Evergreen Technologies RumbleFX
$20 Set of Labtec Headphones/Mic

The two headphones above were connected to the Hercules Game Theatre XP. Both the Game Theatre XP and the Plantronics DSP were set to have no equalizer settings applied to the sound.

There are several aspects of the DSP-500 that are stated on their website that I will be testing out, including: greater bass response, full range audio support, and weight of the headset. The website also mentions the DSP-500 being perfect for audio, speech recognition, and voice applications.

I will be specifically testing out these areas.

First test up was music. I employed the help of two other individuals to help me gauge which one of the headphones had the best quality. The overall census was, the RumbleFX headphones had the best sound and bass, the DSP-500 came in second and the cheap $20 labtecs last. The DSP-500 features bass controls within the Persono software, but in testing I found that adjusting them caused the bass within the music to become distorted and unclean.

Second test is speech recognition. This test was only conducted between the cheap $20 labtecs and the Plantronics, due to the fact that the RumbleFX does not have a microphone. The winner is Plantronics first, and the labtecs last. The Plantronics had exceptional quality when talking over the net and working with voice applications.

Third test was gaming. This test was conducted between all sets of headphones. The winner is the RumbleFX, due to the fact it has exceptional quality and great bass. The Plantronics headset came in second but did not have the same quality as experienced through the RumbleFX.

Fourth test was the lightweight of each set. The predominant winner of this one is the Plantronics with its very lightweight material. They feel as if they are almost not even there.

One thing that I do want to make aware to the readers of this article is that I used the Hercules Game Theatre XP with the labtec and RumbleFX headphones. Meaning if you have a crappy sound card, you may not see the same results as I did when doing this comparison.

Overall the quality of sound produced from the DSP-500 was good, but the RumbleFX headphones seemed to produce a better quality tone and a greater bass range then the DSP-500. Recording wise, the DSP-500 did an exceptional job with voice recognition applications and voice conferencing.