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Roccat Kave Review

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onek

New Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2008
Location
England
Right, I dont know if this is the correct section of the forum. but here it goes​


Review;Roccat Kave 5.1 Gaming headset.



I bought the Roccat Kave headset from novatech, got saturday delivery, and I must say its damn awesome.
The headset packaging is informative as it needs to be, and has that traditional Roccat style, that makes it such a noticed product.
Although the product itself, isnt known internationally since the Roccat is a EU gaming Team, who manufactor gaming products.

The contents I recieved. A german written newsletter of no use at all! then a Roccat booklet that explaines the products creation, and tests where done and such not, lots of jargon tbh but it seems quite fun to read.

Latestly was a little card that stated 2 years warrenty, how to replace, the website and email basically contact email.

The headset itself, has been rubber coated, on the cans, can be folded up.Its very comfortable, with the 3 sets of padding, and the mic glows, and the ring around the headset glows.
The mic glows blue when you mute the mic, on the Roccat Control Centre.
There are 5.1 speakers angled at 12 degrees, to enhance the surround sound feel.

The headset has a unique rumble function, which acts as bass/vibration, and i tell you now, that feature gives the headset a whole new feeling to gaming, its like a head massage at the same time, as it being immense in game.
The control center you have enables you to change speaker volumes; Center, Front, Rear and Sub as the rumble.

The headset is amazing, it looks and feels awesome, and its not too heavy. It doesnt ache your neck after a while, it cushions your ears as they sit inside the noise cancelling pads surrounding the speakers.

I recommend this product to anyone who has a 5.1 sound card, and wants everything from there games. I played L4D and I heard things that I have never experianced before, sounds of grunting boomers, and growling hunters, who could be so far away, yet i turn in 180 degrees and the defined sound is still there, the grunts.
The music in L4D when a horde comes is amazing, you feel totally immensed into it, by the rumbling bass. The lows, mids and highs sound immense. Its amazing for gaming FULL STOP.
The Mic itself is very good, background cancelling works superb! You will have no problems with the microphone.

I also tested it on music, I listened to my favorate band Opeth, which is a progressive metal band, and it sounded like I was listening to it for the first time, the bass, the clarity of sound was astoundingly good for the price of £91.

All in all I recommend this entirely. Its an awesome buy, I think it could of been priced at £130. Its that good! the control center has two modes, which i forgot to mention, Game and Movie.



The cables you recieve are 4 x 3.5mm; Mic, front, rear and center.
Then a USB cable to power the headsets control panel, which has a nice blue led that tells you it works.
The cables are very well made, so no chance of breaking them, unless you are extremely careless beyond belief.

The volume unit on the control center is great, but it clicks and it is the only fault that I can announce other than the fact the distance between the control center unit and headset is just over half a meter long. Yet it isnt exactly a problem, unless you want to dart across the room constantly with the headset on.

Overall I am not that good at reviewing products, but i've tried. Not sure if its helpful. I have also posted a video review, as its my first for a reviewing of a product at all. I suggest a bit of feedback, I didnt get a very good grade at school for English a D to be precise.

Becides my personal life, this produce has enhanced it and I extremely recommend it, as it sounds imo like you have a Logitech Z-2300 on youe head, so it could replace a sound system, if you really wanted to. I wouldnt, but I have a Logitech Z-2300 and I say the Roccat Kave headset has shocked me more than anything else I have ever bought in sound.



10/10 for sound.
10/10 for comfort
9/10 for design as cable can be a bit short, between the control panel and headset, if you need to drag it.



I also did a video review for the Roccat Kave

I hope you enjoyed reading this, or helped you decide wheither to buy one, or just plain interested.

Thanks

-Greeme, yah im called onek on this forum.:rolleyes:
 
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Thanks for the review. This thread reply is somehow late :bday:

However I understand that it is not common for people to have more than 1 similar headset for better review and comparision purpose. So I would like to share some of my observations based on the three headphones i have.

