Introduction

Are you a World of Warcraft die hard fan? Want a nice looking, extremely comfortable wireless headset that has a lot of customizable options, including the choice to set one of multiple lights for the exterior and special designed lenses with Alliance/Horde design? Did I forget to mention very good sound quality? Then this piece of hardware might be designed just for you!

I would like to thank Creative Labs for making the review of their Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Wireless Headset possible.



About Creative:

“Creative is the worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for the personal computer (PC) and the Internet. Creative was founded in Singapore in 1981 with the vision that multimedia would revolutionize the way people interact with their PCs.

Famous for its Sound Blaster sound cards and for launching the multimedia revolution, Creative is now driving digital entertainment on the PC platform with products like its highly acclaimed ZEN line of digital audio players. The company's innovative hardware, proprietary technology, applications and services enable consumers to experience high-quality digital entertainment-anytime, anywhere.

Since launching the phenomenally successful Sound Blaster sound cards and setting the de facto standard for PC audio in 1989, Creative has been able to leverage on its leading-edge audio technology, huge user base and strong brand name to expand into the exciting lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment (PDE) market.

Today, Creative is widely recognized as a global leader for product innovation in the audio and PDE segments, offering consumers a complete, high quality digital entertainment experience through Creative's hardware, software applications and services. Finding the perfect balance between form and function, Creative strives for every product to be a sensory feast for the eyes and ears. ”

Features:




Specifications:

Packaging:

The World of Warcraft headset box arrived at my place protected inside a transparent plastic bag:



The outside box of the product comes with very nice artwork; on the front we can see a photo of the actual headset, in the background there are the Horde and Alliance logos, a big World of Warcraft logo on top, the full name of the product on the bottom and a small photo of the wireless USB dongle, included in the package:



On one of the product sides, we see listed the package contents, the full technical specifications and the system requirements, in 3 different languages:



The opposite side presents us some of the main product features:



On the back of the box, we can find a short description of the application, some explanations regarding the Volume Up/Down buttons, the interchangeable headset lenses and the Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Voice Tap, which is an optional accessory:



Creative made a great job by sealing the box on the outside:



When we open the box for the first time, we can see a large World of Warcraft logo, the Sound Blaster logo and another one which tells us that this is a licensed Blizzard product:



After the easy removal of the top cardboard layer, we can see a portion of the headset with a triangle cardboard material in center, to immobilize the product completely during transport, for avoiding any damage. On the top and bottom parts we can also see two boxes, in which the accessories are stored:



In the box, besides the headset, we can also find a large travel pouch, a USB cable to be used for charging purposes, a Quick Start booklet, a microphone and a little screwdriver:



In the same box, the WiFi dongle can be found and an extra pair of lenses, with the Horde insignia:

A closer look:

With the bundle, we also get some safety instructions, which tell us that it is dangerous to listen for long periods of time at high volume, because we may damage our hearing; in the same guide we do also get some information regarding the warranty:



The Quick Start booklet tells us, in simple steps how to operate the device (including the pair operation with the USB wireless dongle). The application that the product uses is explained in very little words, but we do have a manual online, with full explanations. The artwork the Quick Start booklet is amazing and its pages look like a very old book:



The small screwdriver we can find inside a transparent plastic bag can be used to remove the lenses and replace them with the Horde ones (Creative promised that much more lenses will be available later, for each race; the microphone has a connector which must be inserted into the designated connector on the headset; the USB cable used to charge the device is sleeved, to ensure more durability:



The headphone preserves the theme with the rest of the headset and can take the shape of our choice, by carefully bending the black material:




The headset comes with two extra Horde lenses, if we do not like the pre-installed Alliance ones:



The WiFi dongle does look exactly like an USB flash drive, with a “V”-shaped LED on top and a World of Warcraft logo:



On the back of the dongle, the model number and FCC ID can be found:



We can attach, if we have on hand, a strap to the WiFi dongle, in the designated space:



Before use, we must remove the protective cap of the device:



The headset itself is wrapped into protective material, to keep it away from damages that may occur during transport:

A Closer Look Part 2

Even the pre-installed lenses are covered with a transparent plastic, which must be removed before the first use:



The headband is a little thick but ensures maximum comfort when using the device for a lot of hours at once:



In each of the headsets’ sides, we can see an armor-like design and a logo, on this side the Sound Blaster one:



Each cup has on the exterior interesting glyphs embossed into the plastic material and we can also see the preinstalled lenses; on the right cup there are no extra buttons:



On the right cup, we can see the Volume – and + buttons near the On/Off switch; near them there is also the USB connector, which is used to charge the device:



Near the USB power connector, we can find the MIC connector and a pair/MIC mute button:



People that have a large head can extend with caution (to avoid breaking) the headset for maximum comfort. In this photo we can see the inside rail, which also holds the cable that connects the cups together:



The cups can rotate 90 degrees outward and this helps when we want to put the device in the protective pouch or just sit it on the table:



On the inside of the cups, we can observe a leather-like material and a semi-transparent material through which the speaker can be seen; the cups cover the entire ear and do not isolate us completely from the outside noise (we can successfully hear what a person says to us, if the headset is off or it is on and no sound is playing):



Here is how the mini-USB connector does look on the headset, with the rubber protection aside:



