Digital Trends

Logitech Precision PC Gaming Headset November 1st, 2006 | by Brandon King

Performance

Audio quality of the microphone was acceptable. We tested VoIP calls through Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, and TeamSpeak2. We were annoyed by the microphone which needs exact placement to pick up voice with any volume. As mentioned earlier, there is no foam cover on the end of the microphone to screen out pops when saying the letters “p” and “d”, or to help muffle the letters “s” and “f”.

In our music tests, the Logitech Precision PC Gaming headset fell flat. We used the same music selection as with the pricier Sennheiser PC145 and PC160 headsets. A broad array of techno, synthpop, jazz, Britpop, and alternative music was tested from two sources: an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro and a 4th generation Apple iPod. Highs sound like they are being played inside a Campbell’s soup can, and produced distortion at modestly high levels. Treble rich portions of techno and synthpop songs were simply unbearable. Mids were recessed and poorly represented in high energy music, with lows muddy and inaccurate. The sound stage is decisively split, with nearly no sound appearing directly in front of the listener. Overall, techno and synthpop sounded flat and uninspiring. Stereo effects were wasted on slurred acoustics, and 3D sound localizing plug-ins for Windows Media Player did absolutely nothing to give the music any depth. With the techno/synthpop tests in mind we thought industrial and noise selections might actually shine on the Precision headset. It made sense at the time. Unfortunately, we were wrong and more industrial/mechanical sounds sounded like a combination of steel wool on a cheese grater mixed with the random humming of a goat, except for the steel wool/cheese grater and random humming of a goat sounds, which sounded like an off tune fiddle. Ironically, rock and ethereal music fared the best with this headset. Though not great, the quality was acceptable for the price of this headset.

And how about gaming? Surprisingly not as bad; but not very good either. We chose Doom 3, Unreal Tournament 2004, City of Villains, and Half-Life 2 to test the Logitech Precision Gaming Headset. Much of the realism to the various atmospheres was ruined by the poor sound representation, but gunfire and other special effects were decent. The muddy bass didn’t ruin any satisfying explosions, and the shrill treble made scraping sounds even shriller. Sound localization was pretty poor due to the extreme sound separation, so don’t try to target enemies using the sounds of their footsteps. They’ll generally be 5 feet from where you shoot. The microphone quality, once placed correctly was adequate for gaming, but won’t win any broadcasting awards. Our teammates said it sounded “about average” over Teamspeak.

Conclusion

The Logitech Precision Headset is a rare Logitech product, in that it is remarkably poor in ways that Logitech is usually strong. The plastic construction feels cheap, the fit uncomfortable, the appearance downright embarrassing; and the sound quality is simply unacceptable. The downfalls are only countered by the acceptably low price and convenience of a built-in boom mic. The only real saving grace is that the gaming sound quality is better than some other options within the price range.

Pros:

• Low price
• Integrated mic


Cons:

• Sub par sound quality
• Uncomfortable
• Unappealing design