Sennheiser PC 373D headset review

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Sennheiser PC 373D

Sennheiser is known for building high quality audio hardware that justifies the premium price tag it commands. The PC 373D is Sennheiser’s open-backed gaming headset (in contrast to the close-backed GAME ZERO), and at $250, are one of the more expensive units on the market. Unfortunately, that primo price tag just isn’t backed up with the right number of features.

Out of the box

Sennheiser houses the PC 373D in a protective plastic shell within their box, which is smart since the body of the 373D is plastic — an odd choice that undercuts the $250 price tag. The rest of the contents include an unusually long cable, user booklets, and warranty information.

Features and design

The PC 373D feature partially open-backed earcups, with a large boom mic affixed to the left earcup and a volume control wheel on the right. Velvet-wrapped memory foam lines the cups and the band, which feels incredibly good. Initial clamping force is a bit much, but once the memory foam settles, you’re left with an even and comfortable fit around the ears and head. This is, surprisingly, the best aspect of the PC 373D overall. Long play sessions are no issue, and we’d be hard pressed to find another headset that feels as comfortable as these. Unfortunately, our evaluation of the PC 373D is a lot less glowing from here.

Greg Mombert/Digital Trends

Greg Mombert/Digital Trends

Greg Mombert/Digital Trends

Greg Mombert/Digital Trends

As mentioned before, the earcups, mic, headband, and swivel joints are all made from hollow plastic with a smooth matte finish. This makes the PC 373D feel cheap. On the plus side, the headset is lightweight, which makes it all the more comfortable to wear. Still, the hollow plastic not only feels of lower quality than its price tag would suggest, but it’s also more likely to bend or break than headsets with steel swivel joints or otherwise sturdier construction.

More: Logitech G533 wireless gaming headset review

The mic boom is another aspect we find some fault with. The boom is a long, thick piece of plastic with a rubber strip in the middle that can be moved a few degrees inward or outward. The rubber material doesn’t hold and tends to drift after it’s been moved. We didn’t find significant differences in recording capabilities at various distances, so the drift isn’t much of a problem.

The PC 373D’s curious cable is long, rubberized, and broken into two sections. On the headphone end is a 2.5mm jack, but the other end of that cable terminates with a female micro-USB jack with Dolby surround switching placed inline. The second section of cable finishes the job, with a male micro-USB tip terminating in a standard USB jack to be plugged into your PC. Our question is: Why? It’s an odd choice, especially when 7.1 surround sound can only be enabled when using the headset with Sennheiser’s included PC app. We’d rather have an inline mic mute button instead; something the headset lacks entirely. The only way to mute is to flip the boom all the way up, but the only feedback that the mic is muted is a small mechanical click that can be easily masked by audio playback.

Performance

While the PC 373D’s design leaves something to be desired, the headset sounds quite good. Playback is clear, with balanced audio that doesn’t favor one aspect of the mix over another. This means that bombastic scenes in games like Battlefield 1 won’t rattle your teeth with bass rumble like the Razer Mano’War 7.1 would. That can be a good thing however, especially in games like Heroes of the Storm or Overwatch, where audio cues are paramount to successful matches. We did notice some heat in the upper register however, especially from vocal sibilants, something we wouldn’t normally expect from a $250 headset — especially not one from Sennheiser.

Once the memory foam settles, you’re left with an even and comfortable fit.

The included PC software works well enough, with a basic user interface that’s easy to understand. The program includes three EQ presets: music, gaming, and esport. Unfortunately, we found these presets to be inferior to the default mix, and avoided all of them for the lion’s share of our evaluation time. Dolby 7.1 surround effects are effective, and very clear, but just slightly edged out in terms of placement accuracy by the Logitech G533’s DTS 7.1 performance. The Razer Mano’War 7.1 is similar in terms of surround capability, but the PC 373D’s sound profile is more balanced.

