When we think about 5.1 surround sound speakers, we immedaitely think of a serious Hi-Fi setup in your living room or bedroom. But what if we were to tell you its now possible to have the effect when you’re walking around?

Our quick take

The Tritton Audio Xtreme PC Headphones will suit gamers, or anyone looking for an immersive sound when sat at their desk. While the sound quality is good, we simply found them a little too unwieldy for daily use.

Tritton Audio Xtreme PC Headphones - 3.0 / 5

FORAGAINST
  • Surround sound works
  • easy to use
  • Bypasses your soundcard
  • takes time to setup

These headphones do a reasonable job of offering you surround sound. Each can has four separate speakers inside, and just like the speakers in your room, can be positioned independently. This is all done using the inline controls, which also handles the sound quality pumped through to the speakers.

The controller has a series of thumb-wheels, which you roll to move the speakers into the position you want them. It is easy enough to do but takes a little time to get the best overall effect.

The headphones connect using USB, so are intended to be used with your PC or notebook and not your iPod. The inline controls hijack the sound controls, bypassing your soundcard, which is great for notebook users but not so good if your PC has an expensive card inside.

To pack in all this technology the headphones are seriously large and this wouldn’t be a PC headset without a microphone, so add further to the bulk. To be fair, they are intended for gamers and as a result the overall sound quality is good but rather bassy.

To recap

Big and chunky and take a while to get used to but the sound quality, especially for gaming, is well worth the effort