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I love having surround sound on my
computer. It’s great for games, music, and movies…pretty much anything that
requires speakers will sound much better on a surround sound speaker system.
Within the last two years or so, we’ve begun to see surround sound filter
over to headphones as well. It makes a lot of sense, as there may be times
or places where it would not be good to turn your speakers up really loud,
or if you travel frequently it may not be possible to cart all those
speakers around with you. Today, Compgeeks has been kind enough to provide
us with a set of Ezonics 5.1 surround sound headphones. This system is
unique in that it does not require a 5.1 sound card or even audio jacks.
Interested? Read on!
Packaging &
Contents
The EZ-638 ships in a very nice box that has lots of colorful graphics and
useful technical data. The headphones and manual are packaged inside a clear
plastic cover for protection.
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Pulling the Ezonics headphones out, I was immediately impressed with the light
weight of the headphones themselves and the long length of the cord…certainly
good news for gamers on the go. The interesting part of these headphones is
contained in the black box bearing the Ezonics logo halfway up the line. These
headphones hook up using USB, and this box provides AC3 5.1 sound using the AC
’97 audio decoder…no sound card required. On the bad side, I noticed there was
no in-line volume or mute controls.
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The
headphones themselves are light, comfortable, and adjustable…certainly a plus
with my big melon. The unit is also strategically hinged to allow the
headphones to fold up neatly for transport. I found myself wondering why they
didn’t include a small carry bag of the sort that we saw with Razer’s
products…it would have been a great touch for a set of headphones at this
price level.
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Pulling off the foam cover on one of the earpieces demonstrates how these
headphones can produce 5.1 sound. There are three ‘chambers’ on each earpiece,
and by imaging sound between these six chambers it should be possible to make
the sound seem to come from any direction.
One item I did find a little off was that although these are advertised as
“Perfect for Gamers”, there is no microphone. Any serious gamer is certainly
going to be looking for that, and its probably the biggest item that these
headphones do not have.
Specifications
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Model No.-EZ-638
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Connection-USB
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5.1 Surround Sound
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6 Independent Sound
Chambers
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New SafeBase™ Technology
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Drive Unit (Speaker
Size)-.Front .Center .Surround 40mm x2 13mm x2 13mm x2
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Max.Power-15mW
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Impedance-.Front .Center
.Surround: 32 ohm 16 ohm 8 ohm
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Frequency Response-20hz -
20Khz
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Sensitivity- -103db
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Cord Length-10ft
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Power-USB
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Decoder-AC97 Decoder
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System
Compatibility-Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, MAC OS
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