14 DAY TRIAL // The Ear Force AK-R8 is the newest True Surround piece of gear in the realm of headphones. Turtle Beach claims that this headgear will indeed be the real thing as they've loaded no less than 8 speakers inside the cans. Now, no one says they didn't but the results are the only thing that matters in the end...and there were oh, so many manufacturers which have tried and rather failed.
The Ear Force AK-R8 headphones indeed sport a lot of things to them, never seen before in head gear industry: aside the massive amount of speakers inside we get dual mics to monitor the exterior sound, an USB interface that includes a 10-band EQ and ambiance processor eliminating the need for a separate soundcard, removable microphone and an optical connector.
The Turtle Beach Ear Force AK-R8 comes not as audiophile headphones but as serious gaming gear, even though the optical S/PDIF connector allows you to tap in your home theater for some soothing music sessions. The USB interface sports quite some amount of settings ranging through almost all the things you meet in top-notch gaming audio cards in any PC, including preset-saving after having modeled your acoustic environment.
The bass is provided by small woofers that actually vibrate inside the ear cups and will provide the user with "a whole new dimension to their listening/gaming experience" as Turtle Beach describes it. Now it really remains to be seen what will become of the "360-degree sound field" promised by the Ear Force AK-R8... as they have just begun to ship, there will soon be responses from gamers around the world and then we'll know. If you want to get extensive data on these headphones, go here.
So far, they look quite nifty and sell for around $150.