The mic on the PC 373D is passable, but we were surprised to note the sound was especially compressed, despite considerable pops with consonant sounds like “p” and “t.” It does its job well enough, and we’d be willing to forgive the punchy consonants if there weren’t better mics out there on devices that cost $100 less. This point becomes even more apparent when you factor in the previously mentioned design decisions Sennheiser made with the mic. How strange this is for a company that makes microphones for professional use.

More: Razer ManO’War 7.1 review

The PC 373D’s USB-only connection does technically mean it can be connected to a PlayStation 4, but we wouldn’t recommend it, primarily because the sound is lower on PS4, but also because the lack of software compatibility removes the 7.1 and EQ settings. As the name implies, the PC 373D is a PC device. PC gamers looking for an extremely comfortable fit, and with no budgetary constraints, may want to give the PC 373D consideration, but for almost everyone else, this headset will be a tough sell.

Sennheiser PC 373D Compared To

Logitech G533

Turtle Beach Stealth 500x

PlayStation Gold

Turtle Beach Ear Force i30

Turtle Beach Ear Force i60

Turtle Beach Ear Force XP Seven

Tritton Kunai

Astro A50

Sony Pulse Elite Edition

Turtle Beach Ear Force X32

Sennheiser X 320

Turtle Beach PX3

Cooler Master Storm Sirus

Turtle Beach Ear Force PX5

Creative Sound Blaster Tactic 3D…

Our Take

The PC 373D feel amazing, and it is hands-down our favorite PC gaming headset due to how comfortable it is for long sessions. However, design quirks, restricted use, and a princely price point make it a non-starter for most gamers.

Is there a better alternative?

While it’s a slight step down in terms of comfort, the Logitech G533 has a better mic, better overall sound quality, including incredible DTS 7.1 surround sound, is wireless, and costs $100 less.

How long will it last?

The DT Accessory Pack

The Anchor under-desk headphone stand Mount

$11

Sennheiser GSX 1000 gaming audio amplifier

$229

Xbox Wireless Controller

$46

We aren’t convinced the build quality will stand the test of time … or minor falls or accidents. The headset’s swivel joints also feel looser than we’d like, and the padding, however comfortable, can’t easily be cleaned.

Should you buy it?

No. If your sole directive for buying a new headset is comfort, the 373D are a worthwhile purchase, but by all other measures it’s no better than other premium headsets on the market, while costing $100 to $150 more. Because of this, we’d recommend looking elsewhere.

Intel made a drone to help an NBA player in the Slam Dunk Contest

Orlando Magic player Aaron Gordon took things to a whole new level in tonight’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest, one of the main events during the league’s All-Star Weekend. The 21-year-old worked with Intel on a drone to use an assist prop for his first dunk at the event, something which had obviously never been done before. Unfortunately, it took Gordon a few tries to successfully take the pass from the drone and dunk the ball in the basket, but it was still great to see it happen in the end.

Gordon’s mother is an an employee at Intel, so she deserves some of the credit for this idea. And even though it wasn’t enough to get him the win this evening, you have to give him props for thinking outside the box.

Did you see that? Air Gordon takes flight and goes through the legs with the assist from a Drone powered by @Intel. #VerizonDunk pic.twitter.com/jQpFs0Bh9h

— NBA (@NBA) February 19, 2017

Batmobile toy uses augmented reality to show the driver’s view

Batman’s got plenty of wonderful toys bearing his name, from his trusty Batarangs to his super Batcomputer. However, none are more famous than the Batmobile. And, while diehard fans might be a little down on the design of the latest version as seen in Batman v Superman and Justice League, they certainly won’t be disappointed by the sheer amount of cool tricks packed into Mattel’s new radio-controlled model. With its own built-in dash cam, augmented reality features and the ability to spew real exhaust, this new ride is exactly the kind of thing Bruce Wayne would have built if he went into toy design instead of crimefighting.

