| Logitech G930 7.1 Channel Wireless Headset |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Audio | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Joey Peng - Edited by Olin Coles | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, 08 October 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Logitech G930 Wireless Headset ReviewAnyone wanting the best experience at home for movies knows that a home theater is a must. The Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset combines all of that audio experience into a classy wireless headset, allowing you to enjoy full surround sound anywhere without being restricted by cables. On paper the Logitech G930 seems to be capable of redefining PC entertainment. Benchmark Reviews will be testing this headset to see what level of audio utopia the G930 can achieve. The Logitech G930 hits two important sweet-spots for enthusiasts: wireless connectivity and 7.1 surround sound. These are its key selling points. Naturally the 7.1 surround sound is software-driven, as each ear piece has one driver. This means audio that supports surround sound will be played accurately, while stereo audio can be emulated to create a surround sound effect. Wireless connectivity is becoming a big feature for many high-end IO devices as we all hate cable restrictions. Many devices sacrifice quality to gain wireless functionality, as seen with numerous gaming mice. It is also critical for sound to be lag free. Benchmark Reviews will be addressing all of these concerns.
There are numerous surround sound headphones and headsets on the market right now, but most stick with 5.1 surround sound. The number of wireless surround sound headsets is also relatively limited. In effect the Logitech G930 has very little competition if you're looking for exactly those two characteristics. What will make the Logitech G930 a promising purchase is if it retains all the qualities of high-end surround sound headsets while doing it wirelessly.
Manufacturer: Logitech Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Logitech. Logitech G930 Features
981-000257 Specifications
* Actual wireless range will vary with use, settings and environmental conditions. ** Actual battery life will vary with use, settings and environmental conditions. Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles. Closer Look: Logitech G930The Logitech G930 wireless headset is designed specifically for Windows. A single USB port is required for charging. Interestingly there is NO wired state. Although charging is done via USB, the wireless USB transmitter needs to be plugged in at all times.
Packaging is nice and compact. All manuals and CDs are contained in the square box and the charging dock tucked nicely on the left.
Included with the Logitech G930: a charging dock, USB wireless transmitter, driver installation CD, and a bunch of manuals. The installation is needed for making full use of the G930, as it includes software for 7.1 surround sound. Logitech still doesn't like to give away extras with its product. It would've been nice to have a carrying pouch of some sort for laptop owners or frequent travellers.
Out of the box, the first impressions were mixed. For one it looked awesome. The leather makes the G930 very classy. Good mix of rubber and aluminum is used at critical parts to allow maximum durability. However the majority of the outer shell is plastic and it creaks a lot when twisting and turning the different movable joints. Initially extra care was taken, only gently adjusting the G930. After a couple adjustments however I realized the build was excellent and didn't worry about it anymore.
All of the functionality is located on the left earpiece, including a rubber-coated fully bendable mic, volume adjustment, and numerous buttons of different functionality. The weight is fairly balanced on both sides. However the headset is quite a bit heavier than normal. Luckily the comfortable cushion at the top can take care of most of the weight.
The Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset looks great and seems promising. The application of a wireless 7.1 surround sound headset clearly surpasses just gaming. In the next section Benchmark Reviews will take a closer look at detailed features. Logitech G930 Detailed FeaturesEach earpiece of the Logitech G930 contains a single 40mm driver. While this may seem inferior to some headphone setups where each audio channel has a separate driver, depending on the quality of software surround sound emulation a single 40mm driver can provide an similarly strong directional sound. The earpieces, allowing 90 degrees of turning, are coated with leather that can prevent sweat and feel comfortable for many hours of use.
To charge the Logitech G930, connect the mini-USB cable from the dock to the headset. There are a total of 3 LED indicators, for charging, headset power (on/off), and Mic on/off. The only visible one during use is the mic, which is located at the tip, very convenient.
On the left earpiece you will have access to 3 programmable buttons (currently functionality limited to basic applications like Windows Media Player, Ventrilo, PowerDVD, etc.), mic power, headset power, volume roller, and surround sound switch. The headset power button requires you to hold for a while to turn on and off. Sometimes I wish it would just be a one-click action as I would often fail to hold it long enough (turning off takes something like 2-3 seconds). All the buttons are big and elevated and can be used on-the-fly easily.
The headband can be adjusted easily, allowing some 4 centimeters of adjustment across 16 increments. It's a little loose but once you place it on your head it won't budge. The band is a mix of rubber and high-grade aluminum alloy and is very durable.