I have three 5.1 headphones as below:-
1) Roccat Kave 5.1, USD 135 (received only 2 days ago)
2) Razer Baraccuda HP1 5.1, USD 139
3) Psyko 5.1, USD 299

My review is not yet completed but I would like to write down a little portion of the findings. I hope this will help those who plan to buy 5.1 headphone. In this case Roccat Kave is the main unit for discussion.

Razer HP1 is beaten flat, lose in everyyyyy aspect, except for the weight and comfortability. HP1 is 274g, Kave is 414g. Psyko 500g.

As compared to Psyko, Kave wins in overall performance, but loses in some areas like treble, subwoofer, sound proof and sound direction. Yes, Kave lost in sound proof, Psyko is very tight on head and seals the ears entirely. With Kave I can still hear little external noise like... for example your car windows are all closed but one is crack opened for <1mm; while Psyko is totally closed. HP1 sound proof is a joke no need to mention here. For sound direction, Psyko using wavetube is a clear winner and hard to be challenged by conventional 5.1 headphone.

Kave center speaker has some response to LFE, looks like full band speakers. This make me feel 'warm' as compared to the weak HP1 and Psyko (both non full band). Even the HP1 center is better than Psyko.

Kave front speakers are full band speakers, same as HP1 but I feel it is slightly better than HP1 in treble but lose in bass; and far superior than Psyko (non full band). Psyko front speakers have slightly better treble anyway.

Kave Rear speakers are full band speakers too, far superior than HP1 and Psyko (both non full band). Psyko rear speakers still have better treble than Kave.

Kave subwoofers are better than HP1, lesser resonance and the vibration is not too much as the retarded HP1. However I still hate vibration, make me sick after 30min of use. Psyko subwoofer has no vibration function and give more solid bass and heavier punch, but does not perform well at frequency below 40Hz. Kave subwoofers unbearable resonance happen at 70Hz, and HP1 at 50Hz. No resonance at Psyko because of no vibration function.

I love Kave Amp design, so easy and practical. HP1 sound channel control is poor, you will never know/remember how much have you turned the knob, and very easily mistakened and disturbed. Psyko Amp only has subwoofer control and I consider it the worst among the 3, although it may have the best build quality.

Kave Amp does not have bass redirection function, same as HP1. Psyko has this function. Lack of this feature will affect audio experience while playing stereo signal sound, because the subwoofer will not be activated. There are solutions, but I am not elaborating that here. There are pros and cons about bass redirection function, nothing is absolutely good without bad.

Razer HP1 and Roccat Kave are about the same price, but I think Razer did not survey the market before putting that kind of price tag. Razer HP1 is rediculously poor in quality. For Psyko, it is overpriced but the performance is not as good as Kave. Roccat Kave is my preference 5.1 headphone among the 3 although I just had it for 2 days.

Only a few things I dislike about Kave:-
1) The blue LED around the mic jack on the headphone left cover, how to turn it off??
2) Vibration on low frequency signal, anyway to disable or destroy the vibrating mechanism? I don care about warranty.
3) Mic jack connected to headphone is of non standard (Coaxial), but i am not using it anyway.
4) Headphone and Amp cannot be separated like Psyko.
5) The folding mechanism made it a weak point at the same time.
6) Treble is not as good, subwoofer is not the best in class.
7) 414g is rather heavy, not comfortable after long use. Sound proof not the best.
 
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I know this is late but I'm looking for a real 5.1 surround sound gaming headset and the Kave seems promising, but I'm going to be a real noob as I'm a little unsure how the 4 jacks work, I have 4 ports at the back of my sound card (creative sound blaster) so I'm assuming the extra 2 jacks go there, or will I need a new sound card?
 
Interesting thread...

As is usually suggested when someone asked for a 5.1 headset, just get a good regular 2 channel. 5.1 doesn't work well in such a small space, it's like getting a 5 channel home theater and sticking all of the speakers right next to your head.

