Deaf Forever

Just recently I’ve found myself in the possession of a swanky new pair of Turtle Beach Wireless X41s, or “Turtle Beaches” as all the cool people call them.

Up until I got the headset, I’d been stuck with an annoyingly cheap set of surround sound speakers that I was never really able to position properly or get the most out of. If I had them too loud, everyone else in the house would complain about the cacophony blasting out of my room but then I’d never really be able to get the most out of the sound if they were too quiet; most noises would just blur into one another and the effect was lost. Couple this with the fact I could only scatter them around my desk and most noises sounded like they were emanating from directly in front of me. You know, like they do even if you’re not using surround sound.

So far, I’ve only worn these things for a few hours and, man, am I impressed! I decided to give it a trial run by wearing them and playing Skyrim, since things are happening all around you with varying levels of audible subtlety. Now when I play Skyrim, I’m wondering how I ever managed to play without this headset  — and not just Skyrim but any of my games. I can hear the theme in the menu with crystal clarity; I can hear enemies talking further on in a decrepit tomb — goodbye, subtitles; I can even hear the wind, as it rushes through the valleys and trees. It sort of feels like this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_qkhGCQF9w[/youtube]

The only problem now is, will I be able to hear what’s going on in my own house? The short answer is probably no. Will this make my family unbelievably annoyed? Again, the short answer is probably no. The long answer is that my family often just shout up the stairs whenever they need me, or rap on the door if they need into my room to speak to me. I can’t hear these things when I’m wearing my headset and I have no doubts in my mind that, given time, this will eventually drive my parents into a fit of boiling rage and they’ll flatten the house.

Does that mean I’m gonna stop wearing them? The short answer is no.