Thermaltake Shock Gaming Headsets Unboxing & Overview
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2013-05-07
·
1,642 words · ~8 min read
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Welcome to a by request unboxing. So, this is the Thermaltch Shock gaming
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headset and we'll take a look at what Thermaltch has to say for themselves.
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First, you know what? I am going to stand up. I changed my mind. So, we've got bass enhancement, foldable design,
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inline control box, noise cancelling mic, a goldplated 3 and a half
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millimeter plug. So, these are all pretty standard things except for having
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noise cancelling. That's that's good. That's better than sort of the most basic stuff. Uh, max input is 100 m.
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Okay. Impedance is 32 ohms, which is pretty low. and you've got a 40
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millimeter driver. Low impedance is good, by the way. You want that so that
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the um your sound card doesn't have to work too hard to get things uh to get
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things going, to get the sound happening. So, what else they got to
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say? Velvet ear pads, headband pad, soft
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leather pad to release the pressure to your head. I think what they mean is
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relieve pressure from your head, but that's fine. Uh 10 levels of headband
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adjustment to perfectly fit. Control box in line. Okay. mute a mute microphone
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mute switch and innovative plug-and-play headset for true stereo sound quality. I
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don't know how innovative a plug-and-play headset is, but um I mean
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there you go. So, packaging wise, it's pretty straightforward. It comes on a
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little black thing and it comes with a little carrying case, which is nice. The
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carrying case is quite small as you guys may have noticed and this is to
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accommodate the fact that the headphones do fold for easy transport which anyone
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who carries their headphones around with them is going to appreciate. So, you
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just take them, fold them up like that, and then chuck them into the little
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baggie where they will be protected. Maybe not from impacts, but at least
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from unnecessary scratches and whatnot, which is great because the headband, as
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well as the ear cups, has a glossy finish on it that you don't want to get
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all scuffed up and scratched up and have someone make it ugly. That would be not
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appreciated. The earphones are clearly labeled. R for ref and light. So, it's
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going to go this way. No, I'm just kidding. Right and left. That that's
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that's what I meant to say. And I'd say if I had something that I noticed about
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them right away, it's the fact that they fit me without making any adjustments to
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the headband. So, while the headband has 10 levels of adjustment, metal headband,
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do like to see that versus plastic headbands. I just trust them more.
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Um, I don't think they'll fit someone with a super small head, but you
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shouldn't have any difficulty for someone with a larger head or someone
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with a medium-sized head like yours truly right here. Now, the ear cup foam
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is quite a hard foam. See, you can see it rebounds quite quickly. And the
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advantage of this is that they do it will conform to your head over time,
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whereas the disadvantage is they tend to be a little bit less comfortable right
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out of the box. The shape of the earphones is a little bit on the unusual
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side when you see that it's a rectangle, but it's not actually that crazy because
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that rectangle is kind of an ear-shaped rectangle. So, what I notice about them
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right away is that compared to some round headphones, like for example, as
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much as I love my Steel Series 7H's, they can put a little bit of pressure on
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my earrings, this one does not. They're able to sit inside there without putting
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pressure on my head. Now, speaking of pressure on my head, the headband is
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about, I'd say, a medium thickness. So that does distribute the weight a little
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bit but what or okay medium width I should say whereas the thickness is
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quite thick. So what that allows it to do is mush out and it does actually get
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see there you go now it's sort of a thicker headband and that does make it
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quite comfortable on the top of your head. I think that's not going to take
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very long to break in at all compared to the earphones themselves. The boom mic
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can be lowered and adjusted so you can see it kind of sits like that. I do like
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retractable mics compared to boom mics because you can position them right at
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the corner of your mouth so you don't accidentally breathe on them. But unlike one of the headphones I was looking at
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earlier today, this one is not positioned such that the only way to get
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it anywhere near my mouth, I'd be breathing directly on it. So it's a
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better fit for me personally anyway. So there's the noise cancelling mic and
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then there's the microphone that is intended to pick up your voice. Um
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overall build quality feels quite robust. I'm pleasantly surprised. The
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hinges don't have a lot of flex to them. So, it's, you know, if your ears are
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positioned kind of funny, then uh beware. Mind you, they have a little
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bit, but you can see that the hinges themselves when I really heave on them,
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all the movement is down here at the bottom. And these are holding out quite
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nicely. Again, this is part of why metal headbands inspire confidence uh for me
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personally. Anyway, um I guess uh yeah,
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they're very open design, so you're going to be able to hear what's around
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you quite easily. Uh, personally I prefer the sound of open headphones to
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closed headphones, but the disadvantage for gamers is that everyone can hear
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what you're listening to and you can hear what's going on around you. So, it
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might not be quite as immersive, but it's always nice to know when dinner's ready. Anyway, the cable length is a
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Linus arms span, which basically means it's five and whatever feet plus about
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looks like another 2 and 1/2. So, it's about an 8 8 and 1/2 ft cable on there.
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And you've got inline controls for your volume up, volume down, and then your
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microphone on and mute, as well as a little clip so you can put it somewhere
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where you're not going to lose it. However, that clip is made of plastic,
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and I don't know how long that is going to last. Thermaltch includes some
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documentation with it, which basically amounts to a warranty policy as well as
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their multilingual installation guide book. However, it truly is plugandplay.
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Plug and play. Like, it's a gaming headset. you're supposed to play with
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it. And uh if you need that installation guide book, then um you're probably
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going to need installation guide books that come with your breakfast cereal as
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well because this is quite simple to install. Now, I have another version of
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the shock. This is the shock one, and the main difference between this one is
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DTS surround sound being included on it.
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So, if you use an analog connected headphone or headset, then you have to
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rely on your sound card supporting some kind of a virtual surround. Whereas, if
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you use something like this, which is basically the same thing for the most
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part. So, you got your TTE Sports uh
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carry bag. Oh. Oh, no. This one is different. It comes with two different
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sets of ear cups. So, you have either the uh the cloth ear cups that were
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included on the regular one, or you have
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a more uh pleathery type of ear cup that
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actually seems to have a bit of a softer foam on it as well. So, these have a bit
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more of a premium feel. However, it should be noted that when you use a
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cloth ear cup, it is more breathable and it does tend to allow more sound to be
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transmitted through. And then the other main difference, again, these are very,
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very similar headphones. Overall, uh, microphone's the same, the fit and
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finish is the same. Oh, I think I quite like these, though. Those are much
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softer. Um, and then the main difference being USB on the other end, just like
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that. So, the sound card is actually integrated with the headphones on this
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one, integrated into the control pod. So, you got volume up, volume down,
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microphone mute, audio mute, and then
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you can lock it and unlock it. Oh, neat.
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Oh, cool. Cool. So, that'll prevent accidental button presses. And then, look, it has a little light built into
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it that you can uh turn on and off. Very cool. And then a much more rugged clip
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on this one. So, that's uh that looks much less likely to be accidentally
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damaged. So, DTS surround is included. It's got a USB sound card instead of
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relying on your sound card. So, what it comes down to is recommen recommendation
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time. If you have a good quality sound card, you're going to want the analog
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connection. If you're using onboard sound, get the USB connection version
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cuz it'll probably be better than what you're using. Now, thank you for checking out this unboxing and first
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look at the Thermaltake Shock. Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips
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