On the inside part of the headset, near the extendable rail, we can find the Left-Right marks, so we will know how to wear correctly the device:



The left cup space to fit the MIC is designed in such a way, so we can mount it only in the correct position:

Device operation and Software Application

Creative advises us to charge the headset 8 hours in a row for the first time; when they are plugged in and charging, the On/Off button flashes red and when the charge is completed, it will stay lighted up. My sample finished charging about after 3 hours, but I let it 5 hours more plugged in, just to be safe:



When I have plugged the WiFi dongle in a spare USB port, Windows 7 has started right away installing the drivers, without my intervention; after the installation was complete, the V-shaped LED started to blink with a blue light; when the connection is fully established between the headset and the dongle, the LED will stay fully lit:



To pair the devices for the first time, we have to use the Connect buttons on both the WiFi dongle and the headset:



To power on the headset, only a single press on the On/Off button is needed and the LED with light up blue; if the headset is connected in the same time to a spare USB port, the LED will blink and will charge even during product use:



After the drivers are installed by Windows 7 itself, we can proceed to the software installation; the applications that come with the pack are the following:



During the applications installation, we get to see a progress bar and some more information regarding the application that is currently installed; at the end, we will be prompted to restart the system:



After the system restart, we are welcomed with a Product Registration application:



The main headset application does preserve the World of Warcraft game theme; the app has multiple tabs and profiles can be also saved/loaded by only pressing a button. We can also associate an avatar for each saved profile, set the color of our choice or cycle continuously through all available colors. The illumination feature can be stopped automatically after some minutes, to save battery life, the intensity can be set to Off, Low, Medium or High and the pulsation speed can be set too:



In the THX section, we can set most of the effects like Crystalizer, which enhances the upper frequencies and makes movies, music more livelier; the Surround effect controls the level of audio immersion in music, movies or games; the Bass effect enhances the lower frequencies for a better listening experience; Dialog Plus function enhances voices in movies for a clearer dialog and finally, the Smart Volume function, which adjusts the loudness of the audio playback automatically, to minimize sudden volume changes. All these effects can be tested on the embedded World of Warcraft The Wrath of the Lich King video, that can be played as many times we want, right from the application interface:



In the Game Audio section, we can Enable/Disable the VoiceFX feature and test it right away, with the help of the respective button. With VoiceFX, we can select a racial voice effect to be applied to our speech. We can also choose to enable the Equalizer, select a profile or edit it manually and save it for current/later use:



Here are the effects choices we can select for VoiceFX:



Here are a view demos picked from youtube showcasing the VoiceFX in action: link1, link2, link3.

In the EQ section, there are also some pre-loaded profiles for immediate use:



In the Key Bindings section, we can select keyboard combos to enable/disable headset features; for example, we can set a shortcut to enable the Equalizer and one to disable it, without the need to open up the dedicated application:

Impressions and Conclusive thoughts

At first, the headset could give you an impression that it would break if you sit it properly on your head; considering that it is made of good quality materials, I never heard plastic cracking sounds during use. Creative decided to make this headset as lightweight as possible and because of that, they did not use metal insertions in its body, like we can see on the ROCCAT Kave for example. It is incredible how comfortable the device is after more than 3 hours of use. The headset also stays very well in place, so there’s very little chances it might fall off; it can also be used in a sofa for watching movies.

Creative recommends charging for about 4h30 if the batteries are completely depleted. One interesting and useful feature is that we do not need to keep the device in standby while it is charging; the headset can be used even when charging. When charging and in use, the blue LED light inside the On/Off button will blink and when the charge is complete, it will stay lit.

Regarding the sound quality, I have found it to be excellent for a non-professional headset. I have tested them in multiple games like Split Second, Blur, CounterStrike : Source and Just Cause 2. Most people are used to the nice bass that Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi dedicated sound cards do have; this headset has it too and most of the THX effects are also present and can be applied very easy.

In the first firmware revisions, the microphone gain was a little high, but the latest downloadable version from the website fixes that; this way, most of the background noise disappears.



What I found very interesting with this headset is that I could listen to music with bass for a much longer period of time than the previous headsets I have reviewed without getting a headache.

Besides gaming and listening to music, this headset is also good for watching movies. The Surround effect makes this headset sound close to a real 5.1 setup and the Dialog Plus feature enhances the voice quality in movies.

Being wireless, the headset gives us a lot of liberty of movement; after some tests, I have seen that when the signal passes through two walls and the distance between the dongle and the headset exceeds 6 meters, some extra distortions can be heard (the music we are listening is not distorted, these interferences appear as an extra signal). Also, the microphone signal is affected a little when we exceed the coverage radius.

The light effects are a nice addition to the rest of the features and they are similar to the ones we can find on the World of Warcraft mouse from SteelSeries. We can also change the lenses with the extra ones found in the package, if we like more the Horde ones.

The VoiceFX effects are very funny, but some of them make our speech harder to understand than usual.

Regarding pricing, the Wireless version can be found for €159.99 with taxes and the Wired one for €119.99 with taxes inside the Creative Online Shop.

Product and feature wise this product comes recommended if you can stomach the asking price. At +€100 for the wired version and an extra €40 for the wireless you can find some none-WoW headset with professional quality from the competition. If you are a WoW fan and want to show of your WoW-branded gear, this headset should be on your must-have list!



I would like to thank Creative for making this review possible.