The Justice League Batmobile is controlled via your iOS or Android device, which isn’t unusual among RC vehicles these days. But Mattel have mixed things up by adding a dash cam into the mix. It’s embedded in the cockpit, so you’re not necessarily seeing the car’s perspective — you’re seeing what Batman would see. And, while you could set up a little physical obstacle course and pilot your way through it as you would any toy, the app comes with AR features for some real immersive action. It’ll appear to shoot rockets at your chosen target, be it Darkseid’s parademon minions from the film, or just maybe just an innocent family pet. As it’s only virtual your dog will be fine, but it will make your drive more thrilling.

There’s also some great attention to detail in the Batmobile: The cockpit can fit a real Batman action figure, included with the car. Because the figure is fully articulated, putting his hand on the steering column means that when the vehicle changes direction, his arm will move as if he’s actually driving. But the most attention grabbing feature is the genuine exhaust that comes out of the rear.

Of course, this Batmobile doesn’t actually burn gas. Instead, a few drops of glycerol in the tank create a sweet-smelling smoke that really makes it feel like you just burned rubber through the streets of Gotham City. The oil is sugar-based so it’s harmless to breathe and won’t stink up your home. The vehicle comes with a starter supply but the designer informed us the oil is also easy to obtain at hobby shops. And you can even replace it with select other materials: vape juice will work just fine, as will baby oil if you want Batman to exude a bit of nursery scent (or maybe not).

However, all these cool features don’t come cheap, and it’s not for kids. The Batmobile is intended for the collector’s market, and comes appropriately priced at $250. It will be available this October just in time for Justice League, which may or may not be as cool as the toys based on it.

Robot probe no. 2 dies while exploring a Fukushima reactor

The second robot Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) sent into Fukushima’s unit 2 reactor also failed to finish its mission. Earlier this month, the cameras of the first “scorpion” robot that ventured into the reactor malfunctioned after two hours due to extremely high radiation levels. Now, it’s the machine’s left crawler belt that stopped working (PDF) altogether, forcing TEPCO to cut off its tether and to leave it inside.

Toshiba designed these scorpions specifically to examine Unit 2’s condition and to locate the melted uranium fuel within. The information would help Tepco figure out the best and safest way to clean the fuel up. if you’re wondering, these machines are called “scorpions” because, with their camera-equipped tails above their bodies, they look quite like the arachnid:

The power company still isn’t sure whether the robot’s crawler belt stopped working due to the radiation levels inside or due to all the debris the first machine wasn’t able to clear. It managed to send some data back, though, and TEPCO plans to evaluate whatever information it got.

Every little thing will help, after all, since the company chose to stick to its cleanup schedule even though both exploration missions failed. It will begin conjuring up plans for fuel removal this summer and will start the actual cleanup process in 2021. But before that, TEPCO will send a tiny underwater robot to explore the Unit 1 reactor in the next few weeks — we’ll let you know how that one fares, as well.

Via: CBS News, The Verge

Source: Tepco (PDF), PhysOrg

TAG Heuer’s next smartwatch may include a swappable timepiece

TAG Heuer has dropped a few hints about its plans for a successor to the Connected, but the biggest news may be what it isn’t mentioning. Android Central sources claim that TAG is working on the Connected Modular, a “fully customizable” Android Wear 2.0 watch that would let you not only replace the straps, but the timepiece itself. Reportedly, you could swap in an automatic mechanical watch module on demand — say, for social occasions when you feel that a smartwatch would be too gauche. That would be far more convenient than TAG’s current strategy, which gives you the ‘privilege’ of buying a mechanical equivalent to the Connected (at the same price as your original watch) after the warranty expires.

If the scoop is accurate, TAG will unveil the Modular on March 14th, or several weeks ahead of the already-announced May release for new hardware. To us, the big remaining questions revolve around pricing. Will the Modular do more to justify its (likely high) price than the Connected did? And will that mechanical module be affordable enough that it’s worth buying? The modularity and already promised tech upgrades (brighter displays, GPS and payments) suggest that the answer could be “yes,” but nothing’s guaranteed until there’s something you can strap on your wrist.

