Speedlink Medusa 5.1 and Sennheiser HD555

Like most headphones these days, the Medusas are made from plastic. The construction looks and feels pretty solid, although I wouldn’t want to get rough with any of the hinges.

The mic boom is surprisingly well behaved – you can bend the boom however you want and the mic will stay where you put it. The audio quality of the microphone is also very good – I can hear myself when no games are running (there’s no mute button) and my voice comes through crystal clear. I’ve also talked to people over Skype and in online games and everyone’s said I sound good.

The cans themselves are covered in a soft fabric, and are comfortable to wear for long periods. There isn’t a lot of clamping force applied to your head, which ensures that you’ll be able to wear the headset comfortably for hours, however head-banging isn’t an option.

Here’s a couple shots showing the cables (in from X-fi and out to Logitech 5.1 speakers) and the blue LED lighting during operation, as well as a look at the headphone jack.

Overall the headphones look and feel very nice and I don’t think any unusual precautions are required to keep them from breaking. As long as you don’t hurl them against a wall, step on them, or receive a roundhouse to the head while wearing them, they should be fine. Medusa offers a 2-year warranty on these headphones, but since their main RMA facility is in the UK, I’m not sure how fast an RMA would be handled.