The Audio Technica AD700 usually gets recommended if you don't need a mic attached (Although it's not hard at all to stick one on), as for ones with a mic I usually don't recommend them because they are 'gaming' headsets. SNEMOTICON13.gif
 
Interesting thread...

As is usually suggested when someone asked for a 5.1 headset, just get a good regular 2 channel. 5.1 doesn't work well in such a small space, it's like getting a 5 channel home theater and sticking all of the speakers right next to your head.
X2. I messed with 5.1 headphones before I took audio seriously, and always ended up going back to stereo headphones. Every set Ive used all had the same fatal flaws, the center channel sounds like its above your head and not in front of you., and the rear channels sound like theyre more to your sides rather than the rear. When I ran Creative sound cards many moons ago, the CMSS3D run through stereo headphones bested any 5.1 headphone setup Ive heard.

The Audio Technica AD700 usually gets recommended if you don't need a mic attached (Although it's not hard at all to stick one on), as for ones with a mic I usually don't recommend them because they are 'gaming' headsets. SNEMOTICON13.gif

Hifi headphones are better for everything...no doubt. All gaming headphones do is add sizzle to the top end and overexaggerate the bass, much like gaming speakers do. Like you said before, the nature of the beast...having so many drivers too close to the ear is why 5.1 headphones will never truly sound right.
 
X2. I messed with 5.1 headphones before I took audio seriously, and always ended up going back to stereo headphones. Every set Ive used all had the same fatal flaws, the center channel sounds like its above your head and not in front of you., and the rear channels sound like theyre more to your sides rather than the rear. When I ran Creative sound cards many moons ago, the CMSS3D run through stereo headphones bested any 5.1 headphone setup Ive heard.



Hifi headphones are better for everything...no doubt. All gaming headphones do is add sizzle to the top end and overexaggerate the bass, much like gaming speakers do. Like you said before, the nature of the beast...having so many drivers too close to the ear is why 5.1 headphones will never truly sound right.


But but... sextets...
 
X2. I messed with 5.1 headphones before I took audio seriously, and always ended up going back to stereo headphones. Every set Ive used all had the same fatal flaws, the center channel sounds like its above your head and not in front of you., and the rear channels sound like theyre more to your sides rather than the rear. When I ran Creative sound cards many moons ago, the CMSS3D run through stereo headphones bested any 5.1 headphone setup Ive heard.



Hifi headphones are better for everything...no doubt. All gaming headphones do is add sizzle to the top end and overexaggerate the bass, much like gaming speakers do. Like you said before, the nature of the beast...having so many drivers too close to the ear is why 5.1 headphones will never truly sound right.

I got that from you, spreading the word of hifi around all of the gaming sets threads. :)

But but... sextets...

Aren't those 2 channel anyway?
 
I got that from you, spreading the word of hifi around all of the gaming sets threads. :)



Aren't those 2 channel anyway?

Yeah, but they have "passive" drivers that basically bounce sound around. They're maybe about 10% of a true working speaker I guess. :)
 
I know this is late but I'm looking for a real 5.1 surround sound gaming headset and the Kave seems promising, but I'm going to be a real noob as I'm a little unsure how the 4 jacks work, I have 4 ports at the back of my sound card (creative sound blaster) so I'm assuming the extra 2 jacks go there, or will I need a new sound card?

bump
Edit: it's this sound card, can I have a simple answer please
http://uk.store.creative.com/products/product.aspx?catid=1&pid=15853&nav=1
 
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ROCCAT Kave - REAL 5.1 Surround Sound

1. Installation - CD

This bit was easy; Kaspersky Internet Security reported autostart.exe as malware (Trojan.Win32.Pincav.gsr). A false positive I hope!

2. Installation - Headset

This bit was a nightmare; it took me 3 hours to get it right.

Warning: The audio cables may not be the same as your sound card. The colouring and order may be different.

If it sounds hollow or phased (like talking down a tube), or the mic doesn't work then you've probably connected it up wrong. Don't play about with the default Windows or sound card settings unless you are sure the connections are correct and the headset is being detected by Windows as a 5.1 surround sound device.