Source: Android Central

Amazon’s smart home consult figured out how to connect a 50-year-old thermostat

Why it matters to you

Finding out you just bought a gadget you can’t use is annoying, so Amazon wants to offer free consultations before you buy.

Having set up countless smart-home products, I have the routine pretty much down. Setting them up usually involves downloading the app, connecting the device to the Wi-Fi, and selecting preferences to make the product more automated so I have to use the app as little as possible.

That doesn’t mean the process is always seamless, and I sometimes find myself heading to the company’s website to look for videos, FAQs, or troubleshooting guides. That’s all well and good for simple problems with a device that takes minimal setup time, like a lightbulb or connected pet feeder, but what about something that involves taking out the toolbox or turning off the electricity?

Who ya gonna call?

As smart-home products start to go more mainstream, setup is going to have to get faster and easier. I might be willing to take time to figure out why my smart lock isn’t connecting to my network, but my parents would likely just pass the problem along to me or one of my siblings. Wouldn’t it be great if there was someone to call for help?

The process felt a little like calling Comcast when the internet goes out.

That’s the idea behind a new consultation service from Amazon and iDevice’s concierge appointments. Instead of making your kids or tech-savvy friend come over and troubleshoot, Amazon wants to send someone to your house, or absent that, iDevices will set up a phone call to walk you through everything, from downloading the app to setting up scenes with HomeKit.i

To test out these services, I set up an in-home consultation with Amazon and a phone call with iDevices. Right now, Amazon is only offering its free consultations in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Jose. It’s been around about eight months, according to Jeff Arnold, my consultant. With iDevices, you can schedule a free call, as long as you’ve purchased the company’s Home Essentials kit. The $500 kit comes with five switches, three socket, and two outdoor switches — and the concierge service, as iDevices bills the appointments you can set up.

Hand holding

I was able to schedule my iDevices appointment online for the next day, and there were a range of times available, from 5:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time. My iDevices call lasted about half an hour, though it easily could have taken longer.

The iDevices staffer who called started me off by having me download the app and setting up one of the switches. This is something I usually need help with, but I wanted to get the full experience. I ran into a problem with the app finding my switch once it was connected, because I hadn’t allowed the app to access HomeKit. She quickly figured it out, and I moved on to enabling Alexa control. The iDevices staff can also help you set up scenes via HomeKit and will take you through setting up as many of the individual switches and sockets as you like.

More: What can’t she do? The best ways to use Amazon’s Alexa around the house

While it’s definitely a nice feature, and the staff member I spoke to was very patient, the process felt a little like calling Comcast when the internet goes out. There’s a lot of, “And what are you seeing on your phone now?”

The internet of all the things

Since Amazon is a bit more all-encompassing with the products it offers, its approach to smart-home consultations is a bit different. Arnold told me part of the reason Amazon is offering this service — and for free — is that it wants to get data about what kinds of products are in people’s homes and how well they’re working. He took a pretty thorough catalog of all my devices and asked for my thoughts on how they worked. After looking at my ‘60s-era thermostat, which controls my baseboard heater, he promised to look for a Wi-Fi-enabled thermostat that would work. The next day, I got an email with a recommendation.

If you’re just installing a single device, setting up an appointment like this might not seem worth the time.

When an Amazon consultant comes to your house, they’re not going to bring tools with them. For one thing, your state might require an electrician or locksmith to make certain changes to your home. Amazon wants to get to the stage where, after the first visit, it can schedule an electrician to come and swap your light switches for smart versions. But every home and every state is different, so that’s why the initial appointment is necessary.

Once the service has been around a while, the consultants will have a better understanding of what to expect from older buildings, as well as the differences between a single-story home in Minnesota and a townhome in Florida. In turn, Amazon hopes to be able to offer customers recommendations on what will work best for them.

A little help

If you’re just installing a single device, setting up an appointment like this might not seem worth the time (or money, when Amazon starts charging). But while any smart device maker that truly wants to assist and retain its customers will have a helpline, it might be beneficial to have someone knowledgeable discuss what you’re looking for before you start buying products.

