I recommend it. Check my Notes/Caveat section for some clarifications on some of the features
###Aesthetics:
The RIG headset is a beautiful piece of kit. It's comfortable, uses high quality materials (that feel high quality), and is really comfortable. The headband is adjustable, and the ear cups fold flat (and have floating hinges). I got the white headset, and I'm quite smitten.
The digital receiver is nice looking and feels well put together without calling attention to itself. I like it's compact size and efficient use of space for the various knobs, dials and buttons on it.
###The Receiver:
The digital receiver is a round device (about the same size, height and shape as one of the RIG headset ear cups) with the Xbox 360 headset cable input and the RIG headset output ports on one side, and a USB connector (for power and PC/ps3 audio), 1/8 inch stereo cable and S/PDIF digital optical audio input. It has one other features that bears special mention: there is a 4 pole mobile phone/audio player input that you can use to mix the audio output from your phone (and phone conversations) into whatever else you have your RIG connected to. There's a big button in the center of the device that you can use to physically toggle the microphone output between going to your phone and the gaming device of choice.
The main volume control dominates the outside, and it has a few buttons on it. Overall it's minimalistic, and perfectly textured. It's not going to work as a desk centerpiece but it looks good without calling a lot of attention to itself.
###Audio performance:
The RIG headset itself has a fairly accurate sound reproduction profile. I'm sure it's possible to do better, but from my experience you'd have to pay many times more to get anything like a noticeable improvement.
The receiver has three EQ modes included, however. The first is "Pure" and it's just a flat EQ profile. The next is "Intensify" and this basically just boosts the bass tones of the audio. The final one is "Seismic" and it makes all the aspects of the audio sharper without being harsher. Highs and mid tones and quieter parts of the music and audio generally become more pronounced. I found it to be quite likable. I prefer flat EQ preferences, but the Seismic is probably something I'll use from time to time.
Intensify and Seismic both change the way things sound in a noticeable way, but without going too far.
###Included accessories:
The headset comes with: the ear cups themselves; a boom mic cable (no button); an in-line mic cable (with button for mobile phones); an Xbox 360 microphone cable, an RCA to 1/8 inch stereo (with RCA passthrough in case you use that for your other audio); and the digital receiver itself.
The interchangeable cables are all flat and this makes it a lot harder to tangle them, which is appreciated.
###Notes and Caveats:
Nothing is perfect, and the RIG is no exception, so let me list some things you should be aware of. I wouldn't call any of them to be a problem, but they might make it so they aren't precisely what you need, depending on your use case.
--The cables for the headset itself used to connect it to the receiver or other sources are interchangeable and can be disconnected, but the cables are not currently available for purchase separately. I imagine you could buy them if you opened a support case with Plantronics, however, I'm just guessing there. They use mostly standard connectors.
The input cables on the back of the receiver are permanently attached. If you take care of them, they are well made and probably won't fail you, but it's worth noting.
--The optical audio in accepts up to 96kHz PCM input, but only in stereo. Apparently 5.1 or 7.1 surround is not accepted. I had a problem with this on my Xbox until I changed the output from Surround to Stereo. It worked fine after that. I still had positional audio as this was handled by the Xbox's audio processing (just like it is on my PC), it just didn't have to do crazy tricks to down sample the multichannel audio for use with the headset. This is different than my Astro A40 and it's receiver, but not a problem in my eyes, since everything else about the RIG is superior to the A40 (build, audio, aesthetics, price… Everything).
--The headset has an open ear design. In most situations this won't even be something worth mentioning, but if you use the RIG in a loud environment, you'll be able to hear the outside noise.
--The cable to connect your phone to the RIG receiver should have been longer, in my opinion. It's totally usable, but only if you plan on connecting your phone for some audio purpose, and not fiddling with it until you're done with the headset.
