Speedlink Medusa 5.1 and Sennheiser HD555

[PAGETITLE=Introduction] Not too long ago, I started looking around for a new set of headphones. I'd been using a $40 pair from Radioshack (only markings say 'Titanium') and they started to come apart. I use headphones nearly all the time â€“ mostly for gaming, but I usually have some music on while surfing the web, and sometimes I like to zone out with a WinAmp visualization. I'd been seeing various 5.1 headsets hitting the market for a while, so I figured I'd have a good look around the web and see what people thought of them. What I found was that there is no shortage of opinions as to which headsets are good and which aren't â€“ I read numerous reviews and dozens of forum threads on a variety of headphones, and there wasn't much that people wanted to agree upon. You can find glowing reviews of just about every headphone on the market, and everywhere I went I saw threads that went something like this... Lamz0r n00b: I'm thinking of getting XXXX 5.1 headset. Any recommendations? 1337 Hax0r: Those are utter crap. Get the Sennheiser HD5XX. They sound WAY better. Btw, I have a recording studio in my house, and I just knifed you on CS:S. ...which didn't make my decision any easier, since the HD5XX series are stereo. Being a gamer, I was interested in the 5.1 surround sound headphones because being able to know where your enemies are off-screen often means the difference between getting flanked and scoring a head shot. Plus, I wanted to have personal experience with how they performed. So after figuring out what my main wants were, I decided on the Medusa 5.1 (Home Edition) headset from Speedlink. This review might've been solely about the Medusas, but I didn't want to parrot the dozens of other reviews I'd already read (and found to be not-so-helpful), so I decided that the best way to review a headset was to compare it to another headset, and since the Sennheiser HD series was recommended (rather fervently, by some) everywhere I went, what better yardstick could I have than the HD555's? What I'll do is present an overview of each product individually, and then I'll compare them directly when evaluating performance. Hopefully, this will provide some more definitive (if still subjective) information that will help you make the best buying decision. Let's get to it. Medusa 5.1 Home Edition First off, I want to help dispel a little rumor that's been going around for a number of years that the Medusa 5.1 headphones were banned from use by the Cyberathlete Professional League because they 'gave competitors an unfair advantage'. I don't know where the rumor started (although apparently Speedlink advertised it) but it is untrue. The Medusa 5.1 Home Edition retails for $143.18 plus shipping at Medusa-usa.com. They also offer the ProGamer Edition for $117.44, which is USB powered and doesn't have the external amp. I wasn't able to find a cheaper price from any other online retailer. The Medusa 5.1 Home Edition's features can be seem on the Medusa Website and are fairly self-explanatory, but I'd like to specifically point out the reasons why I went with the Home Edition instead of the Pro Gamer edition. It's all about the external amplifier. First is the issue of using USB to power the headphones â€“ I read of numerous problems where distortion and/or noise was the result of using a USB port for power. In some cases, the headset manufacturer sent an external amplifier that plugged into the wall and the problem was solved. Rather than deal with the variability of PSUs and motherboards to provide clean power through USB ports, I wanted the external amp. Secondly, the external amplifier also serves as a switch between the headphones and my speakers, so I don't ever have to unplug any cables. It is also worth mentioning that the external amplifier has a master volume control in addition to the controls on the in-line remote. You can see that Speedlink does a great job of packaging their product. Everything has it's own box, and the ribbon is a nice touch. Speedlink also ensures that you'll have very few problems using their product regardless of where you are and what you're trying to plug into. They've included AC adapters for both 115v and 230v, and adapter plugs to suit analogue stereo and component outputs. All of the cables are very long. The in-line remote allows you to adjust the volume levels of four channels: front, rear, center, and bass. It's a nice way to fine tune for certain scenarios, but I rarely change the settings. The remote itself seems a little flimsy, but I don't think it would be easy to break by accident in any real scenario. [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=Medusa 5.1, Build Quality] 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 â€“ 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. [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=Sennheiser HD555, Build Quality] The Sennheiser HD555s retail for anywhere from ~$110 to $150 depending on where you shop, and seem to be the sweet-spot of the Sennheiser HD line price-wise. The lower-end HD515s can't be found for much under $80, the higher-end HD595s go for $200. The HD555's features can be seen on Sennheiser's website. The first thing you may notice comparing the features of the two headsets is that Sennheiser seems to employ engineers to do their marketing. The Ergonomic Acoustic Refinement (E.A.R.) feature is basically the overall shape of the headset, which is incredibly comfortable, and I'll talk about it more in a bit. The Duofol diaphragm entry has yet to be written in Wikipedia, but eliminating standing waves will reduce distortion, so the sound should be very well defined. The neodymium ferrous magnet system is a fancy way of saying that their speakers are really good â€“ magnetic forces are what cause a speaker to vibrate, creating sound waves â€“ the main benefits of neodymium magnets is that they are much stronger than ceramic magnets by volume, so you can use smaller (lighter) magnets and still have more magnetic force to power the speakers. The others are self-explanatory, although the 'spacious sound reproduction' part is a little over-stated, as I will show in my testing. I'm using these headphones simply because so many people are recommending them on various forums. I can say with high degree of certainty that all of the headphone threads I visited had at least one recommendation for these specific headphones, as well as Sennheiser in general and the HD series more specifically. Also, the next model up, the HD595s, cost a minimum of ~$200 so the HD555s make a decent price competitor with the Medusas. Sennheiser's packaging, while a little less extravagant, is nicely done. These are stereo headphones that do not require an amplifier, so this package includes only the HD555's and a 3.5mm jack adapter. Build Quality and Comfort The HD555s are also made from plastic, and appear to be very solid. One obvious difference here is that the HD555s don't have any large hinges â€“ the rotating joints are enclosed within the ear cups. The soft fabric covering the cans is very similar to that of the Medusas, but the shape is very different. The HD555's are more comfortable than the Medusas due to the shape of the ear cup. While the Medusas will contact both the area immediately around your ear as well as your actual earlobe, the HD555's are designed so that nothing touches your earlobes at all. There is noticeably more clamping force applied to your head, but there is plenty of padded surface area to distribute the pressure to the side of your head comfortably, and your ears are left untouched. The HD555s are easily the most comfortable set of headphones I've ever worn, and I believe that this ergonomic design actually improves the sounds that you hear because your earlobes aren't being deformed by contact with the speaker cover. The picture below shows the HD555s on the left, and you can see that the HD555 cups are deeper, meaning no contact with your ear. The HD555s have a more minimalist approach for their frame. While this may make them marginally more robust, the real advantage here is comfort. There is a lot to be said for being able to perk up your ears while wearing headphones. One other thing worth mentioning is that Sennheiser also offers a 2-year warranty on their headphones, and has a local service center in Connecticut where they perform repairs. Now let's see how both headsets sound. [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=Performance Testing] I tested both headsets using a Creative X-fi as the sound card. Thus, I used the Creative Audio Console to adjust the audio output settings. The Medusas were always run with the output set to 5.1 speakers, while the HD555s were always run with the output...

Speedlink Medusa 5.1 and Sennheiser HD555

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