This is my review of the Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000.
I have been a fan of all things audio in the past while and when I seen these for €24.99 in Tesco on 31st December, I picked them up.
I didn’t really think much of them at the time, but I got home and made the video about the unboxing and the first impressions.
This is by far the best headset that I have had in a while. I have been through loads of headsets in the past couple of years, but these sound absolutely brilliant compared to the Plantronics GameCom 307 Headset. While there is nothing wrong with the headset, I feel that the mic was a bit weak in them.
Anyway, back to the headset. On close inspection, these are not HUGE headphones, so if you have a large head, these may not suit you because these are small. What I would like to have is a bit more of a extension of them. With the Plantrionics, I can bring them down half-way and they sit alright, but with the Microsoft headset, I had to move them the entire way down to get them onto my head.
The mic is pretty good (as from the video) and it comes with a Pop Filter (which the Plantronics didn’t) and it doesn’t go all whiny like the others.
For music, they are great. They have a great bass to them (A little too much if you ask me), so I will have to adjust that a bit in some equalization program.
In terms of the build quality, be careful with them. These are a pair of headphones that if you move them in the wrong direction, they will easily snap. They basically use the same plastic as I have used for other headsets (Logitech, Dynamode, SilverCrest), so do be careful if you are planning to take them with you.
The in-line controller is big. It’s not some flimsy little tiny yoke that you can only press buttons with your fingernail. There is 3 big buttons on it. A volume up and down (Which adjusts Windows master volume) and a mic mute. When you mute the mic, a red LED comes on.
Is there anything bad about these? Just the minor issue of the headset being made from cheap plastic rather than stronger material (But then it wouldn’t be cheap if you went to buy them. Noise Cancellation. I like to hear out for people, I couldn’t hear anything outside of the headphones, so I was immersed in the gameplay which can help when you are playing FPS games.
My tips for Microsoft: Put out a expensive (€75 – €100) headset using better materials and still retain features from these headsets.
Recommendation: BUY
Price: €25
Shop: Tesco Ireland