Tritton 720+ 7.1 Surround Multi Platform Headset Review

This week I have spending some time testing the Tritton 720+ 7.1 surround headset from Tritton, a multi format gaming headset with support for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 aimed at the enthusiast gaming market. There is some stiff competition in the gaming headset market, but Tritton have gone all out on the feature list with this one, so it will be interesting to see how well it holds up under close inspection.

Tritton are rapidly becoming one of my favourite brands here at eTeknix, or should I say MadCatz. With products like their Xbox 360 racing wheel, Seitek flight sticks, MadCatz MLG Pro Controller, Tritton Detonator Headset for Xbox 360 and the Tritton Warhead 7.1 Headset for Xbox 360 already walking away with eTeknix awards over the last few months, so when I heard I was going to be allowed to review the 720+ I was excited to hear that I would be getting to take another one of their products out for spin.

Tritton have been on the market now since 2000, making everything from headsets to external video card tech, right up until they were taken under in by the MadCatz brand. They kept the Tritton name but now Tritton is the gaming audio brand of MadCatz.

“TRITTON is focused on developing, manufacturing, and bringing to market high-performance gaming headsets and audio peripherals. Striving to create innovative and reliable products with cutting edge technology, the Tritton is the brand of choice for professional and casual gamers world-wide” www.trittonusa.com

Its easy to spot a Tritton headset, with their high contrast colous, strong design features and premium quality. Lets start by taking a closer look at the 720+ surround headset and see if it hold up to the Tritton standards of style and quality. With a price tag of around £120 this isn’t a cheap product, but it does hold a lot of features and promise, so lets see how it performs and see if we can justify that premium price tag.

Tritton seem to have a special tallent for making their packaging stand out and the 720+ is no different. With a high contrast black, white and orange packaging to match the colours of the headset that really stands out. It would certainly catch your eye if it were on display in a store. The box comes with a great product shot of the headset as well as a few mentions of some of the major features, such as its 7.1 audio support, Dolby Digital EX and Pro Logic IIx, support for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and Mac.

Around the back of the box things get a lot more detailed, with detailed diagrams for all the major features, specifications and even a QR code to take you to their product website.

Along the top we have info badges for 3D Audio, 50mm headphone drivers, SVM (self voice monitor), Indedepdent volume controls for chat and game audio and that the xbox 360 adaptor cable is included in the box.

The technical specification along the bottom of the box gives us more in depth information about the set:

• 12ft cable length
• Xbox Live Port
• Optical Audio Input
• 25Hz – 22kHz Frequency Responce
• Neodymium Magnets
• THD <1%
• USB Powered

With the slip cover off the box, were able to open the lid and get our first glimpse of the headset, but it was cover up by a foldout setup chart, which is really clear, detailed and easy to understand. Well done Tritton for including a manual that actually gets your attention and is easy to understand.

Out of the box you can see that the headset comes hard wired to the in-line controller, with the longer connection cable also being hard wired. The cable is 12ft in length which should give you plenty of room to kick back and relax. The cable feels durable but a nice bit of braided cable wouldn’t have gone a miss, even just on an asthetics side of things. On the end of the cable is a custom shape connection for connecting the headset to the included hub.

The hub is a one piece unit and simple enough to use. It comes fitted with a volume and power control, headset mode and a headset output socket on the front.

All the important stuff was in the box, starting from top left we have;

• Xbox 360 adaptor (allows optical output from the standard Xbox connection)
• Toslink Optical Cable
• PC USB and Input / Output twin 3.5mm jackplug adaptor
• Xbox Live Chat Cable (connects to Xbox Controller)
• USB power cable
• Detatchable Microphone

Out of the box we get our first good look at the headset its self, it doesn’t take long to notice that the headset its self oozes style, with the high contrast black and white finish set off nicely with a few hints or bright orange on the “T” logo and on the inside edge of the earpiece lining.

Each side of the headset comes with a simple push pull extender to help you find the perfect fit for you head. Each ear piece comes with a good degree of tilt also, this helps get a good fit over your ears and keeps the whole thing snug and secure on your head.

Ear ear cup comes with a foam filled leather padding and a soft fabrid backing that covers each of the drivers.

The in-line remote control is hard wired on the headset cable and comes packed with all the important features. Fitted with seperate volume controls for game and chat, SVM and microphone mute. It’s a pastic moulded unit but it’s still been given the same high quality finish and style as the headset.

One of the best features of this set is the base unit, your headset connects to the front port, but your optical device connects to the rear, making this headset backwards compatible with near any audio device that has optical output. It’s also small enough to sit along side your console or behind your TV without it causing too much inconvenience.

The microphone is completely removable, perfect for when your only playing single player, watching a movie or litening to some music. Or maybe you just don’t want to chat while in multiplayer, it’s your call.

It’s also full possitionable thanks to its flexible boom, so you should be able to find the sweet spot that works for you when chatting.

Testing this headset was a little tricky, but only because it offers such a wide range of device support in its feature list, as well as a multitude of audio virtualisation and EQs to keep me busy for hours, which it did. For my first test I decided to fire up Borderlands 2 and Halo Reach on the Xbox 360, setup was as simple as connecting the Toslink Audio cable and the USB audio cable to the back of my console and only took a few moments to get the device operational.

First impressions of this set were jaw dropping to say the least, the 50mm drivers don’t disapoint with their power output and frequency range. The level of bass that can be produced is very impressive and completely distortion free, but all the while still managing to keep the high and mid tones of the sound crystal clear at the same time.

The 7.1 virtual decoding is handled by the base unit, but I want to get something clear right off, these are not true 7.1 speakers, they are stereo. I generally hate all this virtual stuff as it just doesn’t work out side of the tech you see in high quality home AV receivers. For example my Yamaha home cinema can take 2.0 and turn it to 7.1 with amazing detail and clarity and I’ve yet to find a console audio solution that can do the same, until now! The Tritton not only mixes 2.0, 5.1 and an array of Dolby surrounds in to 7.1 virtual sound, but it does it better than any console solution on the market I’ve heard. Ok so its not as good as when my AV receiver does it, but that cost 3 times as much and its base unit is around 20 times larger than the Trittons.