Genius GX-Gaming Cavimanus Virtual 7.1 Headset

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article was self-supplied.

There are headsets that are nice for listening to music, and then there are headsets specifically designed to enhance the gaming experience. Genius presents the GX-Gaming Cavimanus 7.1 channel corded Headset and takes pro gaming audio to a whole new plateau. The Cavimanus has combined a high quality neodymium 40mm sound driver, with a well calibrated vibration feature that provides incredible explosive bass that sounds like its coming from a sub woofer. With a mid-range retail price point of $64.99 (Amazon), Benchmark Reviews will analyze the Cavimanus (HS-G700V) for quality, performance, and value.

The Cavimanus delivers virtual 7.1 surround sound, the optimal gaming mode. Clearly identify the origin of the most subtle sounds ranging from enemy footsteps closing in on your location, to the ambience of the environment. The vibration function amplifies the sensation of a boom, you not only hear clean powerful bass, but you can feel it pulsing through your head.

Cavimanus Specifications

Headset:

Microphone:

• Sensitivity: -39dB+/-3dB
• Type: Unidirectional microphone
• Frequency response: 100 - 16,000 Hz
• Impedance: 2.2kohm / 3VDC

Benchmark Reviews will be examining the gaming functionality of this headset as well as the audio quality for simply listening to music and comfort over long periods of time. Upon reviewing the specifications of the product we will put them to the test and see how well they deliver in the latest PC games, to see exactly what advantages virtual 7.1 surround sound and vibration functionality offer.

Closer Look: Genius Cavimanus Headset

The Cavimanus is made of sturdy construction, which is essential due to the fact that it does have a vibration feature and you would not want any cheap loose ends rattling. The sides are glossy black plastic that almost looks wet with the scorpion insignia and GX Gaming writtin on both sides. The top is made of a plastic with a flat finish. The overal color scheme is black, red and silver. Also reinforced with a solid metal band that becomes visible when adjusting the headband length. Provides exceptional quality audio playback and microphone recording.

The Top support band is made of a soft breathable material that prevents the headset from shifting around much while wearing it. The ear pieces fit nice and snug as well. Definately wearable for long periods of time.

The lining inside the ear cups is made of a cloth material that follows the same black and red color scheme as the rest of the headset.

The headband is expandable by 1.5 inches on each side, still remains sturdy and strong even when fully expanded.

Cavimanus Virtual 7.1 Headset Detailed Features

The Genius GX-Gaming Cavimanus latest software was included in the packaging, software is compatible with Windows 7 and Vista.

The software after installing is located in the control panel. It comes with a wide variety of options to play with. The software provides a visual representation of where the speakers are virtually around you. The visual interface allows either click and drag speakers around the person if you want certain channels to sound closer or further away or manually type in the desired volume differences. If 7.1 surround sound is too much for you then the software also allows you to select 5.1 or 2.1 sound as well.

This tab has the microphone gain control, very useful to know how to turn yourself up or down depending on how well your team mates can hear you while speaking to them online. The Cavimanus by default is set to about 10% recording volume, for me it needed to be turned up from the start. However when I turned the recording volume to max my online friends could hear sounds on the other end of my house that even I wasnt aware of such as running water in the kitchen or someone coming through the front door.

The software can easily be utilized to customize the audio quality. This tab has an easy interface to understand and has unique environment features such as virtually changing the size of the room. This allows the room to appear either small and boxed in or open and the sound coming from far away.

Easy access volume control on the actual ear piece and vibration control toggle. This makes things far less complicated to turn up the volume. Most headsets typically have a control box built into the cord that can be distracting to locate and operate. One nice thing this volume control features is a smooth analog dial volume control, much easier to use than a digital volume control that requires several repeated button clicks find a desirable volume level.

Gold plated USB connector sporting the Cavimanus scorpion logo and a nifty design to easily identify this cable if necessary. Comes in handy when you have a mess of wires coming out from behind your computer and you need to unplug the right thing.

Genius GX-Gaming Cavimanus 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound Headset Features

Vibration function

Most remarkable feature of Cavimanus is the vibration function. It adds to the gaming atmosphere like nothing else, Not only does it create a mild vibrating sensation but the vibration creates a deep bass tone that you can really feel. The vibration function is primarily for creating deep bass tones that you can feel, it does NOT jolt your head so much that your vision blurs out each time you fire a round at your enemy on Counter Strike as you may fear, actually the vibration is very smooth. Plus the vibration feature can be disabled with the button toggle on the left headphone. The vibration feature also works well while listening to music, it is not necessary to crank up the bass which tends to distort and choke out other sounds with this headset, simply enable the vibration feature and the bass level is perfect.

