INTRODUCTION

   Sometimes when i look back at the time when i first started playing games in my 80386DX (beginning of the 90's) it's hard for me to believe the how much things have changed in the PC gaming industry. I'm not talking about CPUs and GPUs since these were bound to change (besides back then we did jump from a 80286 to the 80386DX so that wasn't something new), I’m referring mostly to gaming peripherals such as gaming mice, keyboards and headsets. You see back then we enjoyed every available game (who remembers The Lost Vikings or Prince Of Persia?) with just a plain keyboard, ball mouse and a pair of tiny speakers or a pair of low-cost headphones much like the ones bundled with the SONY Walkman cassette players. Today as you all know things have become far better but also far more complicated since the market offers a huge selection of gaming peripherals aimed to cover even the last gamer out there. Today we are taking a look at one of the latest gaming headsets released by OZONE Gaming the Blast Ocelote World 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound Headset.

   OZONE Gaming Gear, is an European brand of gaming peripherals that revolves around the concept “It’s all about Evolution”. OZONE is a brand created by and for gamers, the evolution is part of our gaming life, we all want to improve and evolve into a better gaming contender. OZONE is committed to the development, engineering and evolution of innovative gaming peripherals with a unique style and the best performance, to allow gamers to exceed their limits and become the best. It’s all about evolution. In the recent years the gaming industry has developed into the ultra-competitive arena that we see today, and the gamers have also developed into a more demanding, sophisticated and exigent consumer. There is an ever increasing demand for better design, increase number of functions and higher performances. Due to the development of newer and better gaming peripherals, the market has suffered a transformation. New segments of high performance gaming accessories have grown to become more specialized and subdivided. But this change in the market has also come accompanied of an increase in the price levels of those products. OZONE provides customers a wide range of gaming peripherals. Everyone from the occasional user to the professional gamer is ensured to find a OZONE product at a reasonable price which will fit their requirements to enjoy their favorite games.

   OZONE Gaming has equipped the Blast Ocelote World with two 44mm neodymium magnet stereo drivers which feature a frequency response of 20Hz-20KHz with 119dB (+-3dB) sensitivity and 50 Ohm impedance and a flexible Omni-directional microphone with a frequency response of 100Hz-10KHz, -42dB (+-3dB) sensitivity and 2.2 KOhm impedance. The Blast Ocelote World also features a metallic frame, foldable design for both earcups, pulsating LEDs on the exterior of the earcups (OZONE calls it Lighting FX), automatic mute function for the microphone (when positioned upwards), in-line audio controller and a 3m long cable. As usual the 7.1 virtual surround sound feature comes from a built-in USB sound card (most likely placed inside the in-line controller) and according to OZONE gaming it offers 360 degrees sound without the need for extra drivers (something which we are about to test for ourselves).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

As usual at the front of the black and orange box we find a product picture, the company logo and the main product features.

The foldable design and automatic microphone mute function are showcased at the left side of the box right above the product specifications.

A few words by Carlos "Ocelote" Rodriguez are printed on the other side.

Two pictures placed at the rear of the box are used to showcase the product features in 8 languages.

The box is very thick and ontop of that the headset is tied on a formed piece of plastic.

Unfortunately the bundle only includes the headset and the user manual.

THE BLAST OCELOTE WORLD

The Blast Ocelote World 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound Headset features a metallic frame dressed with soft plastic parts and weighs just 306g.

It's a medium sized headset and to showcase that we once again used the compact Jabra REVO Wireless headset.

Both earcups have a decorative silver piece of plastic above which OZONE has placed the LEDs.

The model name is printed right above both earcups.

As you can all see the microphone can drop all the way down (roughly 90 degrees) and that's also how you activate/deactivate it.

A white LED is placed at the far end of the microphone.

The headset features medium sized protein & memory foam earpads with orange fabric placed above the driver area.

OZONE has used a foldable design for the earcups to make it easier for people to store the headset.

The headpad is also made out of protein & memory foam and is quite comfortable i might add.

You can extend the headband up to 3cm on each side via 8 increments (not visible ones).

OZONE has once again placed their logo on the exterior of the headband.

On the inline controller we find the volume up/down and audio mute buttons (it also has a shirt clip beneath).

The 3 meter cable is not braided and has a regular (not gold plated) USB connector at the end.

Here you can see the Lighting FX LED which unfortunately doesn't change in color.

CONTROL PANEL

Since OZONE Gaming doesn't offer a CD in the bundle you need to download the latest software version (v2.0 at the time of this review) from their official page.

The control panel is very well designed and allows the end user to use one of the 4 available audio profiles, adjust the volume and sampling rate, use one of the 12 equalizer presets (or create a custom one to fit your taste), select one of the 30+ environment effects, configure the 7.1 virtual surround sound feature, use voice effects and set the microphone volume levels.

CONCLUSION

   Gaming peripherals have but one goal, to give gamers the "edge" they seek either in order to enjoy their favorite games to the fullest or to give them the "extra" punch needed to compete with others. When it comes to gaming headsets almost always at the top of the list gamers place positioning audio with plenty of bass (unlike audiophiles) and that pretty much means that audio quality/clarity comes third. Well the Blast Ocelote World 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound Headset offers plenty of volume (far more than what we were expecting actually) and does very good in terms of bass levels and mids but unfortunately it lags behind quite a bit in terms of highs. You may not easily notice when playing games (especially fast paced ones) but it will become clear if you decide to use it with movies and/or music. However in movies you may actually enjoy the relatively good positioning audio produced by the Blast Ocelote World although you shouldn't expect miracles (still better than many virtual surround headsets but not as good as some "real" surround models). You can improve on the surround feature if you decide to spend time with the control panel but two large stereo drivers just can’t compete with multiple smaller ones in that area (bass is better however). OZONE has also used a good microphone with the Blast Ocelote World since we used it with several online games and people said that our voices came through clear but personally i think it's the control panel that wins the most points. We have seen control panels with similar settings but the one used here doesn't only feature the largest number of settings we've seen from a similar product but it's also very easy to navigate and looks quite nice as well.

   7.1 Virtual Surround Sound Headsets are rarely expensive and the Blast Ocelote World by OZONE is not any different since it currently retails for USD79.38 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 74.69Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). It is somewhat more expensive compared to many other virtual surround sound headsets but we feel that OZONE gaming has done a great job in terms of design, available features and audio quality. Certainly they could had used larger drivers of higher quality (wider frequency range) to further improve on audio clarity but i really doubt the majority of gamers would be willing to pay a hefty price tag for that and let's face it manufacturers almost always aim for the majority. That being said the Blast Ocelote World 7.1 Surround Sound Headset may not be the perfect gaming headset out there currently but it looks great, has quite a few interesting features (including a very nicely designed control panel with lots of available settings) and does quite well in terms of positioning audio and audio quality so we can't really deny it our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Very Good Bass Levels & Mids
- 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound (Good Positioning Audio)
- Foldable Earcups
- Comfortable
- Gold Plated USB Connector
- 12 EQ Presets
- 4 Preset Profiles
- Control Panel
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Highs