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00:00Hey, how's it going? Dave2D here. So these are the new wireless headphones from Alienware.
00:06They're new wireless gaming headphones, and they haven't made headphones in a very long time, like 8 or 9 years.
00:12It's been a while, but when you look at this thing, it's distinctly Alienware, right?
00:15It's got the LEDs, it's got the Alienware logo, like, it's super Alienware.
00:20But, this thing is crazy expensive. This thing is $230.
00:24These are one of the most expensive headphones I've ever used, and they're geared towards gamers.
00:28But, is it really worth it? Because $230 is a lot of money for a gaming headset.
00:33Now, the first thing I noticed about this headset is the comfort.
00:36These are incredibly comfortable, and I've tried a lot of gaming headsets before,
00:39and the general theme about gaming headsets is that they are supposed to be quite comfortable,
00:43but these take it to another level.
00:45They're lightweight, they're adjustable, kind of your standard movement on the ear cups,
00:49but the mesh on the ear cups stays comfortable, even after hours of gaming.
00:53And I think they're using some kind of memory foam in here, because when you press on it, like, I'll just demonstrate here,
00:57when you press it, it sinks in, and it retains its shape for a little bit,
01:01and it's not something that I've seen in any other gaming headset, at least not one that I've used.
01:05And, I've used this thing for about two weeks at this point,
01:07and I've never actually taken this thing off in the middle of a gaming session, because it was uncomfortable.
01:11So, like, the comfort on this thing is seriously top-notch.
01:14The headset has this really good balance of gripping force from the headband and comfort from the ear cups.
01:20Now, the bottom of this headband is this rubber material.
01:23Like, when you squish it, it feels like air, and it's similar to the headband material from some of the Beats headphones,
01:29like some of the Beats Studios or the Beats Solos.
01:31They have this kind of rubber material on the bottom that's got that squishy air cushion thing underneath,
01:36and it's comfortable, it's nice, but it concerns me about durability,
01:40because a lot of those Beats headphones, they wear down over time.
01:43Like, when that rubber seal kind of peels off from the frame, it's impossible to stick it back in.
01:48And they sell replacements for Beats headphones and stuff on Amazon,
01:51but I don't know if Dell or Alienware is going to offer a replacement for this rubber.
01:54That does kind of concern me in terms of long-term durability.
01:57So, the rest of the materials are good.
01:59Like, the inner headband is this metal thing, kind of standard, feels durable.
02:03Nothing in here feels flimsy or weak or anything like that.
02:07Every component, every kind of joint here feels solid.
02:10It's mostly plastic, though, so if you're expecting, like, an aluminum headset or something for that price, it's not.
02:18It's this polycarbonate material, but it's coated in this soft-touch material.
02:22I like the look of it, especially when it's new.
02:24It looks kind of matte with this Batman-style finish,
02:27but this material can wear down over time, and when it does, it can look gunky.
02:31The lighting is one of the main features of this headset.
02:34You get full control of it in the software, you can change two zones,
02:37and you can customize it to have, like, different lighting synchronization with different games and stuff.
02:41It's pretty cool, and I actually think that they do the lighting the best in terms of headsets out there.
02:46Alienware lighting is always pretty cool.
02:48I'm partial to it because I like the linear design and I like that Alienhead logo,
02:51but, I don't know, it's lighting. You're not really looking at it when you're using it.
02:55It's kind of more of a showcase of lighting, but, yeah, it's kind of cool.
02:59The battery life is good. I clocked in at around 17 hours of use.
03:03This is with the RGB lighting off. If you have it on, it's significantly less.
03:06It's almost half. I got on, like, 8 hours with the lighting on.
03:09So, I mean, depending on what you want to do with it, you might want to keep the light off.
03:13Now, to charge it, it uses a micro USB.
03:15I really wish they'd included a USB-C because this is a product in 2018,
03:19and there's so many, like, crappy products out there that already include USB-C.
03:23It'd be kind of appropriate for a high-end premium product to use USB-C, but it's using micro USB.
03:29They also include a 3.5mm cable.
03:31This is a really short cable. It's, like, not even a meter or, like, around a meter.
03:35It allows you to connect the headset to a phone or something that has a headphone jack,
03:39and it's useful for that, but if you're trying to connect this to your desktop,
03:43or just kind of, like, your gaming PC, it's, I don't know, it's a little short,
03:47and it kind of restricts what you can do with it.