It’s one thing to have a customer service person troubleshoot settings configurations; it’s another to learn the $200 thermostat you just bought definitely won’t work with your old-school system. While every maker of home tech dreams of becoming “plug and play,” in truth we’re years, maybe decades from that goal. Until then, in-home consults will have a useful role to play, and they’ll likely become as common as consulting a plumber before overhauling your bathroom.

Many Android connected car apps hackable, allowing entry but not ignition

Why it matters to you

You might want to reconsider using an Android-connected car app.

Be wary of Android connected car apps. As cool as it can be to have an app that makes your smartphone a remote control for your car or truck, the same app could be hacked to let thieves enter your car. That’s the message from researchers at Kapersky, a Russian security company, according to a report by Wired.

Kapersky focused on breaking Android connected car apps, as iOS phones are apparently less easy to hack. The researchers discovered that seven of nine connected car apps they tested were hackable. The two primary means of hacking the software were rooting and adding software to the phone.

More: If they want it, they’ll take it: Tech isn’t winning its fight against car thieves

With a rooted phone, hackers could gain access to the phone’s operating system to make changes or to access private information. Other hacking approaches entail fooling owners into downloading either previously hacked versions of the connected car software, or malware that detects when a connected car app launches. In any case, the aim would be to obtain login credential for the car app.

The researchers did not make public the specific apps they tested, preferring not to pass on any tips to hackers and thieves. They reported that the hacked apps would allow entry to the vehicles, but not start and drive them away. That could however be fine with many thieves. Identity theft is often the primary purpose of car break-ins, Chris McDonald, Chair of the Vehicle Crimes Committee, International Association of Chiefs of Police told Digital Trends. 

The Kapersky researchers told Wired they informed car companies about the security issues, which aren’t bugs, but a lack of defense. “Why don’t connected car application developers care about security as much as the developers of banking applications?” asks Kaspersky researcher Viktor Chebyshev. “They’re also controlling very valuable things for the user, but they’re not thinking about security mechanisms.”

We’ve made a map so you can find the HTC Vive demo nearest you

We’ve hammered out many words about why the HTC Vive is great, and honored it with our Editor’s Choice award. But we’d understand if you’re still not sure what this VR thing is all about. It’s an experience that’s unlike anything most people have ever tried, so it’s hard to grasp by simply reading of it. You really have to try it for yourself. HTC is aware of this, so it has a comprehensive demo program that let you try out the experience for yourself. Here’s where you can try the VR revolution before throwing down $800 to become a part of it.

More: Spec Comparison: Does the Rift’s Touch update make it a true Vive competitor?

National locations

HTC has three Vive demo partners — Gamestop, Microsoft, and Micro Center. While you can read more about each below — and see a full list of demo locations — we’ve summarized the locations, including two from Newegg, on Google Maps, so you can find the location nearest you.

As you can see, most locations are in North America. There are some locations internationally, but they are not taking place through HTC’s three major partners.

Gamestop

Select Gamestop stores started Vive demos in mid-April, and more have rolled out in the months since. Around 54 Gamestop locations now feature demos for the HTC Vive. Demos tend to occur once a day for a couple hours, often in the morning, but this is on a store by store basis, so you’ll have to call a nearby store to find out when the demo occurs. Gamestop has partnered with CyberPowerPC to provide the hardware for the demo stations. Most of the stations are on either the west or east coast, but more than a few are available in midwestern and southern states.

Here’s the full list.

Microsoft Stores

After a small initial roll-out, Microsoft quickly expanded the Vive demo program. Today, 56 Microsoft stores across the country are showing the Vive on Alienware Area 51 gaming rigs. Microsoft says free demos last 10 minutes or so, and that customers must either be 18 years old, or 13 years old and have the permission of a parent or guardian.

Microsoft is the only demo partner with locations outside the United States, too. It has several in Canada, and one in Sydney, Australia.

