#pc headset

Jeecoo USB Pro Gaming Headset for PC- 7.1 Surround Sound Headphones with Noise Cancelling Mic- Memory Foam Ear Pads RGB Lights for Laptops

Brand — Jeecoo Connections — Wired Color — PC headset Connector Type — USB Headphones Jack — USB

This USB headset packs a punch from before they are even plugged into your computer in their design with what I can only liken to future-tech stylings. Coloured almost entirely in black, the snakebyte logo is shown on the side of each of the earpieces in a gorgeous bright green – which incidentally lights up when powered up.

The headset is pretty much plug and play, although you will need to attach the omni-directional microphone by simply clicking it into its designated socket. The mic is bendy so will allow you to move close to or further away from your mouth as you deem fit.

The ear cushions are very well made and provide maximum comfort, whilst each ear has independent tilting to sit perfectly on your head.  The headband can also be adjusted to fit most sized heads.

The real selling point for the python:7500R headset it the control panel. This control panel is a beast and something of a talking point. Whilst most of the industry headset volume controls are left flailing around on your chest on a dangling wire, snakebyte have opted for a desk-mounted touch panel to control volume / surround settings / power and mic on/off settings.

The touch panel, which is obviously the show piece of these beautiful headsets, works well, but you may just find that you need some time to get used to it. The volume fader is a great little addition, but you can find yourself occasionally not getting your required volume set first time. This is all down to practice as it is not a very common thing to see on headsets, usually opting for either physical clicky buttons or volume dials. I like what snakebyte have done with this panel – it sits proudly on my desk, lit up with the options I have selected.

This USB headset is 7.1 Surround Sound and delivers stunning results. The bass is deep and rich providing crystal clear and earth shattering sublow frequencies which will shake your very core. The midrange and tops are bright and crisp, ensuring you won’t miss a beat. In-game this headset will give you the tactical advantage, especially in 7.1 mode – with you being able to tell where enemy footsteps are coming from, where the sniper in the latest FPS is firing from and a whole array of other sound-based clues including an overall level of detail of any video game soundtrack which you may have missed with a standard sound set-up.

The microphone is crisp and clear and delivers very surprisingly good results. The touch panel offers a mute button too, useful for when the wife / husband / mum / dad / sister etc need shouting at whilst you are on a killstreak to leave you alone!

  It’s not just PC gaming we use the snakebyte python:7500R for – we’ve found that these also work exceptionally well on the PlayStation 4. On consoles there is no set-up required, simply plug and play.

There is however one slight set back which may have you thinking twice about buying this headset – there is as of time of publishing this article no current driver for Windows 10 machines.

Whilst this may seem problematic it is still seriously worth considering this headset for a purchase as they do still work on Windows 10 machines. The only drawback presently is the software suite snakebyte provide for you to get the most out of the headset (to assign different ear-cup speaker settings, to increase or reduce virtual speaker distance, adjust specific frequencies etc.) does not work on Win 10, this is also the suite which let’s you pick between stereo, True 7.1 Surround and Virtual 7.1 surround. Having used this suite on Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines with the headset we can confirm it works a treat, letting you tailor your headset exactly how you want. It is simple to use and optimal in its design.

This may sound like the be all and end all of you making a definitive decision on purchasing the python:7500R’s but do not worry as the headset still functions without the suite on Windows 10, you just will not be able to tinker with the settings, you will be stuck with a stereo setting. Rest assured, snakebyte have been liaising with us at TGS and they are working hard to ensure full Windows 10 compatibility. We have Windows 10 gaming rigs at The Games Shed and the python:7500R headset is still our preferred gaming headset. If you don’t believe us, jump into any of our YouTube Gaming livestreams and see for yourself!

We are in close contact with snakebyte so will update you as soon as a solution to the Windows 10 problem is found.

You can buy the snakebyte python:7500R from the usual gaming outlets and retailers now!

The Astro A50 gaming headset and the Turtle Beach Elite 800 gaming headset are regarded by many to be within the elite class of gaming headsets. We have compiled a comparison of the two headsets to inform any potential buyers of either headset and try to pick out which one is the best. 

You can see our individual review of the Turtle Beach Elite 800 here.

Both headsets come in at around $299 or £249 though there may be deals to be found around the holiday seasons and sales periods. You can check the latest cheapest prices for the Elite 800 here and Astro A50 Gaming Wireless Headset here.

The Astro A50’s work on both Xbox One and PS4 whereas the Turtle Beach are designed for the PS4. The 800’s are purely wireless whereas the Astro A50’s still depend on a wire to the controller.

Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Headset – Features

The Astro A50’s look amazing. Whether you opt for one of the special edition types or the standard version, they each equally look stunning and will compliment any gaming setup. We are of the view however that generally the finish is not as polished as the Elite 800’s.

The mic pulls down and raises up activating and deactivating it accordingly. The left ear cup has a standard 2.5mm jack port and micro USB to charge. The right ear cup has the main volume, power button and the EQ preset buttons of which there are three modes.

It has twistable ear cups for comfort around the neck when not in use or for when you travel or need to store them. The construct of the headset itself is really good quality and it comes with a nice stand a mix amp which features the opt in and out ports, USB ports and aux port finished with the Dolby button and power button.

One criticism is that the connection required for hooking up to the Xbox One to the controller for mic chat is on the long run prone to damage – largely due to the poor Xbox One adapter. With the cable being so short and the Xbox One adapter of a poor build, it’s our view that it is inevitably going to cause problems at some point in the future. It also needs to be charged via a micro USB cable despite its impressive stand which is a huge inconvenience in comparison to the Elite 800’s charging stand.

Turtle Beach Elite 800 Features

The Elite 800 has a whole raft of features but it’s main advantage is the complete wireless solution it offers gamers. From experience having used and reviewed lots of headsets, we simply can’t stress enough how desirable this and it’s inevitably going to be the standard in the future.

The headset in addition works via Bluetooth connectivity as well as wireless connectivity which means your smartphone can be connected to it so that you can answer calls during gameplay. The headset will also, cleverly, dim the game sound as soon as you answer the call so that you can hear the caller and spike back up when your call has finished.

In the right ear cup the Elite 800 has chat volume and toggle preset buttons and on the left, game volume, power button and Bluetooth button.

Unlike the Astro A50’s, the Turtle Beach 800  Elite have a multitude of preset options. Within each main preset mode such as music or gaming, there are a number of sub options which allows you to tailor your experience in accordance with the media being consumed. An example is super human hearing option within game preset so as to enhance your situational awareness whilst playing something like Call of a Duty: Advanced Warfare.

The Ear Force Media Hub is where you can access all of these options and provided you have an android smart device, you can control it from your device. It is disappointing that iOS devices are not supported and is worth considering this point when deciding between the two headsets.

The Turtle Beach Ear Force Elite 800 comes with a well designed base which, when placed within, charges the headset too. This means you don’t have to faff on with further cables to charge the headset.

The Base station has 2 micro USB’s opt in and out ports, aux and it’s magnetic which will charge the headset automatically.

Looks

We honestly love the look of both headsets but which of the two is best in terms of looks is a highly subjective decision so we cannot give a conclusive answer – its simply down to preference.   

The Astro A50’s come in a few different version such as the Halo and Xbox One version so you have a few different options to suit your taste and to match your gaming set up. They both come with very impressive stands and look worthy of their hefty price tags though as we said earlier, the polish on the Turtle Beach Elite 800’s is slightly better in our view.

The A50’s have a mic whereas the Elite 800 are built in so there is that to consider. The Elite 800’s seem to suit a PS4 setup owing to its consistent colour scheme. Both look lovely when not in use on their respective stands. Personally, we would have to give looks to the Astro A50’s but the Elite 800 is equally as impressive.

Functionality

The Astro A50’s have 3 presets which for most is likely to be more than sufficient. However, when you are paying a premium price for a specialist gaming piece of kit, we think the Elite 800 gives better value in this category.

With the Elite 800, not only do you have the standard presets, but within those, you have a number of options within each to tailor your experience. In our experience, we rarely used more than half a dozen sound setups but with so many sound options and settings available, this should be recognized as well as the ease at which these can be accessed from your Smartphone (Android only however).

With the Elite 800, you also have the voice cancellation feature built in as well as Bluetooth which allows you to play music and answer phone calls.

The charging mechanism for the Elite 800 also shows Turtle Beach are thinking about convenience and long term life as charging cables and connection ports are prone to damage in the long run. The charging dock is an excellent feature of the Elite 800 and improves and enhances the functionality of the headset.

One major annoyance with the Elite 800 is the touch plates on each ear cup – they are just a bit too sensitive. It’s not a problem when you are in game but the moment you attempt to change the volume or sound preset, you risk pressing something that you did not intend to. It gets easier with practice once you become familiar with navigating around them but you may find this quite annoying as we did at first.