The included charging dock isn't much as all the technology has been placed into the headset. The charging dock has a USB port for plugging in the wireless transmitter. To wrap/unwrap the cables requires manually winding and unwinding it. I would've preferred some automatic retraction method as this design makes wires flying everywhere again.
In terms of design Logitech almost did a perfect job. The Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset looks full of promises. In the next section Benchmark Reviews will test the software and quality of sound the G930 has to offer. Logitech G930 Software, Testing & ResultsSoftwareFor testing, driver version 1.00.345 was used. Installation is required for 7.1 surround sound to work. There are plenty of adjustments and tuning you can do. Volume control directly changes the Windows 7 sound volume for this device, so both are always in-sync. Logitech included some goodies with the G930, namely built-in voice morphing including the popular alien and squirrel voice morphing. G-keys currently are relatively limited in terms of functionality. Only the most popular programs are compatible with the G-keys, including Windows Media Player, Power DVD, Ventrilo, WinDVD, and WinAmp. However Logitech says they're working on additional plugins so that's something to look forward to. Surround sound controls are also available. You can adjust the volume for any of the sound channels, though by default things seem to work very well. Eleven is the maximum volume, adjusting anything below 6-8 makes it pretty much makes that channel impossible to hear. One thing I found annoying was if you turn off the headset, the driver no longer tells you the charge status of the headset, making the "time left" for charging very misleading. If you turn off the headset, charging time is about 2-3 hours but then it fails to display anything. If you charge while the headset is on then it displays "time left" for charging but is ridiculously inaccurate as it takes significantly longer to charge when turned on (at least double to triple the time being displayed). At least the headset really does have a battery life near 10 hours.
The Logitech G930 is built for wireless connectivity and surround sound, so people preferring extremely heavy bass will be disappointed with the default configuration. Luckily both a simple and an advanced equalizer is present should you want to adjust them. Adjusting the simple equalizer only works until about +6db. Afterwards sound gets filled with, not exactly crackling, but some kind of static-sound, as it seems to be adjusting frequencies of 250-1k Hz too. Using the advanced equalizer works much better, and you can get a very deep bass without affecting sound quality.
Test System
ResultsFor the Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset, there are some key areas that can be used to evaluate how good it is: comfort, mic quality, and audio (2.1 and 7.1) quality. In terms of comfort, the Logitech G930's leather ear cuffs and headrest make hours of use possible without tiring your head. I've never had problems with sweat. It cups the ears tightly managing to block out a lot of sound. Even without anything playing, simply wearing the headset can block out most of the sound coming from my PC fans running at 100%. Its weight eventually becomes a disadvantage when used continuously for more than 2-3 hours. It's roughly double the weight of a standard headset. Mic quality was tested using Skype and MSN. There seems to be no problems at all, and voice is clear. Logitech advertises background sound cancelling technology, which seems to be true in terms of capturing voice and nearby sounds accurately. For stereo audio quality, the G930 is excellent. Even without surround sound and wirelessness, a stereo-only G930 is of comparably quality to headsets in the $40+ range. Sound is crisp and clear, and the bass is strong. However its bass is weaker than some top-end headphones such as those from Dr. Dre or even some of the offerings from Sony. But those high-end bass-enhanced headphones can reach anywhere from $50 up to $200+ and targets a different market segment. In the end it all comes down to Logitech G930's surround sound performance. Any surround sound test available for download online shows immediately that the G930 delivers incredible directional sound. Uncompressed audio files that are recorded with 5.1 surround sound are excellent examples of what the Logitech G930 can do. You can recognize each instrument coming from a different direction. For games that support surround sound, including most of the latest FPS and even StarCraft II, the experience is incredible. It was in the middle of a counter strike game, when I turned towards a gunfire direction correctly based on sound, that I realized the surround sound really does have an effect. Playing Crysis again using the Logitech G930 was a completely different experience to any 2.1 configuration. The surround sound driver is powered by Dolby. For audio that supports surround sound, the Logitech G930 will play it extremely accurately able to distinguish each audio channel. Interestingly 5.1 surround sound seems to just play in 7.1 surround sound mode except with two channels staying mute. As for emulation of 7.1 surround sound from stereo, the effect is mixed. A lot of the times the result is excellent, and other times it completely misses the mark. I actually enjoy emulated surround sound for certain rap and hip-hop artists, but for some games like Tropico, the emulation was disastrous. Overall the Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset is excellent. What's important is that it manages all of the above wirelessly without any kind of lag. I have several devices on the 2.4 Ghz frequency but most of the time there's no interference. There was one particular night however that interference was so strong (possibly from a neighbor) that it actually caused disconnects and breaks in the audio, several times during a 10 minute period. It only happened once and could've been a software bug. Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset Final ThoughtsThe Logitech G930 performs great, a huge improvement from stereo sound. While there are numerous surround sound headsets out on the market, most support 5.1 surround sound as opposed to 7.1. The truth is most of the time the benefit of 2 additional audio channels cannot be consciously realized. For music, most are still using stereo recording so that's really not in the picture. For games and movies (namely Blu-ray) the two additional channels may offer a more 360 degree audio experience, but in the end the benefit, while there, is small. So it all comes down to the pricing.
