Headphones

Audio Quality Features -- The Pros

The sound quality and features of this product are excellent; environment sounds in game are clearly rendered in surround sound. The directional awareness provided by these headphones is far superior to any stereo headset you will find that is targeted to gamers.
I usually play as a sniper, people are always trying to sneak up and knife me in the back. " HAX !! HAXXX !1! you couldn't even see me!! " , but I always hear them.
On many occasions I have navigated toward or away from players based on the directional sound. I've taken pot shots at players through smoke based on the direction of their footsteps or gunfire. As a sniper it is also very good to locate other snipers by directional sound. You can tell where a vehicle is coming from very easily.
There is a great sense of immersion when you can hear sounds of something approaching from behind or target other players by direction. The rumble effect lets you feel explosions but you need to set the sub quite high to feel it in some games. The sub volume won't affect the overall volume if set correctly, just the bass and rumble effect.
The mic provides crisp clear audio for clients that utilize voice communication like teamspeak for playing, The incoming voice audio is clearly separated from the game audio. They are very good for in game communication. The mic boom is removable.
These are no slouch when listening to music either , you can really tell the difference between a good MP3 and a Flac file, The sub provides good bass , but if you have it too high you will experience the rumble effect which feels like a very strong sub woofers vibration.
Comfort , these are very comfortable headphones. I have a big head , satellites orbit it and it has a small moon.
These are more comfortable for long periods of use compared to my previous Logitech headphones which, for me, seem too tight. I had read reviews of people saying that about the Turtle Beach head sets but I don't think they realized that the wires going over the headband itself are meant to be bent. This makes the tightness and fit easy to adjust. These are also circumaural headphones. (covers the ears)
I have read many reviews where people have said the difference isn't that great between 5.1 and stereo headsets. There are a few factors which affects this. The first is, does the game you play provide surround sound, most modern ones do , but some of the older popular games don't.
The other major factor is the headphones' set up and adjustments. This is where the AKR8,  in my opinion, is inferior to the older HPA2. The inline volume on the AKR8 only has a master volume, it's a complete pain in the ass to adjust audio in game.

To be fair the inline volume of the AKR8 is part of the included sound card. This card has excellent adjustment options within the driver software, it's just not possible to tweak the individual speaker volume settings in game. In contrast the HPA2 headset has individual volume settings on the inline volume controls but requires a capable sound card to provide the 5.1 audio.(this means the audio features/capabilities are tied to your sound cards driver software)

Cons and some of them are big ones.

Power supply and the supplied sound card , this will cause you some problems if you dont have a spare separate USB Host controller. The headset requires usb power, it's hungry and it is not enough to have a usb slot free you need to have a full dedicated usb interface to power the device. or you might experience the following errors.

- USB bandwidth was exceeded
- Insufficient USB Bandwidth

This is listed as a Vista error here but I can confirm it is also applicable to XP. You can see the number of used host controllers in device manager. (I bought these over the net and couldn't return them so I grabbed a pci usb card from the local electronics store for about $20.)
As I said above the set up is important, getting the correct levels for each volume. You can't do that in game and due to the nature of games you may need to set up a different sound profile for each game you play.
With the HPA2s you could set up the head phones and then adjust each speaker volume on the fly. There are fewer connection configurations available on the  AKR8 headphones than on the previous model. The HPA2 had cables to connect directly to your sound card (an option I prefer) it also had splitter adapters included that meant you could hook it up to speakers amps or other devices.
There is also a bug in the rarely updated driver software. Occasionally you will open the sound configuration panel and all the volume levels will jump to max, there is a loud buzz or beep and your eardrums will explode. Ok that last bit is an exaggeration but it does hurt.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

  These are good all rounders and an excellent set of headphones for gaming , you will be hard pressed to find better.

If you have a decent sound card and the connections it requires I would recommend the older, cheaper Ear Force HPA2 model because the headphones themselves are identicle.

If you have a generic sound card, or one not capable of 5.1 output then the AKR8 hedset is a better choice. The control box pictured above (center) is actually a sound card that is specifically paired to the headset, it allows you to take advantage of all the headsets features.

I am happy with these and would recommend them. I considered   buying the Logitech G35 as my next upgrade but all reviews indicate that it is  a virtual 7.1 sound solution which is marketing speak for "fancy stereo".

 If you feel you would still like to go for the AKR8 model, the links below have more info.