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E3 2009: Tritton

by: John -
More On: E3 2009
We here at Gaming Nexus really like Tritton headsets. Ben Berry gave the AX Pro very high marks so I was happy to check out Tritton’s booth at E3 to see what they have coming up. They have a few nicely priced headsets coming for the console and PC. Chris Von Huben of Tritton was kind enough to show me a few of their new products.

First up is the AX 720 designed for the Xbox 360, PS3, Mac, and PC. The AX 720 is really optimized for console usage though. These babies have two full range speakers, one on each side of course. They are over the top full sized headsets also feature a removable flexible mic. 5.1 surround sound is supported in an emulated fashion. A breakaway cable lets you easily remove the headset to store away. Also, there can be adapters used to plug into the breakaway cable to use the headset with other devices.

Something really cool about the AX 720 is that there’s an inline chat volume control so you can adjust just the chat voices while keeping the game sounds on a different volume setting. OK, it’s nothing new as the official 360 wireless headset has this feature and Logitech’s Bluetooth headset also has this but it is different to have it all in one with the headset and be able to do this.

The headset plugs into a box which houses connections and the Dolby Digital decoder. On the AX 720, there are two connections. There’s a USB connection for the chat on the PC and PS3 and an optical cable for the sound from the console or PC.

The AX 900 has the same headset as the AX 720 but the breakout box is the difference with the AX 720, there’s a few additional connectors. For starters there are analog inputs for systems such as the Wii or an MP3 player. There’s also a Dolby Virtual Speaker out for a 3.1 like system.

From playing Killzone 2, I found the headset to be clear and loud. I could feel some of the guns as they shot from how well the system produced the sound. It sounded good both on the highs and lows giving it a good range. Also, light ambient sounds came in well so it performed nicely on those aspects. The headset also fit pretty comfortable but we’ll see how well it holds up on longer sessions once we have one in house.

The two setups are due in August with the AX 720 probably going for around $139 with the AX 900 looking at about $179. They aren’t that bad of a pricing structure considering what you get and the products they are going against. But I walked away from Tritton’s booth impressed by the AX 720. We’ll see in August how well these do when we take a closer look at the unit.