Given that a large portion of my music collection is 5.1 (and almost all my gaming happens in 5.1), there was a strong desire for 5.1 (or better) headphones although I was open to taking a stereo setup if the price worked out. Additional points for being wireless and/or no-nonsense wiring that I could use them at work (bringing them to/from work daily). Additional points if I could find a set that would pair through Bluetooth to my phone. The headsets that made the final shortlist were no slouches:
Considering how I hold the Barracuda in such high regard, I think it's worth outlining why it wasn't the clear front-runner. The Barracuda delivers absolutely fantastic sound (both quality and ability to dish out sheer volume - I can't stress this enough) and has a detatchable high-quality mic. It delivers genuine 5.1 analog audio (I'm not a big fan of USB soundcards) and hardware volume controls. It has a little bit of bling in the way of toggleable lights. It has a ridiculously long cord. Where it fails is in extended comfort (wearing it for 10hrs+ results in the tips of my ears being a bit sore) and a vinyl-wrapped cord (which, after a year+, gets more than a bit tangled). The wireframe construction on my Barracuda also has started to come apart (I wouldn't fault the design per se, I'm not exactly dainty). The tangly nature of the cord and the inability to collapse in any way meant this didn't meet my needs as a commuter headset.
The Carcharias was eliminated due to price. It's a fantastic stereo headset for it's cost but for just a bit more I could have the G35 which offers surround sound (and a bunch more features). My brief experience with the Carcharias did not inspire me for it's ability to deliver comfort over extended durations. The Megalodon was eliminated in the same way as it uses the same/similar ear cushions. As such the decision came down to the G35 or the G930.
Originally I read that the G930 could be recharged using the cable (while still in use). I thought this meant that I could use it as a wired headset. As such I could leave the wireless adapter connected to my home machine and use the USB at work. I did a comparison between the two on the Logitech site and from how I read it, the G35 seemed to be a superior product, lacking only the wireless "advantage". It seemed very much like the G7 vs G5 mouse (with the G5 being a superior product but the G7 being wireless). Translation: the feature-comparison is crap. For better or worse, the store was out of stock of the G35.
Read my comments at the end re: G35 vs G930
What's great
- It's really comfortable. While the Razor Barracuda was epically comfortable in all but the most extreme spans, the G930 is comfortable at that extreme. Having physically smaller and having a much snugger fit, it's quite possible to go to bed with them on. Overall the headband and the ear cushions are ridiculously comfortable.
- The sound quality is surprisingly good. I thought the Barracuda set an unreachable bar in terms of clarity. It did. I still get the feeling the Razer was/is better, but I cant complain about the G930. If there is a quality difference, it's too close to tell. You get the occasional bit of squelching and or static at the limit of the wireless-range, but that's fair and to be expected. It handles the THX Bass test track I threw at it at the maximum volume and settings. Not many speakers/headphones can do that.
- The battery-life is pretty good. I'm generally good for keeping things charged up but it certainly has a good amount of battery-life. It lasts all day at work (mind you I'm not necessarily listening to music during the workday but when I get home, I do stream audio for 4-5 hours before going to bed). I've not been caught without power yet. Being able to use the headset (essentialled as a wired headset) while it's charging is an awesome bonus. It charges via micro-USB (the connector on the right)
- The wireless is pretty solid. Paired with Windows 7 which has automagic audio-stream switching, I can seamlessly switch around between my speakers and headset simply by disconnecting/unplugging the headset. When I reconnect the headset, audio automatically streams back to the headset. The range is pretty good (your mileage will obviously vary). There arent many hiccups or much noise until you reach the limit of the wireless. When you move back into wireless range, the audio seamlessly reconnects.
- There is a volume control dial directly on the headset. This is awesome when I want to turn something up/down and I'm not sitting directly in front of my computer. There are also buttons on the headset that can be programmed for various applications. Default actions like next/previous track and play/pause are ingenious.
- Having a mute button for the mic is handy; it's a bit of a moot point as the microphone automatically mutes when you stow it away. In either case, a little indicator light lets you know it's muted.
- When I bought this, I didn't realize how much passive noise cancelling it came with. It's absolutely magnificant. While you can still make out what people around you are saying, it goes miles towards isolating you in your own little acoustic environment. The noise-cancelling is advertised to be 26db.
- For those that care, there is a switch to enable Dolby Pro Logic IIx. In short, this takes a stereo audio stream and upmixes it to 7.1. Given the majority of my audio (music/movies/games) are real surround-sound, this is kind of a gimmicky feature. Even for stereo audio sources (say streaming music), it's kind of gimmicky. I do like that it's a physical switch that you can toggle at a hardware level; it's also nice that the audio icon readily identifies whether or not you are running the upmixing or not (the tray icon is red for on, black for off).
- It comes with built-in voice morphing technology that lets you sound like a robot or a chipmunk or whatnot. It's fun to play with here and there but ultimately it's kinda dumb.
