# [ALF] Roccat Kave 5.1Ch. Headset : A First-person Perspective Feedback [ALF]



## GhorMaanas (Jan 8, 2012)

Hello everyone !

This is the first time am writing a little detailed feedback on anything. hope you like it. and please dont hesitate in pointing out any shortcomings you find in it, so that i could take care of those things for my future write-ups.

*Thanks to :

Sukant
MegaMind*

*Special Thanks* --> _*Our Bumblebee Master*_ 

Now this has been done before for the kave. the internet is full of reviews. but its just my attempt here to put this down in a more friendly manner.

i'll first start with the abbreviation. ALF stands for '_Absolute Layman Friendly_'. just a term i coined ....being a non-geek learner myself, am not qualified to go deep into technicalities of things am still trying to come to grips with, and hence tried to write in a manner that would be lucid and easy to grasp by other users like me, as well as would give an indication of what
one could expect from a product in its day-to-day normal usage.

Alright. So let's pull the regatta !

(pls pardon the PQ )

*This is a feedback based on the initial impressions of the product, used just out of the box. To give it a shape of a review, atleast in theory, i would be needed to add to this feedback later on, when i feel the product has clocked enough usage-hours to be assessed objectively.*
​
Roccat is a brand of repute, and this is the first time am trying any of their products. since quite some time, i was keen on this name, and it sort of, in a childish manner, used to register in my mind as some brand that makes heavy-duty and at the same time classy gaming-products, all the while standing at a position above its competitors, and giving all of them a proud and stoic look. fanciful 

but i was catapulted towards finally owning one of their products when a buddy and fellow member (we know who ) got that product, and i could wait no more. so gentlemen, presenting to you, the.. 

*Roccat Kave*​
*Tech-specs & introduction here* - ROCCAT STUDIOS V3.0 - PRODUCTS Â» Gaming Sound Â» ROCCAT Kave 5.1

*1. Straight out of the box :​*
** The box is huge ! well-designed, with features described all over it, as well as with details on the back. the 'roccat' insignia shines proudly ! i start getting that strange but good feeling as soon as i see the 'roccat' logo* 

*i.imgur.com/mUM4ml.jpg*i.imgur.com/GGwenl.jpg*i.imgur.com/P2fIWl.jpg*i.imgur.com/KTCdIl.jpg*i.imgur.com/QzJDFl.jpg*i.imgur.com/9ULYIl.jpg*i.imgur.com/zRM5dl.jpg*i.imgur.com/LoWY4l.jpg*i.imgur.com/iVGIfl.jpg*i.imgur.com/b50PMl.jpg*i.imgur.com/hSObul.jpg*i.imgur.com/8VIsDl.jpg

** as is usual with quality headphones, upon opening the box, we see a mould to which the headphone (henceforth, HP) is secured. while taking it out, i sense the weight of the thing, and i KNOW its made to last long*

*i.imgur.com/7xSe5l.jpg

** the effort & good-intention of the maker thats gone in towards the packaging of the HP shows clearly. foam-lining for the headband, as well as rubber-strips for the ear-cups. nice !*

*i.imgur.com/6nRLXl.jpg

** unsecuring the HP, i could feel its weight. its not too heavy to worry you, but for people like me who have graduated from something like ozone attack and siberia V1, its enough to strike you at the first instance.* 

*i.imgur.com/Jd8nFl.jpg

** one significant thing that i must tell you is, in all these steps, what never left my mind at once was one word, ie, 'elegant'* 

** the box also contains a short manual, describing the various parts of the HP, and a 'confidential document', which perhaps (i have given it just a glance as of now) tells about the inspiration behind creation of the HP. cool !*

*i.imgur.com/V5Z5El.jpg
*BOX-CONTENTS*

*i.imgur.com/WwUXfl.jpg
*MANUAL, DOCUMENT, & DEMO-DISK* - *The demo-disk doesnt have any drivers, as you dont need any to use the HP. simply plug it and start using it ! it just contains a software for you to test out the HP's surround sound capabilities.*

