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Turtle Beach had a great booth at CES this year, from live demo floors to private rooms, their set was rockin’! While there we were able to speak with David Lowey, senior director of corporate communications and public relations. He spoke to us about a brand new wireless headset for the Xbox One and their latest move into PC peripherals.
The Elite 800X is their latest release to the Xbox One headset line. It is the second fully wireless headset on the market as well as the first headset for the Xbox One that has active noise canceling. It features DTS 7.1 surround sound as well as memory foam sound isolating ear cups. With this headset there is no mic boom, something that is quite ingenious as many gamers tend to eat with their headsets on and the boom always get in the way. It has Bluetooth and you can even connect it to your phone to take calls or hear texts midst gaming. The features go on and on, essentially this is going to be one beast of a headset for Xbox One gamers. It is expected to be released in May and those who purchase it are eligible for elite membership as well.
Also new is the controller headset adapter. There are two versions – Ear Force Headset Audio Controller and Ear Force Headset Audio Controller Plus. It features mic monitoring and on the pro version there is a super human hearing button that makes soft sounds such as footsteps and weapon reloads louder.
Moving on to PC peripherals, Turtle Beach have announced their new keyboard and mouse product lines. Their Impact line come in four options. There is the Impact 100, 500, 600 and 700, however the 600 may not be available in the US or UK markets.
The Impact 700 features Cherry MX Brown switches, metal-reinforced chassis, and red backlighting. It also features full anti-ghosting as well as headphone, microphone, and two USB 2.0 pass-through ports. MSRP is set at $195.95. The Impact 500 similar to the 700, however it utilizes Cherry MX Blue switches, does not have a number pad, and has an MSRP of $125.95. Finally, the Impact 100 is the economical oriented keyboard with an MSRP of $59.95. It has 30 key roll-over and uses smart guided keycap sleeves to emulate a mechanical key feel.
For mice, they have the Grip 300 and 500. The Grip 300 features and optical Avago sensor and Omron switches. The Grip 500 has a 8,200 DPI Avago laser sensor as well as Omron switches and 7 buttons. You can tweak the color and luminance as well as up to 50 macros through Turtle Beach software. The Grip 300 and 500 are priced at $39.95 and $69.95 respectively.
Finally, they displayed their HyperSound technology, which is currently still in development. They are working on shrinking the technology down to smaller sizes, but what they have so far is something else. These speakers output directional sound. Unless you are within the direction they are oriented, you will not hear a thing. For example, you can be jamming out to your favorite song while your room mate or parents are dead asleep, they would not hear anything. This technology also proves to assist with those who have hearing impairments, it allows for them to hear sounds much more clearly.
Currently, there is no date set for when speakers will be released for home entertainment.