Design of the P21
So what is the P21 exactly? It’s a USB powered stereo gaming headset that includes a full adjustable microphone. Due to the way the PS3 handles microphone input, and the additional cost associated with wireless devices, the P21 is a wired solution. Worried that the included USB cord won’t be long enough? Don’t be — with 16′ of cord, the P21 is sure to easily accommodate nearly every game room setup.
At one end of cord you have the headset, which I will detail shortly, but at the remote end lies a male USB plug and RCA stereo plugs. The USB end plugs directly into the PS3 and the stereo plugs are used to connect the P21 to your PS3’s RCA or composite cable. A separate USB extender cable is included should you need more distance between the USB cable and the stereo plugs.
Stereo plugs in an all digital (HDMI) setup? This may seem confusing at first, but it’s really not. Most people with a PS3 use an HDMI cable for both HD video and audio, and that old PS3 (or PS1/PS2) composite cable that was bundled with the PS3 never saw the light of day. Well, to use the P21, you will need to break out that old cord and plug it into the back of the PS3. The video (yellow) plug won’t go anywhere, but the stereo cords (white and red) will need to plug into the P21’s plugs so that the audio pumped out from the PS3 can be sent over the P21 and into your ears.
Besides this physical adjustment, you will also need to go into the Sound Settings of your PS3 and adjust the audio output from HDMI to AV (third option). This takes just a moment to do, but it’s a necessary step to switch between your original audio solution and the P21, and back again. The process takes literally just a few seconds to complete.
While in the Settings area of the XMB, you might want to hop into the Microphone settings and check your volume. The microphone component of the P21 is situated on the left ear and is made of a very flexible and configurable plastic. The most general action you can do with the mic is slide it up parallel to the headset (i.e., your head) or swing it down (as you would for normal use). That much is obvious, but the durable plastic material allows you to finely tweak the mic’s position for optimal comfort and reception. I’m not sure what the material or technique Turtle Beach used is called, but as you can see from the pictures, the mic, due to its construction, can be manipulated in many ways.
Online gaming with a mic is often a mixed bag because other players can be a real nuisance in a variety of ways. One cool feature the P21 boasts are separate volume controls for the chat and game audio. Both sources of audio are mixed together at the same time, but the P21 allows you to independently adjust the volume of one over the other. The ability to adjust the volumes independently is a very useful feature that lets you tone down the chatter while upping the volume of the game, or vice versa. Also, the P21 includes a ‘mic monitor,’ so anything that you say is picked up and instantly sent back into the headphones. Even when whispering, you can easily hear yourself through the P21’s output.
The mic’s on/off feature and its volume wheel are located on the controller that is situated roughly two feet ‘down’ from the headphones, right on the USB cord. This in-line controller includes a hefty spring clip so that you can clamp it to your shirt rather than have it dangle to the floor or off to your side. This interface includes a small, bright dot of light that turns red to indicate the mic is off and green to show when it’s on. The mic on/off switch is sturdy two-way sliding switch.
A similar two-way switch is used for turning the Stereo Expander function on and off. The Stereo Expander creates a ‘fuller sound’ by spreading out the stereo separation. It’s a pretty cool feature that I ultimately decided to leave on for most of my gaming sessions, although when it’s enabled and there is no audio present, you get a loud, constant hiss pumping over the headphones. It’s not painfully loud to be sure, but it’s very noticeable.
Next to the Expander switch is the Bass Boost dial. It’s exactly the same as the Mic and Game Audio volume dials, and it quite obviously is used to adjust the level of bass. The opposite edge of the controller is where the volume dials for independent chat and game level adjustment are located.
Moving further up the cord now, we encounter the all important headset itself. I’ve already talked about the microphone component, now to zero in on the headphones. The headphones are adjustable and lightweight, and include two ear cups that are meant to cover your entire ear. My ear fit nicely into these cups, but I can imagine folks with larger ears potentially have a problem. The cups themselves are covered in a nice soft fabric and can swivel in order to rest comfortable on your shoulders or perhaps for storage. Like the controller piece, the headphones look sleek and don the palm tree Turtle Beach logo, as well as that of the P21 logo. I thought the logo on the mic base itself was particularly cool looking.
In Production…And A Few Other Points
To this point I’ve described the features and overall design of the P21, but have yet to say much about how they actually perform. Well, not too surprisingly, the P21s work really well. My very first impression of the P21 was that they looked cool, and after putting them over my head I was immediately happy with how comfortable and adjustable they were. Of the several different headphones I have, including sets from Plantronics, Sony, and Aiwa, these are easily the most comfortable I have personally experienced.
In production, the P21s are solid. Several hours of gaming and Blu-rays at a time with these headphones is actually a very doable event, thanks primarily to their comfort and great sound.
And now for some other miscellaneous thoughts. First, the P21 can also be used with your computer’s sound card, although you will need to purchase a separate adapter. Two adapter cords are available on the Turtle Beach site, and for $4 and $5, it’s hard to complain about the cost too much. One adapter cord simply does the conversion from the RCA stereo plugs to 3.5mm, while the other cord is a converter and y-splitter that allows simultaneous connection of your speakers and P21 to your sound card’s output jack. You can also hook the P21 up to your Xbox 360, but given that the 360 controllers handle the chat audio, and not the system itself, you cannot use the P21 mic on the 360.
That said, the extra long cord and lightweight design make the P21 a great option for LAN parties and on the go gaming. Thanks to an included velcro-wrap, keeping the long cord nicely bundled up is a cinch, too.
At about $80, the P21 may seem pricey at first glance, but if you think about it, that’s just a third more than the cost of a typical $60 game. Not bad considering they seem very durable and work really well. If you often game late at night and don’t want to keep anyone awake, or just prefer the immersion a good headset can provide, you’ll get your money’s worth here quickly.
In closing, it’s hard to come up with much that I don’t like about Turtle Beach’s P21 headset. Every once in a while a company releases a product that simply works and works very well, with a fair price, too. When the positive aspects of a gadget so heavily outweigh the negative, you know you have something special and I think that thought fits the P21 accurately.