- The G930 comes with an adjustable microphone. Normally I think of this as being "you can fold it up out of the way when you're not using it". Not only can I do that, I can twist and bend the mic to whatever shape I need. Kind useless as a whole.
- Keep in mind the bulk of the chassis of the headset is hard plastic -- so if you drop it or whatnot, it will probably crack. Compared to the wireframe chassis of the Barracuda, the G930 doesnt give me the bang-it-around confidence.
- Given that this is a wireless headset and there's no way to "bind" one headset to a specific transmitter, I think there may be issues with having multiple headsets in a locale. Now the flip side is that if the headsets are paired to the individual transmitters as suggested here, if you lose your transmitter you're SOL. This also means you cant just go to a friends house and connect to his/her transmitter -- you'll have to bring your own. Sometimes analog just wins out (just get a splitter and you're good to go).
- The headset comes with programmable G-buttons. Unlike the G-keys on their gaming keyboards, the buttons on the headset are more limited/gimmicky. You can bind them to "expected" things like play/pause/stop/next/previous etc as well as specific things such as toggling specific voice morphing routines etc. There is a SDK available to make plugins for the headset.
- The drivers. They're terrible. While they arent the worst that Logitech's made, they certainyl could use a lot more refinement. They definitely have periods of instability (running 64bit Windows 7 here). The estimated battery gauge doesnt always work nor does it update reliably. You can see a screenshot of the interface here with the battery gauge in the bottom left -- not working. Hopefully this improves over time; Logitech usually gets their act together after a generation or so.
- Compared to the venerable Barracuda, the G930 offers noise cancelling however the Barracuda wins in sheer volume output (no seriously, the Barracuda didnt need noise cancelling... if you were being bothered by external noises, simply crank the volume). The G930's volume output is decent, but definitely about half of what the Barracuda can do. Can you hear it on your desk? Yes. Will you mistake it for small-speakers (like you could with the Barracuda)? Not a chance. There's no deafness-inducing volume output here.
- Given that the G930 is a usb-audio device, you cant use it with, say, an ipod. It also means that the surround sound functionality is unavailable if you dont install the drivers! In fact, damn near nothing works without the drivers. If you just plug it in, you get a basic stereo headset. This means you'll get limited use in non-windows-PC setups.
- In case anyone encounters crackling/static/noise with their G930 (or the G35 or any USB headset for that matter) -- try connecting it to the PC directly and/or to a powered USB hub. This often clears out a lot of the issues.
- While I've not had problems with the battery life, there's no hardware indicator to inform me that I am low on battery (and the drivers are too unreliable that they might as well not even bother reporting battery life). So if you do do a wireless marathon, it will simply cut out on you. Thankfully you can just plug in and continue on your way.
Closing
All in all, I'm very happy with this headset. Was it worth $160? Yes. Considering how often I'm hooked up to my headset, the seemingly high investment for a peripheral is definitely worth it. It has high-quality audio output and a high-quality/decent microphone. Additional points for having a hardware Dolby toggle switch, a hardware volume control and being somewhat foldable (to be more commuter friendly) make this an awesome deal. Final verdict: 9/10
Addendum: G930 vs G35
For all intents and purposes the G35 is just a wired version of the G930. Given the wired-nature of the headset it's more geared towards comfort (i.e., adjustable headstrap in case you dont find the default one good enough). Both offer the same core feature-set (i.e., USB audio, 7.1, Dolby upmixing, G-buttons, volume controls, mute indicator light). The G35 comes with a 10-foot woven cord (think Logitech G5 mouse). According to the specifications, there seems to be a minor discrepancy between the microphones on these headsets although for the target demographic (non-recording studios) this is probably insignificant.
So the decision as to which to get depends on how much wireless is worth to you. Generally, the G930 will come out on top as [a] the single pad that comes with the G930 is pretty dang comfortable, it's the same as the default pad that comes preinstalled with the G35 and [b] you can always plug the USB in. If the price premium for the G930 isn't objectionable to you, I would reccomend it over the G35.
For all intents and purposes the G35 is just a wired version of the G930. Given the wired-nature of the headset it's more geared towards comfort (i.e., adjustable headstrap in case you dont find the default one good enough). Both offer the same core feature-set (i.e., USB audio, 7.1, Dolby upmixing, G-buttons, volume controls, mute indicator light). The G35 comes with a 10-foot woven cord (think Logitech G5 mouse). According to the specifications, there seems to be a minor discrepancy between the microphones on these headsets although for the target demographic (non-recording studios) this is probably insignificant.
So the decision as to which to get depends on how much wireless is worth to you. Generally, the G930 will come out on top as [a] the single pad that comes with the G930 is pretty dang comfortable, it's the same as the default pad that comes preinstalled with the G35 and [b] you can always plug the USB in. If the price premium for the G930 isn't objectionable to you, I would reccomend it over the G35.
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