FPSLabs : Plantronics .Audio 370 Review

Plantronics is back with the latest in their .Audio line. The 370 is the replacement for the now removed .Audio 110. Is this a headset your gaming dollars should buy in to? Lets take a look.

Category: Headset
Manufacturer: Plantronics
Product: .Audio 370
Gallery: Click Here
Price: $27.00

Introduction
Plantronics has been a staple in the headset and communications world
for over 40 years now. The company has a long and honored CV, including
supplying NASA with their in-suit astronaut headsets. In the past ten
years or so, as gaming has exploded on to the scene, they started
producing more headsets for computer and gaming related uses like the
DSP-500 and the .Audio 90, among others. These two headsets were
arguably some of the most popular and top selling audio peripherals
during the time that gaming accessories were coming in to their own.
There was a time back when Counter-Strike first started becoming
competitive that it seemed everyone you talked to owned either the DSPs
or the .Audio 90. They became a standard in the competitive gaming
world well before the market started booming into what it has become
today. Aside from computer and commercial audio solutions, Plantronics
also offers excellent audio solutions. Their headsets are known for
solid performance and superb value as they are always priced
reasonably. Some of the newer competitors may be more popular, but we
should never discount the old guard with so much experience in the
headset market. Hence our reasoning for today’s review of the .Audio
370 from Plantronics.

A little under two years ago Plantronics released the .Audio 110, which
was very similar to Icemat’s Siberia line. While initial rumors of
“copying” were seemingly unfounded, it was more of an issue with the
company TOONG IN selling similar designs to both companies. Regardless,
Plantronics went back to the drawing board and did a redesign on the
headset with a few tweaks here and there, and has ushered them out into
the marketplace as the .Audio 370s.

Package and Features
The .Audio 370 is Plantronics’ new standard in analog gaming headsets,
featuring an open-ear design with over-sized ear cups to provide
excellent comfort.

Specifications

Ample ear cushions provide hours-long comfort
Open-ear design fuels the excitement of team gaming
Noise-canceling mic cuts through background clamor
40mm speakers dish up maximum bass response
QuickAdjust™ boom assures precise mic positioning
Inline volume and mute controls put you in the driver’s seat
Compatible with most PC sound cards for plug-and-play ease

This headset features the over-the-head binaural open design. The
majority of the 370 is plastic, minus the ear cups of course. Unlike
some of the competition however, this headset seems quite solid and I
haven’t had any issues with durability or damage. I have owned these
cans for more than 6 months and put them through the day to day rigors
of being dropped to the floor, cords being run over by my chair,
accidentally kicked, etc.

{mospagebreak heading=Intro and Specs&title=Testing}

The
mic boom is on the left side of the headset and swivels according to
where you need it positioned; down for gaming use or all the way up for
storage or portability. QuickAdjust is the name Plantronics has given
this excellent feature. The end of the microphone features a soft,
padded tip. Overall the mic feels heavy-duty; the swivel isn’t loose
yet it is very easy to move.

The cord is one solid cable until the end 1/3rd where the mic and audio
out lines separate into their own plugs. The jack inputs are a bit
smaller than I would like but they work nonetheless. The cable made
from the standard flexible rubber, and not the braided style like the
5HV2. The cord itself has plenty of length which should be enough for
almost any setup.

Down the cord we have an in-line volume control - an excellent feature
that I feel more headsets should have. On the volume control there is a
clip to hold the cable to your clothes or anything you can find to clip
it to. On the opposite side of the volume control is a microphone mute
switch for instances in which you need to mute your voice with the
flick of a switch.

One of the key design points that I really like is a feature shared by
.Audio 370, the Siberia, and .Audio 110: the custom-fitting
wire-suspended headband. The headband excels in the comfort department,
form-fitting to the size of your head. Above that is the overhead frame
which holds the two sides of the headset together.

The other feature that really caught my attention was the large ear
cans and their shape. Our ears aren’t perfectly oval shaped like so
many headsets we see today. Plantronics, in an ode to diversity and
possibly for comfort benefits, has made the inner ear outline more of a
square shape.

Testing
I have been running these headsets through various settings and
atmospheres for weeks to get the best idea on just how good or bad the
performance is. There are some major areas that we as gamers need to
consider when evaluating a headset.

I’ve tested the following:

Sound quality in-game
Sound quality during music or movie playback
Comfort
Other bells and whistles

These features will be tested on Windows Vista Ultimate, with an X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card and the latest Creative drivers.

Gaming Sound

My first audio tests almost always entail loading up Steam and playing
Counter-Strike. Old habits die hard, and after 8 years CS is a game
that is still an important part of my gaming audio needs. In-game audio
had more depth and quality than the 5HV2s I had previously tested. The
positional audio was good; the 5H’s were a bit clearer with directional
sound detection but that is mainly a result of the lack of audio depth.
Regardless, the .Audio 370 performed better than the Icemat Siberia and
PC160 that I tested it against. Results were quite similar with
Counter-Strike: Source. Both of these games feature sounds ranging from
highs to lows, and all of them stood out without that distorted sound
we get from some headsets with various tones. I could easily see these
being the standard to which I compare mid-ranged headsets to in
Counter-Strike.

