Sturdy headphones for nerdy gamers

Iron Head
By Zebronics
Rs 1,399

Zebronics’ new gaming headphone, Soundmonster, is bang on the buck for what it’s priced at. The 7.1 multimedia headphones have a snug fit around the ears, and they maintain an even, comfortable feel around the head. That said, the fact that they cover the ears completely means that wearing them for long stretches may prove to be painful due to built-up air pressure.
The headphones are not the prettiest or most fanciful set, with a gaudy red-and-black body made of hard plastic and the Zebronics logo firmly etched on to one side. The fact that they are hardy does make up for this though, and they’re tough enough to survive a few accidental plunges to the floor.
The 3m-thick cord that protects its wires also follows the same colour scheme, with a pair of controls attached in the middle to increase or decrease volume, mute noise and mute outgoing voice while on a call. The mic is attached to the headphones and can be put back into the left ear set when not being used. It happens to be on the softer side, but since their main function is to work as gaming headphones, this can be brushed aside, especially when considering their other positives, such as the decent noise cancellation, sound clarity and its rendering of bass. The headphones come with an in-built sound card and a driver software that helps in customising audio settings if need be. This means that you needn’t get a separate sound card to avail of surround sound. However, one problem is that the headphones connect via a USB port instead of the normal audio output, making them incompatible with MacBook Pros.