If you're into serious teamplay gaming, like clanwars in Counter-Strike, Quake3, Broodwar, etc, you quickly realize that the best form of communication is by voice. Typing in the heat of the battle isn't ideal when victories are at stake. For this sole reason, I first bought a cheap Trust 10 bucks headset with mic. I will not go in detail about that one, but I started to look elsewhere for a replacement, since low quality sound and mic is a major pain in the butt.
I basically had 4 demands for my new buy, it should be able to play eax 3d sound perfectly, it should have a clear crisp mic, be comfortable to wear and not cost my lifesavings.
I chose the LabTec Axis 502 Stereo Headset w/ Swing-out Memory Microphone Boom.
I've used it for a full year now, only to play games, since I have another headset without mic for music.
Installation is of course very easy, two cables that needs to get plugged, one for the speakers and one for the mic.
Since I'm using my stereo for speaker-output and pc for mic-output, I had to buy an extra extension cable. This is because the two original plugs sits tightly together.
I'm very happy with the sound, when combined with eax, I can pinpoint any in-game sound. It doesn't have great bass during explosions and such, but that isn't necessary for game performance anyway, just candy. I want to pinpoint my enemy so I can shoot him, period :)
The microphone is simply more than sufficient, a clear crisp output, thanks to the excellent filter, when using Battlecom or similar high-quality programs. If you use Roger Wilco or any other program using high voice compression, it really doesn't matter what kind of mic you have, it will still sound bad.
Labtec says the headset have a Swing-out Memory Microphone, this is simply a nifty feature that let you put it out of the way without taking the headset off, useful during those long matches when you really want a coke without missing some of the information being transmitted over the network.
Overallt they're pretty small, but still they aren't as comfortable as I would like, after several hours of playing, you notice that they sit a little tight. They are easy to adjust, so it might just be my fault though.
It could wrap more around they ears for comforable wear, but for the price I ain't complaining.
After an year of use, I can honestly say that they are rugged too, no lose parts after heavy beating.
So, conclusion ladies and gentlemen:
Great gaming or IP-telephone headset, does cost a bit more than the cheapest, but well worth the money.
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