Review on Turtle Beach XC1 Gaming Headset - Xbox 360 (Discontinued by Manufacturer) by Ryan Lawson

OVERVIEW: A high-quality, reliable XBox Live wired headset with an adjustable microphone. Perfect for those looking to upgrade from a standard wired 360 device. A few minor issues prevent it from earning a full five stars. LONG REVIEW: When I was looking for a new wired headset for XBox Live (I have surround sound, so I don't need a kit with built-in speakers), the Turtle Beach brand and a pretty reasonable price caught my eye. Then I started reading the reviews. Apparently 33% to 50% of buyers of these headsets said they stopped working within days or weeks. I decided, trying my luck (I mean, everything breaks eventually) and backing a one-year warranty, that's on all electronics. A full month later I can say with certainty that the XC1 is still putting up a good fight. I had no problems with that. The headset itself is quite nice. The headrest is strong and flexible, with a leatherette pad to keep the top of your head from hurting and a grippy foam pad on the non-speaker side to keep it from falling off your head. The pinna is quite large and will fit ears of all ages unless you are an elephant; I particularly like the padding of the cups, which is made of fabric and not imitation leather. Sound quality is decent, an improvement over Microsoft's base model. A really nice feature is the adjustable microphone, which takes on any shape you want and can be swiveled into a variety of positions, including back to make it left or right ear if needed. The cord is a decent length, default volume, and a mute/unmute switch covered by a connector that fits a 360 controller, with or without a text block app. So what's keeping me from five stars? Three little things. 1.) Volume: While I don't want my ears to hurt from chatting, I was surprised that the XC1 isn't noticeably louder than Microsoft's base model, even at "maximum" volume. 2.) Mute/On Toggle: Since it's dangling from both your line of sight and the controller, you may lose a precious second here or there making sure the mic is on or off. If you're one of those gamers who constantly leaves your mic on so other gamers can hear you cough and breathe, that shouldn't be a problem. in ". I'm not sure if it's my ears or my head size, but each ear I cover doesn't receive nearly the same volume from my speakers as my bare ear does. After the session, there's a noticeable difference between the ears and the levels of the environment the culprit is the speaker cushion which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup but your ear will be covered by the speaker all in all a good upgrade over the standard 360 kit, which I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good, upgrade to standard 360 I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working , but so far so good, upgrade to standard 360 to let you know if (and when) XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. that it's my ears or my head size, but any ear I cover doesn't get nearly the same volume from my speakers as my bare ear. After the session there is a noticeable difference between the ears and the surrounding noise. The culprit is the speaker pad, which is large and raised so there might be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. that it's my ears or my head size, but any ear I cover doesn't get nearly the same volume from my speakers as my bare ear. After the session there is a noticeable difference between the ears and the surrounding noise. The culprit is the speaker pad, which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. won't get anywhere near the same volume from my speakers as it does from my bare ear. After the session there is a noticeable difference between the ears and the surrounding noise. The culprit is the speaker pad, which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. won't get anywhere near the same volume from my speakers as it does from my bare ear. After the session there is a noticeable difference between the ears and the surrounding noise. The culprit is the speaker pad, which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know, if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. so good. which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. so good. which is large and raised so there may be holes in the cup, but your ear will be covered by the speaker. All in all a nice upgrade over the stock 360. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good. nice upgrade from the stock 360 kit. I'll let you know if (and when) the XC1 decides to stop working, but so far so good.