Tritton AX PRO Review

Headset Overview

Tritton's AX PROs are currently their flagship headset with included technologies such as Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, Dolby Prologic, Sound Field Altering and DRS. AX PROs have been lending its hand to Xbox, PS3 and PC users throughout the world letting them experience a multitude of different movie and gaming scenarios in the highest of quality 5.1 surround sound.

• True 5.1 Digital Audio Headset
  
• Detachable microphone compatible with Xbox Live, Playstation Network, and PC/Mac
  
• Digital audio connection for DVD, PC, PS2, PS3, XBOX, XBOX360, and all other devices with Optical digital audio or analogue 3.5mm 5.1 output
  
• Dolby Digital and Dolby Prologic Certified
  
• 8 speakers, 4 in each ear cup
  
• Illuminated In-line volume adjustment for Front, Centre, Rear and Subwoofer controls
  
• Separate volume control for voice chat
  
• Inline microphone and volume mute switches
  
• Adjustable time delay for centre and rear speakers
  
• Dynamic Range Control
  
• Includes external 5.1 audio controller with analogue 3.5mm 5.1 output
  
*Lightweight headset with deep circumauraul (around the ears) design allows for comfort even during periods of extended gaming

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Description
Below, we're viewing the headset itself from the left-hand side and we can see the detachable microphone, the large – yet comfortable – ear cups, the adjustable slides to enable a comfortable fit for all users and most obviously the large orange Tritton logo that is back-lit from within. Also please note the sturdy build of the headset. these bad boys won't break too easily (still, I probably wouldn't sit on them or hit them with a hammer)![/p][p]The speakers in the headset are very impressive. Tritton have opted to give users a 'true' 5.1 surround sound experience by including 4 speakers in each earcup. Each speaker is located specifically to approach your ears from a certain angle. For example, to give the user a perceived sound coming from the rear, a speaker is situated at the far back of the earcup to emulate sound from behind. Each speaker includes a front driver, left or right driver (depending on which earcup you're looking at), a rear driver and a separate sub-woofer



These are the additional earcup and head-rail covers you receive with the AX PROs. You can choose between leather or soft cotton designs and can interchange between the two easily. Generally, for the winter you'll want the cotton design as they're amicably warmer and keep the warmth inside the earcup. The leather design allows your ears to breath a big better and you don't find your ears getting hot when using these during summer (or winter really for that matter!) – but in the end it's all about how you personally wish to wear your headset and what is comfortable for you.





Here we can see the volume control centre. As noted above, there are adjustable sound levels for the front, rear, centre and sub of the headset. Each illumination is a button in itself. Upon pressing one of these you can individually adjust the dial on the left of the Volume Control to suit your needs, or they can all be adjusted as one if you wish to do so. The volume levels are indicated by colours, from softest to loudest; Green, Blue, White, Cyan and Red. These are spread out through 20 different sound levels.



On the right of the volume control centre you will find a Voice volume dial and a mute function. These allow you to level other players voices loud enough so that you can hear them over the game volume setting you choose, or in the latter's case - to mute your own voice. [/p][p]You will have noticed a cable plugged into the bottom of the Volume Control Centre, this cable runs from the Volume Control Centre to the Xbox 360 Controller's microphone port, hence utilizing Xbox Live chat. Tritton recommend the straight plug be inserted into the Xbox 360 Controller and the right-angled plug inserted into the Volume Control Centre as pictured below.



]Running along the headset cable towards the Digital Decoder Box we see it branch off into two. One leads off as a power supply separately for the headset; the other connects to the Box. Furthermore there is a Velcro strap to tie up the cabling and also a clip where you can attach the cabling to your shirt to make access to the Volume Control Centre easier.



]Here we have the Digital Decoder Box. From this view we first note the availability AX PRO's have to use 5.1 sound with 3.5mm jacks (green, black and orange ports) which is essentially used for 5.1 sound cards in PC's that do not have optical support. However, with the external 5.1 audio controller (G9 Adaptor, pictured below) this can also be done in analogue form directly into a PC's sound card, but you will not benefit from the Box's functions such as time-delay and DRS. To the right at the bottom of the Box, we see where the headphones can be plugged in. Tritton opted to go with 2 headset plugs, but I personally cannot see a need for them unless you were to purchase another headset on its own without the Box, which regularly cannot be done.



On top we note the Blue lights, these symbolise what mode the decoder box is in to transmit the information it is receiving as sound. There is Dolby Digital, Dolby Prologic and also a light to indicate if DRS is turned on. DRC stands for "Dynamic Range Control" and helps to reduce the difference between the loudest portions of an audio track and the quietest portions. For example, some movies have quiet dialog but very loud explosions. DRC helps to make the dialog louder and the explosions quieter.

At the bottom of the box we can see two ports for the AX PRO headset. Your headset can be plugged into either of these ports. If a buddy ever comes around with his AX PROs, he can plug his headset into your decoder box too!



Moving along to right-hand side of the decoder box there is an AC power adaptor port for the Box alone, and we see a number of buttons and switches. The switches indicate what mode you'd like to set in order to adjust settings. On the far right, next to the AC plug the switch can be clicked right in order to adjust volume or Prologic. The switch can then be clicked left to adjust Time Delay or DRC. The next switch on the left is designated to adjusting time delay, clicked to the right you can adjust the Centre speaker, clicked to the left you can adjust the Surround speakers.



The four buttons we see (reading right to left!) are Power (turn the Box on or off), Prologic/Time Delay, Vol /TD and Vol-/TD-. These buttons are used in correlation to what you have chosen with the switches. For example, if you've chosen to click the first switch to the right to TD/DRC you can then use the relative buttons to adjust the Time Delay or turn DRC on or off.



At the bottom of the Box on the right, we see an optical port and a USB-cable port. The optical port can be used in any console or PC supporting SPDIF or digital optical audio, the USB-cable port will only work with PC's. In its early stages, AX PRO's were not sold with the USB cable, but thankfully they now are.

For further instructions, images, diagrams and manuals please visit the Tritton Technologies website.

Over the next page, we'll look at how the AX PRO stacks up!
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