The retractable microphone works well and is extremely flexible, most of my teammates said I sounded great. One problem I had though is when you talk - the closed ear design makes it tough to hear yourself - so you end up talking louder than you intend. It would have been nice to have included the ability to turn on monitoring for your own microphone channel.
I tried to run interference with the headphones, after all that’s always been a problem with wireless cans. I used my cell phone, turned on the microwave, and even fired up the PS3 with Wi-Fi and downloaded something. Nothing seemed to interfere and cause the audio to drop, though without any audio playing there was a slight hum. Most likely this was due to electrical feedback on the base station.
I also used the Spectrum 7XBs on my PC, mostly to listen to music and watch videos. I was able to walk around most of my downstairs floor without the audio cutting out using this method - so distance from the base station shouldn’t be an issue for most, Steelseries claims 32 feet. My only gripe is there is no way to hook up the microphone on a PC right now - it ONLY works with the Xbox 360. Hopefully SteelSeries remedies this in the future.
The final question everyone always asks is - “what do they cost?” It’s not cheap - $179.99 is pretty steep for wireless headphones. A few Amazon searches revealed some competitor products anywhere from $100 to $130. Whether the quality of those are as good as the 7XB is remained to be seen, but needless to say you usually get what you pay for.
If you need the ultimate set of wireless headphones for your Xbox 360 with a slick voice communication option - look no further than the SteelSeries Spectrum 7XB - just be prepared to open your wallet.
Specifications:
Frequency response: 18 – 28,000 Hz
Impedance: 32 Ohm
SPL@ 1kHz, 1 Vrms: 112 dB
Cable length: 3.3 ft. (Detachable from headset to controller with 2.5 mm plug) Jacks: 3.5 mm
Microphone
Frequency response: 50 – 16,000 Hz
Pick up pattern: Uni-directional
Sensitivity: -38 dB
Transmitter box
USB Powered (from Xbox 360)
3.5 mm stereo jack input
Input level control
2.6 GHz radio interface
Range: 9 m (30 ft.)
Dimensions: 83 mm x 83 mm x 26 mm
The Good:
+ Quality Construction
+ Closed Ear design
+ Solid Sound Quality
+ LiveMix Audio is Perfect for Co-Op
The Bad:
- hard to hear yourself talk
- price
- some minor static here and there
- mic only works on 360