Intro

One of the more important peripherals with most of our high performance rigs is the sound system. The sound system consists of two parts. One is the sound card and the second is the speakers. With today's sound cards delivering up to 7.1 surround sound, you want to enjoy the rich environment it can produce. In movies you can sit and hear a plane coming from behind your left over to your right, enriching your environment for the movie. What about games? Games have come a long way in the past 3 years. We thought stereo was great. Then surround sound was even better. And now with 7.1 we have sound able to come from every direction. This option is in new games now. 7.1 surround sound in a game is one more step to getting to that real life feel of a game. The alternate reality we go to, to enjoy the high end games we play. You can hear someone walking behind you or hear a rocket launched from in front of you. It adds to the reality to help immerse you into the game. I know you all love to hear the guns blasting at you from all directions! It helps to enjoy the full drama of the story or combat from today's games.

But what happens when you have to keep quiet? Do you play or watch without sound? No! We either turn it down, which is no fun at all, or we can use headphones. So which headphones are for you? Do you just want to spend 10 bucks on simple stereo head sets or spend a little more for a comfortable HiFi headset? Well the choice is up to you but, to fully enjoy the technology in today's movies and especially games you need to find a happy medium.

Now you have a choice for 5.1 surround sound headphones by Zalman. What is 5.1 surround sound? It is a system of 6 speakers that consist of; front right and left, rear left and right, and center. A subwoofer being the last speaker and represented as the .1 in 5.1. These headphones are lightweight, compact, and have 5.1 surround sound. How in the world can they have a headset with surround sound you ask? Leave it to Zalman to make a headset that just about does it all.

I know what you’re thinking. Zalman is a product manufacturer of noise reduction product lines. Why are they making headphones? Well like any other company if you have an idea, roll with it. What do these headphones do? They enable you to listen at high volume while the environment around you is still quiet. Zalman once again ties into making the PC experience a more user friendly environment.

The Package

The Zalman headphones are designed differently from competing products must be heard to be believed.. The initial look of the headphones is a bit confusing, at first glance you can see the unique folding ability of the headset, very compact and clean. It's a nicely shaped design that is easy to transport. The next thing I noticed were the plugs, there are a total of three; front, rear, and center. This would help to explain how these can achieve 5.1 surround sound. The only other thing packaged with the headsets is a multi-language owner’s manual. For good conductivity Zalman had the plugs gold plated. At this point you should notice something missing. A good set of headphones would have a volume control on the cord somewhere right? Unfortunately, there is no volume control on this set.

The Headphones

After unfolding them from the multi hinge points, I opened them up so you can see how much they actually expand. Looking closer at the actual ear piece, you can see the padded ear piece with a light mesh over the speakers. “Speakers” you ask? Yes, 3 of them in each side, but I will show you those later. The padding is about a ½ inch thick and is easily replaceable. Just a slight twist counter clockwise and the padding comes right off.

Now here comes the fun part. I took these little wonders apart to see what made them tick. The first pic will reveal a little secret of Zalman’s Headset, 3 speakers per side. The end speakers are set at a slight angle to the center. You will also notice some creative designs (more secrets) to help with the flow of the sound. Just above the end speakers, there are baffles in place to direct the sound to the center. When I flip the speakers over there are more little details as well.

After checking the wires, I found out that the center channel is wired to the center speakers in Mono! This kind of shocked me, but it means that they could option for 7.1 surround sound with some wiring or driver tricks, perhaps in the future? As I took a closer look at the speakers, I noticed that the center speakers were different. The center speakers are 32 ohm speakers while the outer two are 16 ohms. If you think about it, it makes sense to limit the impedence of the speaker right over your ear to the ones that are away from them.