G.SKILL RIPJAWS SV710 Virtual 7.1 Gaming Headset Review

Subjective Listening: Music, Movies, and Games

Not everyone hears the same as each other. People’s ears are different and preferences dictate our style. The subjective listening tests in our reviews not only compare the product with other gaming headsets, but also audiophile-grade headphones. Those who don’t regularly listen with higher-end equipment may not notice the sound quality deficiencies we are able to notice.

Music

Out of the box, the SV710’s sound is characterized by bloated mids, extremely bright highs, and nearly nonexistent bass. Though this kind of sound is good for gaming audio, the character generates less impact to music while imparting shrillness to high tones. Using the graphic equalizer in the control software, killing off frequencies between 250-1K and 8K to 16K Hz yielded much more natural sounding music.

Sound quality is on par with other midrange gaming headsets. It definitely gets the job done even if lots of details that could be heard are missing.

Movies

Movies and television are going to be much more forgiving particularly if acting or visual presentation is of greater focus. The SV710’s strong midrange focus allows human speech to stand out. The highs, though shrilly, allow action sequences to pop. A stronger bass can give a more complete sound which can be achieved by reducing the mids and highs in a graphic equalizer.

Movies with surround sound audio are perhaps the best use of the SV710’s virtual surround capabilities. While many games have adequate downmixing, some media players do not which puts this headset’s hardware processing to good use. With this and the proper configuration in Windows sound settings, the rear channels can be heard and realized.

Games

The emphasized mids and highs allow game sounds to stand out allowing the listener to act on the sharp response. However, the modest detail and limited instrument seperation of the SV710 don’t offer much in the way of positional audio making it difficult to judge distance.

Microphone

Like the microphone on the SR910, the SV710’s retractable microphone is not sensitive and its narrow directional pickup pattern makes positioning the boom unforgiving. The microphone must be placed close to the mouth for acceptable recording. Recording quality is passable and adequate for the typical gamer.