Introduction :
After a wait of almost 2 years Roccat has finally graced us with its official presence in the country. Having started its product releases with Top of the Line mice and mouse pads (Oh yeah Kone is finally here!), this time they have bestowed us with, hold your breath…. the Roccat Kave - 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset. Unlike other gaming headsets out in there which rely on Virtual Surround Sound, Roccat has gone a tab bit ahead and included individual drivers for separate channels in one head phone, with a detachable Microphone and great build quality this headset has plenty going for it.
As usual reviewing a headset is like stepping into a dark swamp, you don’t know what’s out there, you might like it and you might just completely hate it! You might love it for something and you might want to totally break it for something else. It ultimately comes down to individual preference.
One thing I would like to mention is that Gaming Headsets to a certain extent cannot be compared to the high end “Audiophile†grade headphones, because for one you really don’t want to carry you expensive headset to a LAN Event and accidentally break it while winding up your gear quickly after a match. It all comes down to scenarios, if you only and “only†game at home… you know what you want, but when it comes to too much travelling and LAN gaming, well we have our friendly neighborhood Gaming Peripheral Manufacturers! (ok I know I went overboard but still!). Though yes there are headsets which are relatively very very sturdy, but either they are pretty hard to drive or again have 2 drivers only, relying on Virtual Surround Sound.
So let’s get on with the review….
Specifications :
Features
• REAL 5.1 SURROUND SOUND
with speakers aligned at a 12° angle
• MICROPHONE WITH MUTE LED
fully rotatable and completely removable
• TIP’N’CONTROL DESKTOP REMOTE
for central management of all volume functions
• DUAL SOUND-PROFILE
with movie and game settings
• SOLID ALUMINIUM HINGES
enabling heavy duty use
• ESPECIALLY COMFORTABLE EARCUPS
featuring external noise cancelling, hand-sewn
• ADJUSTABLE VIBRATION UNIT
for a realistic gaming experience
• HEADBAND WITH THREE PADS
for equal weight distribution
• EASY TO CARRY
folding and compact design
CENTER/FRONT/REAR DRIVER UNITS
Frequency response: 20~20,000Hz
Max. SPL at 1KHz: 114±3dB
Max. input power: 100mW (30mW)
Drive diameter front: 40mm
Drive diameter rear: 40mm
VIBRATION DRIVER UNITS
Frequency response: 20~100Hz ()
Max. input power: 1000mW
Drive diameter: 30mm
MICROPHONE
Frequency response: 20~18,000Hz
Sensitivity at 1KHz: -36dB
Impedance: 2.2KOhm +15%
Directivity: omni-directional
Diameter: 4x1.5mm
SYSTEM
5.1 Headset
Connection: 4 X 3.5mm jack plug
Input impedance: 10KOhm
Cable length: 3,4m total (2,0m Remote > PC)
Between ear cups and remote: 140cm
Between remote and splitter: 180cm
Between splitter and PC: 20cm
Packaging:
The Roccat Kave comes packaged in a pretty cool looking see through box. It’s a relatively large box with a Blue over Black theme which looks pretty damn good.
The front of the box has the main features of the Roccat Kave in a Tabular fashion. Pretty comprehensive since there not much one would want to ask after looking at it, apart from, yes, trying it out…
On the left side we have a more detailed description of what the Roccat Kave is all about.
The back side of the box has some Jack information and feature details in different languages and technical specifications.
After looking at the headset inside the box, somehow it oozes ‘Quality’, it screams of that solid build quality one would want to have while carrying around a headset to LAN events. Well let’s take a closer look at the headset itself.
The Roccat Kave:
Just as I suspected the headphones are real solid out of the box! With the headband retracted the headphones look pretty small in size, but can actually be extended to fit almost each and every head out there…
I don’t think if this can wait or not, but I really loved this nifty feature… You can fold the headset into a nice little package without having to split it up or have to open it up or something like the Steelseries 5hV2.
After folding it, each and every doubt related to carrying the headset around went away, LITERALLY! You don’t have to worry about anything, since once the headset is folded the total weight is pretty well distributed, so that there is no uneven pressure here or there. It becomes compact enough to be held comfortably with a single average sized hand.
It can be rotated 360’s and the stalk flexible enough to be bent at almost each and every angle…
The Microphone also has a built in LED towards the top end, which lights up whenever it is muted. Handy!
Now when you hold a headset of this proportion and size, you cannot help it but wonder if the hinges connecting the headphone bucket and the headband will be enough to support the collective weight, or will it even be able to handle rigorous use. Well for one the Roccat Kave utilizes ‘Aluminum Hinges’ which make the joints real sturdy! All the time I was carrying them to LAN Parties at a Gaming Café here, I never once had to worry about the headset snapping in two or something. They are really very solidly built.
