[FONT="]Introduction :[/FONT]
[FONT="]First of all , I had no clue about Ozone gaming gear until I came across these Ozone Spark headphones .After a little research that included visiting their site to have a glimpse of their line up and reading some rave reviews of Ozone mouse and few headphones,I was pretty impressed. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Our in-house dealer Phoenix had a sample of their entry level stereo gaming headphones called -Ozone Spark and he was more than willing to let me review them at my own convenience .Coming from some really accurate sounding IEMs and value for money headphones I wasn't expecting much from a entry level gaming headphones ..So how did they perform ? Read on .[/FONT]
[FONT="]For those who wish to know more about Ozone gaming please visit, [/FONT]
[FONT="]http://www.ozonegaming.com/about.php[/FONT]
[FONT="]Technical Specifications .[/FONT]
[FONT="]I've replicated the technical specifications straight from the Ozone site .[/FONT]
[FONT="]headphones[/FONT] [FONT="] -
Driver Dimensions: ø50mm
Impedance: 32Ω
Frequency Response; 20~20kHz
Sensitivity (SPL): 100dB±3dB[/FONT]
[FONT="]microphone[/FONT] [FONT="] -
Mic Dimensions: ø6.0 x 5.0mm
Directivity: Omni directional
Impedance: ≤2.2KΩ
SPL: -45dB±3dB
general-
Cord Length: 2.5m
Plug: 3.5mm jack x2 (headphones + mic)
Net Weight: 342g[/FONT]
[FONT="]The specifications of the Ozone Spark are pretty much similar to most entry level -midrange gaming headsets from other brands. 32 Ohm of impedance makes them pretty easy to drive even with onboard soundcard and with a cable length of 2.5m you don't have to worry about getting any extension cable .[/FONT]
[FONT="]The mic on the headset is good enough for in game voice communication as well as for communicating over various IM's etc.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Packaging[/FONT] :
[FONT="]The headphones are shipped in a mid-sized black box with a splash of red on it .As you can see the front of the box has a translucent covering which gives you a glimpse of the headphones. It also has small illustrations of the different features of the Spark . Similarly both the sides and the back of the box is printed with different features and illustration of the Ozone spark .Surprisingly the technical specifications aren't printed anywhere on the box .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Once unpacked, the headphones are seated in a plastic molding which holds it firmly and prevents damage during transit .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Design and Build[/FONT] :
[FONT="]The headphones look pretty good with hi-grade black plastic body and a simple non- bling finish .Major part of the headphones including the headband top,mic has a rubberized coating over it which gives you a good grip and feel of it's build quality .A very small part of the earcups have a glossy coat around its circumference. The Ozone Spark logo is printed on one the right ear cup with a little red design and similarly there is a splash of red design on the left earcup where the mic is connected.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Spark has black synthetic leather ear pads with very small piercings for airflow and the earcups are covered with a very thin red cloth from the inside (just above the driver).The thin cloth prevents the sound from getting muffled up. I really like this hot red and black combo which give them headphones a classy look.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The earcups are designed to fit around the ear as opposed to some other headsets which fit over but the due to small size of the cups a small part of it actually rests on the ears which makes the headphones slightly uncomfortable for extended usage as the earcups exert slight pressure on the ears.[/FONT]
[FONT="]To make sure that the headset fits people with different head sizes , there are 8 levels of adjustment on both -left and right side .[/FONT][FONT="]Also did I forget to mention that the headphones are fold-able & portable enough to carry in your back pack .Once folded they are almost half their actual size and can be easily carried in a small backapck. The pics are self explanatory .[/FONT]
[FONT="]The cable is 2.5m long and has braided sleeving and it has a in-line volume control along with on-off switch for mic.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Build wise the headphones excellent .The quality of plastic is good enough to sustain any abusing or low height falls .The headband ,earcups and mic are well put together and there are no signs of any squeaking noise or ill fitting between the difference plastic parts. The overall cups could be slightly bigger to make them more comfortable but I guess that would mean losing the portability feature.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Design and Build : 7.5/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]Performance[/FONT] :
[FONT="]To test the headphones , I tested them over two weeks with few games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare , Counter Strike ,Split Second etc and used them for movie watching sessions at might. For gaming I also used a friend's Steelseries Siberia headphones for comparison since it's considered one of the best gaming headsets. At the end I tried the Ozone with a few 320 kbps MP3s to test it's musical strengths and weakness. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The tests were performed with the Asus Xonar DX sound card to make sure the soundcard isn't a limiting factor in the performance of the headset.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Call of Duty : Modern Warfare[/FONT]
