Page 4 -- Photography

Photography

Taking a look the construction of the CineVibe, we find that some effort has been taken to lessen the squeaks and mechanical noises.

The earcups themselves fold flat and pivot silently.  Noise is always a problem with headphones since they sit so close to your ears; every little creak and crack can very noticeable if not taken into consideration.  The CineVibe have minor issues with the earpads and the cable, but once it's on your head, it's otherwise rather quiet.

The sealed backs are very polished and shiny, revealing my ghetto lightbox's true origins.  Wire connects to the left earcup, which may or may not be a problem if your computer is on the right or far off to one side.  The cable is not quite long enough to reach from left side to the right where your computer is.

Srews are everywhere.  Everything is screwed down on the CineVibe, which is sign of good design.

The boom mic on the CineVibe rotates about 170 degrees and is left-side only.  While the boom is flexible, the boom is about 12cm from the earcup, which makes it just long enough to reach the corner of the mouth.  In comparison, the Turtle Beach HPA2 has a 17cm boom on its mic, which makes it just about on center with the mouth.

Comfort is good, although in contrast with the Turtle Beach HPA2 or the AKG 701 with their around-the-ear velour cloth pads, the CineVibe don't quite reach those levels.  Switching around with the other headsets and the difference is immediately noticeable.

The CineVibe seem to clamp onto your head a bit tighter than either the HPA2 or K701's do.  You should also note the very similar design of the headbands of the HPA2 and K701, they are nearly identical!  The HPA2 are just a little more comfortable for long gaming sessions than the K701.  To be fair, both the HPA2 and K701 are more expensive than the CineVibe.

We did find a few problems, however.  The cable is microphonic, that is, the cable transmits sound to the earcups when it is touched.  The second issue is with the earpads themselves, which give a mighty squeak when putting on or taking off the ears.

Overall the CineVibe are fairly comfortable, very well constructed, but have minor noise issues with the earpads and cable.

Moving on to the software installation, next-o page-o please.