I am an antisocial sod, always have been and if I work at it I’ll remain an antisocial sod till the day I die. This doesn’t mean I’m a friendless, miserable git, it just means I appreciate my own company more than others, and I enjoy nothing more than sitting in my front room alone keeping myself occupied with whatever form of entertainment I come across. Before this obsession with making online friends and devising new ways to remain connected to the world, gaming too was incredibly antisocial and every gaming teenager in the early noughties would come home from school or work, ignore the greeting from your parents, head up stairs, fire up the ole PS2 and remain alone until it was time for tea. You only ever bought single player games, and those that had multiplayer options were only ever cracked out at sleepovers and house parties, where other antisocial players would break their silence for a few hours, it truly was a magical time to be alive. Most of these teenagers have now grown up and have embraced making friends with strangers and spending countless hours playing online, whereas I on the other hand have remained this rugged, unapproachable man child that mutes everyone with the headset icon next to their names and refuses to make any effort to connect with friends. Because of this strong opinion I’ve never owned a headset and never seen the reason why so many people feel they need to buy one, even when I worked for a gaming retail company, customers would ask for my opinion on headsets, to which I would kindly tell them they’re a moron for spending £100 on a pair of headphones. Also why shove something uncomfortable on your head whilst playing a game on your own when you’ve got a perfectly good working set of speakers coming out of your expensive TV. In similar fashion to how Advanced Warfare changed my views on an otherwise shitty game franchise, I was eager to accept the generous opportunity from Monster to give one of theirs a whirl to break my stubborn and cynical outlook on gaming accessories. SPOILER ALERT! I’ve once again had my pants pulled down.
The MVP Carbon EA Sports Headset is an astoundingly powerful headpiece from the monsters at … well Monster, who claim to have crafted the finest gaming accessory on the market. Releasing in 2013, the MVP is currently compatible with PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC & Mac, however it is said to be compatible with the PS4 straight out of the box, which for me is pretty handy. The claim of its finesse is so bold that the first thing you find upon opening the box is a letter from the CEO of Monster congratulating you for owning “the finest audio gear for the serious gamer”. Billed as the first ‘Ultra-High Performance Gaming Headset’, the MVP Carbon carries with it Monster’s HD Surround Sound Technology that not only promises to appeal to hardcore gamers, but be an essential purchase for any music lover; Monster are associated with Dr Dre’s Beats after all, so you can’t deny these claims do have a bit of weight behind them. With a unique and iconic look available in black & white, EA Sports have worked extensively with Monster to forge the finest gaming peripheral on the market, so enough gawking at them on the box, lets crack the bugger open. As well as the Headset, the box does contain a large number of extra cables, after all it is compatible with a number of consoles and PC/MAC so it seems everything you would need is right here, so you’re certainly getting your money’s worth (not like those robbing toerags at Turtle Beach). Alongside the headset you will find the attachable reversible boom mic, a handy carry pouch, the HD Surround Sound mixamp & cable, stereo adapter cables and the Xbox 360 chat cable & Stereo connector; there’s also a doody 3.5mm Universal ControlTalk cable that will work with phones and mp3 players, so there really is a lot of bang for your buck. Picking up the headset itself it’s not as heavy or as chunky as it looks from the pictures, sure it’s not the slimmest of headsets but that’s because of the ‘Pillow-Soft’ ear cups and headband which aim to make it a very comfortable wear. Cased in plastic, the MVP Carbon feels durable and resistant to being bent or sat on, as the headset can be folded up for ease of storage, and contorted for any awkwardly shaped head. Featuring the nifty Monster logo on the top and the EA Sports Logos on each ear, you couldn’t hide from the branding if you tried, so with all this showing off and confidence let’s plug them in.
With a RRP of £199, I expected it to be a wireless headset thus I was a little disappointed to find that it requires quite a few dangling cables for it to work; It is however powered by USB so at least you’re saving money on batteries. I tested the headset initially on my PS3, which involves connecting the HD Surround Sound Mixamp into the USB port and the other end plugging into either the left or right ear piece, with the bendable rubber microphone plugging into the adjacent cup. Even though you will almost certainly be playing in HD, you still require your SCART cable running through your console to connect to the stereo adapter cable, so hopefully you haven’t thrown your s away. After a quick configuration to the sound and accessory options on your PS3 XMB you’re ready to rock and BAH GAWD don’t they pack a punch! Ignoring the chat features for now, you’ll want to turn up the Game Volume control up and slide your Game Mode option down to turn on the mighty impressive Surround Sound which is just as incredible as Mr Noel Lee CEO said in his welcome letter. To review the headset fairly I would have to test it on one of my favourite games of all time, Burnout Paradise, and in all honesty I swore very loudly when my opponents raced right past me, as every one of my ear’s instruments were blown, as were my sleeping fiancée’s as she’d never heard any profanity delivered at that volume before. I spent at least an hour cruising freely throughout Paradise City taking everything in through my ears, the crisp takedowns, the screeching brakes, the powerful soundtrack, a game I have played so many times now became that little bit better all because I’ve chosen to put something daft on my head. With the ear cups providing awesome noise cancelation to keep everything in and everyone out, a burglar could have easily broken into my house and I would have been none the wiser. If the Surround Sound is a little daunting and loud for you, the option is there to play in standard stereo mode, which though not as impressive, still packs a punch and delivers a sweet, crystal clear playing experience, which was replicated pound for pound when using the MVP Carbon as headphones for my iPod. With it working perfectly on my PS3 and a friend’s 360 respectively, I thought I’d give it a crack on my PS4, as from online research Monster claim it works right out of the box on your next gen console, however if your an XBone owner the MVPs aren’t compatible. When connecting to the PS4, as there is no SCART cable option, you aren’t required to use the additional stereo adapters; instead you’re just expected to plug in via the USB. Connecting this way however only makes the headset usable as a chat headset, and as the jack on the other end is only a couple of inches long it won’t reach your controller, that is unless you sit next to your console and dry out your retinas. Luckily I had a 2 meter 3.5mm jack extension cable lying around, so using that to plug into the bottom of my Dualshock 4 and fiddling with the audio settings on the PS4 XMB, the Surround Sound came into glorious full effect. The comfortable ear cups fit nicely on the ears providing a very enjoyable experience, but like everything that’s placed on the ears eventually gets sweaty and starts to cause discomfort. I found that after 90 minutes or so of continuous play was all my ears could handle before they started to feel smothered by this High-Def pillow tech, this is of course only my personal experience so others may have sturdier ear lobes than me. Otherwise they are very snug around my cranium and they didn’t interfere with my glasses, which I honestly expected them to do.
