CM Storm Sirus 5.1 headphones - ouch, my neck!

The first thing we thought when we hauled the Sirus headphones out of their rather large box was "Wow, that's a lot of cable". The second, more telling, thing was "Wow, that's one heavy set of cans". These are gaming headphones taken to design and aesthetic extremes, and whether or not they work for you is going to come down not to build quality or sound reproduction, but how strong your neck is.

 

A lot of the weight in the Sirus package comes from the 'tactical mixing control', which is an admittedly very well-made peice of kit. It sits in between the headphones and your PC, cabled to both, and controls not only sound levels, but also individual volume on rear, front, and center outputs, as well as bass level. You can also mute from here, and it's very easy to use; the heavyness comes from a reinforced base and very solid volume knob, making up for an overall package that is robust and not going anywhere even as you blindly flail at it in the middle of a heated gaming session.

 

The headphones, though, are also pretty weighty, and this is bit of an issue, for us at least. The problem lies in the chunky design required to fit in the cabling for the lit logo and mic; glowing gaming gear is nothing new, but having something lit up that you are never going to see (unless you're creepy, and like videoing yourself while gaming) seems questionable at best, but the weight issue tips it right over into overkill. Even after jsut a half hour session with these 'phones we developed a sore, stuff neck, and a spine that made a sound not unlike popping corn.

 

It's a shame, because the 5.1 sound reproduction is very good. It's never going to compete with real external speakers, but it does deliver great bass notes and crisp high end crackle - perfect for FPS games and the like. Battlefield 3 sounds marvelous with the Sirus. The padded earcups (there's cloth and vinyl options) are comfortable, and despite the weight they never feel like they're going to fall off. One you've got the sound levels of all the outputs tweaked these are great sounding phones... but we're not going to stick with them.

 

If you're stiff-necked enough to support the Sirus headphones, you'll love this well-priced piece of gaming kit, but otherwise, you'll get more comfort and better quality from Plantronic's Gamecom range.