Gaming Headset Head to Head

Comfort wise the Sennheiser headset started to fail almost immediately as it suffers from the same problems as the Fatal1ty headset in that it crushes glasses, ears and skulls against each other. However, because the cushioning on the Sennheiser PC 161 is a lot bigger and firmer than the Fatal1ty headset, it started to hurt a lot more and a lot sooner.

The problem lessened over time as the headband loosened up and the cushions softened, but it never really went away. Again, the situation could be resolved by removing my glasses, but since I can't read off a screen without the, it would make game playing kind of difficult. True, that’s why lots of people wear contacts, but I think it's a lot better that a company make a headset aimed properly at their geeky market than it is that their design forces me to place glass discs onto my eyeballs every day.

We did notice that the headset has pivots on the earpieces at this point though, which seemed a nice design addition. The idea as far as we can make out is that it allows the earpiece to move and fit to the side of the users head a little better. Again though, it's a problem for bespectacled gamers.

Wanting to be fair though, we tried the headset on at a time when we didn't need glasses and found that they were by far and away more comfortable than the Creative Fatal1ty headset in this regard. As long as we didn't mind bumping into a few things, the earpieces sat lightly on our delicate ears and the headband held them on our head for all but the most dramatic of headbangs.


The cable is a decent length too, at least as long as the Creative headset, so that it's easy to wander around as you shout orders to the rest of your crew. The dongle on the headset cable also feels a lot more secure and sturdy than the Creative headset, with a heavy duty clip on the back and a toggle to turn the microphone on and off. The volume control for the wheel also has a simple visual indication of the volume level which, while fairly useless since you'll presumably be listening to something anyway, is still a nice touch.

The microphone on the headset is bendy in the middle to a certain degree so that it can be adjusted to fit most of the usual positions. That it can't be removed completely kind of ruins the idea of the headset being used as headphones for an MP3 player, but its high quality build obviously reflects the dedicated purpose behind the design.

The microphone also holds up well at recording sound, both with and without the foam cover. Our preference is usually to go without the foam if possible, as the overall look of the PC 161 holds up much better without some black sponge on the mic.

In the end the Sennheiser PC 161 stands out as a fairly decent headset which suffers from the same main problem as the Creative Fatal1ty, namely that it's painful for those who wear glasses. The sound quality is decently passed down through the earpieces, but those massive cushions could put off some.


Really, though the headset itself is a nice little addition to any gamer’s arsenal, we have to admit that we would have expected a bit more from a massive name like Sennheiser, whose built up a strong reputation as king of the headphones community. Plus, with a price of around £50, or $60, the headset is massively expensive when compared to the Creative Fatal1ty model. Whether or not it's overpriced is something we'd leave to users to decide, but to fork out so much and not be able to even remove the microphone seems crazy to us and there clearly isn't that many more extra features packaged in to the PC 161, making the price one of the worst things about an otherwise decent, but not great, gaming headset.

• Build Quality
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 5/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

What do these scores mean?

Conclusions

Truth be told, it's almost neck and neck for the two headsets here. Bespectacled gamers, like me, would probably do best to avoid them both altogether and to wait for something better to appear on the market. For those that absolutely must have a set of comfortable headphone and who don't mind going sans microphone, then the Sennheiser HD 215 are our recommended headphones as they have truly huge earpieces and cushions softer than the chewy centre of a cloud. They technically count as DJ headphones, but we've found them excellent for gaming and a pleasure to wear.

However, choosing out of the two gaming headsets available here is tough. The Sennheisers are excellent performers and classier lookers, but the Creative headset performs just as well and will appeal to a different market.

Close as it is, we have to choose a winner and, in this case, we'd have to side with the Creative Fatal1ty headset as the removable microphone makes them a more versatile beast and a good all rounder.