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The Turtle Beach Ear Force XP SEVEN ships in a black box with one of the cups visible and some of its key features listed.
The back of the box shows a better image of the headset and the Audio Control Unit. There is also some more detailed information available in several languages.
Inside the box are the headset, a box containing the Audio Control Unit, the console interface unit, a box of cables, a quick start guide and the Turtle Beach stickers.
Taking a closer look at the cables we can see Turtle Beach has made sure to include every cable you need to connect the headset to any of the big three consoles and a PC. The cables connecting the headset to the Audio Control Unit are all braided, following the same colour scheme, whilst the remainder has received a rubber coating.
We can also see the breakaway connectors used for the wires leading to the headset. The breakaway cable on the right hand side also features an in-line microphone. This microphone can be used as a replacement for the boom mic and when using the headset on the go. In terms of quality, it cannot live up to a proper microphone, but it is a nice little touch.
The console interface unit is a small black box with a limited number of inputs and outputs. The front features a USB slot and Multi-pin input to connect the headset.
The back of the unit houses the AUX, USB and Digital Input and Output to connect your console of choice. The unit is not required to connect the headset to your PC as this is done with a single USB cable.
Moving on to the Audio Control Unit, Turtle Beach includes a lengthy rubberised cable with the sizable unit. The surface has received a glossy finish, whilst the sides are made of smooth plastic.
Taking a closer look at the front of the unit we can see the 8 preset buttons, as well as the three inputs for mobile devices, connecting the headset when using your PC and one for consoles. There are also two functions available to switch between separate Chat and Main presets.
When adjusting the speaker angles or adjusting the volume for individual speakers, the 6 squares in the middle will light up depending on which speakers are selected.
All buttons are touch capacitive light up white when enabled and red when disabled.
On the left hand side of the unit we can see the Volume knob. Below the Volume knob are buttons to adjust the speaker angles, turn the surround sound on or off, and to cycle through the speaker selection.
There is a speaker input, situated directly next to the cable. This allows users to connect their speakers without losing any of the benefits provided by the Audio Control Unit.
The left hand side is also where we find the Power button. Situated next to the Power Button are two wheels for the Mic Monitor and Aux Volume functions.
The right hand side shows us the Mic Mute, Dolby Digital and Game Volume buttons. By default, the Mic Mute button will light up white to indicate the microphone is on. The Dolby Digital button lights up red by default on PC as 5.1 digital PCM audio is channeled through the USB connection.
On the side we can see the Mode Switch Button. Pressing the button once switches the unit from Headset mode to Speaker Mode. Holding the button for 5 seconds locks the capacitive touch buttons, ensuring your settings do not accidentally change.
Finally, the last button is used to control the Chat Volume.
Both sides are clearly marked L and R on the inside and the Boom Mic port is clearly visible on the lower half of the left cup.
The cups can swivel 90 degrees and the headband can be adjusted without a problem. In the image above, showing the outside of the cups, the left cup is on the right side and vice versa.
The cups are lined with a cloth surface featuring the Turtle Beach logo on the inside. Improved noise isolation is achieved with all leather cushions. Under warm conditions these will cause your ears to get particularly sweaty, though this is a sacrifice that has been made for the sake of a closer fit over the breathing properties of cloth lining.
Making use of another breakaway cable, the headset can be stored easily without having to worry about the abundance of cables.
The cups have ear plates that can be taken off. Turtle Beach informed us they are planning to release a line of customizable plates, though no release date is known yet.
The headband has a white stitched pattern and its surface is made entirely out of leather. All in all, the design is not overly flashy and should fit well with most gaming set-ups.
These are a step up from the mainstream headphones people buy for their systems.
A little expensive for me, but I can see why they cost as much. My cooler master headphones will have to do me a while longer!
They are the market leaders. I spent a small fortune on their headphones last year and they are fantastic, much better than steelseries, razer et al.
They need to make a blue tooth puc for the xp 500/510 to use on new xbox one. Or make a wireless version with optical connector