Hardware Sharkoon X-Tatic SX Review

Sharkoon has designed a gaming headset that works with the PC and XBox 360, but is it any good?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/peripherals/2011/05/14/sharkoon-x-tatic-sx-review/1

 

I really don't understand how you award scores sometimes: You spend half the review moaning about design fault after design fault after design fault, then you give it a relatively high score of 20/30 in this area. Bizarre!

I'd have thought from the myriad problems it would have been looking at below 10/30 at best...

 

Also, surely with a trip to "Maplin" or a good hunt around eBay, you can convert any twin 3.5mm Jacks to a 360 Headset!

 

It's a quick review sure, but if you're going to whinge about the cable spaghetti, please at least give us a visual reference.

I never understood how much of a cabling hell a Genesis with 32x and Sega CD could be until I saw it, you know. Or that godawful accessory that you wore as a backpack which belted out sound effects from whatever Genesis / SNES / NES game you were playing at the time.

 

Hint to bit-tech: when describing the audio character of speakers and/or headphones, there is more to talk about than how loud the mids/lows/highs are. Just saying, it seems like 90% of the space in these reviews is taken up talking about the company background, aesthetics, whether it's USB or mini jack, than actually discussing in detail what the product, you know, does.

 

I quite like the fact that there is little focus on sound quality since sound quality is some of the most subjective to review.

 

did you measure frequency response ?, or even give details ?, no !, why ?, cause its not even worth the effort, stay away from cheap garbage like this, bad headphone design can actually harm your hearing, too low a bass response or hissy treble can ruin your hearing. I suspect this set has a standard 20hz to 20khz signal range, good headphones will go from around 15hz to 40khz, much more defenition and clarity, please state the frequency response figures on your next headphone/speaker review, as thats the main guide to how "open" the signal is, also no mention of the usb portion has any dsp, or the make of the chipset, time for a labs showdown I think, mega test of headphones and speakers please !

 

Is it just me, or does it look like you've reviewed a toilet seat when you go to the bit-tech main page?

 

OK, that's fair enough. I think the thing that got me though was this:

Now I (and most people I know) don't have their PC & monitor and their main TV together in the same room, (like perhaps you do in your office) that being case, it would render this unusable as is - which was why I was surprised you still scored it so highly for design, as that would seem like a pretty major point of contention for a lot of people.

Obviously if the set is comfortable to wear then that goes in it's favour in terms of design, I just thought that not being able to use it with HDMI (in any reasonable sense) would have hit its design score a lot more heavily than it did - as that's how most people are hooking up modern TV's these days. Still, that's obviously your call...

 

Frequency range doesn't really matter that much in headphones because 99% of humans cannot reliably hear below about 20 hz and above 20 khz. There are obviously exceptions, but it's still hard to prove if it's something noticeable or if it's just placebo. It's the character of the sound that really matters(is it natural or digital? thick and warm or cold and precise? are instruments all easy to differentiate on their own during music playback, or do they blend together? is audio positioning nice and spacious, or do things feel like they're playing "inside your head"?), and that's what articles should focus a bit more on. You are right in saying that cheap headphones don't do much to differentiate themselves, but it's hardly due to the frequency response listed on the packaging.

 

we will agree to disagree then, I have found over the yrs that frequency response has a direct releationship with what you hear, it gives an indication of how "open" and "clear" the signal coming from the speaker is, if you have a wide channel, then the sound can move more along those frequencies, sure, you wont hear the full band of frequencies, but you will at least here sounds moving along those bands easily and not hitting a brick wall, like cheap speakers/headphones do, and you can tell by playing them at high volume, distortion sets in if they are crap, not if they are good.

 

I'm pretty much biased on the fact that I never buy a head set unless it's range is 15hz to 30-40kz (probably got those figures wrong lol), and it can withstand heavy volumes for a long time because of how bad my hearing is. I go through in-ear head phones within about a month now so I don't really buy them anymore lol. Another problem I saw with the head set is that the mic is in a set position, which I hate because I usually switch my head sets between my Xbox and PC, which brings up the problem of the cables, there's no way in hell I would be switching so many cables back and forth, no matter if it is easier after you 'figure out' out to connect them the first time around. Connecting a head set should not involve minor rocket science lol.

 

Just had to throw in a comment here. The cable mess is typical of these headsets and unless you go wireless (which most serious gamers will never do) its just something you have to deal with. I own the Turtle Beach X1 and its the exact same. And for adapters its far better to simply by an adapter for your Xbox rather than a 3.5mm extender. Google Xbox HDMI Audio Adapter and you'll see what I mean. Much better than an extension as once you have it in place moving from Xbox to PC is as simple as unplugging and plugging back in the same cords. Another option is to use the cord that came with your xbox... you just have to pry off the plastic cover so it will fit while the HDMI is plugged in.

Someone also said somethng about the Mic being in a "set position". Its completely flexible and detachable so not sure what was meant by that