Turtle Beach Earforce x12

if you really wanna wake these babys up open them up and carefully cut the white dust shield off the holes HUGE difference lows are kickier, mid's are vibrant if you want more open sound but not a lot of reverberation add some cheap foam padding or dynamite or just don't open all the holes (I started with 3 per driver) but I did eventually open them all because I had extra dynamat
these sound as good as my HAXR-900's did out of the box

    I have been using my X12s for a little more than a year and they never cease to amaze me. It makes gameplay so much more enjoyable because of the enhanced sound and adjustable bass levels. When I'm playing games in Halo, I can always tell what direction my foes are approaching me from because the X12s allow you to hear pretty much everything. They are also comfortable, enough; the tops of your ears may get sore after a long sitting. In my opinion, the X11s (the model wich these replaced) were a bit more comfortable because they where a tad lighter. But the X12's sound quality is by far better. 
    The only legitimate problem I have with these may be in my own ears, but if you turn the volume al the way down, and then slowly increase it, the right side is always the first one to emit sound. This 'problem' is insignificant and possibly invalid because it may only be my left ear's fault.
    Aside from gaming, and if you have the right adapter, you can actually power these headphones with an i{Pod/Phone/Pad and listen to some tunes. The only issue with this setup is that the cable is almsot unbearably long and has an assortment of other connectors (use the green audio jack for MP3 players). If you don't have over-ear headphones, the X12s can suffice until you get a pair of "real" headphones.
    As for comparison with the other models of Turtle Beach Xbox 360 headphones, I cannot justify buying any other model of headphone; There are a few options and prestigious features such as wireless connection or Dolby, but to be frank I have not been super impressed with the higher models. If you do want Dolby surround sound, Turtle Beach had a processor add-on available for the X12s that will convert them into a 3D audio capable headset.
 
If you are looking for a great sounding gaming headset and don't want to put a hole in your wallet, look no further than the X12s.

First off, I am a bit of an amateur in the sense of the audio world so I guess I'll let you decide how seriously to take this. I got these as a Christmas gift and did enjoy them quite a bit. I think impressed is too strong a word, but the sound quality was better than I had originally expected, it wasn't awful. There  also have a knob to adjust the level of bass present in the head set which I thought was a nice feature. But I'd imagine the main reason you'd buy a pair of these is for the microphone; buying these for headphones is like buying a scooter for everyday transportation, it'll work but that wasn't its intended purpose. Now the microphone, in my opinion, is quite good. Sense this is technically the best headset I own I don't have much to compare it to, but they're good nonetheless. As for design they're not the prettiest to look at but again, that really doesn't matter too much. Comfort though, if I'm honest, is not that great. After playing for a couple hours the area around my ears get quite sore and I just need to stop and take them off for a while.Really was not impressed with the comfort. Overall I think the X12 is a good buy. With decent sound quality and a good microphone, I think this headset is a great starter set.

From a gamer's standpoint these headphones make an amazing gaming headset. The adjustable game volume, bass boost, and chat volume controls make it easy to adjust volumes to however you want them. With the bass boost turned all the way up the game sounds much more immersive with better sounding explosions. These do have lots of cables that can get annoying at time but are mainly unnoticeable during gameplay. The amp also produces a hum that is noticeable with no sound playing, i could not notice it once they had some sound going through them. 
 
These headphones will not get your ears sweaty and are quite comfortable. The ear pads are a little hard and feel a like they don't form a good seal against your head, because of this and low clamping pressure bass seems to lack depth without you holding the headphones against your ears. They do cause little fatigue and I have achieved gaming sessions of up to 6 hours with this headset.
 
These headphones offer a very open soundstage which lets you distinguish the direction of enemy players and gives you an edge because you can hear them coming from around a corner or  behind you.
 
When it comes to listening to music i have not heard a pair of headphones close to this price-range with comparable sound quality. With the bass boost turned up they offer a good amount of bass even at low volumes. At high volume the bass becomes VERY distorted  unless you lower the amount of bass boost on these but they still offer a good amount of bass with good quality. The adjustable bass boost also means that you are able to change the amount of bass to your taste weather you are a bass head or are looking for a more balanced sound. The soundstage is very open  as a result of these being open headphones, the negative that comes with this is that they leak a lot of sound; at full volume it sounds like you are using the computer's speakers at half volume. 
 
The build quality on these headphones seems to be very good. I have had mine for almost a year and have used them allot. A few weeks ago the amp on theses headphones went out all of a sudden, i fixed this by completely removing the amp and soldering a 4 pole jack at the end so the mic, and audio still work without the usb to power them. I use an extension cable to make up for the short amount of cable between the headphones and the amplifier. They now sound like they did before but with the bass boost turned all the way down; they still offer a good amount of bass that becomes nice and boomy at high volumes. 
 
Overall i would encourage anyone who wants a low cost yet high quality headset weather they want them for gaming or for listening for music. The overall sound quality of these is comparable to headphones that cost $200 such as the beats by dre and V-moda crossfade lp. 

These headphones are the best i've ever owned as far as a gaming hradset goes the sound stage is very wide and you hear things you cant with a cheap pair of headphones. the low end has a spectacular bump to it.