Powered by the revolutionary Sound Core3D multi-core Sound and Voice processor, this breakthrough USB audio enhancer deliver powerful gaming audio to your console or PC. With hardware accelerated THX TruStudio Pro and Dolby Digital decoding it transforms even basic stereo into exhilarating 3D surround audio on your headset or speakers. The proprietary Scout Mode transforms your hearing on the battlefield and lets you hear your enemies before they hear you. Calibrate and save every aspect of your audio settings directly to the Recon3D unit for use on any platform with the exclusive Recon3DProfile system. The gaming audio revolution is here. Be part of it.
$ 74.99
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Five Stars for SQ,
That is the first reason to buy this thing. Onboard sound chips are the bane of audiophiles, and this product helps correct that. This thing drives the biggest headphones with ease, even those with high impedance ratings, with loud, clean audio.
If you are connecting the output to your home audio receiver, you are completely missing the point of this device. This is made for people with good headphones, and a laptop with sub par audio capabilities.
Right off the bat, it works in windows as a ‘usb sound device’ so if you only care about high quality stereo listening with unaltered sound, you don’t even have to install the software. However, technogeeks will want to dig into all the features this thing has to offer.
I have long been a fan of ‘dolby headphone’ for the simple reason it ‘externalizes’ stereo listening so that your sound seems to come from speakers outside of the headphones sitting on your head. Even the most devout stereo fanatics will tell you that music is made to be heard from speakers in a room where psychoaccoustics from the two speakers can play off each other. The THX processing in the recon3d takes dolby headphone to another level, you have the ability to adjust the surround simulation from two speakers in a room to 7.1, whatever your preference is. Plus you can turn off all processing with the touch of a button on the recon3d. One of the banes I have always had with headphone listening is that centralized sounds like vocals or snare drums seem to come from ‘inside your head’, which is unrealistic.
You also have the ability to ‘simulate’ a .1 subwoofer and you can adjust the level and crossover point of it.
So right off the bat, being able to change my laptop music listening from ‘pinned to your ears’ sound to ‘big speakers in my living room’ sound made this worth the purchase.
After running DOSBOX and playing some old fashioned doom, I couldn’t believe how immersive this game became, the surround simulation works like a charm, pinpointing where the grunts were became second nature and lots of headshots followed.
If you have a dvd player in your laptop, the recon3d takes dolby 5.1 digital audio and again simulates a room environment, depending on what level of surround simulation you set it at, similar to dolby pro logic, using dopplar effect for the desired result.
Another thing people are missing is that the input doubles as both a toslink input OR an analog two channel input. So you can connect your favorite game console of choice, it’s not limited to 360/ps3. Hell if you power the unit with usb power you can connect any source you want to enjoy the surround processing. With a regular 3.5 to 3.5 cable you can hook your ipod up to it, and enjoy the added clarity, volume, and surround processing.
It IS limited to 24 bit/48 khz audio so if you are accustomed to higher, you might be dissapointed. However, online music is still 16 bit/44.1 khz, and 360 audio is still 24 bit/48khz audio so you aren’t losing anything.
In a nutshell : S/N ratio is high, it will drive big headphones with ease, blowing away your onboard junk. Surround simulation is adjustable from 7.1 to off. The equalizer allows tweaking for that *extra* bit of perfection. And for those that still care, it even puts EAX hardware acceleration back into older games that Vista/7 removes, since it acts as a complete standalone sound processing unit. Oh, and being able to sound like Diablo while voice chatting is just plain cool.
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|Just bought this card and fell in love immediately,
From the packaging, software, and set up this card is awesome!!!! It is a little larger than a large man hand ( about the size or a car Radar) very sturdy in it’s build. Very nice looking with controls easy to see and understand. Once the software is installed this card works like a dream. The features it offers are just awesome to play around with. The sound quality it puts out is fa nominal! This card it literally the same as a Creative PCIe sound card that would be installed on you motherboard, but is portable! I have it connected wirelessly to my Tactic Omega #d wireless Headset and man between the two the sounds are mind blowing! This is currently Creatives Flag Ship car and headset and i can tell you first hand… They will remain top Tier for a long time.
