Tactic 3D Omega is an ideal gaming headset with promising 3D sound quality. The series of product that comes under SoundBlaster offers you 2.4 GHz Wifi Streaming. SoundBlaster is an audio enhancement technology by Creative that comprises of THX Tru Studio Pro, X-Fi, EAX and better Wifi streaming quality. Under that, Tactic 3D Omega is one of the best gaming headphones available in the market. We were surprised to find out the current audio input/output while testing it on our default onboard audio chip. Unlike other products, SoundBlaster Tactic 3D Omega just not claims to give Crystal-clear sound quality, but it delivers that. Loaded with 50mm Full Spectrum drivers, the headset is capable of giving you theatre surround audio output directly in your ears without much disturbance. I am sure that your existing speaker cannot match the quality of this headphone. Under SoundBlaster product line Creative offers a very few products. Termed as Gaming Headphone, Tactic 3D Omega is compatible with PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PS3. The package comes with a set of accessories and a headphone stand. You can visit TechArena.in and click on the Video section to find related videos of this headset.
At first sight the headphone gives you a rich look with black body and illuminated lights on the body. It does not looks like any ordinary headphones. It is not easy to go for a costly headphone unless you are not completely aware about the qualities that it will offer. Today we are having many platforms for gaming. We play games on PC or on any Gaming Console, but due to poor audio quality you cannot take complete advantage of any gameplay. And the same is applicable for movies and music also. Tactic 3D Omega, as the product title says, has a 3D technology of giving you surround sound output. With large size ear cup, it is capable of delivering optimum sound quality without outside disturbance. The illuminated LED panels gives it more distinct look. Supported by a 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi platform it works wirelessly over large area without affecting the quality of streaming audio. This removes the bondage of sitting in front of pc at the time of playing games or listening to music. Along with this Tactic 3D Omega also fullfills the requirement of best audio recording quality. It comes with a detachable noise cancellation Mic that works pretty well with any audio recorder and offers crystal-clear voice. A major credit goes to THX TruStudio Pro. This is not just software, but a kind of virtual audio amplifier that can boost the audio quality to next level.
Unboxing Video of Tactic 3D Omega Wireless
Features:
- Cross-platform Wifi Support: PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PS3 compatible.
- 50mm Full Spectrum drivers: More detailed 3D audio quality of gaming and multimedia.
- Steel Headband: Build on Steel Platform to give more durable body design under plastic enclosure.
- Detachable Mic: Nose Cancellation Crystal-clear Voice Recording
- Base Station: Convenient platform for wireless device and headphone to keep everything at one place.
- THX Studio Pro: Stunning sound affects and enhanced audio realism.
- Plug and Play: Connect the headphone and wifi device with USB to the PC and play your favourite music. Drivers available through Windows Update.
- Wi-Fi USB Transmitter: Stream video to larger area on 2.4Ghz Wifi platform without losing audio quality. Dedicated slider to switch from PC Mode to Console Mode.
- Headphone Buttons: Dedicated buttons for power, volume and mic control.
- Long Battery Life: Even after providing a 3D output quality, the internal battery is capable of giving you long hours of audio streaming.
Specification:
Headphone:
- Driver Units: 50mm Neodymium magnet
- Frequency Response: 20Hz ~ 20kHz
- Impedance: 32ohms
- Sensitivity: 102dB/mW
Mic:
- Microphone Type: Noise Cancelling Condenser
- Frequency Response: 100Hz ~ 6.5kHz
- Impedance: <2.2kohms
- Sensitivity: -40dBV/Pa
- Wifi: Uncompressed 2.4GHz
Package Content:
- Tactic Omega 3D Headset
- SoundBlaster Wireless Transmitter
- Tactic 3D Base Station (Transmitter platform, Stand and Headphone holder)
- Detachable Noise-Cancellation Microphone
- Creative Tactic 3D Link for Wireless Transmitter
- 3.5mm Stereo to RCA PiggyBack Cable for Xbox 360 and PS3
- Inline Volume Control Cable for Xbox 360
- 1.6m micro USB to USB Cable
- 0.4m micro USB to USB Cable
- Manuals to use headset.