[FONT="]The reason I chose MW I instead of the already released MW II is I already had good experience of MW I using my earlier Philips SHP9000 headphones which performed fairly well in games though they mainly served the purpose of music.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Modern Warfare features a wide range of explosions ,firing ,bombing and various other battlefield sounds which are really helpful to test the performance of a gaming headphone under intense situations. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The sparks really didn't disappoint when it came to continuous firing shots ,bombing or instructions by other fellow soldiers . The sound is quite accurate and gives you a intense feeling of being in the game. The heavy bass almost shakes your head when an artillery smashes through different buildings. The overall detailing and experience was not as good as the Steelseries Siberia which I had borrowed from a friend to keep as a reference against these headphones. But than the Siberia cost almost twice its price so I really wasn't expecting them to be as good . They do come pretty close though and I feel the bass is infact better on these. The other detailing in explosions , firing etc is lot better on the Siberia.[/FONT]
[FONT="]You need to crank up the volume to about 60-70% to actually have a nerve racking gaming experience. With lower volume , you miss out on that airy virtual surround sound which keeps you in the game.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Counter Strike 1.6[/FONT]
[FONT="]One of the main reasons I chose counter strike to test these headphones is I wanted to see how faithfully they could produce the sound of foot patterns and the sound of someone sneaking from the roof vents, climbing up the ladder or squeaking noise produced during the opening/closing of alley doors in assault map.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Ozone could reproduce most of the sounds pretty accurately with a good sense of direction .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Rating for Gaming : 8/10.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Movies :[/FONT]
[FONT="]I used these headphones for watching one of my favourite super hero movies-Dark Knight and Iron Man . The headphones performed pretty well and I could actually hold on to them for ~2 hrs of the movie .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Dialogues of characters are clear and upfront whereas the various background score ,noise and other sound effects form a nice panning effect .It was easy to pick up the screeching noises during vehicle chases and other small detailing .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Overall the headphones are well suited for watching movies or any TV series and can be used as speaker substitute at night .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Rating : 7.5/10.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Music :[/FONT]
[FONT="]I quickly went through my usual play list of 320s /FLACs which I use to test most of the IEMs. Music ranging from electronica , hip-hip to everyday Bollywood tunes. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Let me start of by saying the bass on these really great. You must have already figured it out by its gaming performance but even with music the bass is really well controlled and punchy. Not boom -boom slamming bass but enough to give you the feel of bass. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The midrange kind of sounds hollow /recessed .Its noticeable when listening to male vocals . Most instruments just sound decent but nothing great compared to a good music headphones in 2-3k range. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Treble is fairly decent as well, doesn't quite extent till the end of spectrum but not as disappointing as the midrange. Good part is it isn't bright and doesn't have a sharp sound which results in fatigue with most people.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The soundstage is acceptable as well , Its not very natural and an artificial soundstage which you get when you use some sort of 3D plug in in your player.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Overall I would say they are not the best headphones for music but they are perfectly fit for a casual listening while Suring or in between gaming sessions. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Rating for Music : 6.5/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]Conclusion :[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sound's subjective and there aren't any technical tests to perform with the listening gear so I would suggest that whatever you've read till now ,take it with a grain of salt. That said , the Ozone Spark are some really well built headphones with great gaming capabilities in the entry level range .From the little info that Ive received ,they will be sold in 2.2-2.5k range. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Though I wouldn't suggest them completely for music , if your major usage is going to be Gaming + Movies these fit your bill perfectly . A little music listening in between wouldn't hurt.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Pros: [/FONT]
[FONT="] Value for money in terms of Gaming and Movies[/FONT]
[FONT="]Great bass[/FONT]
[FONT="]Well built[/FONT]
[FONT="]Foldable design[/FONT]
[FONT="]mic , inline volume control[/FONT]
[FONT="]Cons: [/FONT]
[FONT="]Comfort level is good but not the best. Maximum 2-3 hrs usage.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Could perform better in Music.[/FONT]