###Final Thoughts:
The RIG is a great value. It has all the options to do everything you could want with a headset. It looks good, it has great components that give you great sound, it allows you to use it as a mobile headset while up and about, and even lets you take calls or mix in audio from your mobile device while you are playing games from your PC/Xbox/PS3.
I can definitely recommend the RIG.
(One final thing to note in the interest of full disclosure:
I got my RIG well ahead of the release because I won it in a raffle at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. The Expo ended on September 2nd, which is the day I won the raffle. So, I did get it for free, but if I hadn't won it in the raffle, I had planned fully on pre-ordering the device based on my impressions of the device from the booth as well as comparisons I made with other headset hardware I've tried).
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[UPDATE] Over at the Plantronics forums, a moderator did confirm that the headset mic does "have sidetone", meaning you can hear yourself slightly when gaming with the headset/mic attachment! Just wanted to confirm :)-----
I was in the market for a universal gaming headset that could be used with my PC, Xbox360 and PS3. I also wanted to livestream my games and be able to comment while I owned a headset, too. I also wanted something new, under $150. 2-channel stereo was all I wanted, and didn't need a surround headset or one with a 5.1 or 7.1 DSP/digital signal processor.
I actually purchased the Turtle Beach PX22 Universal Gaming Headset and put it through its paces before settling on the Plantronics Rig, so I'd like to compare the two here at various points in the review.
TL;DR the Rig is better than the PX22 in regards to sound quality by far, but I have a specific issue with the Rig's headset mic because you can hear yourself through the headset when the mic is attached and unmuted. For more details, read on :)
The Rig comes with the Headset, mixer and cables. It was kind of scary trying to get the Rig headset out of the packaging. They have it packed such that you feel like you might break the earphones while trying to get it out of the enclosure!
At it's core, the Rig is hooked up like so:
Headset --> Mixer --> USB cable & 3.5mm (aka 1.8 inch) earphone jack (male)
The Headset comes with two different cables depending on how you're using the headset. One has an inline "answer call" button and mute switch. The second cable has a headset mic for pure headset gaming on your consoles. Both cables attach from the headphones to the mixer, and of course you only plug in one depending on your use.
Sound Quality:
I'm really happy with the sound quality of these headphones. The bass is deep and warm. It's not nearly as muddy as the Turtle Beach PX 22's with the latter, maximum bass and treble settings were 'acceptable' at best. Please note, I'm biased and am used to sound coming from more expensive Sennheiser HD-280 headphones at work.
Via the Rig mixer, at the press of a button, you can switch between three sound presets: Pure, Intensify and Seismic. When you push the button on the mixer (it's a graphic of an EQ), you hear one, two or three beeps in the headset to let you know what you've chosen.
I compared sound between the headsets with some racing games, first person shooters and even a blu-ray (from the PS3). The Rig headphones sound way better than the PX22's in my opinion. The PX22 allows you to adjust bass and treble separately via an inline remote with dials, while the Rig has only three presets. I found the second preset to be pretty heavy on the bass and decent in gameplay. I've not really switched to the other presets since I've warmed up to the second (Intensify?) easily. Explosions and gunfire have the proper clarity and thumpy bass. With the PX22's, the bass wasn't very deep. When watching a blu ray (I used the opening scene of "007: Quantum of Solace" as reference), the music and sound of the car/action scene was very natural and solid with the Rig. With the PX22, the sound felt like a pile of muddy bass at the heaviest action moments.
Headset Comfort:
The earpads are cloth and soft. They naturally cup your ears. I don't feel any discomfort and it doesn't feel like they are smashing my head in or anything. The PX22's felt fine too, by the way, and I don't have a very big skull so I might be speaking for a smaller section of the gaming population :) These aren't noise-cancelling, by the way. I live in a very quiet apartment complex, so this isn't an issue for me.
Headset Mic Attachment:
The headset mic attachment is fairly stiff, unlike the PX22's mic which could be moved in any access. On my first trial run with it, I had to move the mic further away from my mouth because I was coming in too loud, according to my friends. That was easily remedied. Chat via Xbox Live was just fine and on PC it was good also. Clear and crisp.
