Pros
Solid development
Excellent encompass sound
Great removable growth microphone
Cons
Little in the best way of additional options
Not appropriate for mobiles/consoles
Headband padding is minimal
What is the Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue?
Roccat will not be as large a reputation as Turtle Beach, Astro or Razer in terms of PC gaming audio, however the German firm has quietly lately been placing out some nice merchandise at eager costs. I favored the Roccat Kave XTD headset final yr, whereas its Tyon gaming mouse fared even higher. The Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue is as pure a PC gaming headset I’ve seen lately. It doesn’t attempt to do something fancy like go wi-fi, provide noise cancellation or be suitable with video games consoles or cellular gadgets. No, that is only a well-made headset that provides encompass sound options at a budget-friendly sub-£100 value level. What the Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue does although, it does exceptionally nicely. The headset itself is very well made, from the delicate black styling to the snug cushioning and high-quality tangle-proof cabling. The encompass sound options are glorious, and common audio efficiency is healthier than you’d count on from a headset at this value. The removable microphone additionally gives clear voice communication for on-line gaming, VOIP and even livestream commentating. Overall, it’s an ideal gaming headset.
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Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue: Design
For a headset that prices solely £90 (or much less if you happen to store round), the Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue is sleekly designed and robustly crafted. The black styling is discreet, the padding alongside the ear cups is mushy and opulent, and the burden of 336g is strong with out feeling too hefty. The solely stylistic thrives are the small Roccat logos on the perimeters. It’s not simply the headset that’s nicely constructed – the cabling is equally sturdy in terms of construct high quality. At over 2m, it’s lengthy sufficient to stretch to a PC that is likely to be tucked away, whereas it’s thick and robust sufficient to resist being tugged on throughout an brisk gaming session. It’s additionally just about tangle-proof, so it doesn’t get caught up on itself after you’ve been utilizing it for just a few days. As the title of the headset suggests, the wiring boasts quite a lot of analogue connectors, with 4 3.5mm connectors offering 5.1 audio. If you’ve purchased or constructed a PC in the previous couple of years, chances are high your motherboard could have the required ports, however verify before you purchase, or you might have to spend money on a sound card. You additionally want one spare USB port with a view to energy the headset. Roccat’s general construct high quality is excessive, and exceeds what I’d normally count on from a headset at this value. The headband and earcups are fabricated from plastic, however they really feel sturdy sufficient to be dropped and thrown round, and so they’re not creaky like loads of finances headsets. The ear cups are padded and have a leatherette end. Again, it is a extra luxurious end than the material lining you normally get at this value. The headband padding is minimal and does have a much less snug material end, which sadly diminishes the sensation of luxurious.Related: Best PC Games 2015The cable additionally encompasses a chunky distant management, with buttons to regulate just about each characteristic on the headset. You can flip the headset on and off, modify the quantity dial, flip the mic on and off, and change the audio modes between recreation and film. Each of the encompass channels has its personal separate quantity management, which means you’ll be able to actually customise the encompass ranges, in addition to make fast changes in-game if that you must. The headset encompasses a microphone on the left earcup that may be folded up and tied in place with a cable tie, or fully indifferent if you happen to want. It’s versatile, however not as manipulable as most different growth mics on gaming headsets. I do like that it lights up on the tip when muted although, so its standing is instantly seen in your peripheral imaginative and prescient. While Roccat has been laser-focused on doing a few issues very well, the headset is let down by missing the extras that we’ve come to count on from most gaming headsets. There’s no carry case, though you wouldn’t need to take the headset round as a result of thickness of the cable and the variety of connectors on the finish. There’s no adaptor to make the headset suitable with consoles, though as soon as once more the variety of connectors would make this setup cumbersome. And there’s no noise cancellation, though the thick padding on the ear cups do job of maintaining exterior noise out.
Thankfully, most of those options are fairly superfluous to most individuals, and I believe Roccat was sensible to concentrate on audio high quality and construct high quality Instead. A easy desktop stand means that you can maintain the headset stood upright on high of your laptop or on a desk when it’s not getting used. It isn’t fancy – it’s principally a little bit of light-weight plastic – however it’s good to see Roccat pondering via the way you would possibly need to retailer the headset when you’ve completed gaming.Related: PS4 vs Xbox One
Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue: Audio Quality
The Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue is a unbelievable performer throughout the board, from audio copy, to encompass sound, to microphone readability. If you worth sound high quality however you’re on a finances, that is the perfect PC gaming headset on the sub-£100 value level for the reason that Kingston HyperX Cloud II. Roccat has designed every of the ear cups with a 40mm driver and a 30mm rumble unit, permitting the audio copy to be each detailed and highly effective. This is a very punchy headset in terms of reproducing audio in video games. Details are clear and crisp, whereas highly effective bass actually provides to the general presence of motion video games particularly. You should go actually loud earlier than the audio begins to distort, which is one other good signal of a top quality gaming headset.
The Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue can also be among the best encompass sound performers I’ve encountered. I’m typically left slightly bit nonplussed by many headphone encompass modes, however as soon as I’d enabled the encompass channel outputs in Windows settings, it was straightforward to listen to the distinction on the Roccat. I can solely assume that Roccat’s choice to level the drivers at a really particular 12-degree angle (supposedly mimicking the best way that our ears hear sounds round us) has an element to play. Whatever the design that Roccat has used, it’s very straightforward to listen to which path gunfire is coming from in first-person shooters, which has a particular gameplay benefit for many who play on-line.Related: Best Games 2015One other good thing about the Roccat’s analogue encompass sound processing is that it’s a real {hardware} answer – there isn’t a USB sound card or a chunk of software program appearing as an middleman between your laptop and the headset. This implies that the headset can also be good for motion pictures in addition to video games, though there’s nothing fairly like a real encompass sound speaker setup. The headset additionally carried out nicely musically, though this was the least spectacular of its repertoire, which can also be mirrored within the devoted “game” and “movie” modes on the in-line distant. The headset doesn’t provide energetic noise cancellation, which is normally a characteristic of costlier (and mobile-oriented) gaming headsets. It does, nonetheless, have Zero Noise Technology, which goals to cut back electromagnetic interference. I’ve by no means actually had an excessive amount of drawback from interference on competing headsets, however the audio playback from the Roccat was actually clear at distortion-free throughout our check.Related: Best Gaming Laptops 2015
Should I purchase the Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue?
It’s refreshing to see a gaming headset that’s so focussed on doing just a few issues very well, somewhat than loads of issues reasonably nicely. The development is for PC gaming headsets to supply compatibility with video games consoles and cellular gadgets, or wi-fi compatibility, or noise cancellation, and these options are normally both accomplished poorly, or bump up the value of the headset significantly. The Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analogue, in the meantime, merely gives nice construct high quality and glorious encompass sound audio at a really aggressive value. It feels constructed to final, is snug to put on for extended gaming classes, and has probably the most noticeably useful encompass sound choices I’ve heard from any gaming headset at this value. VerdictIt will not be versatile or feature-packed, however this high-value wired headset gives nice construct high quality and glorious audio copy.