All Mt. Tiburon Testing Labs reports

Mt. Tiburon Testing Labs

Edge Acoustics GX400 Competition Grade Gaming Headset

By Ted Pollak

The new headphones that have surfaced over the past few years with seemingly unrealistic high prices always seem a little suspicious. How can those things pack high fidelity with quality bass response into such tiny drivers? As it turns out, the answer partly lies with something that is quite simple, but not so easy to grasp even when trying out the technology first hand. In fact at first try, this reviewer took them off in disgust at the seemingly sub-par acoustic quality—until reading bold typed advice card labeled IMPORTANT.

What’s important with these little guys is sound pressure, and good sound pressure can only be achieved with a good seal. Edge Acoustics took a lot of care making sure their earphones seal in your ear canal perfectly by including multiple flanged ear tips and rifle range style “squish and insert” foam ear tips as an alternative. Even the technique for inserting them is important, which requires a little tug on the upper part of the ear to open the canal a bit.

The goods

They took me about six seconds to put on but for the extra two seconds vs. traditional designs, here are the benefits: incredible acoustic quality with tight and deep bass response, perfect mid range and treble, and a fit that will not come tumbling out of an ear at the slightest movement of the head; or any movement of the head for that matter (a problem that I continually have with the typical stock foam “iPod” style earpieces.) Another key benefit of the tight seal is extreme sound isolation—one can barely hear the cell phone ring in a quiet room wearing these ear phones. Passive noise canceling (ear canal sealing) is actually more effective than an algorithm trying to cancel noise actively (at least with today’s technology). Having this extreme sound isolation creates a more immersive gaming experience.

The Specs

• Transducer type balanced armature.
• Sensitivity @ 1Khz 102dB SPL for a 0.1VRMS input.
• Max. output 122dB SPL.
• Max. continuous input 0.75VRMS.
• Impedance 27 ohms nominal.
• Noise isolation 35—42dB.
• Frequency response 50Hz—16khz.

So Edge Acoustics took this proven earphone design and mated it with a high-sensitivity mic for gaming. The build quality is excellent with a generous cord length and a high quality volume and mic controller about a foot down from the phones. The volume control modulated sound is smooth with no distortion while adjusting. Most headsets crackle slightly when adjusting using the incline volume control. The fact that the GX 400 uses mini-jack vs. USB lets you easily use them for an mp3 player or any other device with a mini-jack.

The GX400 is for you if you are in one of the following groups of people:

1. Competitive gamers who travel for tournaments (as a primary or backup headset).
2. Serious gamers who want a highly portable yet ultra quality headset.
3. Any gamer or headset user who finds big headsets to be uncomfortable (raises hand).
4. Any gamer or headset user who demands elite performance.

Now the bad news—this quality will come at a cost. The GX400 retails for about $179.99 on Amazon.com. Lower budget gamers may want to evaluate how many hours they spend gaming and the importance of clean sound to justify the expense. High budget gamers should just pull the trigger because the GX 400 is among the best ultra-portable gaming headsets (and for that matter iPod earpieces).

Don’t forget—these things are not just for travel—and the comfort of the in-ear system makes them ideal as a primary headset. The only caveat would be to caution primary users to store them properly because they’re so small they can be overlooked and stepped on/sat on etc and also to clean and protect the earpieces when removed.

Thumbs up for the Edge Acoustics GX400 Competition Grade Gaming Headset.

• Back to Top

• More Mt. Tiburon Testing Labs reports