A Closer Look

The cables attached to the headset are long. Very long. While this is certainly great for the use in home cinema systems, it will get in the way during a LAN-Party. Speed-Link has bound the cable by a Velcro tie, which can be reused. That way only the needed amount of cable can be freed up, while the rest remains tied. The cable remote control is located about half a meter away from the headset, making it easy to be reached, but without being in the way or unreachable. It has four dials for front, rear, sub & center volume control. The remote has an on/off switch and red power LED as well. The feel of the remote control is quite plasticy and gets scratched quite easily. Especially the power switch feels rather flimsy.


The microphone on the other hand is very well made and has an incredibly high quality feel to it. The entire mic is made out of metal. Just the tip is made of plastic, while the shaft is bendable metal, covered in black plastic rubber. The plug has a spring to protect from bending the mic too far. It can be plugged directly into the left piece of the headset. You can take off the mic as long as you do not use it. This eliminates the risk of turning on your mic by mistake and it will not get in the way when just watching a DVD.


The headset is just slightly bigger than the usual stereo headsets of that type, but nowhere as big as the Zalman 5.1s. The outside is very sturdy. As mentioned before the mic plug is on the left ear piece, while the right sports the Speed-Link logo, as well as a big red R.


The pads are made out of a very soft, suède like material. This is definitely great, as you can use these even at 30° Celsius for hours without running the risk of sweating at all. These will last much longer than any kind of fake leather on other headsets. For comparison, my AKG headset uses "leather like" materials for padding, and gets quite uncomfortable after a short amount of use, as the skin cannot breathe and starts to perspire. The top the headset is padded with a foam like material and gets the job done very well. Even after using the headset for a few hours, I did not feel any uncomfortable pressure anywhere. This headset is by far the most comfortable piece I have ever used.