Design and Accessories:
Let’s check out in detail how good SoundBlaster Tactic 3D Omega headphone is. At first when we received the box, it showed up like a very big size headphone with many accessories in it. It was a bit confusing to understand everything but we figured it out soon how to use the headphone. Tactic 3D Omega is a beast headphone with illuminated ear cup that is covered with thick headphone sponge. It is very soft that holds your ear completely and blocks outside noise. You will get a constant surround sound quality with detailed audio and nothing is leaked outside even if you are listening on full volume. The headphone fits well and it is quiet large in size also. Completely black body with Steel Core in the headband makes it more durable while usage. Due to Wi-Fi transmitter you can carry the headset anywhere in 10m range and enjoy high quality sound. A very good solution for widescreen HDTV. You can relax back and enjoy great audio quality of your favourite movies. The ear cups are wide in size and rotates to one side completely. With black finish the headset is very less disturbing in design and illuminated led light gives it nice visual look. The body is durable and does not resemble cheap design.
Termed as gaming headset, Tactic Omega 3D is one that fits well on every requirement. The illuminated light is placed just behind the headset. The detachable noise-cancellation and buttons are provided over the right ear cup. At the front side there is volume control button with a power button just below it. The power button glows in blue light when it is turned on and has enough battery and turns to red when you need to charge it. Just at the backside there is a mic button. By pressing it a red light glows which indicates the mic is turned off. Just below that, you can find a rubber cover that hides two connectivity ports. The first one is 2.5mm jack that connects the headphone with gamepads. There is a dedicated inline volume control cable provided for gaming console. This cable provides you a volume and mic control features. You can see the image below. With it, without touching the headset, you can simply adjust the volume and mute mic. The second connector is thin micro usb connector. This is only used for charging. The headphone and wireless transmitter features 0.4mm micro usb connector. You can use a 0.4mm Micro USB to USB 2.0 cable to connect the headset with wireless transmitter or with pc for charging purpose. To use headset you have to turn on the wireless transmitter. It does not directly works with pc or any other wireless device.
It comes with a small Wireless transmitter that is placed on Tactic 3D Base Station. It is a 2.4Ghz wifi device which has two modes preconfigured on it. You can see in the image below there is a slider on the body that allows you to switch from Console Mode to PC gaming mode. This is necessary because it tells the transmitter to use the type of connectivity. If it is on Console Mode and you want to connect the same with USB cable in PC, the headset will not work. A blue light glows on the top with Sound Blaster marked on it. It is actually a button which keeps on blinking unless it detects the headphone completely. The same lights on ear cup of headphone keeps on glowing unless they do not find this transmitter. Unfortunately both devices are design in such a way that they do not work with any other device. This is just one way connection. All connectivity ports lies on the backside. There is a USB connector for charging and you can see the battery icon in picture below. A 0.4mm MicroUsb connector port for headset and a Line In Jack for other audio device that supports Stereo to RCA connectivity.
The entire setup is placed well because of Tactic3d Base Station. If we are talking about Tactic 3D Omega then we simply cannot miss the Base Station. The best part of using this is that it keeps your headphone and transmitter at one place near to each other. It allows you an easy management of cables that are connected so that it does not mess around. You can place it on your desk easily and leave it. The headphone lies simply on a base station giving a distinct look. There are three parts of the Base Station which comes with a transmitter holder at the end, two stands and a small headphone holder on the table. You can view a short assembly guide on our website (TechArena.in), in the video section. The idea of providing the Base Station is to keep your headset in appropriate position after usage to avoid maximum damage. There is no special connector or button provided on it. It is just a plain stand for the headset.
Other accessories that are packed with Tactic 3D Omega are set of manuals, Tactic Link, PiggyBack cable and Inline volume control cable for gamepad. All this things are beneficial. For example, the PiggyBack cable offers you a straight Stereo to RCA connectivity. You can hook the headset on HDTV, CD/DVD Player, Gaming Console, Car Stereo, etc; with the same cable, so it offers you more connectivity option. Also if you are using sound card that comes with SoundBlaster I/O device then there is no need to use the default onboard audio. Just use this cable and connect it on the I/O device to receive high end sound quality via audio processor. The Inline volume control cable is dedicatedly design for gamepads. They feature a 2.5mm jack that is connected from headset to gamepad directly and you can manage your audio and also mute and unmute the mic. The last thing that we received is Tactic Link. This link is a kind of wireless transmitter which is connected on your motherboard slot so that it can communicate with the Wi-Fi transmitter directly without a USB cable. Good alternative for sound cards.
