I’ve had a chance to try out the Ear Force X41 wireless 5.1 headphones for a while now, so here’s what I think of them.

Overview

X41 package

One of the first things you notice with these headphones is that Turtle Beach have thought them out quite well. You get an optical cable in the packaging, so no need to buy an extra one, and they’re powered by USB. This might seem a bit strange, but they’re primarily designed to be used with an Xbox 360 which has plenty of USB ports (it’s worth pointing out that this doesn’t mean they can only be used with an Xbox, – they’ll work with any optical input).The chances are pretty good that someone interested in this sort of device will have an HDTV, and probably either an Xbox 360 or PS3, but if not then a USB power adapter should sort you out. The base station has a hanger on top to hold the headphones, although there is no built-in recharging function – the headphones run off 2 AAA batteries. You can also connect a second set of headphones via the 3.5mm socket on the front, so two people can share the experience (after fighting over who gets the wireless ones, presumably). The last bit of good thinking to point out is that the gaming microphone can be removed – ideal if you’re not going to be using it with an Xbox.

Set up

There’s no setting up involved – simply plug in the power cable and optical cables (the base unit has a pass-through optical port so you can still use a normal amp if you don’t need the headphones), put batteries in the headphones, and turn everything on. The headphones themselves are very comfortable – they’re lighter than the wired headphones I was using previously. There’s plenty of adjustability, so getting a good fit is easy. The volume control is very easy to find, so quick adjustments are simple – no hunting around needed.

Audio quality

Now, I’m not an audiophile – I don’t have any complaints about listening to music on my iPhone, I can’t tell the difference between a B&O CD player or a Sony player, and the thought of spending hundreds of pounds on speaker cabling is ridiculous. So, with that in mind, here’s what I think about listening through these headphones: they’re fine. Movies weren’t muffled or distorted; dialogue was clear; and there was decent bass – there’s also a bass boost switch if you need a bit more. The surround sound effect was also pretty good – I’ll do some more tests on that, though. So, they’re comfortable and sound great – so far so good. I tried them with Xbox 360 games (the surround sound aspect here was excellent), blurays on my PS3 (also good, but with a big drawback – see the next section), and also watching movies via an Apple TV (perfectly fine).

Are there any downsides?

Well, yes, actually. Two big downsides. First, they interfered with my Apple TV’s wireless connection. The base station sits behind my Apple TV, and when it was turned on, the Apple TV would drop its wireless connection if transferring a video file. If you happened to be listening to the headphones at the time, you’d hear a regular (and loud) popping noise.

The second downside is that these headphones don’t work with the newer DTS HD spec – so if I’m watching a Blu-ray on my PS3 that doesn’t have a 5.1 soundtrack (such as Transformers 2), I have to switch it to PCM and make do with Pro Logic surround.  Some discs have both DTS HD and Dolby 5.1, so you can switch to the 5.1 audio, but it’s very annoying on discs that don’t have the option.

Conclusion

The Turtle Beach Ear Force X41 wireless 5.1 headphones are pretty good, and as a replacement for my old wired 5.1 headphones, they’re fine. However, the prospect of wifi interference, and lack of DTS HD support, is disappointing. Hopefully Turtle Beach will produce a more capable product in future; for now these are good, but not as good as they could be.

Rating: Worth a look