A marking is present to indicate the correct side (R/L) while putting on the headset.
Gotta give it to em the Glowing Ring looks kinda cool.
One very welcome addition to the headband are the numeral markings on the headband or rather the extender band, now you don’t have to fiddle around to make sure that both the left and right side of the headset are on the same level or not, all in all this can help you in saving a few precious seconds!
The top of the headband has ROCCAT engraved, with a glossy finish to it.
The cushioning on the Roccat Kave is the best I have seen so far after the Denon 2000. It is made out of High Quality Hand Sewn Leather and is amazingly comfortable. Even when applying a minimum amount of pressure with the index finger the cushion depresses quite a bit, to say the least it is very comfortable and stays that way even after prolonged periods of having them on.
(Pardon the predatory nail please… :E)
The cushions just under the headband, add to the overall comfort level of the headset. If the headset were a little lighter, it would definitely come down to the user not even noticing if they are even there.
These cushions can also tilt a little bit left and right to add that extra bit of functionality and comfort.
I think I must mention that I am someone who has to wear glasses all day long, and this was the first headset with which I did not have to fiddle with to get it to comfortably rest on my ears. I had to fiddle with my 5h to make it rest comfortably because the cushions were somewhat stiff.
The Tip n Control Unit:
Roccat Kave comes with a small control Box thingy called the Tip n Control Unit. (I fink! :>)
Well on first look it seems likes a small box with a rotating click wheel and one Large circular button in between for muting the audio , (Well there’s another one for muting the Mic) and a LED indicator for when the Audio is muted. There is more to it.
Well there is a groove there which opens up into a pretty cool control center thing. You can control the volumes for the individually paired channels from here (Front – LEFT + RIGHT, REAR – LEFT + RIGHT, etc.). Pretty handy, specially when watching a movie or something and suppose the background audio is overshadowing the main channel, you can just lower the real channel volume. You don’t have to fiddle with you Soundcard drivers or any other settings…
There are two audio modes present. Though I couldn’t make much different between the 2 but the movie mode did offer slightly better surround sound, even while gaming.
The wires are of utmost quality and leave no scope for any complaints here. Also there is a Velcro band included so as to hold that extra length of the wires together and to prevent any mess. Seriously useful while carrying the headset.
The 3.5mm connectors come covered with rubber caps so as to protect the nickel plating. I really need to hand it to Roccat for giving attention to each and every minute detail.
If you’re wondering, the USB connector is for powering the LED’s on the Headset and the Microphone.
The Package includes a CD containing the manual, a 5.1 Surround Sound Demo and Some exclusive Roccat Stuff. (No Drivers the Headset runs directly off your Sound-card)
Included is a somewhat thick booklet with icy/grungy design over it. It’s about a certain project called “INARIâ€, and how the company and gear manufacturing process was inspired by the plot. It makes for a very interesting read.
Also included is a Roccat ID card, with a unique no. Damn it kind of gives the buyer that exclusive feeling.
Performance:
Gaming :
I tested the headset on:
• ASUS Xonar Essence STX
• Soundmax 7.1 Onboard HD Audio (ADI AD2000B)
• And some 5.1 Onboard Audio chip at a LAN Gaming Café.
The Process included the following games/software:
• Counter Strike 1.6
• Counter Strike Source (Natively supports Multi channel output)
• Virtual Barbershop (YouTube - Virtual Barber Shop (Audio...use headphones, close ur eyes))
• Unreal Tournament 3 (Natively supports Multi channel output)
• Bioshock 2 (Natively supports Multi channel output)
• Mass effect 2 (Natively supports Multi channel output)
• Music (Foobar using WASAPI and from an iPod Touch)
I’ll be rating Positional Audio on a scale of 10. Also I have not changed any driver settings and/or enforced virtual surround sound modes.
Let me explain the ratings:
• 5 - 6.5 – Decent Audio, won’t disappoint but leaves you waiting for more. Positional Audio can be better.
• 7 - 8.5 – Exceptional Positional Audio and Bass reproduction.
• 9 – 10 – The rating speaks for itself, The Sub kicked in pretty well and was quite amazing. Pin Point accuracy.
Also in Counter Strike 1.6 only the Front channels seemed to work even after enabling EAX and A3d… so the rating suffered quite a bit, even though the positional audio was better than my beloved 5hV2
. I feel that if all the individual drivers were at work here, overall experience would have been much better.Once thing that I noticed was that even though only 2 of the channels were at work the Audio was actually better than the Razer Barracuda and Steelseries 5hV2 in Counter Strike 1.6. It felt much more accurate. Not the type when you hear something at, suppose A-Short (dust2) and are left guessing if it was the mid ramp or was it the cat walk. There was a defined difference.
