Hands-on review: Creative HS-1200 wireless gaming headset

Creative's HS-1200 headphones aren't your average pair of headphones—they're designed specifically for one person and one person only: the PC gamer.

The HS-1200 is a wireless pair of headphones that features a 40mm Neodymium drivers, a noise-cancelling microphone, rechargeable battery with 8-hour run time, and a set of specialized function buttons (located on the earcup for VoIP software), all operating over a 2.4GHZ connection. The headphones connect wirelessly to your PC through a transmitter-pod that connects to your PC through USB, and the pod also features a jack that plugs into your headphones when they're in need of a charge.

After giving these a test drive, I must say it's a mixed bag.

First, the pros: Installation was very, very simple. Simply insert the CD, choose exactly what you want to install (there's a drivers only install for those who want to skip the added software), reboot, and you're ready to go. Overall, sound quality was very good with music and games (DoTA sounded great), and I had no noticeable static or interference while in use. Wireless range was also good—I could run to my kitchen and back no problem (gamer snacks... mmm). However, once I stepped outside of my house, the signal was lost. When back in range, the sound came back immediately, so no re-syncing or rebooting of the device was necessary.

Now, the cons: Microphone volume is too soft. Even with max volume in the control panel settings, I was still getting a low amount of decibels while using recording software. When using VoIP software, my buddy said, "You sound really clear, but you just need to turn it up." Uninstalling and reinstalling different driver sets didn't help, and I even went so far as to using a software registry hack to enable "mic boost +20db" to no avail. (When you install and use the HS-1200, the mic boost function disappears in your volume mixer.) I think some new drivers would correct the issue, so hopefully some will surface in the near future. I would like to have seen a line-in jack located on the pod, so standard devices would also be able to take advantage of the headphones.

Overall, the HS-1200 are a decent pair of headphones, but microphone volumes are keeping it from being a really great pair. Get us some new drivers, please!