Today we’re taking a look at Rafik “LoSt-CaUzE” Bryant’s latest contribution to gaming world: Able Planet’s 500LC.

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Category: Headsets
Manufacturer: Able Planet
Product: NC500LC
Gallery: Click Here
Price: $126.59

This past June I attended the Warfactory Quake LAN in St. Louis where I got to catch up with Rafik “LoSt-CaUzE” Bryant (who won the competition), and talk to him a bit about Quake and how things were going in general. While I was talking to him, I glanced over and noticed something odd about his headphones: they had his custom “LC” logo on them. I got to talk to him a little bit about the headphones and he told me that they were his own custom pair made for him by his sponsors, Able Planet, who I had never heard much about at the time. In between a match, he let me try on the set and turn on the active noise canceling feature. In the middle of a crowded LAN with Counter-Strike players talking about strategies and giving commands to their teammates, it felt like I was suddenly standing alone in the massive hall. And though I didn’t get to listen to any music or play a game with them, I was left stunned by simply one feature on the pair. I was left wanting more.

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Later on in the summer, I went to QuakeCon and again caught up with Rafik and his team. Though I was around the guys a bunch, I wasn’t able to try out the headphones due to a busy tournament schedule. I was able to speak with his manager though, and learned that they were going to begin selling Rafik’s own line of LoSt-CaUzE headphones at the end of the summer. I waited with baited breath for a release date that finally came in late September. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a pair and here they are.

Though I still am very naive about the company as a whole, I was able to read a bit about Able Planet on their website and learn tons of things I previously hadn’t known. One such factoid I learned was that the company not only works to produce audio solutions to help preserve hearing, but they also develop and manufacture products for those with hearing disabilities. That’s pretty cool. Overall though, judging by the amounts of awards they receive from shows like CES, I can tell they mean business.
{mospagebreak heading=Introduction&title=Features}
The Packaging

When the Able Planet LoSt-CaUzE 500LC Gaming Headphones finally arrived a few days ago and I pulled them out of the shipping box, I was surprised at how professional the box design was. The front of the package has a glossy white finish and a large picture of Rafik “LoSt-CaUzE” Bryant and a silvery, reflective Able Planet logo. On the side are a few of Able Planet’s touted awards, such as their multiple CES International honors and a CTIA “Emerging Technology Award” from 2006 and 2007. On the back are a list of Special Features, Technical Specs, and things included in the package. The box also folds open to reveal technical summaries of the various aspects of the headphones that make them unique. Overall, the box was very appealing and not like that of any other pair of headphones I’ve ever seen. Definitely not like those other sets with a plastic shell and a cardboard insert.

Opening the box, I found a black, hardened neoprene carrying case with the Able Planet logo on it and zippers on the sides. Inside was the headphones and the included extras such as the 6-foot cable extension, the dual-pin airline adapter, 1/4″ stereo adapter, and 2 included AAA batteries. It’s all nicely put together and there is plenty of space so that things are not smashed together while packed away inside the case.

The Headphones

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• Featuring Award-Winning LINX AUDIO Technology
• State-Of-The-Art Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), to Reduce Undesirable Sounds and Background Noise
• Operates as Normal Headphones when ANC Function is Turned Off, or if Batteries are Dead
• Lightweight Adjustable Headband Provides Superior Fit
• Full-Size Ear Cups with Soft Cushions Swivel for Maximum Comfort
• In-Line Volume Control Enables Easy Adjustment to Safe Listening Levels for Hearing Preservation

When I pulled the 500LCs out of the case, the first thing I noticed was how light they were. I mean, I don’t have a scale in my dorm room, but these are noticeably lighter than my Sennheiser HD280s. The cans are closed dynamic headphones and feature a brushed aluminum-looking outer shell with the “LC” logo on them. On the bottom of the left headphone there is an audio socket to plug and unplug the stereo cable. This feature is useful if you’re just using the headphones as a noise canceling device on an airplane or some other noisy area. To do this, you must first slide off the left shell and insert 2 AAA batteries (included). The headphones are usable without the batteries as a standard headset, but to use the noise canceling feature, batteries are needed.

Now I come to the only aesthetic problems I have with the unit, which don’t even lie in the headphones themselves, but in the cable that leads to them. Though I accepted the unit didn’t come with a microphone, the wire itself is actually too thin to use with a clip-on microphone like the Zalman clip-on that I use with my HD280s. This is a slight problem, though I really prefer a cable that’s thin and not intrusive, and I guess I could get a desk mounted microphone as an alternative. To be dubbed “gaming headphones” though, Able Planet should think about including a mic in their next model.
{mospagebreak title=Comfort and Performance}
Comfort

Like I mentioned before, the 500LCs are amazingly lightweight and it really shows when you’re wearing them for extended periods of time. Unlike my HD280s, the clamping effect the set has to my head is really quite gentle. Since the set has active noise cancellation, it doesn’t rely on clamping itself to the user’s head to reduce unwanted outside sound. After wearing these for a couple of hours, I didn’t get the small headache and earache that I’ve grown accustomed to with my HD280s.

The foam pads around the ears and across the bridge feel extremely soft and are covered in a plush leather; also softer than the material used on the HD280s. One gripe I did have about the pads though is that they are a bit small and my ears feel a little cramped inside them. Even though they were a bit cramped, the overall feeling was still enjoyable and felt quite comfortable. Overall these were designed extremely well and are almost unnoticeable when wearing.

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Performance

For this test I’ll be coupling the LoSt-CaUzE headphones with my trusty Creative Audigy 2 ZS. This card’s drivers can let me fine-tune my sound output to my heart’s desire, but for this test I’ll use the default Treble and Bass settings. So let’s take a look at how it performed in a couple of games and several hours of music. I’ll even throw in the “heater test” to evaluate the noise canceling feature on the 500LCs. So let’s get down to it.

