Just in time for Gamescom audio specialists Creative Technology Ltd have announced a range of audio peripherals aimed at "today's generation of discerning gamers". The new range is called the Sound Blaster X Professional Gaming Series. Beyond these gaming headsets and USB sound card aimed at gamers Creative also launched the Sound Blaster Roar 2 portable Bluetooth wireless speaker.
Creative intends the new range of Sound Blaster X gaming audio devices to upgrade a gamer from 'good enough' audio to "to the full cinematic experience that discerning gamers of today are looking for, wherever they are playing". Low Long Chye, General Manager of Audio at Creative explained the appeal of great gaming audio by drawing parallels to the film industry, "Think about when you go to the movies – you go for the big screen, sometimes the 3D element, and cinematic sound. Movies wouldn’t be the same without perfectly timed sound effects, and that’s what many of today’s gamers are missing out on with their overall experience – the nuances that will determine win or lose – and they might not even realize it by settling for basic audio solutions." Chye went on to claim that today's new products from Creative can take gaming "from a desktop experience, to a cinematic experience".
The new range of headsets have been designed to reproduce a high level of audio detail and provide immersive sound without overwhelming listeners and potentially inducing fatigue. Creative's new headsets are quite distinct from one another in design and target gaming market and are as follows:
- Sound BlasterX H7 – the ultimate HD 7.1 Surround USB circumaural gaming headset. Priced around £100, available at the end of September.
- Sound BlasterX H5 – the professional-grade analogue circumaural gaming headset. Priced around £85, available at the end of September. There is also a lower echelon Sound BlasterX H3 listed on the official BlasterX site.
- Sound BlasterX P5 – a miniature yet powerful high-performance in-ear gaming headset . Priced around £45, available by November.
Creative's new USB audio soundcard is the Sound BlasterX G5. It includes the SB-Axx1 multi-core chipset for hardware accelerated SBX Pro audio and can deliver true 7.1 sound. It is built with 'audiophile components' including a 24-bit/192kHz, 120dB USB DAC and headphone amplifier with 2.2 ohm output impedance. Headphones with up to 600 ohms can be driven by the built-in amp. The external device also sports a USB port into which you can plug other USB peripherals such as mice and keyboards. It will be priced around £100 and be available by November.
A single non-gaming focussed product was launched alongside the above, the Sound Blaster Roar 2 portable Bluetooth wireless speaker. The new speaker is said to be 20 per cent more compact than its predecessor yet is built using "five high-performance speaker drivers, with the same cutting-edge electrical design and the same battery capacity". It is available now from £149.99.