*i.imgur.com/VqSDAl.jpg
*THE 'CONFIDENTIAL' DOCUMENT*

*i.imgur.com/07eodl.jpg
*'CONFIDENTIALITY' EXPOSED !* *The late Mr. Einstein greets you* 

*i.imgur.com/efxjjl.jpg
*BLAH*

*i.imgur.com/9gvAIl.jpg
*BLAH BLAH*

*i.imgur.com/kzp5wl.jpg
*THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL*

*i.imgur.com/JBSPDl.jpg

*2. Waking the giant up from its slumber :​*
** This HP has a control pod to it. we will come to it in a while. the pod is 
tightly wrapped in plastic and snuggly fit in the mould.*

** the wire of the HP is quite long, but coiled nicely and secured with a velcro tie. the length of the wire from the headset to the pod seems adequate to me, as well as from the pod to the analog inputs. the length of each must stand from a meter to about 2-2.5m, but i havent measured it actually.*

** we have a USB cord, and for all the 3.5mm jacks for various drivers (since this is REAL 5.1 HP), the pin is covered with nice black plastic caps. great !*

*i.imgur.com/R1gUKl.jpg
*THE ANALOG INPUT CONNECTORS + USB CORD* - *The connectors here are not gold-plated. One thing to note here is, that, we should not confuse this USB connector with those in some other surround sound HPs, namely razer megalodon, logitech G35, etc. the functions of the USB connector in those are entirely different. those not being TRUE 5.1 surround sound headphones, use the USB connection to power up 'surround sound simulation' that they employ. they dont have any analog connectors, just the USB power-up; whereas here, the USB connector is used to power-up the control pod, and associated lights on the pod and the HP. so you now know how the kave is different from some other surround-sound HPs in the market, if not necessarily superior* 

** since its a HEADSET, it has a 'detachable' mic to it. the mic though cant be retracted, but it twists and turns easily, and has a blue LED light surrounding the tip. it can be detached from the connector on the ear-cup.*

*i.imgur.com/Uk2FDl.jpg
*LIT UP LED TIP OF THE MIC*

*i.imgur.com/tMlmhl.jpg
*THE MIC DETACHES AT THIS LIT UP POINT*

** the wire is NOT braided (unlike the siberia V1), but the wire from pins to the control pod is thick and feels sturdy, whereas from the control pod upwards to the HP is thin, but nevertheless feels of good quality and strong, not in the least looking plasticky.*


*3. Field-test :*​

** NOISE-ISOLATION - As soon as i put on the HPs, i distinctly noticed how the sound of mouse-clicks i was making seemed almost inaudible. the ear-cups fully cover your ears, and it feels very 'airy' inside them, if i could say so. the only outside sound that could hammer your ear-drums is if you try to play percussion with your fingers on those ear-cups (which i actually tried ). so i would say noise-isolation is very good. you wont hear your mom yelling at you from some other room *

**COMFORT - The ear-cups have a leather-finish to them, but i actually didnt encounter any occurrence of sweating. though not everyone sweats, but i have a tendency to sweat  over the ears with prolonged use of HPs. also, the headband, which is adjustable, has foam pads to maximise comfort by the way of cushioning, as well as equalise the weight-distribution of the HP over your head, and the whole aesthetics of it give the feel of increasing effective noise-isolation. overall, i didnt feel it uncomfortable in the least, even though the ear-cups sit nice-and-tight over the ears; its plush !*

*i.imgur.com/npp4gl.jpg
*LEATHERY EAR-CUPS*

*i.imgur.com/B6Sshl.jpg
*PADDED HEADBAND*

** EASE OF CARRYING - The ear-cups can be folded. upon folding, it no more seems to be a big HP. can be used to carry this way wherever you need to take them, although no carry-case is provided.* 

