Review: Track Scan Vibras Five.One Surround Sound Gaming Headset (PC)
To gamers, Track Scan may not be the most well known brand, but they have been providing racing headsets since the early 90′s. The Vibras line of gaming headsets is their first entry into the gaming headset market; however, does the Vibras 5.1 surround sound headset stand it’s own in the market?
The Vibras 5.1 surround sound headset is a USB headset that includes 4 speakers in each headset cup. The headset also includes a 5.1 decoding box and a detachable microphone. The decoder box also has the ability to switch between 2 channel audio and 5.1 audio.
Perks of the Vibras headset include a volume control and microphone mute on the decoder box. The microphone is good quality and picked up little to no background noise. Also, the microphone isn’t intrusive, so I never found it getting in the way. The surround sound itself is surprisingly high quality although the headset is not an enclosed model. The headset was tested with 2 channel music and the mix was still spot on. The 5.1 channel was tested with movies, music and games. As far as movies are concerned, the Vibras headset was spot on again.
On the gaming front, the Vibras headset was tested using Battlefield Bad Company 2 and World of Warcraft. In Battlefield, the tactical advantage was apparent right away. Being able to hear incoming enemies as well as hearing what direction shots were coming from was where the true 5.1 experience shined brightest. With World of Warcraft, the Vibras headset led to many annoyances; however, these annoyances were due to the fact that the headset picks up all the sounds of water, other players mounting up, flapping wings of my frost wyrm, and a ton of other noises–a warm reminder of why most WoW players play with sound off.
On the downside, the Vibras falls short in a few categories. As far as comfort is concerned, the Vibras headset was comfortable for a bit under an hour. One night, the headset was used for a 5 hour gaming/podcast recording session, and my ears were dead. Another problem is balancing more than 1 application at a time. Gaming and playing music while using the Vibras never led to a sufficient experience. Also, after hours of messing with settings, I finally got the headset to produce a high enough volume to really become immersed in Battlefield. The decoder box is a wonderful inclusion; however, the volume indicator had to be held down to effectively turn the volume down or up, which led to a great deal of toying around with to get the volume to go up or down. Lastly, the inclusion of third party software–which “needs” to be installed with the headset–is a bit intrusive and was a turn off.
Ultimately, the Vibras Five.One surround sound headset is a high quality headset that provides an ample gaming experience. The inclusion of some upgrades in the next line of Vibras headsets will make Track Scan a real contender in the gaming headset market. An MSRP of $199.99 is a tad steep for the lack certain refinements. Check out the Vibras Facebook page here.
Verdict: C
A pair of Track Scan Vibras were provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.
