Testing

Methodology

In order to properly test a pair of headphones, I used them for everything I do day to day for about 2 weeks. During this time I listened to lots of different types of music, played games and watched a couple of films.

Comfort

I found the Shock One headset to be very comfortable, other than them being slightly tight due to being brand new.  The ear cups fit around your ear which is the style of headphone that I prefer for comfort. After a couple of hours I still found myself taking them off to let my ear cool but overall, I liked them a lot.

My partner also tried them on; she found them very comfortable too. She has issues with her ear rings with some headsets but no such issues here.

Music

The Shock One headset performed very well in my music tests, with all genres of music being well represented. The only thing I noticed is that they seemed to make low quality audio sound very poor, if you like listening to music from Youtube, you might want to stop. Decent quality MP3’s sound great in comparison.

Gaming

For gaming I played some Call of Duty Modern warfare 3 and Team Fortress 2 and a few indi titles.

The virtual surround sound really does help you locate where people were sneaking up on you from, with particular placement of multiple enemies quite possible. Games like Amnesia: Dark Descent become particularly harrowing too. Explosions sounded great, with a great bassy boom when fuel tanks went up or rockets hit the ground. There was also a great difference between different firearm noises, something that isn’t particularly noticeable on lower quality headsets.

While gaming, I found the in-line controller was useful and easy to change settings on the fly.

Build Quality

The overall quality of the headset is good, they feel quite robust although a bit plasticy. One issue I found slightly annoying was the cable sleeving rubs on your shirt and you can hear the noise in your ear, this is only annoying when you’re not listening to anything.

Conclusion

The Tt eSports Shock One is an interesting headset, with its LED lights and USB connection; they look great on and sound great too. There are features such as the controller that really make the headphones nice to use.

The issue with the cable rubbing on your clothes and you being able to hear it is annoying but the way I see it, most of the time you’re not listening to anything; you have them off your head, so I don’t feel it’s much of an issue.

The Tt eSports Shock One sells for £60. This seems like a fair price for a pair of good headphones, they perform well and the build quality isn’t bad either. If you’ve got the money to spend and you’re looking to stick out with the LED lights, they’re well priced, otherwise you can get similar audio performance for less.

Pros

• Performed well in music and gaming tests
• Portable
• Comfortable
• LED lights
• USB

Cons

• Cost
• USB can be a downside for some who have already got an expensive sound card