Here’s the full list.

Micro Center

Electronics retailer Micro Center sells the Vive — and occasionally offers some great discounts — but certain stores also have the option to demo the Vive. Unfortunately, the company doesn’t have a complete list of participating locations, nor has it detailed how long the demos last or when it will stop demoing units. Your best bet is to see if there’s a Micro Center store near you and give them a call to see what’s up.

How to recover lost contacts on an iPhone

Contacts are an important part of your iPhone, especially if you’re constantly making calls, sending emails, or texting friends and family. You may have one long contact list, or one that’s been meticulously organized and sorted to make navigation easier. Contacts are so integral to staying in touch with others that it’s hard to imagine not having that convenient, easy-to-reach list of everyone you’ll ever need to reach out to.

More: How to backup your iPhone to your computer without iTunes

In fact, it’s so convenient, few of us remember phone numbers or email addresses in our heads anymore. This isn’t usually an issue, but it can become a problem when a particular contact, or multiple contacts, are accidentally deleted or lost during the sync process, or when restoring from a backup. It’s an unfortunate situation to be in, but one that’s easily rectified if you know how to recover lost contacts on an iPhone. Thankfully, you only need to use iCloud to do so.

Recovering contacts using iCloud

This is the go-to method for retrieving lost contact information — as well as other things like Reminders and Calendar events — and it comes directly from Apple. All you need is a computer, your Apple ID and password, and a bit of time.

Go to iCloud.com and sign in with your aforementioned Apple ID and password.
Once signed in, click the Settings icon.
Scroll down to the Advanced section and click Restore Contacts.
You’ll be shown a list of previously made archives. Find the date of an archive that should still have your contacts list intact and click Restore.
Click Restore again to confirm and begin the restoration process. Once it’s done, an email will be sent to the address tied to your Apple ID.

It should be noted that doing this will replace the contacts currently on your iPhone, as opposed to just adding the ones that are missing. If you added new contacts prior to this process, they’ll be lost. Thankfully, your current contacts list will be archived before the restore is applied, so you can retrieve them following these same steps.

To do so, follow the first three steps of this article, but instead of choosing an archive from a previous date, pick the archive made the same day you performed your restoration. You can also do this if you accidentally restore your contact using the wrong archive.

Paint it black? 6 online tools that help you visualize, choose your new wall color

Why it matters to you

It can be hard to picture your walls in a completely new color. Fortunately, paint companies’ tools can show you how they’ll look in every hue.

Morning Mist or Misty Morning? Ah, the joy of picking out paint colors. Once upon a time, you had to hold up little colorful squares and try to envision your walls going from white to taupe with just the power of your imagination. Now, however, paint makers all have online tools that will do most of the work for you. And while you’ll still want to hold up squares because the color won’t translate 100 percent from your computer to the wall, it’s a decent starting point that can help narrow down your choice.

More: Grand designs for a flat fee: These six sites will help you decorate your home

The tools are all pretty similar in how they work, but while some of them turned my kitchen into an impressionist painting, others gave me a pretty good idea of how my walls would look, whether they were blood red or soft gray. After you upload a picture of your room, you’ll get various Photoshop-eque tools that allow you to select different areas of your room. You can then start switching between different hues and see how each wall or section of cabinet will look with each color. Since I’m in the market for paint, I decided to put them to the test.

Behr Color Smart

Unfortunately, Behr has one of the clunkier set of tools to work with. It’s paint bucket fills in giant globs instead of sticking to just the wall. The paintbrush has several sizes to choose from, which is nice, but it didn’t let any of the woodgrain on my cabinets show through. It turned everything into a smudgy mess. I also couldn’t figure out the point of the tape, as I could easily paint over it and ended up getting Venus Teal on the virtual countertops.

It’s too bad, because the Color Smart has a really nice palette tool at the bottom. If you find a color you love, they have several suggestions for trim and accent paints to help if you’re not color-coordinated.