E-D Audio FX headset promises rumbling gaming immersion
By Joshua Fruhlinger 
posted Mar 10th 2005 7:01AM
posted Mar 10th 2005 7:01AM
The E-D Audio FX headset features a rumbling subwoofer that the folks at E-D swear will make your gaming experience more intense and immersive. It also promises enhanced "situational awareness" due to the sense of three-dimensional space the headphones give you when mixing both sound and vibration. "Literally feel your enemies [sic] footsteps approaching and intensifying," they say. Sounds like stereo with a busted woofer to us. However, the attached USB microphone and friendly $49 price tag could make it worth a try for those whose significant others are sick and tired of listening to World of Warcraft /trains. PC compatible, no Xbox version just yet.
Audiologists the world over must be clapping their hands with glee right about now. I know technologists don't really care much about the social implications of their wares, but one has to wonder what the hearing of the gamer generation will be like in a few years.
(Yes, I sound like my mother, but higher rates of hearing loss ultimately cost us all.)
Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com
Yet again I see "bass shaker" headphones re-re-released at new.
The only new thing I see is a microphone.
The technology is very old.
Like when I worked at RadioShack as a teenager, they sold some "Rumble FX" headphones that has a battery powered bass-shaker.
They are fun, but as with any bass, can be VERY annoying at the wrong times.
Camri, you know that there is this thing called "volume" and that it can be turned "down", right? Not everyone listens to games or music at dangerous levels.
we have 10 of these at a gaming center and they're good except that the microphones arent sensitive enough
Man!!! If it was Xbox as well I'd be in.
This is actually close to something I've been waiting for for a while, now. High end headphones can have pretty amazing sound preproduction, with the main limitation being that they can't hit that chest-rattling bass because A) they're too small and B) it would blow your eardrums out. Therefore, having headphones assisted by a rumbler like this has a shot at having a much deeper range than regular headphones (and no, you don't have to listen at deafening levels to appreciate full range).
Were it me, though, I would want the rumbler in the seat I'm sitting in, rather than next to my ears. Nevertheless, I'll try these out if I ever see them.