Looking for an affordable great quality gaming headset? Than the Z1 is the way to go.  At first glance these headsets looked fairly cheap and felt poorly made, but that was because of the swivel ear cups just swinging around.  The swivel cups came in handy when the headsets weren't in use but i think Turtle Beach could've made them a little sturdier.  Now these sets were made for PC so that's where I tried them out first.  After a bunch of games on Counter-Strike Source, Left 4 Dead 2, and Quake Live I was very impressed with the sound that it produced.  Everything sounded clear through game, Skype and Ventrilo.  The Z1 feels real comfortable when worn and everything is easy to access on the remote located on the wire(which is a really long wire for those who like to game from far), from volume control to a mute on or off switch.  The microphone is probably the best feature of the Z1 as it is the same one used on the famous X1-X4 series.  The mic is very flexible and can be placed anyway that feels comfortable to you and also gives out a very clear sound when speaking.  I really loved these but i have to say that after wearing these for about an hour my ears started getting hot and uncomfortable.  The ear cups are pretty small and don't wrap around the whole ear, instead it lays right over the middle of your ear which may be uncomfortable to certain people.  The ear cups are made out of a very cheap sewn on type of leather that looks like it can come apart within months of use and would stick to my own ears after it started getting hot.  The speakers in the headset provide great sound put when speaking to the mic you can't hear yourself at times because since the cups are so deep in your ear, it feels as if someone has their fingers inside your ears (try it for yourself and you will see what I'm talking about).  These were the only things I felt were wrong about the Z1 but for its price is a really good pair of gaming/social headsets.

Also, if you own an Astro A40 Mixamp, the Z1 works perfect with the PC adapter cables thats included with the mixamp.  I used them on my Xbox 360 and played Halo 3 and Modern Warfare 2 with them and they sounded pretty good but still felt the negatives as i stated before.

Product: Turtle Beach Ear Force Z1 Gaming Headsets

Manufacturer: Turtle Beach

MSRP: $29.95

Review Info:  A pair of these headsets was provided to DualShockers Inc. by the manufacturer for reviewing purposes.