. The X3s are built out of tough plastic with a nice padded leather headband keeping the set firmly on top of your head. Each earpiece is covered in the same squishy material, helping to drown ambient sounds out while keeping the important stuff in. Conveniently hidden on each side of the headset are two infrared sensors that shoot the signal back and forth from the audio home-base.
After one particular session with the headphones lasted well over 3 hours we found it very surprising that our ears still felt relatively cool. Small things such as this are what can make or break a wireless headset. There is nothing particularly special about the looks of the X3 but its simplicity mixed with quality that made them shine in our eyes. They felt solid in the hands and have a good, constant weight without being too heavy; something that has plagued wireless headphones in the past. The biggest problems (bulkiness, interference, and bad audio quality) with the X2s have been fixed for the most part, while battery life not so much.
One of the best features of the X3 is the ability to function fully within Xbox Live and the service’s chat system. A high quality boom-mic is attached to the left ear piece and raises or lowers with ease, keeping it far out of sight should you not be playing online. Unfortunately for wireless fanatics this still requires that you connect a small cord between the earphones and 360 controller. To be honest we were more than happy to deal with the nominal tether issue in exchange for having the option of using the built in microphone when gaming through Xbox Live. Usually if gamers want to chat they are forced to wear a separate microphone that takes up one ear, totally messing up the chance to hear gaming audio out of that side. This disadvantage can make a huge difference when playing a late night session of Call of Duty 4; thanks to the X3s (all audio comes out of the headset) that problem is fixed.
The bulky base station used with the X2s has been scrapped in favor of a much smaller white infrared box. This box is used for connecting the X3s to your audio source through one of a couple different options. Setup was fairly easy and much more simple than it was with Turtle Beach’s last shot at a wireless gaming headset. Because the headset is limited to infrared technology gamers must keep the base station in full view of the head piece at all times, otherwise all audio is lost. Fortunately when the two units are lined up correctly the interference is almost non-existent and the sound quality is top notch. The X3s offer full wireless stereo, surround (thanks to an expander option) support, and a bass booster; to help give that small subwoofer feel without the big ass wooden box. In most every game we tested the unit with we were immersed in loud, clear audio and only during intense dialog scenes did we notice a hiss coming from the earphones. Although the X3s can be used with television, DVDs, or anything else that contains an audio signal, our advice would be to stick to video games when using them.
Overall the X3 gaming headset from Turtle Beach is the ideal solution for Xbox 360 gamers looking for a one-stop wireless option for their audio needs, with built in Xbox Live support. At a retail price of only $99.95 there is no reason why, if the need is there, you should not own a pair of these. This unit meshed so well with our Xbox 360, style wise, that it should be tagged the “official” headset of the console. The small issues we had with hissing during dialog and on/off problems (auto off is great but the on button, not so great) are barely worth a mention when looking at the full picture. In the next version we would like to see full 5.1 support and more advanced wireless technology, but for this go around we came away completely satisfied. We cannot wait to try out the X3s with a game like EndWar from Ubisoft that relies heavily on voice support, mixing all audio into one source, will be super beneficial. Come back to PlanetXbox360 for all the information on Turtle Beach's new products as they are released, but for now the X3s will do fine at keeping the wife sleeping all night.
Final Score: 9.0 / 10.0