** CONTROL POD - Having analog connectors to it, roccat has beautifully incorporated a control pod for us to natively alter each driver's settings, instead of leaving us to the mercy of only the sound-card's software.
it has a circular wheel on top, which can be rotated to control the overall volume (looks slick),  and has an inner circular button, which when pressed, mutes the sound. upon opening the lid at the bottom of the pod, you come face-to-face with the equaliser controls. these include volume-control for the front channel, the center channel (which carries dialogues or conversations), the side/real channels (which contains ambient surround sounds), and the sub (for low frequency sounds, and the RUMBLE effect too here ). the controls are very responsive. apart from these, there's a slider for gaming/movies (but i didnt notice much difference in the effect). there's a blue LED which lights up when you press the 'mute' button.*

*i.imgur.com/LNs1al.jpg
*THE CONTROL POD*

*i.imgur.com/BF4x4l.jpg
*EQUALISER CONTROLS*

** now comes the sweating part ! i checked this HP first on onboard sound, compared it with my other two stereo HPs, namely ozone attack, and siberia V1, followed by the same battery of checks connected to xonar DX, for gaming, movies, as well as for music.*

*WITH ONBOARD SOUND :*​_*mobo is asus Z68 V-Pro, onboard sound is Realtek ALC892, with following features :*__ *

- 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC 
- Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking

  Audio Feature :
- Absolute Pitch 192kHz/ 24-bit True BD Lossless Sound
- Blu-ray audio layer Content Protection 
- DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC 
- Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel)*_

** most of you know that a dedicated sound card is much better. although the onboard sound works good and is likeable, but its only when you get a dedicated sound card that you know what you were MISSING. nevertheless, i went ahead with this test since many of us dont have dedicated sound cards.*

** though comparing a 5.1 headset with a stereo one isnt quite justified, but still i went ahead, since many use stereo headsets for all-round purposes (like the much acclaimed siberia series as well as audio-techinca's near-excellent ATH-AD700).*


*GAMING :*​

Am first and foremost an FPS-junkie, and in between, to change my mood, i bite some other genres too. but this being a 5.1 headset, i thought it best to test it on a couple of shooters as it would be utilised most in them.

*Games tested on* --> _Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3._

*1.* *MW3* - though a remarkable series (till the advent of 'bad company'), i had this gripe with MW (since the 2nd part) that first of all it has an unrealistic pace of gameplay (i like my shooters to be a bit more tactical), and secondly, the unimpactful nature of foley and sounds ! the gunshots, dialogues, ambient sounds, explosions, etc. just dont seem to have that liveliness, especially so if you are using a 5.1 system for the sound. it feels very disenchanting to me as compared to the frostbite games. nevertheless, since its not about games but about the HP, i will move on.

- connected the 3.5mm pins of the HP to the respective jacks of the onboard sound controller, the HP gets detected, i configure a bit, and start playing MW3. *unimpressive* ! i was in the level where you are in an aeroplane trying to save the russian prez. seriously, it didnt impress me. sounds didnt seem to have much impact. although the aural-field seemed wide, it lacked punch. tested with ozone attack and siberia, they 'seemed' to fare better.


*2.* *BF3* - much better ! jacked up volume a bit to notice various sounds. felt there's some lack of punchy bass, though the boom was evident. not felt any distinct presence of surround 


*MOVIES :*​

*-* Tested on various movies, all being BRrips with 6CH audio. soundstage seemed wide, but there was this lack of thumpiness i was finding in the siberia, and to a lesser extent on the ozone attack.


*MUSIC :*​

*-* not worth mentioning; just average. stereo headphones fared quite well. in contrast, soundstage here is not wide, understandably since sound recordings are in 2CH audio.

now done with this, at this juncture, i was seriously contemplating whether really my investment was worth it, esp. keeping in mind the fact i absolutely like my 5.1 speaker system for gaming and movies, and seldom don HPs for  the same. however, i moved ahead now with the xonar DX.