THX Studio Pro
Now this is something that we cannot miss, if we are talking about 3D surround sound quality. THX Studio is a computer software which is available for PC and Mac. The software is capable of giving you all the settings and audio realism effect on the headphone. Without this you will receive an enhanced audio quality but it will be limited to the features of your sound chip or default audio mixer. But installing THX Studio Pro you can imagine to get some of the best audio features in a very simple way. The software is very easy to use and comes with the required driver updates. You can download that directly from the official site of Creative. Without THX Studio Pro, Tactic 3D Omega is incomplete. Lets checkout why using THX Studio Pro is important. The first screen below is the home screen of THX Studio Pro. Once you configure your Headset settings, you can save the profile and load it whenever required. The front side offers you a volume manager screen. You can see the Mic Volume and Master Volume. It has got futuristic design of volume controllers. All menus are placed vertically on the right side.
The second option THX Tru Studio Pro offers is the actual feature that we are getting in Tactic 3D Omega. You cannot imagine the way it enhances your audio. A small video embedded on this software lets you play and find out the difference between each setting. There are around 5 options that you can configure. They are Crystallizer (clean audio), Surround (theatre type surround sound), Bass (bass enhancement), Dialog Pulse (voice improvement) and Smart Volume (dynamically enhance volume). You can just tick on all and set them on maximum and play a sample embedded video. It will show you each effect working to give you the best theatre type sound output.
The last three settings are Equalizer, Voice FX and Appearance that offer you more additional settings. We all are aware about Equalizer that commonly comes in many audio software. It offers you preset settings to play an audio in various forms. You can select a custom audio layout or choose from the 10 different EQ settings representing all type of music genre. The “Voice FX” is something fascinating here. There are 18 different voice effects that you can use to change your voice completely and use them for chat. It is an awesome feature. And the last one called “Appearance” allows you to modify the visual representation of this software. One good benefit of using this software is that it gives you a battery charging icon on the lower right side.
Crystal Clear Detachable Microphone :
Tactic 3D Omega Wireless headphone is not just a headset that will give you a surround sound audio output. We are missing the Mic here. It is not like a regular Microphone that you use for chatting. The Microphone is designed to give clear voice to the pc so that maximum audio accuracy can be achieved. This mic features a 3.5mm jack. We had tested some software that allows us to find out how accurate the Mic is. And in each of them we get results much better than failsafe. So if you love to chat or if you are crazy about recording your audio and add effects on it, you can use the Mic on Tactic 3D Omega. Creative has enhanced the mic with the headphones so that the quality does not mismatch. I had tested the Mic on Windows 8 Speech Recognition Tool to control my PC and it works very effectively. There was no complication in sending the voice which is processed before it reaches to the PC or to the person with whom you are chatting. And above that the Voice FX effect on THX TruStudio Pro software can convert your voice according to the provided settings as well. A good way of playing with your friends who will not be able to identify your voice.
The headphone is costly. We had tried to find out price on online store but could not catch the right amount. On the official online store of Creative this headphone is sold for 199.99 Euro with free shipping. Now based on the current currency rate in India, the headphone crosses Rs.14,000. If this is directly sold in India, then we can expect a big change in the price. But yet we are not able to find a direct vendor. It is a great headphone but we expect a bit of reduced price over it.
Only audio enhancement is not the prime feature of Tactic 3D Omega. It is also capable of improving your voice when you are communicating with people. It reduces the disturbance around you and fixes the voice properly so that your dialogue is well maintained. You can perform a short test by recording your own voice on your existing headphone and on Tactic 3D Omega.
Conclusion
We tested the headphone on both PC and TV and found promising output. Creative delivers what it claims. Tactic 3D Omega is a costly headphone but value for money product. For your gaming and multimedia needs, you can hear such refined audio that is not possible on regular headsets. According to me buying this headphone is a one-time investment. Clean voice and clear audio is one of the prime features. Along with better voice processing, the hardware is designed to deliver crystal-clear sound. But it is necessary that the person on other end must have a similar kind of hardware to get the best output. Creative has kept the setup very simple. The design is very comfortable and you can use it for long time without any problem. The internal battery is capable to work constantly for 10hrs which is quiet good. On the same hand THX TruStudio Pro software adds more to the benefits. Tactic 3D Omega is an awesome headphone with qualities that cannot be matched easily on any other headphones.
Pros:
- Great Design
- Great Wi-Fi Range
- Powerful Audio output
- Crystal-clear Voice Chat
- 10hrs battery life
- Cross-platform support on PC, Mac & Gaming console
- Tactic Base Station to keep everything together.
Cons
- Wi-Fi Transmitter locked with Headphone only.
- No button to turn off illuminated light.
- Connect headphone with Smartphone or other wifi/Bluetooth devices.