One thing I was not told and that it does not explain either here at Amazon or at Creative is that the Card will not come with either the sound card or the headset if you buy them separately. It will only be bundled with them if you purchase them as a package. So if you are shopping around and think it is cheaper to buy the sound card and the headset separately you are going to be pissed off when you get them delivered to find there is no wireless Tactic Link card included. That will cost you another $29.99+shipping so my suggestion would be to find the total package and purchase it that way. It is cheaper that way.
The set up ROCKS, the bass is so hard that at 100{b81fbfd19e1fca5890798868c0714c408bbd5ec471654b6f9630c0fffa6e7eb3} I can’t keep the headset on due to the bass pressure it creates. I might decide to make a video review to show all that this set up has to offer.
Something else I found to be cool is the packaging say the wireless range is about 10M and I have been able to walk anywhere in my house and go outside with no distortions either listening or talking on TS. SO far I have been as far as 25M with no distortion. So you definitely get plenty of distance on these. If you are looking in the range of $200 – $300 Hard core headsets look no further, buy the Recon 3D and the Tactic Omega headset and you will feel as if you own the top of line studio headset with the ability to play games and talk on Team speak,Ventrillo or even Mumble with the best sounding headset you’ve ever owned… Let alone heard!!!!
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|Great Niche Product for Gaming Audiophiles,
After having great experiences with both Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Internal Sound Card with THX SB1270 and Creative’s SB1240 external USB Sound Blaster, I was not disappointed by the Recon3D USB External Sound Enhancer. While it doesn’t benefit your PC quite as much as the internal X-Fi Titanium, it is in close competition. The added benefit of being able to hook it up to your Xbox 360 and PS3 will make this a must buy for any gaming audiophile without a decent receiver hooked up to their consoles.
Compared to other external sound enhancers, the Recon3D is about the same size, but packs a load of buttons. You have a dedicated mute button, volume controls, instant THX, Scout Mode and a wireless connection button for those that spring for a wireless adapter (not tested). Ports are simpler with just a usb and optical audio in on one side and headphone and mic 3.5mm jacks on the opposite end. It’s an attractive device clearly meant to appeal to gamers.
The Recon3D performs well against other audio devices but can’t quite hold up to my X-Fi Titanium HD’s distinct voicing and controlled base. The Recon3D produces clear, dynamic and vibrant sound, but is held back mainly by a slightly booming base line on some tracks. The software options on the X-Fi Titanium HD help edge out the Recon3D as well, though the Recon’s PC control panel offers many great features like a custom EQ, crystalizer, and many other fine tuning settings missing from my SB1240. The THX mode and Scout Mode are obviously not helpful for music, but I also disliked the THX mode for other listening since it lent a very noticeable harsh rasp to everything.
While audio fidelity in music and movies is important, the Recon3D is primarily a gaming device. The emphasis is on playing games with Headphones and a Mic. I was very happy with the Recon3D for gaming and found very little to fault. Using a turtle beach X41 with my Xbox 360 became a problem thanks to the way the Xbox 360 controller has to be connected to the Recon3D and the X41 headset also needs to connect it’s mic to the controller…unless I’m missing something. Otherwise, the Recon3D was superb. The 3D effect will certainly vary from headset to headset, but overall it was a great addition. If you don’t have a receiver hooked up to your consoles, simply having a good sound processor for your PS3 and xbox 360 will be a huge improvement whenever you play with a good pair of headphones.
Overall, the Recon3D lives up to it’s promises and is a great addition to any video game setup, especially if you don’t have a receiver or other audio device. You’ll need a decent pair of headphones (think $100+ over the ear) to get the most out of this device. The 3D effect is very pronounced and will add not only to your performance in FPS games but to the realism of any game with ambient sounds.
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