Competitive Gaming Equipment

Carbon

Details

Category: Psyko Audio Labs

Last Updated on Sunday, 25 September 2011 03:19

Published on Friday, 29 April 2011 07:51

Sound Quality
3D Audio Positioning
Mic Quality
Features
Durability
Power
Overview
Links
Setup
Stats
Links

Sound Quality
This is one area that the Psyko Carbon is supposed to excel in. Traditional true 5.1 headsets (see my Sounds in Digital Media article) have four drivers (speakers) in each earcup, and they're angled at different directions towards your ear to make it sound like the sounds are coming from different directions. The main drawback is that usually results in decreased sound quality because all the drivers must be crammed in together and therefore they're small and the positioning may not be optimal. Well Psyko has come up with an innvoative way of solving this problem. Their solution-stick the drivers up in the headband, and transport the sound through tubes called WaveGuides to the earcups. Only the subwoofer, which provides bass notes that are non-directional anyway, remains in the earcup. Now, driver size isn't everything. I've seen headsets with small drivers out perform ones with large drivers. That's because drivers aren't the only factor, there's just a multitude of things that go into it. So in theory, Psyko's system is a pretty ingeniuous way of "organizing", if you will, the earcup.
So does it perform? The answer is a resounding yes. Sound quality rivals the Turtle Beach Ear Force HPA2, which was my previous gold standard when it comes to 5.1 headsets. Notes were clean and full, and didn't sound as muddled as in the HPA2. When it comes to bass, the 40mm subwoofers (the largest in any true 5.1 headset I've seen) definitely deliver. Bass is not only strong, but can be adjusted to your preference on the amplifier unit. More about that below. Compared to the Turtle Beach HPA2, the bass wasn't quite as bone rattling. The HPA2 physically felt like it had stronger bass, because it uses 30mm vibration drivers that literally shake the headset and produce bass. The Carbon on the other hand had a very refined and clean bass sound. Definitely more of a smooth sound than the rough shaking of the HPA2. Trebles and mid tones also came through well on the music tests that I performed. Sound quality was good enough to pick out footsteps in Call of Duty Black Ops, which is a pretty good feat to have. It's not easy to pick them out, because Black Ops has significantly dampened the noise of footsteps compared to earlier releases. But a trained ear with a high volume can pick out the soft noises if there aren't crazy explosions happening everywhere. Oh, and I'm sure someone is going to wonder how these compare to the Tritton AX Pros. These blow those out of the water when it comes to sound quality.

3D Audio Positioning
The Pysko WaveGuide system is supposed to accurately recreate all effects that good surround sound should have. I have detailed information about this in my Sounds in Digital Media article. But first off, a headset should allow your ears to shape the sound signal coming at it. Everyone's ears are different, and they affect how noises sound when they bounce off different parts of your ear, depending on which direction it comes from. Stereo and virtual surround sound setups don't allow for this. They use one formula for modifying the sound, and shoot it at your ear. While this might work for some people, it definitely doesn't work for everyone. So true 5.1 headsets allow your ears to shape the sound (this is called the pinna effect if we want to get technical). Traditional true 5.1 headsets (TB HPA2, Tritton AX Pro) do this too, to decent success. Some other true 5.1 headsets (Vibras 5.1) don't do this as well. Another mark of effective surround sound is time delay. Sound moves at a finite speed. Approximately 786 miles per hour at sea level . Well, there should be a slight delay from when a sound coming from your right reaches the right ear to when it reaches your left. You may not consciously think about it, but your brain is able to use this direction to determine which side it's on. Then of course, you have volume. Obviously, when that sound reaches the left side of your head it shouldn't sound the same as the the signal that reached your right ear, it should be less loud (sound isn't going directly at it) and should have a different pinna effect.
End of the theory. In practice, the WaveGuide is supposed to use lessons learned from this and apply it. Each driver (except the subwoofers which are in each earcup) has a tube called a Wave Guide that delivers sound to each ear. Of course, the front left driver is placed closer to the left ear than it is to the right ear. That's how the delay is achieved, by making it travel farther to the right ear. Traditional 5.1 headset don't do this, sound just plays in one ear or the other. The wave guides are also supposed to be accurately placed inside the earcup so that they come at you from the right spot. I'm not really able to verify that on my own. But judging by how the headset performs, everything does work. The ability to locate where a sound was coming exceeds, ever so slightly, the TB HPA2. Again, the HPA2 has been my gold standard for 5.1 headsets, although the Psyko, at least as far as sound quality and 3d audio positioning, may just take that over.
Oh yeah. For everyone that's about the virtual surround sound products such as the Astro A40+MixAmp Audio System or the Tritton AX 720, they don't even compare to the 3d audio positioning afforded by this true 5.1 setup. Audiophiles who are interested in crystal clear sound quality can go with those if they want, but for those of you who want to pinpoint where sounds are coming from, true 5.1 is miles ahead.

