Roccat Vire Very light headset for mobile gamers

Author: Jouni 'Jipa' Vasama Published: 24.07.2009 Manufacturer: ROCCAT Product Group: Audio In English Suomeksi

Closer look

The earpieces don't really look too comfortable at first sight. They are pretty much the standard design with plastic frame metal mesh in front of the driver, and a thin rubber padding. Mind you, there are no extra pads in the box, so what you see is what you get comfort-wise. We'll have to wait and see if these really turn out to be as pleasant to use as they are advertised to be.

The microphone is located to the cable of the left earpiece, and is positively tiny. Just like the rest of the earphones, it's also so light weight it's very hard to even notice the thing hanging in there. More about the sound quality of the mic later on.

The earphones have a 4-pin 3,5 mm plug to be used with stuff like smart phones and handheld consoles, so an adapter is required to use them on a normal sound card. There are two adapters in the box: one short one (17 cm) to be used with laptop, and a longer 1,3 meter one for extended range. The adapters are otherwise identical, so only one is pictured. On one end there's the 4 pin female connector, and on other end two color-coded (and marked) 3,5 mm stereo plugs to be connected to the microphone and headphone connectors accordingly. The male connectors come with plugs that keep them safe from dirt and scratches. those covers can sit annoyingly tightly, and I don.t really see need for them. Also the cable between the splitter and the two male connectors is worryingly thin...

I can't help but wonder why Roccat decided to have the 4-pin connector on the earphones, and not two 3,5 mm plugs. I mean, sure the iPhone and the Blackberries are popular, but are they really more popular, and more likely audio source than any normal mp3-player, computer or a phone with a regular 3,5 mm plug on the markets? Now you'll always need the adapter for using the earphones, unless you have one of the few phones supporting this kind of handsfree. Also if you're going to supply adapters with ear- or headphones, then I'd also like to see an adapter for airplane use.

The only real extra in the box is the pouch for mp3-player or mobile phone. It has a nice logo, but the canvas and the build quality seem pretty rough. Also my old Creative Zen Sleek isn't sleek enough to fit in there even without the earphones.

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