In-game
The two games we’ll be testing are Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Quake 4. Being a headset not only ideal for gamers but audio enthusiasts in general, we’ll be looking at positional audio as well as sound quality on the 500LCs for both titles.

For CoD4, I played through the majority of the single player missions, which include close-combat missions in Iraq, being chased through Chernobyl while carrying a wounded soldier and even a carpet bombing of Chechnya. As for sound quality, the 500LCs are definitely on par with the Sennheisers; even on default sound card settings they have an appropriate amount of both bass and treble, and that’s coming from someone who loves a hefty amount of bass. Furthermore, in Call of Duty there is enough bass to go around, ranging from mortar explosions only meters away to a tank rolling alongside your platoon down a street in Baghdad. Alongside the great-sounding lows, the mids and highs shine with accurate and impeccable perfection. Bullets whizzing by your head and ricocheting off brick walls are clear but don’t give that “piercing” effect headphones like the 5Hs [SteelSeries] suffer from.

Now for one of the most important traits a “gaming headset” should hold: accurate directional sound. In my test of Quake 4, I mainly concentrated on the multiplayer side of the game, looking to see how well they handled this ever-so-important part of competitive online shooters. I jumped right into a game with a friend expecting the 500LCs to be good, never thinking they would be THIS good. I had my friend stand at just about every angle and height and make a noise, and without even second-guessing, I could tell where he was. I even had him run a route through the map for me to figure out which way he went. Without hesitation, I was able to tell what paths he was taking as he was taking them.
{mospagebreak title=Performance (cont.)}
Music
I’m a person who really enjoys just about every type of music out there, from electronic to classic rock. So even though I do a ton of gaming, I still listen to about 4 to 5 hours of music a day and want a set of headphones that will make all of those songs sound great. For this test I listened to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of The Moon” and a personal favorite of mine, BT’s “This Binary Universe”, one of the most technically daring albums I’ve ever listened to.

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Starting off with “Dark Side of The Moon”, the 500LCs really made every layer of sound shine. This is especially noticeable in the “Time” track, where a half-dozen or so clocks were going off simultaneously. For those 20 seconds of pure chaos, you can pick out each individual clock and where it’s set in the soundscape; a trick Dad uses when he’s testing out his new stereo equipment. Just like in the game tests, these headphones give off just the right amount of bass and treble. The drum beats and strums on the bass guitar are strong and prominent but never muddy and garbled. The headphones also handle the treble to near perfection, especially in the guitar and organ of the song “Any Colour You Like”.

Now onto the lesser known “This Binary Universe”, an album I enjoy for its computerized beats and sound effects as well as its amazingly beautiful and emotional rhythms. Right from the very first song, this album pushed the 500LCs to the limit and never let up. It was amazing listening to a song I’ve heard tons of times and hearing things I never knew were in it. The album’s fourth track, “1.618″ is an electronic lullaby filled with stuttering break-beats and an almost haunting guitar melody; all of which were transmitted through the headphones. Again, highs and lows were right on-key while notes were extremely sharp. In the album’s last track, “Good Morning Kaia”, the sound of waves rolls through the headphones as if I were standing right there on a beach watching the sunrise, accompanied by the sound of a eerie piano playing a couple of repetitive notes. As the song progresses its pace quickens and the clarity that the headphones offer becomes strikingly evident. With tons of sounds playing all at once, combining to make this amazing melody, I’m able to pick out each one and hear them clearer than ever before. It’s stunning, really.

The “Heater Test”
In my dormitory hall, the heating unit in each room is excessively loud, even on its lowest setting. Many times, I just turn mine on at night to make some kind of white noise, as it’s hard for me to fall asleep in a completely silent environment. For this test, I dared to turn the heater all the way up to “High” to test how well the 500LCs could block outside white noise, such as an airplane’s engines.

I sat directly beneath the ceiling unit for a bit with the noise canceling feature turned off. After about 30 seconds of that, I flipped on the noise canceling switch and was very surprised at how much quieter it got. Without tools to accurately measure such things, I’d say that they blocked out about 75% of the heater’s sound. Though there was a slight bit of background static when the feature was turned on, it was very minor and almost unnoticeable. In addition, I tried the test with music turned on and the headphones not only kept blocking the noise of the ceiling unit but amplified the music’s volume and clarity as well. Though I wasn’t able to test how long the batteries actually lasted, the cost of two AAA batteries every couple of weeks – or the initial investment for rechargeable batteries - for this kind of sound quality is very much worth it.
{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion

I’ve really enjoyed using these headphones. The music clarity these bad boys give is amazing and the positional sound in games is really stunning as well. They pack a huge punch for being so small and honestly they just look good. I would never walk around campus listening to music on my bulky HD280s, but I’ve actually been using these 500LCs when walking to my classes for the past week and don’t feel a bit dorky about it. For anyone looking to overhaul their audio setup or even some of you audiophiles out there, these headphones are a great solution/addition. Though they may be a bit pricey for budget-conscience gamers, they are a great buy for people who use headphones extensively or who are looking to take their game a bit further. My HD280s should be shaking in their audio jack right now; their spot around my ears may very well be in jeopardy and might be finding their way to the shelf before long.

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Pros

• Unbelievable sound clarity
• Perfectly balanced bass and treble
• Great directional sound
• Price. Similar sets sell for in excess of $2-300; $120 for this kind of quality is a great.
• The active noise canceling works extremely well and could be a life-saver for those that travel a lot

Cons

• Slightly larger ear cups would be nice to facilitate people with larger ears.
• A microphone would be a nice addition if you’re going to label them “gaming headphones”

Popularity: 22% [?]

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