Turtle Beach X12: A Party in Your Earhole

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Written by Sm1tty Sm1t

We gamers are spoiled.  Not only do we have cutting edge visuals, deep, engrossing stories, and constant, ever-changing worlds, Turtle Beach brings us crisp, clear audio.  I'm talking about the Earforce X12 gaming headset, of course.  Packing massive 50mm speakers, bass boost, and a sleek black and green motif, the X12's are stylish, affordable, and versatile.

The Turtle Beach Earforce X12 gaming headset is the latest installment into the X1/X11 series of headsets for the Xbox 360.  Featuring a sleek black combined with Xbox 360 inspired green highlights, its style catches your eye and as you don this gamer's diadem, you become the king of the Gaming Monarchy.

The first noticeable trait is the comfort. The earpieces rest gently over your ears, as opposed to on them, which allows for less physical strain on your ears and helps drown out unwanted outside noise that can be a distraction.  Turtle Beach opted for a mesh fabric for the ear pads, rather than vinyl which can get sticky and hot.  The mesh ear pads allow your ears to "breathe" when your head gets inevitably warm.  The mesh is also installed on the headband, which has added cushioning, ensuring players will never get uncomfortable during any play session.  Finally, most headsets have the headband tension set too high or too low, meaning the pressure on each side of your head can be too much, causing headaches, or too loose and risk falling off completely.  The over-the-ear design, mixed with an almost perfect tension setting make the headset hardly noticeable when sitting on your dome.

But comfort is only a piece of the puzzle, the true test of any headset is its function, or "how well does it work?"  Sporting 50mm speakers, the audio is crisp and clear.  New to the X12's is an adjustable Bass Boost feature -- typically, the X1/X11 series of gaming headsets had a fixed bass boost, but no longer.  Finally, like most headsets designed for in-game chat, an adjustable volume control and mute button are available to players.  The glory of each of these features is that they're located on an easily accessible miniature brick-like box that rests on the X12's monstrous 16 foot cord.

After discussing comfort and function, most headsets have nothing left; not so with the Turtle Beach X12.  The extra features included make this one of the best deals available for gaming headsets.  To start, when chatting with friends you can actually hear yourself through the speakers -- a small touch, but one that is recognized instantly and welcomed.  It's odd to speak and not hear yourself, so Turtle Beach remedied the problem.  Further, the DSS Processor included allows Dolby Surround Sound in the headset.  While that seems useless in a gaming headset, imagine playing a first person shooter online.  Hearing players behind you can drastically tip the scales in your favor.  Not a shooter fan?  That's fine, imagine the BCS title game in NCAA 12.  The cadence of the quarterback comes through clearly, and the roar of the crowd transports you from your couch into the game itself. The surround sound grants better play and a better experience overall.  Finally, if you're a hardcore gamer and enjoy PC games just as much as your Xbox 360, the X12 is multi-use.  Yes, you can plug this into your PC  and still have all the benefits that Xbox 360 players receive.

Overall, the Turtle Beach Earforce X12 Gaming Headset is one of the most versatile headsets on the market.  Though it has a cable, the 16-foot allowance makes the limited range a moot point.  The clear audio, adjustable settings, inherent comfort, and its use on Xbox 360 and PC mean this will appeal to all types of gamers.  Retailing at $59.99, it’s also affordable and when considering all features included, may prove to be one of the best values available.  With the Earforce X12's, Turtle Beach again proves they are one of the top dogs in gaming audio.

For more information on the X12 or any of the other Turtle Beach headsets available, visit http://www.turtlebeach.com