*WITH DEDICATED SOUND CARD {XONAR DX} :​*

*-* played with equaliser settings in the xonar's GUI, and started first with, again....


*GAMING :*​

*1.* *MW3* -  what the hell ?! almost similar SQ as in onboard sound ! simply not done ! i was miffed now. unplugged the HP, and was about to plug in the siberia, when i noticed one thing -  damn ! i had left 'audio channels' as 2, and 'analog out' as 'headphones' in xonar's GUI  how careless of me 
replugged the HP, started MW3 again, same level. already started feeling some difference (the amplification being the main thing), fiddled around with the control pod settings too, and at the moment when the plane tears off into two, this was it ! the sub of the HP let out a gurgle of low frequency sound that felt so pleasant, and it started rumbling my HP. now this is what i had read about - the 'ear massage effect' ! "now its talking" i said 
sorry, forgot to tell you. if you have seen the first few pictures above closely, you'll notice one feature reads '*adjustable vibration*'.

checked the same with siberia and ozone attack too, and not to mention, kave is in a different league altogether !

wait till you read about BF3 down below 

*2.* *BF3* - i started with 'thunder run', this being my favourite mission in the game (and has one of my favourite game OSTs), and has some really nice explosion sound effects as well as ambient sounds, which literally rock my room when played on my 5.1 system. 
as soon as miller's finished playing with his son's dino and gets back in the tank, what first strikes your ears is the rattling and various metal clanking sound effects from the tank's movement. superb ! literally, superb !! it really felt like i was in the tank. its as if the whole 5.1 system was put over my head 
and firing the tank's cannon brings a whole new vitality to the HP ! i somehow have this weird liking for those low frequency sounds, like the one in the game when you accelerate a tank from a standstill position (just check if you dont remember). i love that sound on my 5.1 system, and this HP beautifully reproduces it.

abandoning this mission, i jumped onto 'operation guillotine'. as soon as the chit-chat is over and we run ahead towards scaling the city walls, what struck me was the background score. amidst the shells falling besides you while running (and the superb explosion sounds. yummy ), you can distinctly hear the sounds of the score striking your ears alternately from each front driver of the HP, without muddling any other ambient sound in the background. the explosion-sounds pack a real punch ! as if someone's landed a good side-kick to a kicking-bag (and i know this sound, since i used to do it  )

i then plugged in the stereo headphones, and changed the required settings in the xonar GUI, and i knew now that i dont need to look towards stereo HPs for something like gaming or movies atleast !


*MOVIES :*​

Same set of movies, and a better effect with the HP now connected to xonar. changing the slider to 'movie' on the control pod didnt seem to have any sort of effect, or may be am poor in gauging that. but its well worth to watch movies with 6CH audio on this HP, otherwise for others, even the stereo HPs are good enough.


*MUSIC :*​

Slight improvement, but lets leave this territory to the stereo monsters ! i really didnt bother much to check on this, as i knew very well before getting this HP that its going to be used for anything BUT music, since it didnt quite make sense to me to use a 5.1 system to listen to 2CH recordings.


Now lets wrap this up with some quickies. it has run long. i will briefly summarise things pointwise below :

*1.* *VERDICT *----> Absolute Game-class ! this is what i would term kave, and in fact this is what roccat must've intended it to be. goes very well with multi-channel audio movies too, but its the games wherein it shines the most ! i would really like to call this HP the nemesis of stereo HPs for gaming, but since i havent got the chance to use the AD700 for gaming (which's highly praised for its game-compatibility and all-round performance), i would wait a bit on that 

*2.* *ISSUE(S)* - Yes. there is one ! but not inherent to the HP. this poor bully cant be blamed ! its the location of audio-jacks ! its a real annoyance, atleast for me, to move that tank of a cabinet everytime i need to put on the HP and connect the pins to the jacks of the sound card located so stealthily at the chassis' back 