Counter Strike Source |9.5| 9| 8.5
Unreal Tournament 3 |9.5| 8.5| 6.5 (Really Surprising!)
Bioshock 2 | 9| 8| DNT
Mass Effect 2 |9| 8| DNT
Virtual Barbershop |10 !!!! (Sounds Amazing) |9| 8.5
*DNT – Did not test since the game was way to laggy, due to the stupid PC configuration.
The point of this rating scale was to check if the headset reproduction suffered, because of different soundcards present in different scenarios.
Though yes the presence of the Essence STX did give me exceptional gaming performance, the onboard audio chips at home and at the café weren’t so much different unless and until I was sitting and nitpicking by performing certain actions/tests (after asking my friends to help me out).
During any intense match I wasn’t able to pinpoint any flaw as such. What I did notice was that this headset was actually better than any of the previous ones I have used, specially the 5hV2.
Now i even regret not using it in the ****** 2 on 2 CSS tourney. Because I feel that not using the Kave actually cost me my match. (3 Bad decisions was all it took)
Im not a big fan of racing games but I did give it a try in NFS Undercover…well the sounds of police sirens and the rubbing of cars against each other was just amazing.
Music and Movies:
And so I enter the murky territory….
Well during the whole 3 weeks I have had this headset with me, I never once heard it distort at any volume!
Music was crystal clear. But again was only based on 2 channels. (This can be circumvented by forcing Virtual surround sound present on almost each and every soundcard these days be it onboard or external).
There was the right amount of separation, Lows were slightly laid aback, but were pretty defined, Highs were very smooth (not the shrill type) and mids were just amazing. This headset will certainly not disappoint the casual listener/gamer alike.
To be more specific I compared it to my AD700, on the Essence STX the AD700 was ahead by very small margins for obvious reasons, but the one place it got beat, was at the soundstage reproduction! The Roccat Kave did actually have a slightly spacy soundstage than the AD700. This is actually hard to believe, but this truly was the case. I never knew that a surround sound driver setup inside a headset could produce this level of soundstage.
Overall the Roccat Kave did not disappoint even once with its audio reproduction while listening to music. It was top notch specially considering the fact that it is a gaming headset.
Now comes the best part - MOVIES!
This headset is like a freaking Home Theatre system placed on top of your head!
The performance was amazing and the individual drivers were doing their best and sub was awesome! Specially during explosions….The Headset actually used to rattle as if something is massaging my head!
I really can’t explain, but I really won’t be using any other headset for watching movies for a long time to come.
The surprising part being, that the sound quality was not hit by a huge margin even when using onboard audio!
All in all this headset performs real well even without a soundcard which cost 40% more than the headset itself.
Microphone:
Watching all these movies and fragging all those people, I totally forgot about the Microphone. I tested the Mic in CSS /CS1.6 and on Skype (Using a splitter on my iPod touch and directly on my PC).
The in game quality was amazing!
Specially on skype plenty of my friends specifically mentioned it to me that my voice was surprising clear. I was taken aback because earlier, it used to be my 5h which was complimented upon. But an improvement over that is seriously worth applauding for.
Conculsion:
Will I buy the Roccat Kave?
Hell Yes! I will. Because this headset is something which offers an amazing gaming experience (specially in new age games).
The Music and Movie performance is just an amazing bonus. Hell I may even buy it just for watching my multi-channel movies!
It all comes down to how much can you get out of an Audiophile grade headset on onboard audio or an entry level soundcard. Well the truth is- not much! Specially when there is a head set in the same budget which offers real surround sound and something which offers a totally new level of immersion!
The minute attention Roccat has paid to the tiniest of things just makes you go wow!
Those are the minute things which actually incline you towards a product and tell you how much the company has worked on it.
The Roccat Kave just blows away the completion at the budget it retails at.
I really have no gripe about the headset – It is super comfy (Had them on for like, 6 hours straight!), It is portable, it is very sturdy, it performs stupendously in games irrespective of the soundcard (ok leave out the STX results!) and gives you Eargasms when you’re watching movies!! Oh! And has a detachable microphone which is crystal clear and makes your girlfriend(s) happy.
I cannot ask for more….i don’t think if anyone will…
One thing Rocccat could have added was a volume indicator on the Tip n Control Unit.
Bleh im just nitpicking here.
At this budget … you need not look any further, because all you’ll be doing is wasting your time and energy…
For a MRP of approximately Rs. 6600.You know that nothing gets better than this.
(It can be acquired for an even lower street price)
For me … this is ‘THE’ upgrade over my age old 5hV2.
Big thanks to Vijay from Buygamingstuff.com and Saurabh from Mihiratech Enterprises for providing me with this review piece.
Digg it! -Roccat Kave Real 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset Review