Logitech G930 ConclusionThe Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset is perfect for those looking for a 7.1 surround sound experience and wireless connectivity. The battery really does last up to 10 hours at reasonable volume levels, though the charging time is incredibly long if charged while in use. The G930 has excellent directional sound for 5.1/7.1 audio, and even the emulated 7.1 surround sound is good most of the time. Compared to competitors such as Razer, the Logitech G930 offers comparable or better audio experience thanks to integrated Dolby Headphone technology. Stereo sound quality is excellent, too. There is no wired state for the G930, but that's not a problem as the wireless experience is lag-free and can reach distances up to 40 ft. The only slight weakness is limited bass enhancements. The appearance is very classy. The G930 has a healthy mix of matte and glassy surfaces. The leather offers excellent comfort while preserving style. The left earpiece with mic and buttons really define the "gamer" design of the G930, even though it can be a great product for anyone wanting a surround sound experience. In terms of construction, there's nothing to complain. Airplane-grade aluminum alloy was used for the headband and rubber applied in all critical areas. The volume roller and buttons are solid and has great durability. Initially the occasional "creaking" of the plastic may freak you out but it really is The Logitech G930 offers pretty much all the functionality anyone would need as a gaming headset, including 3 programmable buttons, volume control, mic, wireless connectivity, and about a dozen other features and built in technology. The numerous LED indicators let you know what's on and what's off. The software has its odd areas and can use some additional plugins for its programmable G-buttons, but otherwise it does everything it needs to and more. The Logitech G930 is available for $124.99 at Amazon or $131.99 at NewEgg, but I recommend you compare the prices of this 981-000257 model with other online merchants as well. Most 7.1 channel surround sound headsets are between $50 and $150 depending on brand and quality. However the only comparable brands available on newegg.com are SteelSeries and Razer, priced at $100-150, neither of which are wireless. The Logitech G35 (essentially an earlier generation G930 without wireless connectivity) is priced at $96.99. In this sense the G930 is priced reasonably, charging about $40 additional for the wireless feature. Overall the Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset performs great and offers many features that make it a great headset for gamers. It's even a good choice for those wanting to take their PC entertainment to a new level. The price includes premiums for all the available features but is priced competitively among the high-end headsets. There are cheaper options out there but if you want the very best, with wireless, then the Logitech G930 is perfect for you. Pros:
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Comments
I may get one of them and offer them up to my sons when they come to visit and they're burning the midnight oil playing my games. That way they get great sound, and I'm undisturbed when they're here.
Positives:
Excellent reception range (>40ft. but YMMV)
GREAT sound for GAMING. GOOD sound for movies. GOOD sound for music. Somewhat-Acceptable sound for music editing, but let's be honest, that isn't what these are made for.
Terrific battery life, and gauge is accurate.
Negatives:
Get very uncomfortable after wearing for over an hour. Don't even try to wear glasses under them for any amount of time. I can't over-stress this, they are not comfortable headphones for me.
Adjustment notches are very loose, and can easily slip.
G-keys "customization" is limited, and doesn't allow a "push to speak" option.
2.8gHz, means it will pick up interference when microwaving those hot pockets.
very squeaky joints on the headset, doesn't seem to be a durability problem, but makes them feel poorly constructed.
The mic off-light (when placed in full-up position) is a good idea, but not visible in any extent of my periphery- and so- useless.
General comments:
If you leave reception range. the mic will turn back on, even if it is set to the off position. This can lead to unfortunate things being heard.
The voice morphing capabilities are cute, but eventually useless and can lead to a chopiness for the listener. Bass is a little weak, but still better than most headsets.
TL;DR
Great headset, I'd recommend it solely on its wireless nature, but can't wear it for too long.
Buy it for what it's designed: gaming. You can use it for other applications, but it won't blow your mind away.