The Kave 5.1 surround sound gaming headset is the flagship of ROCCAT’s headset line-up. It features solid construction, dual sound profiles, futuristic remote control, and a lot of other cool features. Overall, the design is mainly black accented with TRON-style blue lighting. It has a decent weight and feels fairly comfortable when sitting on one’s head for a long time. Setting the ROCCAT Kave up for use is very simply – one simply plugs the USB cable into an available port for power and the four 3.5mm plugs into your sound card’s surround sound jacks. In my testing, we were using a Sound Blaster ZXr sound card. Of course, the big draw of this headset is its 5.1 surround sound for playing your favorite games with – so, let’s take a look at that!
Technical Specifications
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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
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MICROPHONE
Frequency response: 20~18,000Hz
Sensitivity at 1KHz: -36dB
Directivity: omni-directional
Diameter: 4×1.5mm
SYSTEM
Connection: 4 X 3.5mm jack plug
Impedance: 32 Ohm
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
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While gaming, its multi-channel separation was exceptional, allowing me to very easily acquire targets based on sound alone. The Kave pumps out quite a bit of bass and volume, thoroughly taking your ears along for the ride. Playing several sessions of Battlefield 3, there were several moments where I experienced a “jump scare” and turned my head to see who was behind me while, in reality, it was all generated by the Kave. Additionally, the Kave features a vibration system which provides some really neat feedback allowing you to feel the bass.
Unfortunately, for music and movie viewing, I found that the sound equalizer needed some tweaking for the audio to be acceptable. Thankfully, to make movie watching more palatable, ROCCAT has included a slider switch on the remote control that adjusts the sound curvature between gaming and movie modes. It is not perfect, but should help get you in the right direction to enjoy the surround sound while watching whatever flick you like. In both gaming and movies, we noticed that the midrange sounds coming from the speaker drivers sounded slightly “muted’.
Speaking of the remote control, its design looks like something that would be used in the CiC of the Battlestar Galactica. It features a cool blue light, sliding sound adjusters, mode slider, and a lot of other useful functions. Everything worked great with the remote and I have no complaints about it. The rotary volume dial is surprisingly pleasant to use with a great tactile “feel”.
The stylish boom microphone works very well, and those individuals I used Skype with had no issues hearing my voice or making out what I was saying to them. Additionally I had good response from teammates while we were all using Ventrillo during multiplayer sessions. When muted, there is a cool blue ring of light on the end of the microphone – a nice visual cue when you are or are not audible to others.
Overall, the ROCCAT Kave 5.1 is a very good set of 5.1 surround sound gaming headphones that can also put out decent audio for movies and music – although, that is not the focus of this headset. The ROCCAT Kave 5.1 surround sound gaming headset retails for about $120 dollars and is available now.
[easyreview title=”ROCCAT Kave 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]
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