[FONT="]First of all , I had no clue about Ozone gaming gear until I came across these Ozone Spark headphones .After a little research that included visiting their site to have a glimpse of their line up and reading some rave reviews of Ozone mouse and few headphones,I was pretty impressed. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Our in-house dealer Phoenix had a sample of their entry level stereo gaming headphones called -Ozone Spark and he was more than willing to let me review them at my own convenience .Coming from some really accurate sounding IEMs and value for money headphones I wasn't expecting much from a entry level gaming headphones ..So how did they perform ? Read on .[/FONT]
[FONT="]For those who wish to know more about Ozone gaming please visit, [/FONT]
[FONT="]http://www.ozonegaming.com/about.php[/FONT]
[FONT="]Technical Specifications .[/FONT]
[FONT="]I've replicated the technical specifications straight from the Ozone site .[/FONT]
[FONT="]headphones[/FONT] [FONT="] -
Driver Dimensions: ø50mm
Impedance: 32Ω
Frequency Response; 20~20kHz
Sensitivity (SPL): 100dB±3dB[/FONT]
[FONT="]microphone[/FONT] [FONT="] -
Mic Dimensions: ø6.0 x 5.0mm
Directivity: Omni directional
Impedance: ≤2.2KΩ
SPL: -45dB±3dB
general-
Cord Length: 2.5m
Plug: 3.5mm jack x2 (headphones + mic)
Net Weight: 342g[/FONT]
[FONT="]The specifications of the Ozone Spark are pretty much similar to most entry level -midrange gaming headsets from other brands. 32 Ohm of impedance makes them pretty easy to drive even with onboard soundcard and with a cable length of 2.5m you don't have to worry about getting any extension cable .[/FONT]
[FONT="]The mic on the headset is good enough for in game voice communication as well as for communicating over various IM's etc.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Packaging[/FONT] :
[FONT="]The headphones are shipped in a mid-sized black box with a splash of red on it .As you can see the front of the box has a translucent covering which gives you a glimpse of the headphones. It also has small illustrations of the different features of the Spark . Similarly both the sides and the back of the box is printed with different features and illustration of the Ozone spark .Surprisingly the technical specifications aren't printed anywhere on the box .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Once unpacked, the headphones are seated in a plastic molding which holds it firmly and prevents damage during transit .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Design and Build[/FONT] :
[FONT="]The headphones look pretty good with hi-grade black plastic body and a simple non- bling finish .Major part of the headphones including the headband top,mic has a rubberized coating over it which gives you a good grip and feel of it's build quality .A very small part of the earcups have a glossy coat around its circumference. The Ozone Spark logo is printed on one the right ear cup with a little red design and similarly there is a splash of red design on the left earcup where the mic is connected.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Spark has black synthetic leather ear pads with very small piercings for airflow and the earcups are covered with a very thin red cloth from the inside (just above the driver).The thin cloth prevents the sound from getting muffled up. I really like this hot red and black combo which give them headphones a classy look.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The earcups are designed to fit around the ear as opposed to some other headsets which fit over but the due to small size of the cups a small part of it actually rests on the ears which makes the headphones slightly uncomfortable for extended usage as the earcups exert slight pressure on the ears.[/FONT]
[FONT="]To make sure that the headset fits people with different head sizes , there are 8 levels of adjustment on both -left and right side .[/FONT][FONT="]Also did I forget to mention that the headphones are fold-able & portable enough to carry in your back pack .Once folded they are almost half their actual size and can be easily carried in a small backapck. The pics are self explanatory .[/FONT]
[FONT="]The cable is 2.5m long and has braided sleeving and it has a in-line volume control along with on-off switch for mic.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Build wise the headphones excellent .The quality of plastic is good enough to sustain any abusing or low height falls .The headband ,earcups and mic are well put together and there are no signs of any squeaking noise or ill fitting between the difference plastic parts. The overall cups could be slightly bigger to make them more comfortable but I guess that would mean losing the portability feature.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Design and Build : 7.5/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]Performance[/FONT] :
[FONT="]To test the headphones , I tested them over two weeks with few games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare , Counter Strike ,Split Second etc and used them for movie watching sessions at might. For gaming I also used a friend's Steelseries Siberia headphones for comparison since it's considered one of the best gaming headsets. At the end I tried the Ozone with a few 320 kbps MP3s to test it's musical strengths and weakness. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The tests were performed with the Asus Xonar DX sound card to make sure the soundcard isn't a limiting factor in the performance of the headset.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Call of Duty : Modern Warfare[/FONT]
