TRITTON AXPC, USB True 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headphones
The AXPC head phones (TRI-UA512) by TRITTON give you true 5.1 surround sound in the comfort of a headphone for use on your PC through USB. AXPC has a total of 8 speakers, 4 in each ear cup and a adjustable microphone that is perfect for online gaming or internet calling. Your computer does not need to have a 5.1 sound card, the AXPC includes a built-in 5.1 audio controller. Sound is separated into 8 speakers, four in each ear cup (Center, Front, Rear, and Subwoofer). Integrated into the external audio controller is a specialized chipset that amplifies each of the 8 individual speakers. Software is included to simulate your audio source from Stereo to 2.1 or up to 7.1 surround sound. Select from 23 Different EQ settings to customize your listening experience whether it is a game, music or a movie.Each ear pod consists of 4 speakers, a dedicated front speaker, center speaker, rear speaker and subwoofer. This means when playing a game or movie with 5.1 sound the AXPC delivers true 5.1 sound. Others may claim 5.1 sound but it is simulated or emulated which means you will never get the true 5.1 sound like it was meant to be heard. Inline controls allow you to adjust the volume, mute and microphone mute.rfect gaming headset, it is also ideal for enjoying DVD movies in crystal clear 5.1 Dolby Digital certified sound.
Customer Review: Poor Vista Performance
I wish I would have seen these reviews BEFORE I bought this headset. It is of very high quality manufacture and the sound quality with music is outstanding. Problem is it doesn’t do what I bought it for and what it is advertised to be; be a solid gaming headset.
As others have mentioned the Vista drivers seem to be the source of the problem and after writing the company I could not get any time frame on when they plan on updating the drivers. At times you can plug the headset in and it just won’t work at all. Other times the headphones work and the mic doesn’t. Other times everything will work for a few minutes and then give a system resource error and you are forced to reboot. It never just works without some sort of drama.
For those interested I using it on and XP machine you should have much better luck as it works on my XP machine just fine. It’s simply too much trouble to bother with this headset using Vista.
Customer Review: Excallent headset
So I got my Tritton AXPC today and like a little kid on Christmas I tore into them, eager to try them out.
After getting it all set up I pop in some of my favorite games, consisting of Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Call of Duty 2, Unreal Tournament 2004 as well as Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. These games work flawless with the AXPC. Taking full advantage of the positional audio, which really helps submerse you into the games, although most gamers know it’s more about reflex and counter attacks rather then pinpointing enemies.
The rumble effect that goes hand-in-hand with the subwoofer channel also provided a welcome extra dimension to my gameplay by emphasizing explosions and vehicle movement.
In three games however, the AXPC had serious issues with positioning ability. These games include Quake 4, PREY, Battlefield 2142. The rear audio in Quake 4 and PREY was completely missing. When you talk to a character and turn around so your back is facing them, all I could hear was ambient noise. There was no issues with my Logitech G51 speakers, I was able to hear the character loud and clear.
For battlefield 2142 I could not tell the difference between front and rear at all. I had also heard some popping noise as well. I tried both hardware and software rendering with no change. I attend to get some popping nose with my Logitech speakers using my onboard sound (Realtek ALC660).
After educating myself a little to see why these titles preformed poorly with the AXPC, I found out that these games use OpenAL which ties heavy with Creative Labs and X-Fi sound cards. Since Microsoft killed off DirectSound with Windows Vista, we are probably going to see more and more games using OpenAL. As to why the AXPC don’t work with OpenAL I am not sure. Until C-Media or Tritton rolls out a driver update to combat this issues we are going to be playing these games in stereo mode.
After testing the games I wanted to spend a little time trying out the detachable microphone. I quickly rounded up some friends in Skype and TeamSpeak to see how good the mic sounded… The quality was superb! There wasn’t a moment that someone couldn’t understand me and they all marveled at the audio clarity coming through to them. A +20dB mic boost feature exists which can be extremely useful for voice applications that don’t provide their own amplification, although a small amount of hiss is introduced.
I started to wonder “Can the AXPC be taken seriously outside of gaming?” I started to test some music to see how it sound. I played some my favorite bands consisting of Slipknot, Nine Inch Nails, Bullet for my Valentine, Daft Punk, Rage Against the Machine, and Guess Who. After just firing up some music, it sounded kinda plain with no real depth to the music. I popped open the equalizer and start to adjust some frequencies. After a little fine tuning I was able to get the music to sound remarkably well.
So now intrigued that the AXPC can be taken seriously outside of gaming, I wanted to explore other possibilities as well. I popped my copy of Lord of the Rings to see how it would sound with movies. I watched the climatic battle sequence in native 5.1 surround. Dramatic music, whizzing arrows, clanging swords, screams from behind and pounding orcs that set off the rumble motors… they all sound great on the AXPC, putting ordinary headphones to shame. Impressive would be an understatement here.