Icemat Audio Black Siberia Multi Headset

     It seems that having a multi media headset is becoming increasingly important in today's world. VOIP (voice over internet) applications such as Skype (www.skype.com) require a headset and good quality microphone for best performance. Console and portable gaming systems, and PC games can also benefit from a good headset, especially during those late night sessions when others are trying to sleep. Also, let's not forget that listening to music and watching DVD movies can be a much better experience with a quality set of headphones. Can one "Multi Headset" do all of these tasks well? We will put the Icemat Audio Black Siberia Multi Headset through it's paces and find out.

Introducing Icemat's Black Siberia Multi Headset.

     The Siberia was originally released in white and due to feedback Icemat decided to produce this handsome black version. The finish is nicely done and he cabling used is of very good quality and should be quite durable. The headset can be used with 3.5mm or 1/4 stereo jacks. The cable on the headphones (not including the additional cabling provided) is about 1 meter (3ft+) in length.

     The headphones do not collapse, so they will take up some room if you are traveling with them. The pad shown here is self adjusting. 2 small cables allow the unit to conform to your head size, making for a very comfortable fit. Our model here (a Mexican art mask) is wearing the headphones backwards.

     Here we have one of the ear cups. The driver is angled to allow room for your ear and is a very comfortable design, even for my oversized units. The pads are as soft velvet-like material and add to the comfort of the  headphones. An "open design" is used, meaning that sound can and will escape through the grill work you see in this picture. This add to the spaciousness and openness of sound and helps with audio positioning in games and DVD movies, so this was definitely done to improve sound quality.

     Here we have the cabling for headset use. You can see the clip on style microphone and the volume control. Approximately 2 meters (6ft+) of cable is shown here.

     This is a close up of the microphone and volume control unit. The microphone can be clipped to the bracket shown below for  mounting to a monitor or other location.

     Hook and loop fasteners can be used to mount this bracket  to your monitor. laptop or anywhere you like. The microphone will clip on it, providing a permanent or temporary mounting point. 3 sets of self stick fasteners will allow 3 mounting locations.

Headphone Specifications

• Frequency Response: 18-28.000 Hz
• Impedance: 40 Ohm
• SPL@1kHz, 1V rms: 99 - 104dB
• Cable length: 1,0+1,8=2,8m.
• Jack: 3,5 mm. + 6,3 mm. converter.

Microphone Specifications

• Frequency Response: 80-15.000 Hz
• Pick-up pattern: Sensitive uni-directional
• 1V/P@1kHz: 38dB

Features

• Open type headphones
• Dynamic Microphone, for attaching directly on the shirt
• Volume Regulator with built in 3.5mm mini Jack
• 1m cord, with 3.5MM mini jack, for connecting directly to audio equipment such as MP3 players
• The headset is designed specifically for many uses, including gaming, portable sound players, HI-FI and IP-telephony.
• Microphone is unidirectional and can be attached to headset, monitor or even clothing.
• Volume is easily adjusted with separate volume regulator.
• 6.3MM converter for connecting to professional sound equipment

Testing

Comfort:
We tested on our big headed editors and some with smaller headed victims, and all found the headset adjust to their head size automatically. The unique headband and ear cup design really add to the comfort level. We used the headset for extended periods and found this to be one of the most comfortable units we have experienced.

VOIP:
We tested the headset with Skype (www.skype.com), a free peer to peer internet telephony application. The headset performed well, providing excellent sound and the microphone worked quite well, providing clear, audible speech in our test calls.

DVD Playback:
When compared to our high quality studio monitor headphones, the Black Siberia had a much fuller, more interesting sound and reproduced bass very well.   This is to be excepted, as the studio monitor phones sound very "flat", allowing every detail to be heard and they do not color the sound. The fact that we preferred the Black Siberia experience says allot for the headsets quality and suitability for DVD movies.

MP3 and CD Music Playback:
The headset reproduces both highs and lows well. After using ear bud type phones with our MP3 player, we found the Black Siberia to have a more open and pleasing sound. Bass sounds are a bit exaggerated as we would expect from a headset that reproduces sound effects and explosions well. Some compromises had to be made, but we feel most modern music listeners will enjoy this increased bass response. Audiophiles will need to look elsewhere (as would be expected given price). Our overall impression was very good.

PC, Console and Portable Gaming:
This is where the Black Siberia really shines. We had a few COD2 sessions and the first time I got hand hit with a hand grenade I about jumped out of my chair. On the PC, using Miles Fast 2D Positional Audio and setting my sound card to headphones gave very me a very good sense of positioning and I was able to tell when an opponent was sneaking up from behind. Sound effects, gunshots and explosions all sounded very realistic. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of our gaming experience.

Conclusion

     If you find the need for a decently priced, good quality headset that can literally handle all of your needs, we feel you will be quite pleased with the Icemat Audio Black Siberia Multi Headset. Rarely do we find a product that lives up to the marketing hype like this one does. The headset is very comfortable for most all head sizes and the auto adjusting headband means that multiple users will not have issues with constant adjustment. Sound quality is very good and when used for gaming it will be hard to do better than this at any price.

     All materials and cabling appear to be of very good quality and this headset should give trouble free use.

     This is an "open" headphone design and will not provide complete privacy, so keep this in mind. The sound levels that leak through are not high, but someone sitting next to you would be able to recognize your music selection if you have the volume up. This design has it's advantages and helps the sound quality, so we would not call this a negative point, just something to consider.

     The only real drawback is the large size of the headphones. They do not fold and will require quite a bit of space when taken on trips.

     We were quit pleased overall and would like to congratulate Icemat on this great product at a very competitive price.