[FONT="]The reason I chose MW I instead of the already released MW II is I already had good experience of MW I using my earlier Philips SHP9000 headphones which performed fairly well in games though they mainly served the purpose of music.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Modern Warfare features a wide range of explosions ,firing ,bombing and various other battlefield sounds which are really helpful to test the performance of a gaming headphone under intense situations. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The sparks really didn't disappoint when it came to continuous firing shots ,bombing or instructions by other fellow soldiers . The sound is quite accurate and gives you a intense feeling of being in the game. The heavy bass almost shakes your head when an artillery smashes through different buildings. The overall detailing and experience was not as good as the Steelseries Siberia which I had borrowed from a friend to keep as a reference against these headphones. But than the Siberia cost almost twice its price so I really wasn't expecting them to be as good . They do come pretty close though and I feel the bass is infact better on these. The other detailing in explosions , firing etc is lot better on the Siberia.[/FONT]
[FONT="]You need to crank up the volume to about 60-70% to actually have a nerve racking gaming experience. With lower volume , you miss out on that airy virtual surround sound which keeps you in the game.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Counter Strike 1.6[/FONT]
[FONT="]One of the main reasons I chose counter strike to test these headphones is I wanted to see how faithfully they could produce the sound of foot patterns and the sound of someone sneaking from the roof vents, climbing up the ladder or squeaking noise produced during the opening/closing of alley doors in assault map.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Ozone could reproduce most of the sounds pretty accurately with a good sense of direction .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Rating for Gaming : 8/10.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Movies :[/FONT]
[FONT="]I used these headphones for watching one of my favourite super hero movies-Dark Knight and Iron Man . The headphones performed pretty well and I could actually hold on to them for ~2 hrs of the movie .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Dialogues of characters are clear and upfront whereas the various background score ,noise and other sound effects form a nice panning effect .It was easy to pick up the screeching noises during vehicle chases and other small detailing .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Overall the headphones are well suited for watching movies or any TV series and can be used as speaker substitute at night .[/FONT]
[FONT="]Rating : 7.5/10.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Music :[/FONT]
[FONT="]I quickly went through my usual play list of 320s /FLACs which I use to test most of the IEMs. Music ranging from electronica , hip-hip to everyday Bollywood tunes. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Let me start of by saying the bass on these really great. You must have already figured it out by its gaming performance but even with music the bass is really well controlled and punchy. Not boom -boom slamming bass but enough to give you the feel of bass. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The midrange kind of sounds hollow /recessed .Its noticeable when listening to male vocals . Most instruments just sound decent but nothing great compared to a good music headphones in 2-3k range. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Treble is fairly decent as well, doesn't quite extent till the end of spectrum but not as disappointing as the midrange. Good part is it isn't bright and doesn't have a sharp sound which results in fatigue with most people.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The soundstage is acceptable as well , Its not very natural and an artificial soundstage which you get when you use some sort of 3D plug in in your player.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Overall I would say they are not the best headphones for music but they are perfectly fit for a casual listening while Suring or in between gaming sessions. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Rating for Music : 6.5/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]Conclusion :[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sound's subjective and there aren't any technical tests to perform with the listening gear so I would suggest that whatever you've read till now ,take it with a grain of salt. That said , the Ozone Spark are some really well built headphones with great gaming capabilities in the entry level range .From the little info that Ive received ,they will be sold in 2.2-2.5k range. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Though I wouldn't suggest them completely for music , if your major usage is going to be Gaming + Movies these fit your bill perfectly . A little music listening in between wouldn't hurt.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Pros: [/FONT]
[FONT="] Value for money in terms of Gaming and Movies[/FONT]
[FONT="]Great bass[/FONT]
[FONT="]Well built[/FONT]
[FONT="]Foldable design[/FONT]
[FONT="]mic , inline volume control[/FONT]
[FONT="]Cons: [/FONT]
[FONT="]Comfort level is good but not the best. Maximum 2-3 hrs usage.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Could perform better in Music.[/FONT]