Whilst we are recognising that the Elite 800 is ahead in this category, we feel strongly that the Astro A50’s still provide adequate and sufficient functionality for a headset at this price and its simply a case that with the Elite 800 you will get enhanced or added functionality.

Sound and Microphone

Both headsets give excellent Digital surround sound audio with the Astro’s adopting Dolby Digital Surround Sound technology and Turtle Beach Elite 800 DTS:X 7.1 Surround Sound,

We are splitting hairs when trying to determine which of the two is the best but if we had to choose, we would again give this category to the Elite 800 mainly because of its Bluetooth functionality and solid base range. Again, it is marginally and actually going to come down to preference more so than any technical reasons. Indeed, many consider that Astro A50’s exhibit the best audio of the two and we could subscribe to this notion too. We really do like the Astro A50’s audio positional feel. But we also felt that the Elite 800’s audio quality was top notch and fully immerses you.

Its highly a subjective decision as to which has the best audio quality, but we absolutely are of the firm view that both offer superb top notch audio.

The mic on the Astro A50’s drops down whereas the Turtle Beach Elite 800 is built in and so for convenience, the Elite 800 may be more preferable. But we would have to give the clarity of sound to the Astro A50’s – theres just a little more definition and clarity. We have had some fellow gamers complain of the slight damp distant sound clarity when using the Elite 800’s.

With the Astro Gaming A50’s we would point out however that on the Xbox One, there is a noticeable difference in clarity compared to the PS4 and that, we suspect this might be down to the voice channeling through the Xbox One adapter.

Again, we would only put the Astro A50’s marginally in front on mic quality, but in all honesty, owing to the built in nature of the Elite 800’s mic, would quite happily opt for the Elite 800 and live with the small difference in quality though we appreciate that some may prefer being able to adjust the proximity of the mic to their mouth. Again, it’s likely to come down to personal preference. 

Battery Life

We put this down as a tie. We got roughly 10 hours of battery life out of the first use but this really varies depending on whether the bluetooth and active noise cancellation is at work. We experienced similar times with the Astro A50 and so cannot realistically put one ahead of the other on battery life. One thing to mention is that the Astro A50’s lack a battery indicator which is an ill thought omission.

Elite Membership

Though only available in North America, the elite program membership offers gamers with an extended warranty and added service benefits though we have not been able to benefit from it being based in the UK. From what we have been able to garner from the gaming community, its not all its made out to be but we cannot sensibly comment on whether it of any worthy consideration.

Verdict

The Turtle Beach Elite 800 comes with all the bells and whistles that you could say that the Astro A50 Headset is without. The Elite 800 certainly enhances the Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 500P by some distance on all fronts apart from battery life. But at its core, we feel that the Astro A50’s are an excellent headset that is not going to disappoint you.

Certainly on paper, the Elite 800 brings the most to the table and having used both extensively, if we had to choose, would go with the Elite 800.

Here is a short summary of some points in relation to the Astro A50 shortcomings:

The Elite 800 has a better finish than the Astro A50’s though looks is likely to be a highly subjective opinion

There are very few controls and features on the Astro A50 in comparison to the Elite 800 – on/off, volume, chat/game volume

There are only 3 sound presets

No sound equalizer

No Bluetooth connectivity

Charging requires a micro USB cable connected to the headset despite it’s nice looking stand

No audio feedback

No battery indicator

Little firmware updates

No extended warranty or elite service membership offered

HOWEVER, despite the above list, as to why we should recommend the Elite 800 over the Astro A50’s we think its too subjective a decision to firmly recommend one over the other. Some people will not care for the bells and whistles offered by Turtle Beach and just want a headset with solid audio capabilities and clear mic. The Astro A50’s certainly fit that criteria and that is a totally viable line of thought. We would encourage anyone thinking of buying either, to fully consider what they want out of the headset and try to align that with the features on offer.

Objectively speaking however, any person comparing the two could quite easily arrive at the decision that the Astro A50’s is marginally the better headset and certainly we think that the following factors put the Astro A50’s in good stead:

They are lighter

The setup is much simpler

There is more definition, in the chat and arguably sound – we feel they have a better positional feel than the Elite 800’s.

They are more comfortable – we used them for long sessions without any discomfort (also as a glasses wearer). .

Excellent connection quality, not a single hiccup

 You check cheapest prices for both here.

Turtle Beach Elite 800 Wireless 7.1 Headset

Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Headset BF4 Edition

Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Headset Halo Edition

Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Headset Xbox One Edition

Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Headset Xbox One White Edition

Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Headset PS4 Edition

Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Headset Standard Xbox 360