Tritton Audio Xtreme 51 Gaming Headset - TRI-AI712
Tritton AX51 Audio Extreme 5.1 Gaming Headphones with 8 Strategically Placed Speakers

This headset is a must if you play FPS games. First, they are not a replacement for your home 5.1 surround sound system. With that said, they are the best 5.1 surround sound headsets I have owned. Playing COD4 they rock! You do get good sound positioning, they are comfortable and the mic is very clear. They have a really cool in-line audio controller that allows you to dial in each individual sound field to create the optimum surround sound for the individuals ears. They are built well and cost was far less than others. I have an X-Fi audio card and you have to do some setup within the audio card properties, primarily setting the sound card to send 5.1 audio to the headset. Individual sound fields are crisp and clear but if your audio card is not setup right, they will revert to 2 channel stereo.
 
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I saw this headset in a CPU Magazine review and it was given high marks. Here is my opinion, they need to be customized to each individual person. This is actually a great feature that they allow this customization where most headsets you have to use the sound card. They have individual sound field controls that make it simple to do and once you dial it in to your liking, wow, you will be amazed! Obviously it isn't comparable to a decked out home theater but for a headset to have sound positioning in online game play, is priceless! They seem a little larger than most but they are extremely comfortable. Mic quality is good and quality seems to be good. I would recommend them to anyone that games online.
 
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Hello everyone. I thought I'd write this to warn would be owners of these headphones. The headphones are NOT worth the money; if I were to re-spend my money knowing what I know now I would not of bought these. I have an X-Fi Fatal1ty sound card which outputs to 5.1 surround on these headphones and they sound horrible. The "center" and "rear" channels are very very weak in tremble and bass. They sound very high pitched and when playing games everything played on 5.1 sounds awful. Battlefield 2 sounds horrible when things blow up or even the rotor sound of the blades on helicopters. I've been forced to change my X-Fi channels to 2.1 as the "front" channels are the only channels that sound great. In 2.1 channel mode everything sounds fine. The subwoofer seems to still work but not as good in 5.1. My opinion, do NOT buy these unless you want be forced to use 2.1 channels of your 5.1 channels. And yes I've already RMA'd one headset; they sound the same. Pros: Headset has a very nice mic, everthing comes in crystal clear and sounds great. The headset seems to be made of good quality materials and although they are heavy imo they still feel great after hours and hours of use. The front channels sound great. Very comfy. Long wires. Cons: Rear and Center channels suck really bad and sound horrible, really horrible; forced to use 2.1 instead of 5.1. Blue LED on the channel level thingy is always on. I have to cover it at night to sleep its so bright. It also sometimes shines right into my eyes when I'm playing games in the dark.
 
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I did a great deal of research to find surround headphones for gaming that would interface to my Creative X-Fi sound card. I don't have the option to use external 5.1 speakers, so always use headphones when gaming. I saw many positive reviews of the Tritton version that interfaces using SPDIF (AX360), and was told by the manufacturer that the AX-51 uses the exact same components (I talked to them at CES 2008), but supports gamers who use their own sound card. In short, the headphones have good build quality, but the surround sound effect is not completely obvious. In other words, they're not a functional substitute for external speakers (I believe it's a matter of audio physics), but are the best alternative if you can't external speakers. A very good value compared to other surround sound headphones. Others are either poor build quality, or greatly overpriced.
 
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