Foldable Microphone

This microphone automatically mutes itself when folded away in the upright position, and automatically unmutes upon folding down. Cosmetically this is a nice feature because its almost completely concealed when not in use. It allows others around you to know there isnt an open mic every time they come to tell you something thats not for the world to hear while your wearing your headset. Other headset microphones will either fold up or be unplugable however the fact that this microphone conceals itself and automatically mutes at the same time is a huge plus.

Virtual 7.1 Surround Sound

7.1 surround sound is similar to 5.1 surround you have front center, left, and right channels. In 5.1 surround sound the rear splits into 2 channels, but in 7.1 surround sound the rear is split into 4 distinct channels. This gives you a full 360 degree very detailed sound quality that is quite advantageous in the gaming world. Aside from gaming there are a variety of movies that have been remixed to 7.1 surround sound and if you dont own a full 7.1 surround sound theatre in your living room this would definately be a good alternate choice to use.

On Headset Controls

On headset controls are a perk, the volume control, vibration toggle, and microphone mute by folding the microphone up will always be in the exact same location. While as a control box built into the cord may look fancy on other headsets it can also difficult to locate and operate if its flipped upside down or caught on something, this could cause unneccessary distractions to the user.

Testing & Results

Testing Methodology

For testing of the GX-Gaming Cavimanus Gaming headset Benchmark Reviews looked at three points: quality, performance, and value. Gaming is one aspect that the headset is obviously named after however I put the virtual 7.1 channel Cavimanus headset to the test in other applications such as: watching movies, listening to music, and communication performance via skype.

Gaming

In a gaming environment, map awareness is often overlooked and not taken into consideration yet can be extremely valuable in any fast paced quick action games The 7.1 virtual surround should provide an edge here as well as the overall quality of the Cavimanus headset. I will determine whether the vibration is actually adds a sufficient value to have toggled on more often than not while gaming, and take not of any advantages or disadvantages i encounter.

Movies

There is a growing list of the latest movies remastered in 7.1 digital surround sound. To determine whether Cavimanus virtual 7.1 channel surround sound adds any additional value and quality to a film I will take a clip from the movie and play it back in 7.1, 5.1. and 2.1 using the Cavimanus software documenting the noticable differences.

Microphone

The audio quality of the microphone will be tested using the microphone echo option located in the Cavimanus software under the karaoke tab to determine how well it picks up vocal audio while canceling out background noises.

Music

Make a comparison while listening to music with the vibration toggle on and off as to how well it amplifies beats and bass in a variety of music types, and see if it picks up the right range of sound only amplifying the beat or just causing unnecessary noises that distort the actual song.

Test System

• Motherboard: Asus P6TSE
• System Memory: 16gb pc16000 800mhz
• Processor: I7 920 2.67ghz
• Audio: Realtek ALC1200
• Video: Gigabyte GTX 285
• Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate

Software Used:

• Starcraft 2 (RTS)
• Firefall Beta (FPS MMORPG)
• League of Legends (MOBA)
• Diablo 3 (RPG)
• Skype
• Windows Media Player

Results

Gaming

I chose a variety of games to test out from different genres. Starcraft 2 supports 7.1 surround, I found the sound quality was excellent, the perception of distance and the direction of commotion was spot on which enabled me to distinctively identify what is happening in areas off my current view screen without having to actually look. Sounds can be heard in any direction in a 360 degree radius. By circling around a battle I was able to tell where the fight was happening with my eyes closed.

Firefall is an FPS MMORPG although the game itself is still in beta I chose to test some things out. First of all in firefall you are able to fly around on jumpjets for a very short period of time but immediately the jump jets sounded as though they were actually beneath me when I used them, they have just enough bass for the rumble feature to kick in and create a faint vibration and deep bass which added to the realism to the game. The game has swarms of creatures spawning around you constantly the 7.1 channel surround was definately a plus here as pursuing monster spanws sources could be distinctively identified just by sound alone.

League of Legends is a very popular free pc game that is extremely competitive and has a high skill cap, any advantages the Cavimanus could bring here are a plus. During gameplay I identified a few helpful advantages created by the unique features of the Cavimanus. During confrontations there is often so much going on that it becomes difficult to discern what is happening especially since for many people frame rates tend to drop during the most important confrontations. The Cavimanus handles multiple sounds extremely well, for instance without this headset I would hear static and distortion during times of dozens of sound effects are played at once vs with the Cavimanus the detail of each sound is preserved without any static or distortion. Another advantage discovered was that opponents can be heard from the direction they are coming from or running away in providing you with the edge in predicting opponents movements as well as overall map awareness.

