Plantronics GameCom 780 Open Ear Gaming Headset with 7.1 Surround Sound

An astonishingly good set of headphones even if they were twice the price that is being asked for them.

Physical characteristics:

The headphones themselves, in terms of their construction, seem to be of very good quality, with none of the cheap, creaky plastic you might find in some other headphones. The ear muffs fit comfortably over my entire ear (my ears are on the large side) and are cushioned comfortably against my head by the padded velvet type ear muffs, and on top of my head, by the similarly padded and covered headband. The headband will go over pretty much anyones head I think, and has just enough spring loading in it to keep it firmly attached on your head, without giving you a headache or ear ache. Cable quality seems good, and it ends in a standard USB connector with none of the bulk associated with some USB headphone connectors, so for those of you with crowded USB sockets, it should fit in without problem and without you having to swap all your USB plugged items around in order to get it inserted. The mic arm on the headset is of the usual 'boom' style and can be moved up and down through a 90 degree arc. It is also flexible and can be bent towards or away from your mouth. On the left hand ear muff of the headset itself, there is a button to turn the Dolby NR on/off, a mic mute switch, and a volume control. The Dolby button lights up with a blue light when the Dolby is turned on.

Installation:

These headphones have a set of drivers supplied with them on a CD, and these should be installed before plugging in the headphones and will require a system reboot for them to be enabled properly. Once the system has rebooted, plug the headphones in, and wait for them to be detected and the appropriate drivers installed. Once finished, there will be a "Plantronics Gamecon" icon available in the bottom right hand corner of your system tray in the notifications area. Within this control panel there are simple settings for either turning the Dolby on/off or changing the headphones sound between using them for gaming, or using them for listening to music/watching movies.

Sound quality:

Gaming: - Sound quality for gaming is nothing short of astonishing. Quite the best set of headphones I have used, and brings gaming sounds out that were previously muffled or indeed totally unheard by me, before using these headphones. As these headphones also offer simulated 7.1 Surround Sound, I am sure you are wondering how effective it is. Well, I can tell you it is very effective indeed, giving accurate, high quality, directional sound that will let you know where every sound in your game is coming from - obviously very important in games like the FPS genre, when you are coming under fire. That's not its only use however, as I have found the headset gives vastly improved quality of sound in MMO's such as WoW and SWTOR, to the degree that it again lets you hear things you hadn't heard before, and as a result provides you with greater immersion in the games environment.

Music/Media Audio: - Music and sound quality, in stereo mode, is again, excellent. This headset in fact outshines some midrange Sennheiser audio headsets that I have, that were more than twice the cost of this headset. I would be perfectly happy to use this headset for audio on a long term basis, and I am pretty fussy about music audio quality, so that probably is a strong recommendation in itself. Similarly, when watching movies with this headset, the 7.1 surround sound works extremely well, providing a high quality soundscape that adds to the experience considerably. Certainly this latter function is a worthy substitute for when everyone has gone to bed and you want to watch that new movie in surround sound, but can't turn your AV Amp on :-)

Mic: - Again, excellent. It has built in noise cancelling, works happily with Skype, Teamspeak, Ventrilo etc. and those on the other end of my calls, tell me it is the clearest sound quality they have ever heard from a headset, and it apparently sounds like I am sitting next to them. The noise cancelling seems to work well too, eliminating background noise when you are multiplayer gaming over the internet.

Overall:

Given Plantronics background in audio headsets intended for voice conferencing, it is perhaps not all that surprising that they can turn their talents to producing decent gaming headsets. What did surprise me however, was just how good this headset is for the money. For the paltry sum you are paying for this headset, you are getting the best gaming headset I have yet heard or used, and a headset that will also double for audio, for those that listen to music or watch movies on their PC. When you buy this headset, you will be buying a top quality device, with superior sound to items that cost more than twice as much. Buy with confidence, people.

Update: After 8 months of ownership and daily use for several hours a day, the plastic headband snapped - Right at the joint with the earcup. From reading a LOT of the other reviews, this has happened with some others' headsets, so bear this in mind. Also, mine seem to have lasted the longest out of those that have failed. Will be investigating possibility of refund/replacement through Amazon.

With this in mind, my remarks below still stand - It's a bloody good 7.1 headset for the money and I am still considering a replacement:

For all the great reviews, this is still the cheapest 7.1 headset I could find and I expected everything about it to be thusly attributed. What I got was surprisingly good...

Packaging:
Good enough. Nothing fancy, no amazing marketing designs, but then why would you need that when it just costs more money anyway? It's a cheap headset.
Inside of the box flap has a little note pointing to where the installation CD is taped in place, too. Nice helpful touch.