The issue that keeps me from giving this five stars might seem petty, but it's the first thing I noticed that I didn't like. When gaming on PC or console, I can hear myself talking. Unless the mic is muted (there is a mute button toggle on the mixer), I can hear myself in the headset. I'm not used to this at all, and I wish there was some way to fix this. I don't hear myself loudly, but it's a little weird for me. The PX22's inline controls had a volume dial where I wouldn't have to hear myself. I don't see any function available on the Rig for this. It's not a total dealbreaker, but this set would have been perfect otherwise. I contacted Plantronics support in their forums, and other users noticed this a moderator confirmed that the RIG headset carries "sidetone" and that you will hear yourself talking with others.
Headset "Answer Call/Mute" Attachment:
I haven't really used this very much, however this attachment comes in handy when I don't want to use the mic, or even if I just want to use the Rig headphones when I'm on the go. The headphones look good enough for me to use away from home if I want to.
Mixer Construction:
For the side/end facing your consoles/TV, the puck-like mixer device has two built-in, wired connections on the input side with an open optical audio/TOSLINK port. The two wired connections cannot be removed: one connection features the 10-foot USB cable + 3.5mm earphone jack. The other cable is a short, 1 foott cable to connect your cel phone, tablet or mobile device.
Again, the cable length from the mixer to your PC or console (USB cable + 3.5mm earphone jack) is 10 feet if you were wondering about reaching your consoles.
The other end of the mixer (the end that faces you) has two ports for detachable cables. One is for your headset. The port next to it is for the included 2.5mm Xbox360 talkback cable. Both cables are about 5 feet in length and are included in the package. It's a far decent length for my setup.
The mixer has THREE dials of sorts. Surrounding the puck (outer ring) is the master volume dial. On the face of the mixer, there is a Mobile-VS-Game volume slide on the left, and a Game-VS-Chat volume slide on the right. The center of the mixer has a switch that lets you switch between your mobile device only or game sound/chat only. There's a lot of flexibility here. For instance, I can pump out music from my attached iPhone or iPad while I'm gaming with friends. I can then adjust how much I want to hear one over the other whenever I'd like to.... all I have to do is adjust the sliders. If I want to hear just my device music and game chat only, I can achieve this with the volume sliders.
Mixer to Mobile Device Connection:
Plantronics is pushing this feature a bit, and I honestly haven't used it very much. I hooked up my iPhone and streamed some music from it through the mixer and it worked just fine.
Mixer to Console Hookup Note:
If you connect the mixer to your console via RCA audio cables (red/white), the Rig comes with a 6-inch RCA-splitter-to-3.5mm female cable that you attaches on (Mixer cable --> RCA Splitter --> console A/V cables).
The Xbox360 has an Optical/RCA audio adapter (I recommend a third-party one by Monoprice, it's less than $3 as of this writing and doesn't have "system reset" issues that other brands have) that is sold separately. Xbox360 typically outputs to both this adapter and HDMI simultaneously.
With the PS3, the console includes composite A/V cables in addition to having an Optical port built into the console. If your PS3 is hooked to your TV or receiver via HDMI, you hook up the A/V cables (or optical cable) as well and enable "Audio Multi Out" from the console's XMB under Audio Settings. Just an extra step.
Conclusion:
When I had both the PX22's and the Rig, I immediately warmed up to the Rig for it's much-better sound quality. The "I can hear myself during chat" mic is a mild turn off, but the complete package is pretty attractive. The sound is better and that's what really matters. Gamers who multitask (!) with gaming and mobile devices will like this as well thanks to the included mixer.
P.S. Next Gen Consoles?
As of this writing.... The Xbox One will reportedly have a third-party headset adapter in "early 2014". Turtle Beach was quoted in releasing their next-gen console headsets with this adapter at that time, too. For the PS4, third party USB headsets will be supported "with a patch", but not at launch.
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