In my case the connections from Kave (5.1) to Soundblaster (7.1) were:
- black to black
- yellow to orange
- nothing to purple
- green to green
- pink to blue

I had pink connected to purple; Windows thought it was 7.1 instead of 5.1 and did not detect the mic unless it was plugged into the Front Panel.

3. Design - Adjustment/Headband

The headset is high quality but also very heavy; I got used to it after a few weeks. I had the headset too tight to start of with which caused pain to the top of my head; I adjusted the headband scale from 5 to 6 which helped. The Equal Weight Distribution system doesn't work as well as I would have liked; the middle pad makes good contact with my head but the side pads don't; I move the headset around or take a 5-10 minute break every hour or so to avoid the pain. Ouch!

4. Real 5.1 Surround Sound

Yes it is REAL and it does work. Compared with my old stereo headset I can now hear tiny and quiet sounds that I never heard before; and I can tell where sounds are coming from. Watch out for other headsets, like the Logitech G35 and Razer Megalodon, as these use FAKE (emulated) surround sound rather than the REAL thing.

The closed ear cups cancel much background noise out; but that also means that you can't hear yourself talking! Having closed ear cups is new to me; it sounds like I've got seashells pressed against each ear.

5. Microphone

The mic is clear, crisp and loud enough for game playing.

6. Control Desktop Remote

I've set all sliders to 50% (recommended setting); it sounds just right even with flat (default) settings on both headset and sound card. As a bonus music and movies also sound good.

7. Conclusion

Overall the Kave headset is very impressive for the price tag. I no longer feel the need to use my external amplifier and speakers when I'm not playing games. My game playing experience is now much more immersive thanks to the Roccat Kave headset. Highly recommended! :thup:
 
I just got these headphones, and they just dont seem to sound as good as people are saying.

Music wise, bass is very weak even on max. Surround sound wise, i can barely tell if sounds are from in front or behind, i can only tell left from right. Im starting to think 5.1 headphones are a gimmick.

Im using Onboard realtek HD audio 7.1. Ive plugged in all the plugs correctly and have set it to 5.1 surround.

Also, in BF bad company 2, im playing the game on "wartapes", and the sound of gunfire seems really flat, not solid like in say CoD WaW.

Could it be the onboard sound causing poor sound quallity? If so what sound card would you guys recommend?

NOTE: Ive never really used headphones for gaming before. These Kaves are my 1st real gaming headsets.
 
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How long are the cables for this headset? Im worried since if you have a big screen you have to sit further from the screen. Is there any chance that if the cables arent long enough you'll have to lean your head foreward when playing because of short cables? That would really be more than a neck strain.

A wireless capability would be a very good feature though.
 
I'm planning on getthing this one soon BUT I only have 3 inputs on my onboard audio and they're for the mic, front, and rear. Would I get the full 5.1 feature? BTW, my onboard is 5.1.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=N68C-S UCC&cat=Specifications

You will get front left and front right from the green.
You will get rear left and rear right from the orange.
The mic input won't give you any output.

You'll be losing centre and bass so unfortunately you won't get 5.1

Get a sound card! Even a cheap one is better than onboard IMO.
 
You will get front left and front right from the green.
You will get rear left and rear right from the orange.
The mic input won't give you any output.

You'll be losing centre and bass so unfortunately you won't get 5.1

Get a sound card! Even a cheap one is better than onboard IMO.
This is only the case if you hear issues with onboard. If you don't, you won't get much improvement until you go hardware. There are the cheap ones like the chaintech cards but those aren't made anymore. Few of the "cheap" cards are that great.
 
This is only the case if you hear issues with onboard. If you don't, you won't get much improvement until you go hardware. There are the cheap ones like the chaintech cards but those aren't made anymore. Few of the "cheap" cards are that great.

I seem to be able to notice a difference between onboard, cheap cards and expensive cards somehow :p But I havent' found a single sound onboard that beats a basic card, I'm guessing I'm alone here.
 
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