When you’re gaming, it’s important to know where your enemies are coming from, but you’re not always going to be able to see them coming at you.

That’s when it helps to have a good audio setup to let you know when a spy is trying to sneak up behind you, or a hunter is about to pounce.

Gamers can debate if they’d like a surround sound setup or would rather game with a pair of headphones, but for this review I’ll focus on the very loud and very clear SteelSeries Siberia Neckband.

It's good to hear your enemies, the SteelSeries Siberia Neckband helps you with that. (Image courtesy: SteelSeries)

Read on for the full review.

I actually use both speakers and headphones when gaming, but when communication is key, I almost always turn to a headset with a mic.  I like my speakers for when I’ve got iTunes open, but I’d rather have my teammate hear me rather than the feedback from my game sounds.

The Siberia Neckband offered me something a bit new in terms of headphones, namely an around the ears headset.  I’m generally an over the head user, so the headphones took a bit of getting used to.

I’m glad I weathered the acclimation period though, because when you get down to it, the Siberia Neckband is a nice set.  I tested it out for several hours using a couple of games, iTunes and general computing tasks.   I even tried it out with an iPod.

Good for gaming. Good for music. Good for people with ears. (Image courtesy: SteelSeries)

In games, the headset truly performs.  Rocket explosions are loud and clear.  In Team Fortress 2, you will catch the spy tryign to sneak up behind you and stab you in the back.  It’s good to hear the Demoman shooting out sticky grenades *before* you run around the corner and get blown up.  While playing Left 4 Dead, little sounds matter.  When being stalked by zombies, they’ll make noises and if you can hear them while they’re further away then you’re already ahead of the game.  Voice-communication between teammates was crisp and clear.  Never did I hear someone say “Subway, you sound like you’re talking in a wind tunnel,” or that I sounded like a robot. (Language)

These are definitely not your run of the mill headphones.  When turning the volume to 11 in iTunes it was good to hear the deep bass coming through clearly on the Siberia Neckband.  There was no crackle, just clear music playing loudly.  I can say it was enjoyable to listen to music with the headset.

The microphone slides out of the headphones, and has good sound quality. (Image courtesy: SteelSeries)

Now, I’m not the kind of guy that would take my gaming headset around with my iPod on the street, but there are some reasons why you wouldn’t look totally goofy doing it with the Siberia Neckband.  Number one, the microphone slides away into the headset.  I actually really liked the “hide-a-bility” of it, as it almost disappears when you’re not chatting with someone. Additionally, the headset has a standard 3.5mm jack, and the microphone jack is short enough to fit next to my iPod in my pocket.

But the microphone slides away, so it's hardly noticeable. (Image courtesy: SteelSeries)

The Siberia Neckband is really comfortable too.  After some fairly long sessions in TF2 and L4D, there was no noticeable “ear fatigue.”  (And no I’m not sure if that’s even a real condition.)  I didn’t get tired of having them on.  I did do a little readjusting though if I was looking around, down at something at my desk and then back up, but I attribute that more to me getting accustomed to the headset then a fault of its own.

The headset is Xbox 360 compatible, and can plug directly into a controller using the included adapter.

The MSRP is $99.99, but you can find significantly cheaper prices if you look around.

Have questions about something? You can email me at matt(dot)schuler(at)woodtv(dot)com. And for more, shorter updates, check out my Twitter by clicking on twitter.com/mattschuler.

Managing the flow of the music.

Do you have a couple minutes?  Auditorium may steal those, and several more.  It’s a Flash game I saw linked on Penny-Arcade, who saw it on Dubious Quality who saw it on RockPaperShotgun. At first, I didn’t really know what was so great about the game.  But I click on most all of the Penny-Arcade links because most of what is linked is of quality.  The gameplay is basic, but is definitely challenging.  There’s a flow that you have to manage to have the game make music.  You manage it through any number of devices: there are more levels than I’ve played but so far I’ve seen arrows in each direction and gravity wells.  There are many others.

Sometimes it's pretty easy.

I sat on my couch playing this and couldn’t stop because the game was so fun and involving.  Making progress on a level means making the flow of music go through each set of notes.  Even when you’re not hitting all of them, most likely you’ll be hitting some and therefore still be hearing the music.  It’s kind of a nice touch.

The difficulty does ramp up on the levels.

The game definitely gets harder, and there are multiple ways to beat each level depending on how you use the pieces that are given.

I wanted to write a quick blog on it, because it was such a fantastic experience.  The game has made my bookmarks list.  Another great feature I like about it is that it saves your progress.  When you come back to the game, you won’t have to beat each level again.

Got questions?  Shoot me an email at Matt(dot)Schuler(at)woodtv(dot)com. And for more updates check me out on twitter: twitter.com/mattschuler

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