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Plantronics RIG Gaming Headset with Custom Mixer (Review)

rig-black-mixer

Gaming these days almost requires you to wear a dedicated headset for not just audio chat, but also game audio. The days of playing games without a headset are pretty much over as television speakers just can’t beat the type of immersion you get wearing a good set of gaming headphones. Even cheap stereo headsets provide better audio than just using your television speakers, but having all that audio pumped directly into your ears also means that you are oblivious to real world sounds that are occurring around you. That means you could be in deep gaming mode and not notice that your phone has gone off about 5 times with someone calling you about an emergency or notification that should have been heard and checked, but wasn’t. What’s a gamer to do? Well, you could always go and check out Plantronics new RIG Gaming Headset with integrated Custom Mixer that solves this problem quite cleverly.

Design and Build

The Plantronics RIG Gaming Headset is a universal gaming headset that works for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. What you get in the box is the actual RIG headset, the custom mixer unit, two sets of mic cables, and a couple other miscellaneous cables that I’ll get to later.

rig-black-boomI’ll start with the RIG headset first. The unit I received is black with orange accents. Most of the headset is made of plastic in a matte black, though part of it is also finished off in glossy black as a contrasting accent. The plastic here is very smooth with no texturing at all, giving a very clean, minimalistic feel to it. The only bit of texturing comes from the fabric used to cover part of the rear of the ear cups and the fabric covering the headband.

The headband portion is pretty much entirely covered by fabric. This gives it a very nice look and though I assume that the entire headset is made of plastic, the fabric breaks this up, giving the RIG a much more high end look. The fabric covering allows for some light padding and though it’s not thick and plush, it still feels comfortable when worn. There are 2 orange tags that are sewn into the headband. One has the Plantronics name on it and the other has an R. As you can deduce, the R is to let you know the correct orientation in which to wear the RIG and makes it very easy to remember which way is correct.

Moving on to the ear cups, these are shaped in what looks like a perfect circle and are heavily padded. The fabric used here is very soft and plush and do not feel itchy at all when worn. The round shape is large enough to fit completely over my ears which is a plus when it comes to over the ear headphones. On the inside of the cups, there is more fabric, but this time in the same orange color that matches the tags on the headband. The ear cups can tilt for comfort and fit and can also swivel flat so that can be transported easily or be more comfortable when worn around your neck. On the left ear, you’ll also find the connection for the boom mic cable or the inline mic cable. These are easily snapped in and out depending on your needs and make this a very versatile headset.

Speaking of cables, all the cables included with the RIG are flat ribbon cables which means that they are tangle-free. This is great because as some of us have probably experienced with wired headsets, the cabling can get tangled up and it’s a real pain trying to untangle them. With these cables, there is no tangle and straightening a wadded up ball of ribbon cable is as easy as taking one end and dropping the rest to the ground. The boom mic is adjust table and can be bent into different positions. There are no inline controls for it however. The inline mic cable however does have inline controls but mainly just 1 button to pick up calls or to pause and resume media if playing on your mobile device.

rig-mixer-phoneMoving on to the RIG Custom Mixer now, this is the control hub of the whole system. It has cables attached that you would splice in-between your console and your TV in order to receive audio, or you have the option of using an optical cable which is not included. The custom mixer is also where you would plug in your headset and another device like your mobile phone or tablet. If you’re using the RIG with your Xbox 360, there is also a connection for the mic cable that plugs into this and then your controller.

The RIG custom mixer is made entirely out of plastic with the toggle switch directly at the center. Tap the right side to switch to gaming audio mode or tap the left side to switch to your other device. Your other device will make the custom mixer light up blue while using it in gaming mode will light up the hub orange. On the right side there is a mixer switch that allows you to mix in the amount of game audio relative to how loud you want chat audio. On the left side, there is another mixer switch that determines how loud you want your other device audio to be. On the outside of the mixer is a volume dial that sets the main volume of everything. It’s a very simple setup that is quite effective and easy to use.

Usage

Using the RIG is about as easy as any other gaming headset. On the 360 for instance, turning on the 360 automatically turns on the RIG making it ready for use. Plug your headset into the RIG’s custom mixer unit and then plug in either you’re mobile phone or tablet into the custom mixer as well. In this case, I used an iPhone 5.

The custom mixer’s main feature is a large switch at its center that allows you to switch chat audio from either your console/PC or your mobile phone/tablet. For instance, if your phone rings and you’re in the middle of a game, just tap the mixer’s switch over to to your mobile device and you can easily pick up and speak to whoever called you without having to pick up your phone or take off your headset. If you were partied up with friends online, they can not here you when the switch is toggled over to your mobile device until you toggle it back into gaming mode.

rig-black-systemOf course that’s not the only use for the custom switch. There are audio mixers for both game audio and mobile audio on either side. On the game audio portion, you can balance out the amount of game volume relative to the volume of in-game chat audio. This is similar to what you can do with most other console gaming headsets. What’s different here is that you can also mix in the volume of your mobile device, meaning how loudly you want to hear notifications or ringing from it. Of course you aren’t limited to just that. You can also mix in audio from music that might be playing from your iPhone or even an MP3 player and have it playing along while your playing a game. This allows you to inject custom soundtracks into what you’re playing.

The RIG Headset that comes with the custom mixer is very comfortable to use after long periods of time. It’s an over the ear unit so it will not cause fatigue on your ears. There is a generous amount of padding, both on the ear cups and on the head band portion and it’s very light weight. Because this is a wired unit, it does not require any charging or extra batteries. Just plug it in and it’s ready to go. You can swap cables with it between a unit that has a boom mic and a cable that is more traditional with an inline mic for on the go usage. That’s right, you can use the headset on its own with other devices like your iPhone or MP3 player when your on the go and do not have to pair it up with the custom mixer.

Below, you can get a really good idea of how you can use the Plantronic RIG Gaming Headset and Custom Mixer in everyday gaming situations. You can also see how you go about using it with the easy toggle switch as well as being able to convert it into a regular headset for use on the go.

The entire setup is very easy to use and quite effective. It like being able to hear my phone now when notifications roll in while I’m playing games and I can choose whether to look at them or not. It’s also really handy being able to take a call without having to take off my headset or pick up my phone.

Final Thoughts

What is there not to like about the Plantronics RIG gaming headset and custom mixer? Not much really. It’s the only headset/mixer combination I know of that lets you use your mobile device simultaneously with it ti either hear calls, notifications, or music, and it’s one of the few headsets that allows you use it as a portable headset of mobile devices. I like the fact that the RIG headsets themselves do not require a separate power source, but that’s due to the fact that these are wired headsets, which brings me the only true negative.

That negative of course being that the RIG is a wired system. There are a bunch of wires you will need to use to make full use of the RIG. Two wires connect to your console and television, one wire goes to your mobile device, one wire goes to your headset, and if you’re playing on a 360, one wire goes to the 360 controller.

However, I’m willing to overlook all that mainly because of how convenient it is being able to hear my mobile phone when someone is trying to reach me. The Plantronics RIG goes for around $129.99 and includes everything I described. It’s a very decent price for a gaming headset/mixer of this type, especially when you can also use it as a regular headset on the go.

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