Diablo 3 proved to sound more bloodthirsty and violent then it looks on screen, the vibration and sound detail combined with the astounding visual graphics made this game very entertaining. The 7.1 surround enabled me to use ranged attacks on monsters that I could not yet even see with accuracy, which is pretty useful since ranged player characters tend to die in 1 hit during late game so the more distance between you and the enemy the better.

Movies

I chose to test out a bluray movie called The Avengers which has been mastered in DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround to get the full effect of watching a movie with the Cavimanus. DTS-HD Master Audio is the most common bluray audio format which typically contains 8 sound channels each with audio playback at 192khz per channel, sound at this quality is virtually lossless in playback. If there were ever a movie to test in 7.1 surround this would be the one, from the very start of the film rumbling bass catches your attention and sounds can be heard from several sources. The movie does not over exaggerate the surround sound as I had first anticipated it might, I would have to say the Cavimanus enhanced the quality of the movie.

Microphone

I tested out the recording quality of the microphone, My voice sounded very clear after turning the mic up about halfway. After I reached a comfortable recording level I decided to add some noises to the background just to see what might be picked up by the microphone while it records my voice at the ideal level. Not too much background noise could be heard, I turned the all the fans (14 fans in total counting cpu, gpu, psu, and case) on my computer up to full power which are abnoxiously noisy to ranging up to 30 dBa by product specification and only necessary in overclocking conditions. I could not detect the computer fans through the microphone, only my own voice still. I also checked to see if I could hear myself typing and clicking the mouse as I have noticed from experience these are also unwanted noises that are often picked up by microphones and again I could not detect any typing noises or mouse clicks, only when the microphone was placed very close to the keyboard and mouse could I start to hear noises. I did find that music played at max volume could be heard through the microphone so if your having a conversation with someone online I would advize to keep the volume of your music to about 50-75 percent to lessen the risk of them hearing what your listening to if you have your mic recording level set to high.

Music Playback

Most music sounds great with the vibration toggle on. without the vibration toggle on the bass sounds a little flat for listening to music even with equalization. As long as the music doesnt have the beat in the background drowned out by other instruments then it sounds perfect as if there were a subwoofer inside producing the bass for the beat. However for music with a weak beat the bass that the vibration function does enhance drowns out the beat even further.

Gaming Headset Final Thoughts

Genius has always been known for producing quality products for cheaper than the alternative brands. There are a countless number of headsets on the market so why did they decide to put out their own? Well The Cavimanus headset is built of high quality material, has brilliant intuitive features such as on ear controls vs a control box somewhere along the cord, unique high quality vibration that produces powerful bass, and this headset was designed with a slick clean look with gamers first in mind. It does take about a day to adjust to the weight of the headset while its not extremely heavy it is built solid and everything is built into the headset itself which adds weight such as all the controls, metal reinforcing, and vibration devices. I would have to say that they should have provided and option for people who do not enjoy blinking blue lights, while the person using the headset can not see the light unless they have a mirror facing their left side others in the room can be bothered, or people who play in the dark will notice a blue light projecting on the wall to their left side.

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Genius Cavimanus Conclusion

If you like bass then the Cavimanus is the headset for you. The bass produced in this headset while the vibration toggle is on is comparable to a sub woofer. The vibration function combined with 40mm neodymium sound drivers and virtual 7.1 surround sound provides top notch playback and brings games, music, movies or any application to life. These features provide an exceptional gaming experience by providing the user with detailed sound and awareness of ones surroundings. The software provided is very customizable and took very little time to tune the settings for my own liking.

The construction of the headset is very sturdy, the top support band is made of a breathable material which is beneficial during long periods of use. The earcups are soft and comfortable as well, that last thing anyone would want is a headset thats painful or uncomfortable to wear in a 6 hour gaming session. It also comes with a gold plated usb connector. The microphone works well picks up voice clearly, without picking up much background noise unless the microphone gain is turned to maximum.

The Cavimanus bears the scorption logo on both sides which I quickly grew to like. The foldable microphone is a very convienient feature to have, no more accidentally muting yourself mid game. Its nice that the vibration function has an easy to use button on the side to toggle on and off. Analog volume control allows a person to smoothly and quickly turn the volume level up and down.

As mid-October, the Genius Cavimanus is available for $64.00 (Amazon); a fair price considering all the features and versatility this headset comes with. Just about every other 7.1 channel headsets start $20.00 more in cost, and the vibration function is exclusive at this price.

I would recommend this headset to anyone who is a smart shopper and enjoys purchasing the best products at the lowest prices and appreciates high quality sound and features.

Pros:

Cons:

Ratings:

• Performance: 9.00
• Appearance: 8.50
• Construction: 8.75
• Functionality: 9.00
• Value: 9.25

Final Score: 8.9 out of 10.

Benchmark Reviews invites you to leave constructive feedback below, or ask questions in our Discussion Forum.

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