So the sound quality of these beasts is pretty class, but what about the equally as important chat functions, do I sound as good as others do? To put it simply yes, yes I do. Chatting to friends (I do have some I swear), fellow Invision artist and brother Jimmy Dean, and a 47 year old Texan called TRUCKerFUCKer, I sounded sharp, basey, clear and delicious. With the separate controls for both game and chat sound, my game wasn’t leaking into the microphone which can often be the case for some headsets and with the bendable boom microphone, I could adjust it accordingly to my mouth to accommodate my volume. With the impressive technology behind the boom mic, any harsh letters and sharp words I spoke were not distorted and overpowering, making every word I spoke, no matter how many Ts and Ps it contained, were clearly heard and understood. The option to switch between what side you want the mic on and being able to bend the microphone are 2 simple but highly beneficial additions, as not everyone’s head is the same shape and not everyone’s mouth is at the same height. It’s not all fun and games with the MVP’s mic however as it’s not the easiest thing to manoeuvre whilst you’re playing. As the microphone is detachable, I found that it can be moved out of position with minimal effort, which in doing so can cause a huge crackling sound through the ear cups of not just yours, but everyone else that’s listening. I also found that once it has been moved, it can sometimes be tricky to simply swing back into position, and it must be completely taken off and reattached for it to work again, though not a major issue, it just comes back to the point that as it’s an expensive headset you expect it to be next to invincible. Another slight annoyance I found with the microphone and headset for that matter is its dislike to any form of phone signal. Whilst using the MVP I found that I couldn’t interact with my phone, whether it was just reading a text message or surfing the net, that old nemesis Mr Interference would show up and remind me that I should be concentrating on what I was doing and punish me with a rather loud familiar sound. Being a headset novice I have no idea whether this is a normal thing to occur throughout the shelves of expensive peripherals, but what I do know is it is infuriating to not be able use my phone whilst gaming, which has never been an issue before.
Despite its hefty price-tag, the MVP Carbon EA Sports Headset is a force to be reckoned with and it stands by its creators’ extravagant guns, this is indeed an Ultra High Performance Gaming Headset. The magnificent HD Surround Sound makes full use of Monster’s patented Sound Technology to bring the serious gamer a fully immersive and all round awesome playing experience that’ll not just blow your socks off, but will no doubt strip you completely. The Pillow-Soft ear-cups and headband keep the outside world out and the gaming realm in superbly, yet they claim to provide hours of comfort ability and my poor ears felt a little claustrophobic before the hour became plural. The detachable, contorting reversible boom mic was a welcome and more personal addition to a gaming headset; it however proved to not sound or feel as durable as the headset itself. The reversible boom mic is an excellent idea however after a few personal mishaps I found it to be a tad loose and irritable. With the box being jam packed with additional cables and accessories, it means the headset is ready to rock right from the off. That being said, it’s a shame that for the extortionate price it isn’t wireless, as there’s rather a lot to plug in before you can sit back comfortably into your armchair; there are other cheaper headsets available that boast this feature, though of course their quality could be debatable. The MVP Carbon works brilliantly for those machines it says it’s compatible with, yet whereas the PC/MAC is timeless and will remain relevant for all users for years to come, it’s difficult to recommend it to players who don’t have the consoles it’s intended for, especially seeing it requires a little extra effort to get it to work for the PS4 and it won’t work on the Xbox One. None the less, The MVP Carbon EA Sports Headset aims to be perfect and in almost every way it is, but a few personal preferences and expectations were not met and for £199 I’d want to feel 100% confident that my money couldn’t buy anything better for cheaper. I’ve now become to understand why gaming headsets are so popular, they’re not just there to let you speak to friends, but to bring a hobby that’s so personal all the more closer by injecting a game’s remarkable audio and soundtrack directly into your ears; it also means I can stay up way past my bed time without waking the missus, no more early nights for this guy! In similar fashion to how I was greeted upon opening the box, I extent a congratulations to you Noel Lee CEO and Christopher Erb, congratulations for wiping away my cynicism concerning headsets, even if I will never ever buy one.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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