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Elaborate speaker setups are smashing, simply sometimes they're more than than you need for gaming. Perhaps you're on the road, maybe you're trying to avert agonizing the people you live with, or maybe you lot merely want to concentrate on the audio. Any the reason, keeping a pair of gaming headphones effectually is a smart motility. The Razer Moray+ Mobile Gaming Communicator ($59.99 list) and the Nox Audio Specialist ($79.99 direct) both want to exist your next pair. But is either worth it?

Two Gaming Headsets Reviewed - Razer Moray+ and Nox Audio Specialist

If these models didn't both bill themselves equally gaming ear gear, they could never be easily compared. The Moray+ is a sparse and unassuming pair of earbuds (available in either black or white), and the Audio Specialist is a set of supra-aural cup-style headphones clad in black with brushed-aluminum accents (though, as of this writing, blue-, green-, and ruddy-tinged "limited edition" versions are likewise available).

The Moray+ is very similar to the original Moray In-Ear Gaming Headphones, and so definitely positions itself every bit a get-anywhere pair. In addition to the small size of its zippered conveying case (1.4 by 4.9 past 3.1 inches, HWD), it comes with three adapters: ane headphone-microphone Y-cablevision for PC use, and one each for the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP. From ear to plug, the Moray+ measures about 4.v feet, which volition exist sufficient for most applications (including talking on your cell phone, which Razer suggests as another fashion to multitask with the Moray+).

On the other hand, the Audio Specialist is less completely portable, though if you do want to take it somewhere, it folds up easily to fit in its 2-by-7.7-by-6.3-inch instance. Its standard cable is an inch or 2 longer than that of the Moray+, but unlike that pair's configuration, the Audio Specialist'south cablevision is not permanently attached. In fact, it's a micro USB cablevision (which terminates in a 3.5mm plug) that you tin plug in or remove every bit you come across fit. The PC Y-cable adds another 14 inches to the cablevision length—you'll really have to endeavour to observe an inconvenient organization for the Sound Specialist. Unlike the Moray+, if you want to use the Sound Specialist with other gaming devices, you lot'll need to pay actress (about $200 for the advisable adapters or go the headphones as function of the $100 Negotiator parcel that includes the adapters).

Two Gaming Headsets Reviewed - Audio Specialist Folded

The two pairs' gaming proclivities brand microphones necessary, only each has a very different style. The omnidirectional microphone on the Moray+ is uniquely unobtrusive in that it's built about 5 inches downwardly the right ear cable, and so subtle you can easily miss it if you're non looking for it. On the Audio Specialist, the microphone can besides be hidden past coiling it inside the left cup; but plow the dial in the center of the earpiece to extend or retract the mic boom.

Nox has hidden the volume control for the Audio Specialist in exactly the same position on the right cup—an incredibly user-friendly place, and easy to adjust at whatsoever time. (The microphone mute switch is besides there, located only where the USB cable plugs in, simply wouldn't it make more sense to have it on the same side equally the mic itself?) Razer hasn't subconscious the volume control on the Moray+—rather, information technology hasn't included one at all. So if you lot're planning on using the headset, likewise make sure you have some manner to adjust the volume.

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