The Icemat series of products have been surfacing upon many review sites around the Internet and we were asked to take a look at them over here at LAN Addict. One of the difficult points of reviewing peripherals is the fact that it is more opinion based than actual performance based such as video cards and the like. Therefore, as you read any review which either does not have much in the department of benchmarks or facts, definitely take it with a grain of salt. With that being said, lets start out on this review!
Design
The headset does appear as a quality gamers' headset, even from the packaging. The styling reminds me greatly of the iPod earbuds, but still is quite dazzling. The great styling ear pieces, and a huge honking microphone, sure make this headset stand out over the others.
Upon opening the product, I found a nice felt carrying case (huge bonus for me), two other types of ear piece inserts for those who just simply have weird (or just different??) shaped ears, the headset, and microphone. Of course, the ingeniousness of this design is its simplicity. Each device can be used by itself. I often find myself just listening to MP3's or watching a movie and really wish my gaming headphones didn't have that annoying microphone sticking in front of my face. Each has its own 1/4” input jack. There is also an extender provided, which feels just great in my opinion. The extender combines the microphone and headset cords in one, gives you a large amount of room to lean back and drink your Mountain Dew while blasting the enemy away in Battlefield 2142 or, my favorite still, Unreal Tournament 2004.
One desire that I have is the ability of having a volume adjuster on the cord, as many headphones these days have stock. However, on the plus side, the microphone does have an on/off switch, so having two dongles might just add an unnecessary annoyance especially with most gamers having volume controls right on their keyboard (and if you don't, consider rebinding some keys to do just that).
First Use Thoughts
As I first put the headset into my precious and wonderful ears, it felt a bit awkward as the room suddenly felt a bit quieter. This awkwardness did not persist long. Once the music started on my computer, I was back into my groove enjoying the tunes and back to the basics of writing this review.
As I have been listening, however, it seems as if it is either a bit on the quiet side (which, in all reality, I probably need) or my laptop which I took on the road for Thanksgiving doesn't have the power my desktop has. To be honest, my first thoughts were not of disgust or shame or frustration over the fact that I was now reviewing this headset.
Did it shock my pants or socks off me? Not even close. They are still headsets and basically function the same as you would imagine any other. On the comfort level, they do stand out above many others that I have tried. The different inserts for your ears do give you a variety of comfort, which I personally liked. Most headsets and headphones assume the concept of one size fits all. Icemat, however, clearly has a different approach with providing these inserts.
Included Accessories
As I mentioned before, the accessories are rather basic and a bit difficult to explain, so a large portion of this part is going to be picture based. First off, we have the felt case for carrying these guys around town, which I greatly fancy, just in case you wanted a quality headset for your PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, or for on the go. Next, we have three ear piece adapters that help with comfort and the ability to hold them in. As this portion is all opinion based upon the styling of your ears I'll leave it at just pictures.
Quality Preamble
Sound quality is a very subjective thing to write about, since it is mostly based upon a reviewer's experience with the product and opinion. I found no truly effective ways to benchmark and compare this headset so with forewarning, you may desire to take the following with a grain of salt simply because there are fewer facts to base this section upon!
Sound Quality
The sound quality is very good on the headset. As I compared it to my other gaming headphones made my Logitech I was impressed by the sound dampening which this headset provides. Essentially you are almost removed from the environment you are currently in and put in a whole new sound domain. I thoroughly tested the quality of sound by using the following applications, Gaming, Video, and VOIP.
The sound quality produced in games is very high and won't leave you without the crucial details that are necessary for winning. I rarely was directionally confused due to the sound and one can hear as much as with speakers.
While watching videos, I found no faults either. The sound came in crisp and clear. For those of you who wish to enjoy Futurama without the distractions of ambient noise, parents, siblings, or significant others, the headset sure does its job to silence everything you don't want to hear while producing a great sounding experience!
VOIP is a special category all in it self. While using our VOIP software, I had no issues with this headset. I heard my friend very clearly and to the point. The sound quality on this headset is pristine!
Record Quality
The two different tests I ran was playing Video Games (Counter-Strike:Source, Half-Life 2, Battlefield 2, etc) and using over a VOIP connection. In game there were few to no issues. It sounded great and was very clear. I did, however, find it necessary to enable the 20db gain on the microphone to allow the microphone to be loud enough. I have noticed this to be the standard case with nearly all of my microphones! In my opinion, the microphone could have been a bit less of a uni-directional microphone to allow greater control of what is sent out. For the most part, however, it works great and there is little to complain about. The biggest complaint was regarding a decent humming noise being transmitted, which originated from my army of computers and their fans!
Conclusion
The Icemat Audio Siberia In:Ear Headset is a great functioning and capable headset marketed to gamers. At the end of the day, the headset did live up to its claims very reasonably. The device does as it claimed, looks cool, and is rather comfortable with extras hiding around. The quality on this set is exceptional. Plus, you get great bonuses such as a seperate microphone, additional ear pieces, length extender (and a rather long extension as well), and a carrying bag. Throw all of that on top of a solidly built headphone and microphone you've got a winning product. If you're in the market for a headset I would recommend Siberia's In:Ear Headset!
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