Testing

To test out the headphones, I used them in three situations. Firstly, I used them on my notebook, to play music and games. I played both Unreal Tournament and World Of Warcraft and I was surprised with the quality of sound. It wasn't just good, it was unreal! The headphones provided an enclosed fit on my ear and blocked out all other sounds around me. I heard things in both games that I had never noticed before. The ambient effects in the background were a lot more vivid and clear, and the headphones were more comfortable than any set I currently own or have ever owned.

I also tested Ventrillo out with a few friends who informed me that my audio quality through the USB microphone was better than they had ever heard before, and a great improvement over my previous setup of a Logitech USB microphone. I also used them to watch a DVD. The surround sound in the movie was outstanding and again, I would definitely say that these headphones produced some of the best sound I have ever heard coming out of a PC in my life!

Since I was impressed with being the user of these headphones, there was only one other thing to test - being on the other side of a conversation with someone using these headphones. I gave them to a person I play World of Warcraft with who lives locally. She had been having issues with echoing sound and feedback during some of our ingame activities. For months we had tried to solve her issues with driver updates and settings within Ventrillo. It even got to the stage where some of the Guild members had muted her, due to her poor quality audio. She was very excited when she first got to see the headphones. I left them with her for a couple of days and the first thing she told me, after installing the headphones, was that she had just spent hours playing different CDs and watching parts of her favorite movies with them, since she'd never experienced audio from her computer of this quality before. She also remarked that they felt more like comfy ear warmers and not headphones! Her audio went from being downright horrid to being the clearest person on the Ventrillo channel. The only bit of confusion she had was adjusting the audio levels in the control panel because after installing the Cyber Snipa headphones, her PC had two microphones. But once she understood how to control all of that there were no problems.

These headphones not only provided an audio upgrade for her but also solved the feedback issues she was having with her cheap onboard audio solution. Her comments and my comments about the headphones have since driven several of our Guild member to seek out the same headset.

Conclusion

Pros

• Excellent audio quality
• Comfortable
• Easy setup
• Impressive 5.1 surround sound simulation
• Fantastic way to upgrade from a cheap or problematic onboard audio solution

Cons

• A little heavy
• Cannot have speakers plugged into the same audio device

Reviewing a headset is not as easy as it sounds (pun intended). The Cyber Snipa SONAR 5.1 headphones were so clearly superior than any other set I'd used before, that it made testing them a pleasure. No matter what I tried out with them, the sound quality and comfort level was always impressive. They provide an inexpensive way to solve audio issues which you may have with games and they also provide one of the best audio headphone solutions available.

The Cyber Snipa SONAR 5.1 headset can be purchased for as little as US$40.