03:49It would be nice if they just included a longer cable,
03:51or maybe even a second cable that was longer because a meter is short.
03:55The primary way to connect the headset is through a wireless dongle.
03:58So you plug it into the USB port, it pairs up instantly,
04:01sends the audio through a 2.4GHz signal, it works well.
04:04The dongle also slots into the headset for easy storage.
04:08Okay, let's talk sound quality.
04:10This is probably its most important feature, I think, for most people,
04:13and it's good, it's very good, but they don't sound significantly better than its competitors.
04:19And if you look at the specs, and obviously the specs only tell a very small portion of the story,
04:22but just looking at that chart, I'm not surprised that the Alienwares
04:25don't sound that different from the Logitech headset.
04:28Now, the SteelSeries headset, the Arctis Pro, these sound significantly better.
04:32It's very noticeable. They're also crazy expensive, like, way more than the Alienware and the Logitech's,
04:37but they, like, you can hear the difference right away.
04:40These ones, they're more expensive, like $50, $70 more than the Logitech's,
04:43but I don't know if the sound difference is really there.
04:46Now, the mic on this is very good.
04:48There's noise cancellation, has decent protection against, like, the popping P sound,
04:52and here's an audio sample that I've recorded from the mic.
04:54So, if you're picking up power-ups to protect yourself from piercing projectiles,
04:59you won't pop the mic.
05:01I also like how it's activated, like, you pull the mic down,
05:04there's an audio cue to tell you that it's activated,
05:06and then when you're done with it, you tuck it back up,
05:09and there's another audio cue that lets you know that it's off,
05:11and it just tucks away really clean.
05:13It just keeps that design aesthetic really Alienware.
05:16There's hardware controls on the back, so there's a volume dial, a mute switch,
05:20and then this balance dial, so you can kind of adjust the balance between your in-game sounds
05:24or your speech, like your communications app or whatever.
05:27It's pretty cool, and there's, like, this midpoint for that dial,
05:31so you can kind of feel it blindly, so you can just kind of adjust it when you're not really looking at the dial.
05:35You can kind of see where the middle is, which is where I've kept it most of the time.
05:39Um, what else was there to talk about?
05:41Well, the software.
05:43So, they have this 7.1 virtual surround sound that they achieve through software.
05:47It's something special, I think a lot of companies do it, but they do it as well.
05:50It sounds pretty good, but they also have this thing that I don't love.
05:52It's this visual representation of your audio space,
05:56and it'll indicate on-screen where your enemies are.
05:59Now, I didn't even bother using this because, quite frankly, I think it's...
06:02It's not that it's cheating, but unless you're hearing impaired, I find it kind of lame.
06:05And how useful could it really be?
06:07Like, if you're dependent on that to play your game, then you're probably playing your game wrong.
06:11Okay, $230 for a headset from Alienware.
06:15Is it worth it?
06:16My take on it is this.
06:18There are a bunch of reasons why people buy expensive headsets, obviously,
06:22and depending on what you're using this for, it may or may not be worth it.
06:26If your main thing is just performance, just, like, audio performance,
06:29then I would say no.
06:31Like, for $50 or $70 cheaper, you can get some really, really similar-sounding ones.
06:36But this thing excels in, I'd say, two things.
06:38Number one, aesthetics.
06:39I mean, this looks really cool.
06:41This looks a heck of a lot better than the Logitech Wireless or the Razer Wireless headset.
06:45So, there's that.
06:46But the big one for me is comfort.
06:48These are incredibly comfortable.
06:49If you're someone that puts in, like, 8, 10, 12-hour gaming sessions at a time,
06:53and you want something to just kind of slap on your head and just let it coast,
06:56check these out because the comfort on these is phenomenal.
07:00Okay, that basically wraps up this thing.
07:01I'm going to do one last little tidbit of information.
07:04There's a matching mouse to this, the Alienware Elite Gaming Mouse,
07:08and it looks really cool, lights up, it's got that whole Alienware DNA thing going on,
07:12and you might be tempted to get one to have a matching set of Alienware peripherals,
07:16but it's a palm gripper's mouse.
07:18So, if you're a fingertip gripper or a claw gripper like I am,
07:21it just doesn't feel right.
07:22It's a good mouse overall, like, if you can get used to the shape and size of it,
07:26if you're a palm gripper, but if you're not, I don't recommend this mouse.
07:30Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video.
07:32Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
07:34See you guys next time.