Software:
Install and restart PC *before* you first plug the headset in. They even include a small orange card to remind you of this. Don't worry, the software is tiny and won't affect your system resources or anything like that.
Once done and you've plugged the headset in, the software is easy to use and very, very simple. There's only a couple of options and a button that opens the PC's audio properties... But for the sort of person who'd buy this headset (rather than the fancy one where the fifty aspects of every individual driver can be customised), this is all you need!
Here is where you can switch between 5.1 and 7.1 sound and set up anything else you want. As other reviewers have already stated, if you don't select these options (it's not difficult - even I managed it) then your audio will not sound right.

Build quality:
Yeah, I like this. It reminds me of some 1980s headsets with the twin wire slide rails and exposed wiring, rather than modern sets that just have plastic covered bars and the wiring all contained within. It's obviously cheap, but will still likely last as it's built well.
The plastic *feels* a little cheap, but is very solid and there are no gaps, rough edges, bad mouldings or loose points. Everything is tightly fixed.

The earcups swivel outward 90º and the hinges are tightly fit with a smooth action. What might be a weak point is as well built as (and reminiscent of) a very expensive Sony headset I had back in those 1980s.

The USB cable is 'bare' wire, in that it has none of the customary braided covering and seems a touch on the thin side. It needs the bends straightening out from being folded up in the box, lest the bends kink and wreck the cable, but this only takes a few seconds and we've all been doing this with packaged electrical products for decades anyway!
It still feels as solid as the rest of the build though. Time will tell if it can stand up to enthusiastic use.

Fit:
Initially I found them awkward, exerting pressure on the points behind my jaw, just below the ears. I took a moment to find the msot comfortable point atop my head for the band and then adjusted the earcup sliders a bit. Hey presto, as comfy as my 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets... no, really, I got some as a wedding gift and the headset is just as lovely!
After several hours, my ears were a bit warm and sweaty of course, but in a stuffy room with no AirCon during very hot weather just 'a bit sweaty' is rather good going, I think!
No actual discomfort at all, which is again impressive.
The padding is great, nice and soft outer material and supportive foam core.

Function:
Mic swivels down from the upright position. Nothing unlike the usual headsets, except this doesn't go the other way. It's left side only, I'm afraid. No biggie unless you're fussy about that sort of thing.
The mic is of the contemporary rubber bar shape which bends inward a bit for slight positional adjustment. Doesn't really do that much and it *seems* like it's too far out to pick up any sound... But it's fine.
Earcups individually swivel out of the way. Mainly a DJ function, but occasionally useful for other users.
The left earcup has controls along the lower left edge: an on/off Mic Mute slider switch, a jog-dial for volume up/down and a standard press on/off for the 7.1 sound. This last one lights up a gentle blue when 7.1 is enabled, while at the same time the system tray Headphones icon turns orangey to indicate the same.

Performance:
Kind asking the wrong person on this one - I've used a number of 5.1 and 7.1 headsets before and I can definitely tell the difference, but I'm still not really an Audiophile. I love my music and I appreciate good sound quality, but I have to work with such varying qualities of sound kit anyway that my ears automatically adapt to whatever I'm presented with at the time. As a result, the minor tweaks available on kit don't make that much difference as long as the base setup is of sufficient quality and clarity.

On this set, 5.1 sounds like a nice warm room with the sound almost 'inside your head' like a good pair of earphones. Bass is good and even, mid and upper ranges are clear and everything is fairly well balanced. If you're like me and you fiddle with settings on individual media players, differences are generally more apparent through this headset and so custom settings are more effective.
The 7.1 here sounds like you're in a room with a considerable echo. I actually thought the sound was playing out the PC speakers as well until I took the headset off to check! Not something I've experienced with other 7.1 headsets.
In gaming, I found the 7.1 to be very good where applicable. Many times I closed my eyes and turned my view to where I thought the sound was coming from. My cursor was usually within millimetres of the actual location. Definitely a tactical advantage for those First Person shooters, especially so for the First Person sneakers, but all-round just a brilliant thing to have!

The sound does bleed out of the headset a fair bit, but inside you are nicely isolated. Probably not so effective next to a busy road, but a busy supermarket is easily blocked out.

Conclusion:
Well built, well packaged, well supported with great performance and comfort, particularly if you know what you're doing. Audiophiles will probably dislike it a bit, but I'd say the same about most headsets because they're not designed to replace massive über-speakers from a live concert. Gamers will be surprised and somewhat delighted.
Overall - Exceptional value and holds it's own against it's peer headsets that cost 3-4 times the price!

Highly recommended, especially if you want to try 7.1 audio on a budget and/or cannot afford an expensive speaker setup!

I really couldn't say anything else. It's comfortable, it's cheap, it has crystal clear sound, the 7.1 surround sound works very well as does the noise cancelling, directional microphone. People on the other end can't hear a trace of 'background noise' and say that the sound quality of my microphone is great. I've tested the sound quality. It IS great. 5 stars.