Date: March 14th, 2005.
Article by: Jeff Caldwell (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product Submitted by: Icemat
<--SHOP FOR A COMPUTER HEADSET HERE

PRODUCT COMPOSITION / WALKTHROUGH (cont'd)

The Siberia headset has a very apple-esque look to it, featuring smooth lines and a very white color. The white contrasts very well with the black of the foam on the ear pieces. The headset is quite large and bulky, but fits comfortably and doesn't feel large or heavy at all.

The Icemat Siberia has an ingenious design to fit all head sizes. The black band has two thin metal wires protruding out from each side that can stretch out. This allows the headset to automatically adjust to small heads all the way to very large heads without you having to do any adjustment. I know from experience (worked at a call center) that the regular adjusters are annoying to fumble with and can be quite uncomfortable; with this design you don't even notice it has adjusted to fit your head perfectly and effortlessly.

It is hard to see the open look on them, but the ear pieces flare out and have vents for air to circulate through. This is designed to stop your ears from getting sweaty with prolonged use.

PRODUCT TESTING

For the testing purposes I chose to use the following software: Unreal Tournament 2004, Winamp (mp3s), and Sound Recorder.

The majority of the headphone testing was undertaken using UT2004 due to the fact that I could use both features (headset and microphone) during online play. I wanted to see if the audio was clear with the many different precise battle sounds blurring constantly by your head. The weaponry and environmental sounds along with the voice-chat game features put the headphones easily to the test. The reproduction of the sound with these headphones is superb and very crisp. I found that when the PC volume was set to its maximum level I noticed a slight higher frequency distortion. This was hardly noticeable, but it was worth mentioning.

The microphone performed much better than I had expected. The quality of the recorded sound was very good with little to no distortion.

The open concept design is quite comfortable but it wouldn't have hurt to open them up a little more for better air circulation. The air vents supplied definitely kept some of the sweat away, but just not quite enough. Though this allows for a little longer period of time to be sweat free, perspiration eventually will happen. Besides that small draw back, these headphones are very light weight and the extension cord gives you more than enough length for even the largest computer work/gaming station.