Personal computing has had its ups and downs of the last 10 years and these have not always been because of consumer reaction. In many cases the manufacturers have failed to meet the expectations of the people they are selling to. One of the biggest places where the market has failed the consumer is when they moved to “good enough” computing. We saw this as far back as the Pentium III when Intel pushed for onboard audio, networking, modem etc. These devices were not the greatest of components, but they were “good enough” in the eyes of the manufacturers. Now the situation is shifting (very slowly) as these components are no longer good enough in the consumer’s eyes. They are demanding more from their hardware. One place where this shift has been the most obvious is in the audio market. Today we have a product that is supposed to fall well outside the good enough range. This is the CMStorm Pulse-R gaming headset. Let’s take a look and see if it really can.
Value -Value is another very subjective topic. What is expensive to some might be a deal to others. You can look at this topic in multiple ways. One is raw price and the other is what you get for the money. Each is accurate and both are correct ways to look at price/value. We tend to look at features, performance and real-property when we discuss value. However, we also take into account the raw cash cost of the item.The Pulse-R retails for $85 which is an acceptable price for the build quality and materials used. However, we would expect a little better audio quality at this price range though. Again it is not bad audio, it is just that is lacks real life and vibrance.
Conclusion -We hate to say this but we were a little disappointed with the Pulse-R when compared to other products from Cooler Master (and other companies). Although the look very nice and the combination of Aluminum and white LEDs are a great effect, it takes more than looks to make a headset. Here is where things were not so great. It is true that the audio was very clean, but there was a missing piece that made the audio feel almost monophonic. The high-end was too vivid and was not balanced by the mid and low-end; this was present in gaming, movies, and music. The size and shape of the ear-cups was also an issue and prevented the set from making a good seal around the ears (which also impacted audio performance). This also caused them to pinch a little unless you fold your ears inside the cups (which can become uncomfortable). The Pulse-R is much lighter than many other headsets that are the same size so it should not weigh on your head like some of the others on the market.
Overall the Pulse-R is not a bad headset, it is a pretty cool looking design and well… the audio quality is not bad, it just feels lifeless compared to many other products on the market. We hate to say it but Cooler Master missed on this one.
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