A Quick Ear Force X31 Review

Turtle Beach is known for developing top of the line headsets that tend to appeal to the Xbox 360 gamer.  More specifically, the Ear Force X31 is a pretty slick headset that has a little something for everyone.  It’s not perfect though, so read on to find out more.  Those of you familiar with Turtle Beach and their Ear Force line of headsets, may recognize that this is similar to the X3 headset.  The X31 was designed purposely as an updated and improved version of the X3, which is no longer available.

Starting with the overall features , the X31 has digital RF wireless analog stereo inputs (USB powered) with an adjustable boom microphone, independent game volume and independent chat volume, a mutable microphone, oversized ear cups, chat boost, and auto shut off battery that extends battery life up to twenty hours.

Turtle Beach designed this headset specifically for those legendary gaming sessions where comfort and power are needed in balance.  Check out a video below from Turtle Beach
Let’s take a quick look at the Good:

  • The aforementioned chat boosts gives a volume increase which coincides with game volume increases.  As the action gets louder, so does your voice
  • Battery power comes from two AAA batteries
  • The over sized ear cups fit around your ears, keeping pressure off and increasing overall comfort
  • Wireless
  • Stereo sound comes dangerously close to surround sound, enabling you to hear your enemies

There is always some bad, so let’s take a quick look:

  • The near $100 price tag is a bit steep for a video game headset
  • You don’t get any of your own voice feedback, meaning you will end up talking (yelling?) much louder than you thought
  • You tend to get a little feedback off of the chat signal.  This results in a mild “hiss” that seems odd given the overall quality of the set
  • That same AAA battery source can get expensive unless you buy rechargeable

Let’s finish this Ear Force X31 review with a snippet from one of the 200 customer reviews on Amazon by user M. Chase:

I bought this product after mulling over the other Turtle Beach headsets for my Xbox 360 gaming. I am very impressed with these headphones. I had no idea that there were that many sounds going on in the game until I put these on. It’s amazing what I was missing just listening through my TV set.

Review paraphrased for size.  Read the entire review here.

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