Welcome to a by request unboxing. So, this is the Thermaltch Shock gaming
headset and we'll take a look at what Thermaltch has to say for themselves.
First, you know what? I am going to stand up. I changed my mind. So, we've got bass enhancement, foldable design,
inline control box, noise cancelling mic, a goldplated 3 and a half
millimeter plug. So, these are all pretty standard things except for having
noise cancelling. That's that's good. That's better than sort of the most basic stuff. Uh, max input is 100 m.
Okay. Impedance is 32 ohms, which is pretty low. and you've got a 40
millimeter driver. Low impedance is good, by the way. You want that so that
the um your sound card doesn't have to work too hard to get things uh to get
things going, to get the sound happening. So, what else they got to
say? Velvet ear pads, headband pad, soft
leather pad to release the pressure to your head. I think what they mean is
relieve pressure from your head, but that's fine. Uh 10 levels of headband
adjustment to perfectly fit. Control box in line. Okay. mute a mute microphone
mute switch and innovative plug-and-play headset for true stereo sound quality. I
don't know how innovative a plug-and-play headset is, but um I mean
there you go. So, packaging wise, it's pretty straightforward. It comes on a
little black thing and it comes with a little carrying case, which is nice. The
carrying case is quite small as you guys may have noticed and this is to
accommodate the fact that the headphones do fold for easy transport which anyone
who carries their headphones around with them is going to appreciate. So, you
just take them, fold them up like that, and then chuck them into the little
baggie where they will be protected. Maybe not from impacts, but at least
from unnecessary scratches and whatnot, which is great because the headband, as
well as the ear cups, has a glossy finish on it that you don't want to get
all scuffed up and scratched up and have someone make it ugly. That would be not
appreciated. The earphones are clearly labeled. R for ref and light. So, it's
going to go this way. No, I'm just kidding. Right and left. That that's
that's what I meant to say. And I'd say if I had something that I noticed about
them right away, it's the fact that they fit me without making any adjustments to
the headband. So, while the headband has 10 levels of adjustment, metal headband,
do like to see that versus plastic headbands. I just trust them more.
Um, I don't think they'll fit someone with a super small head, but you
shouldn't have any difficulty for someone with a larger head or someone
with a medium-sized head like yours truly right here. Now, the ear cup foam
is quite a hard foam. See, you can see it rebounds quite quickly. And the
advantage of this is that they do it will conform to your head over time,
whereas the disadvantage is they tend to be a little bit less comfortable right
out of the box. The shape of the earphones is a little bit on the unusual
side when you see that it's a rectangle, but it's not actually that crazy because
that rectangle is kind of an ear-shaped rectangle. So, what I notice about them
right away is that compared to some round headphones, like for example, as
much as I love my Steel Series 7H's, they can put a little bit of pressure on
my earrings, this one does not. They're able to sit inside there without putting
pressure on my head. Now, speaking of pressure on my head, the headband is
about, I'd say, a medium thickness. So that does distribute the weight a little
bit but what or okay medium width I should say whereas the thickness is
quite thick. So what that allows it to do is mush out and it does actually get
see there you go now it's sort of a thicker headband and that does make it
quite comfortable on the top of your head. I think that's not going to take
very long to break in at all compared to the earphones themselves. The boom mic
can be lowered and adjusted so you can see it kind of sits like that. I do like
retractable mics compared to boom mics because you can position them right at
the corner of your mouth so you don't accidentally breathe on them. But unlike one of the headphones I was looking at
earlier today, this one is not positioned such that the only way to get
it anywhere near my mouth, I'd be breathing directly on it. So it's a
better fit for me personally anyway. So there's the noise cancelling mic and
then there's the microphone that is intended to pick up your voice. Um
overall build quality feels quite robust. I'm pleasantly surprised. The
hinges don't have a lot of flex to them. So, it's, you know, if your ears are
positioned kind of funny, then uh beware. Mind you, they have a little
bit, but you can see that the hinges themselves when I really heave on them,
all the movement is down here at the bottom. And these are holding out quite
nicely. Again, this is part of why metal headbands inspire confidence uh for me
personally. Anyway, um I guess uh yeah,
they're very open design, so you're going to be able to hear what's around
you quite easily. Uh, personally I prefer the sound of open headphones to
closed headphones, but the disadvantage for gamers is that everyone can hear
what you're listening to and you can hear what's going on around you. So, it
might not be quite as immersive, but it's always nice to know when dinner's ready. Anyway, the cable length is a
Linus arms span, which basically means it's five and whatever feet plus about
looks like another 2 and 1/2. So, it's about an 8 8 and 1/2 ft cable on there.
And you've got inline controls for your volume up, volume down, and then your
microphone on and mute, as well as a little clip so you can put it somewhere
where you're not going to lose it. However, that clip is made of plastic,
and I don't know how long that is going to last. Thermaltch includes some
documentation with it, which basically amounts to a warranty policy as well as
their multilingual installation guide book. However, it truly is plugandplay.
Plug and play. Like, it's a gaming headset. you're supposed to play with
it. And uh if you need that installation guide book, then um you're probably
going to need installation guide books that come with your breakfast cereal as
well because this is quite simple to install. Now, I have another version of
the shock. This is the shock one, and the main difference between this one is
DTS surround sound being included on it.
So, if you use an analog connected headphone or headset, then you have to
rely on your sound card supporting some kind of a virtual surround. Whereas, if
you use something like this, which is basically the same thing for the most
part. So, you got your TTE Sports uh
carry bag. Oh. Oh, no. This one is different. It comes with two different
sets of ear cups. So, you have either the uh the cloth ear cups that were
included on the regular one, or you have
a more uh pleathery type of ear cup that
actually seems to have a bit of a softer foam on it as well. So, these have a bit
more of a premium feel. However, it should be noted that when you use a
cloth ear cup, it is more breathable and it does tend to allow more sound to be
transmitted through. And then the other main difference, again, these are very,
very similar headphones. Overall, uh, microphone's the same, the fit and
finish is the same. Oh, I think I quite like these, though. Those are much
softer. Um, and then the main difference being USB on the other end, just like
that. So, the sound card is actually integrated with the headphones on this
one, integrated into the control pod. So, you got volume up, volume down,
microphone mute, audio mute, and then
you can lock it and unlock it. Oh, neat.
Oh, cool. Cool. So, that'll prevent accidental button presses. And then, look, it has a little light built into
it that you can uh turn on and off. Very cool. And then a much more rugged clip
on this one. So, that's uh that looks much less likely to be accidentally
damaged. So, DTS surround is included. It's got a USB sound card instead of
relying on your sound card. So, what it comes down to is recommen recommendation
time. If you have a good quality sound card, you're going to want the analog
connection. If you're using onboard sound, get the USB connection version
cuz it'll probably be better than what you're using. Now, thank you for checking out this unboxing and first
look at the Thermaltake Shock. Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips
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