Mic Quality
Now we come to the microphone. I tested it on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. Even though this headset is meant for computers with 5.1 sound cards, I have my ways of hooking it up to consoles, look lower in this review for that info. But sound quality came through on everything nice and sharp with no static. For Xbox 360 use, you may be used to having dedicated chat volume controls at your fingertips. Unfortunately, since the Carbon is meant for PC use, it doesn't have that. You have to go through the Xbox/game menu to adjust chat volume. PS3 users, you were never spoiled so you're not missing out compared to what you're used to. Make sure you read below in this review for how I hooked the Carbon up, as this headset isn't natively compatible with the Xbox 360 or PS3.
As far as the microphone construction, it's removable and it kind of "pops" into the mic slot, which is on the underside of the right earcup. Which is kind of strange, traditionally headsets have their mics on the left (or they're interchangeable, like the Astro A40) . Even if you don't like it on the right, it's not a make or break deal. It just takes some getting used to. And I have to tell you, I have like 25 headsets in my collection now and so having something with a mic on the right was a real shock and several times I had the mic backwards and put the headset on wrong. Silly me. The microphone swivels from left to right, but not up/down. It's also a rigid mic, not flexible. But I was able to position it in a decent spot next to my cheek, out of the breathing zone (where it's likely to pick up your breathing). I do prefer flexible microphones, goosenecks are my favorite. But I can't fault the sound quality.

Features
The Carbon is meant for PC use, so it doesn't have a lot of extra features for console gamers. However, it does include an amplifier unit for providing adequate power to the drivers. The amplifier does need a wall outlet, which is kind of a bummer. However, the amp has a little readout that lights on a light corresponding to each driver. The brighter it gets, the louder it is. I don't know how much practical use this is. But it was cool to watch. And I suppose if you were really nerdy you could have someone sit there like a coach and help tell you which direction sounds are coming from while you're playing, since it's doubtful you want to take the eyes off the screen. That's a far fetched idea, but I'd like to see somebody implement it effectively. The amp connects to your sound card (or surround sound decoder) via 4x 3.5mm jacks. If your PC doesn't have a sound card with analog 5.1 outlets using the 3.5mm jacks, then you can usually upgrade by getting either an internal or external one. I don't mind help you figure out what you need if you contact me. The headset itself connects to the amp via 4x 3.5mm cables, although you'll only connect 3 of those to the amp if you're doing a console setup.
Of course, since my dad is a packaging salesman, I pay attention to the packaging. Dark black box with cool fonts reminded me of the Razer Carcharias package. It has a flip open panel on the front, that is normally closed by way of a magnetic seal. Inside there's information about the headset's specifications and explaining the technology in it. My roommate thought that was pretty legit and deserved a mention. But my overall favorite part of the packaging was how easy it was to open. You pull the flap out of the top, then slide out the clamshell casing. Normally clamshell requires my knife and a lot of time cutting away. It gets frustrating when you buy so much stuff online. But in Carbon's case, the clamshell actually just slights right off the top (when it's laying flat) and then you can easily pull out the headset, mic, amp, and power cable. Also inside was a manual.

Durability/Construction
The earcups are adjustable, they move up and down to accommodate your head. The headset felt solid. In fact, it is downright heavy. It's pretty much the largest and heaviest headset I've tested. There's no getting around it, it's kind of a behemoth. The earcups also clamp down tightly around your ears. This is great for effectively sealing out outside noises so you can focus on gaming. But it was also a little bit uncomfortable. Fortunately there's a little audiophile trick for headsets that clamp though. If you just put a large book in between the earcups and let them sight like that for a day while you're not using it, it'll stretch it out. This relieved most of the pressure on my headset, while still being effective at sealing out sound. The earcups themselves are large and circumaural, with soft plush padding.
Since there's no drivers in the earcup apart from a subwoofer at the bottom, Psyko has put little windows on the sides of the Carbon. You just press it inwards, and it flips open, allowing air to flow in and your ears to cool off. This helps out when you're doing those long gaming sessions. The cord for the Carbon is actually metallic. It says "braided" on their website, but to me it has more in common with a knight's armor than the cloth braids that I've seen on the Razer Carcharias. So it felt durable, yet was still flexible.
This also deserves mention. The headset looks futuristic, with it's dark black look body and red accents. My roommates said it was the best looking headset out of any in my collection. I personally think the Astro A40/A30 has the potential to look cooler due to the customizable speaker tags. But for stock equipment, I think it's amazing. But look at it yourself, this is largely a matter of preference.

