Page 7 -- Games and Video

Gaming and Video

As stated earlier, the test machine is an old and cranky Q6600@2.4GHz machine based on a DFI P35 motherboard, 4GB of RAM, a classic nVidia 8800GT, and Vista 64-bit OS.  We don't expect any performance difference between using the onboard sound and the ASUS CineVibe, since audio in Vista and Windows 7 is handled essentially in software.  There were no stutters or dropouts in sound in any of the games we tried, nor obvious differences in audio quality.

Now, let's get on to the good stuff!

Starcraft II

Ah, sweet memories come flooding back of playing away many nights with friends online.  So it is with some glee that I benchmark the CineVibe with Starcraft II.  And to think that Hilberts been doing reviews since that time, too, is just amazing.

The sounds in Starcraft II havent changed a whole lot.  There are some new unit sounds and new sound bites of course, and they all sound clear through the Cinevibe.  I'm very glad the Siege Tank sounds are still 'fiesty' though.  The CineVibe does pretty well with Starcraft 2, but the only downside is that the 'rumble' is actually too much.  Say what?  Bass is good, and I like a good firm bottom end, but it is a little overwhelming.  There is a downside with having so much bass: when the action gets hot and furious, all you get is bass and not much of the critical midrange.  It all gets muddied to my ears and I missed a few notifications for units and whatnot.  I'm still a terrible player, but having good sound won't hurt.  The Turtle Beach HPA2, also having a vibrating bass, doesnt have this effect.  The AKG K701s of course dont either, its bass is au natual.

Borderlands

While Borderlands might be getting a bit long in the tooth, its sound is still pretty first rate.  You get many layers of sounds, from environment effects, music, weapon sounds, explosions, and of course the odd snarky comment.  This of course adds up to a fun game that's still fun to play.

The CineVibe did very well here, especially well with detecting baddies that announce themselves in your peripherals.  The explosions are fairly spectacular, however even with the rather 'full' sounding vibe of the CineVibe, the AKG701 produced a much more realistic throat rattling.  The CineVibe didn't suffer at all with creating 'air', that is, suttle environment sounds that give you a sense of space.

I did not get a chance to play co-op with this game, as all my loser friends are all playing Civ IV for some odd reason.  Go figure.

Dirt 2

A shout out to one of my bros, Sixxtty for this game.  I hadn't played Codemaster's Dirt 2 until recently, but since I'm also a Subaru fan, this game blew me away.  The very interesting thing that this game features is a unique sound 'engine' that will model noise bouncing off the environment as you and your STI rip past.  It's the perfect thing to show off headphones (aside from binaural recordings) and the immersive experience of this great game.  The CineVibe turned in a good performance, bringing out pretty good detail.  The bass doesn't overwhelm, yet when the mortars go off as you approach the finish line, you feel it. However, Dirt 2 doesn't just have boom.  The one stumbling block of the CineVibe is that it didn't quite capture the full detail of the cars.  Let me explain, Dirt 2 has some of the best car sounds I've ever heard.  However, it took a pair of AKG701's to bring it out.  You know, the turbo whine, the gear noise; if my ears don't deceive me, it's in there.  You can get a very immersive experience from Dirt2, and the CineVibe provide about 80% of that.  As for Dirt 2 or the next game, Dirt 3, the next step would be more realistic crash sounds.  I'm guessing that would be exceedingly expensive and difficult to record.

Anyway, the CineVibe did a fine job of portraying snarling rally cars ripping down some God-forsaken strip of track.  The navigator on rally races came through clearly. They don't come close to high-end headphones, but not too far off, and very good for closed back headphones.

Battlefield Bad Company 2

The lineage of Battlefield games is long and have always come with outstanding sound.  Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 supported the 128-voice sound that was supported by Creatives first X-Fi.  Of course Vista and Windows 7 changed all that with the change in how audio is processed.

This is also a team game, so voice chat quality is important here.  Voice is excellent on the CineVibe, players had no trouble understanding my spots and trash talk.  It was quite clear, while there are reports of the Mic being very sensitive, we found it to require a volume of 70 or so to be good and audible in games.  It also was fairly good at blocking external sound.  In this regard it was not good as the Turtle Beach HPA2, however, but very fine enough.  We also had a problem with a 60Hz hum, which was quite distracting.  It does have excellent rejection of breath noise, and sometimes that can really be distracting.  You get none of that with the CineVibe, so kudos for that!

Billed as a gaming headset, the CineVibe doesn't dissappoint.  Comfortable enough for a two-hour stint, and sound quality good enough that you won't really be reaching for anything else.  The gaming headset market isn't hurting for more competition, that is for sure, but these are surprisingly good for the sound quality alone.

After all the hardware, software, audio, and gaming, I think I've got a handle on this headset: it's pretty good.