*3.* *ANY OTHER THING ?* 

*#* dont know whether it would require a certain burn-in period to come out even better, but am not going to dedicate time specifically for that and pamper it, like we tend to do with stereo HPs. even just out-of-the-box, it sounds so good and nearly-accurate, i would not care for feeding it with those 'white-pink noises'. i would let it get matured by itself 

*#* Apparently, stocks are an issue with this headset. after checking up with various roccat distributors and when they answered in the negative, i decided to buy it from nextworld.in, since i earlier had spotted it there, when flipkart exhausted its stocks too. a first-time purchaser from nextworld, i got it for a discounted price (used some of my account-credits, as well as there was already some discount on the headset) of 5389/-. wholly satisfied with nextworld's service. the site is quite unique and full of information. feedback on this would go to sarath's 'online shopping' thread 

So gentlemen, those of you who might've been pondering till now on whether to buy the kave or not, or havent yet zeroed in on any particular headset, have the requisite funds, are game-friendly, and not looking for music listening, you have read it all  
do i need say more ?! this is a near-EXCELLENT (i dont give a 100% rating to anything  ) headset waiting to be grabbed by you, so now, just be a....

*G*olf - *O*scar - *G*olf - *E*cho - *T*ango - *T*ango - *A*lpha

*GOGETTA*

​


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## Tenida (Jan 8, 2012)

Super awesome review. Welcome to *Roccat** Kave* *Royal* *Club*


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 8, 2012)

wow ! grand welcome ? thanks a lot ! 
lets raise a toast for Roccat Kave - Cheers !!


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## dashing.sujay (Jan 9, 2012)

badhai ho


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 9, 2012)

shukriya


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## sukant (Jan 9, 2012)

Firstly awesome purchase  , i might have read so many reviews online but this one will certainly help many people make up their mind .
Total cost plz


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 9, 2012)

thanks a lot for that !

total cost was --> 5389 + 250 (octroi-charge) = 5639/-


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## sukant (Jan 9, 2012)

Yeah kave for anything around 5600 +/- is a very good buy


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## Reaper_vivek (Jan 9, 2012)

Awesome review....

I am planning to get this in the next few weeks..and the review helps, partly..Partly because I play COD4 and other games online..and so I feel this would be an awesome HP..BUT I am an avid music lover..and I want to have a good music experience as well..Which is the lowest point about this HP, as read in most reviews including yours...

Is Music performance on this HP that bad? I am not a hardcore audiophile, yet...But I do understand the nuances and minute details of music and what to explore that further, e.g my brother has Audio Technica M50 and listening to Led Zeppelin on it is orgasmic ...so I was hoping for a Best of both world kind of Headphone...

I currently use a creative HP HS-390, listening to music on this is bad...I am not gonna compare a gaming headset with a Studio level Headphone like the M50 but I just want to be assured that the Music is good, if not great..Clear this out please @Tenida, @GhorMaanas


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## Tenida (Jan 9, 2012)

sukant said:


> Yeah kave for anything around 5600 +/- is a very good buy



I think among various true 5.1 Headset.Kave is truly a VFM.


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 9, 2012)

Reaper_vivek said:


> Awesome review....
> 
> I am planning to get this in the next few weeks..and the review helps, partly..Partly because I play COD4 and other games online..and so I feel this would be an awesome HP..BUT I am an avid music lover..and I want to have a good music experience as well..Which is the lowest point about this HP, as read in most reviews including yours...
> 
> ...



thanks a lot !

regarding the HPs, pls give me another day or two, and i will try and play  with different settings and let you know again how good is it for music.

apart from that, have you tried the ATH-AD700 ?! many people use it for is more than decent music experience and very good compatibility with gaming as well. 'sukant' above you has that headphone. also, if you want to know more, you could visit this thread here :

*www.indianvideogamer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25292&st=280&gopid=1320437&#entry1320437

check the top-post on this page.
though here most part of the discussion concentrates on the 'gaming' characteristic. 

but i doubt that after having a taste of those M50s would you like anything lesser for music


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