Tritton AX 180 Review

Introduction

Comfort Design & Features

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An odd fit, but try them on first before you decide.

Like most of the console gamer headsets out there, the Tritton AX 180s have a really long cord, measuring in at 12.5 feet even before the adapter adds a few inches. At the end of the AX 180’s monster cord are three plugs: a USB plug, a 3.5mm headphone plug, and another 3.5mm microphone plug. The cord guards to the Tritton AX 180 are fairly robust, and shouldn’t expose your cable’s solder points to much danger.

While these cans may not be made of the most durable metal, or a super-advanced carbon nanotube mesh, they are relatively durable for the price they can be had for, and being able to replace the mic in the event of breakage is always a plus for headsets. Still, we advise all gamers not to fling their headsets across the room into the wall for any reason.

Putting all these features on your head is not an entirely unpleasant experience. While the shape of the Tritton AX 180s is fairly odd given the face that the back end of a human pinna is not flat, but rounded, the AX 180 are nonetheless comfortable. If you can’t see what we’re talking about, the flat side of the ear cup goes to the back of your ear, while the rounded part goes over the front of your ear.

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Audio Quality

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The high end suffers.

In the grand scheme of things, the {{product.name}} has middling sound quality. However, the {{product.model}} is designed to be a gaming headset. what does an ideal response look like for in-game sound? Truth be told, that depends on which type of game you're likely to play. For example, first-person shooters could probably benefit from only slight bass emphasis and a downplay of high-end sounds, because in a firefight, you want to hear explosions and less of small arms fire. If that's the case, then this headset is probably a great fit.

If you're more at home with an RPG with carefully orchestrated music, however, you're probably not going to value this type of frequency response as much. Just think long and hard about what types of sounds you'd like to hear in-game, and what you'd like muffled a bit.

While in game, the {{product.name}}s have some tracking issues (imbalance between the right and left channel volumes). If you're listening extremely intently at a loud volume, you can probably hear slight channel shifts, but you probably won't hear anything in-game, especially considering the most prominent shifts in channel volume occur in the under-emphasized high end.

Conclusion

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Entry-level price, middle of the road performance.

At the end of the day, many consumers are looking for a simple, no-nonsense headset to throw on their head and start their gaming. If that sounds like what you want to do, the Tritton AX 180s are a solid choice, and should do exactly what’s expected of a headset.

While they do fit the bill of an entry-level headset, they do not have the same distortion issues of some of the lower-end headsets on the market, but they don’t have any off the wall or spectacular features; the Tritton AX 180s are a middle of the road headset, and sometimes, you just want something that will get the job done without much fuss. That’s not to say that there aren’t some shortcomings of the set, but they’re relatively minor, and situation oriented. For example, if you’re not a first-person shooter fan, you’ll probably want a different headset for RPG games, as the high end is very muffled.

If you’re on a budget, and you need a headset for your XBox or PS3 that doesn’t break the bank or your spirit, the Tritton AX 180s are a good bet for the price range. They offer decent audio quality and durability for less money than you might shell out for a comparable headset of lower quality.

Science Introduction

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The {{product.name}} is an entry-level gaming headset that won't break the bank. It has middle of the road performance that favors first-person shooters rather than orchestral pieces.

Frequency Response

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Like its price, the {{product.name}} doesn't cater to the high-end.

With headphones, we'd like to see a jack-of-all-sounds. However, this is not the {{product.name}}. But hold on just a second: what does an ideal response look like for in-game sound? Well, that all depends on which type of game you’re likely to play. For example, first-person shooters could probably benefit from only slight bass emphasis and a downplay of high-end sounds, because in a deathmatch, you want your eardrums to survive explosions and small arms fire, right?

If you’re more at home with an RPG with carefully orchestrated music, however, you’re probably not going to value this type of frequency response as much. Just think long and hard about what types of sounds you’d like ot hear in-game, and what you’d like muffled a bit.

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Distortion

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The level of distortion shouldn't be noticeable during gameplay.

Our good old buddy HATS (short for Head and Torso Simulator) recorded a small amount of distortion in our tests, but it's well below the threshold of human audibility. We don't have ears like a bat, so the total harmonic distortion (THD) needs to be over 3% in order for us to begin to discern it. However, at volume this is a different story: while the Tritton AX 180 can output 110.45dB of sound without reaching the dreaded 3% distortion, you'd suffer hearing damage after a while at that volume, at which point it won't really matter that much.

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Isolation

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Mediocre isolators

No man is an island, though there are headphones out there that will grant you the metaphorical ability to be one. As you can probably guess by my sarcastic tone, the {{product.name}}s are not those headphones. Being a gaming headset, it'd be a bit more ideal if your headphones could block out more than just the 25dB in the high end. If you have this gaming headset, you maybe have to use your gamer's instinct and seek out a dark, isolated place, but if you're at a LAN party, prepare to annoy the crap out of all your friends, as these also leak a lot of sound.

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Other Tests

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