Power
As mentioned above, the headset uses an included amplifier unit, which has to have an AC wall outlet to power it. USB would be preferable, but it might be the case that the USB ports wouldn't be enough to power it. Needing another wall outlet is a bit of a bummer, especially if you're using a console setup where you need another outlet to power a surround sound decoder.

Overview
The headset has definitely impressed me. The sound quality and looks definitely stole the show. I'm not sure how expensive it's going to be at retail yet. But it's definitely an excellent system that would appeal to gamers that love to "sound whore" and location where their enemies are. It's also immersive for movies. And even though true 5.1 headsets typically don't handle music very well, the Carbon outperforms any other 5.1 headset with its clean bass and unmuddled mids and highs. I'm not going to tell you to go buy a Carbon. Buying a headset is always a personal choice where you have to match the headsets strengths and weaknesses with the features you want. But the Carbon is definitely in the running as one of the best headsets for those of us who depend on sound in game to get the maximum advantage of where a noise is coming from.

Using it on Xbox 360 or PS3
You're going to need some equipment to hook this up to a console. First off, you need a surround sound decoder. There are really only four products that work. The Creative Extigy, HD Audio Rush, Tritton decoder, and Sharkoon SCU. The Tritton decoder only comes with the Tritton AX Pro headset. The Sharkoon SCU is the same as a Tritton decoder, but marketed under a different name. It's sold separately if you want it, but only in Europe. Not in North America. The Creative Extigy is the best sounding item of the bunch, and it's what I used when testing with consoles. Unfortunately, it's not manufactured anymore. It's only available on eBay and the price keeps going up on it every time I try to win an auction. The Extigy also has a lot of extra features that the other units don't have, most of them oriented for use with a PC (its primary use is as an external sound card for PC's through a USB port). The last option is the HD Audio Rush. It's a no frills device, like the Sharkoon SCU/Tritton decoder. It has about the same audio quality as them. But it's also readily available.

For the Xbox 360, you'll also need a 3.5mm stereo female to stereo male extension cable. The length depends on your setup, but it needs to be long enough to reach from the pink connector from the Carbon to your Xbox 360 controller. However, since the controller doesn't accept a 3.5mm connection, you need a 3.5mm mono female to 2.5mm mono male adapter. I've had bad luck buying them from different places. I tend to get it from Summit Source, but they charge high shipping unless you buy in bulk.

For the PS3, you don't need any 3.5mm cables or adapters. You just need a Turtle Beach Amigo II or Astro PS3 adapter. These convert the pink connection from the headset into a USB format that can be plugged into a USB port.

Disclaimer-I DO SELL this headset. I first came up with the idea of converting true 5.1 PC headsets for use on the Xbox 360 when I tested the HPA2, and I started a business selling this package. It's worked out nicely, and pretty much all the equipment I purchase now for reviews and testing comes from the profit from that. Pysko was looking for people to review the headset and found my website, but they also noticed the HPA2 package and they needed a way to get their Psyko headsets to work with consoles. Since my HPA2 package has a similar setup and I've got it to work for both PS3 and Xbox 360, they contacted me about both doing a review and selling their headset as a new version of my package if I liked the headset. Well, my thoughts on it are favorable. I wouldn't say it's any better or worse than the HPA2. They're both excellent quality systems, although it seems like the Carbon will be more reliable and the HPA2 is more comfortable. But like I said in my overview above, everyone has different features they want and each headset has different strengths and weaknesses.

My package consists of the Pysko Carbon, paired with an HD Audio Rush and appropriate cables to hook the mic up to an Xbox 360 or PS3. Like I said above, the Extigy has better sound quality than the HD Audio Rush so I'm attempting to round up as many of those as I can. But if I do offer a package with the Extigy, then the Extigy will be used whereas the HD Audio Rush is brand new. For more info, see the product page.

Stats
2x 40mm subwoofers
5x 30mm drivers for other channels
Frequency Response 20Hz to 20kHz
True 5.1 surround sound
4x 3.5mm connection
Meant for PC's, extras needed for PS3 and Xbox 360 compatibility.

Links
Product Page on Psyko
Product Page on CGA