The explosions in Call of Duty 2 and Battlefield 2142 were really
accentuated with this headset. Bass that I had been lacking in the 5H
series rang out from these cans. It isn’t the
overwhelming-make-everything-muddy-and-deep bass though, it has a sense
of clarity to it. Explosions and gunfire were detailed and profound. It
was a gratifying experience testing these bad boys out.

The microphone quality is fantastic. I had numerous people comment
in-game about how great my mic sounded. I did some audio recording just
to see for myself and it did a excellent job of isolating other noise
from the background and just picking up my voice. You shouldn’t hear
any complaints from your friends in-game or in ventrilo about how bad
“your mic sucks”.

{mospagebreak title=Music and Movies}

Music & Movies Sound

Using the X-Fi you want to make sure you switch between Game and
Entertainment modes when appropriate. My music and movie collection is
pretty massive, so choosing specific audio and video to test headphones
out isn’t the easiest of choices. I know one can never go wrong with
Star Wars, so I fired up Empire Strikes Back in the DVD burner and
began my experience. The thunderous sound of the AT-AT walkers in the
opening sequence was a blast to listen to. Individual blaster and laser
fire on the snowy fields of Hoth were easily distinguishable and clear.
This was audio vastly superior to the 5HV2s I last tested out.

Music-wise I am not a big classic fan. Classics to me are Pink Floyd,
particularly Dark Side of the Moon. The chimes of the coins dropping
and the cash register in the opening of “Money” were incredibly
detailed. The guitar was accented at all the right points and never
came off as just average. The opening drums and riffs in “Time” are
some of my favorite sounds in all of music, and the sound through these
370s was better than most of the other headsets I had tested them
against.

Of course you can’t test a headset without some quality bass. When it
comes to old school rap not many did it better than Dr. Dre and Snoop,
so I went to my classic Dre CD and put “Nutting But a G’ Thang” on to
test out how good the bass in these cans were. The opening bass line
has always been a classic and comes off full and impressive, whereas
with the 5H’s are hollow and diminutive. The cymbals and percussion
left a great impression and were only rivaled by the clarity of the
PC160s.

Comfort and Extras

At first I questioned the square design of the ear cans but in an
interesting twist they do seem more comfortable. After wearing these,
the 110s, and the Siberias, I have to give a resounding “great job” to
Plantronics in the comfort department as they come out as the superior
option. The headset fits admirably on your head as the tension headband
conforms to fit right for almost everyone’s head size. The headset
doesn’t wobble and moves with you without feeling too tight on your
melon. Some people prefer the sound isolating headphones with closed
cans and other prefer the open ear style especially while lanning. The
370s fit in the latter category as they are open ear and are a huge
plus for LAN gaming.

I actually received these on an RMA for my .Audio 110 headset that my
brother broke as they are now discontinued. Plantronics makes the
process simple and painless and shipped me this newer model. If you are
within a year of purchase the RMA is practically hassle free and you
don’t even have to send the old headset back, which is a huge bonus in
my book.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusions
The Plantronics .Audio 370 headset has been a pleasure to use. What
started out as a disappointing RMA on the rare .Audio 110s was akin to
turning lemons into lemonade and ultimately a positive, as I like these
better than the 110s and numerous other headsets I have had laying
around.

Plantronics has another winner on their hands along the lines of the
famed .Audio 90 and DSP-500. The 370s chime in with crisp audio and
well ranged bass in all the mediums tested. Music and movie audio were
a joy to listen to with this headset. Comfort is up there with the best
headsets and headphones I have used and I can’t stop raving about how
nice they feel on my ears.

At $35-$45 these are a great value for their build quality, sound
quality and comfort. You may not get digital USB audio as in other
headsets (though plantronics offers USB versions of these) but the
sound emanating from these is better than many of those solutions.
Pros
+ One of the most comfortable headsets I have ever used
+ Optional tremendous in-game and media audio
+ Durable and rugged, takes abuse and keeps on ticking
+ Excellent warranty from Plantronics, easy to use support and RMA
+ Sharp design
+ Excellent value for the price
Cons
- Sound not as good as high end solutions
Rating
9.2 out of 10

While this is an excellent headset, it isn’t quite perfect. At its
price range it is probably one of the best however. The sound quality
is a bit below that of the high-end headphones such as Sennheiser’s
HD555s. They are on par to their PC150/160s, and much more comfortable.
I would put the .Audio 370 in-game audio just a touch below the 5HV2’s.
The 5H’s sacrifice all around sound quality to achieve this though. The
370 is a great all around audio solution for gaming, music and movies
that you can feel excited about dropping your hard earned dollars into.