Turtle Beach Ear Force AK-R8 Headphones

[Rob Williams]

Turtle Beach is back with a new gaming headset, the USB based AK-R8. Unlike the HPA series, the AK-R8 includes its own sound card. On top of that, the software is robust, the feature set is solid and the sound can get LOUD. These headphones might just be what you are looking for.

You can read the full review here and discuss it here.

[Greyguy]

I have owned a pair of these headphones for 2 weeks. I installed them on a new machine running Vista and they seemed to work fine. Then I recieved several error messages saying that the headphones exceeded the USB bandwidth for the device.

Finally last night I tried to log onto a teamspeak server and play online. Teamspeak would not allow me to activate the mic. After rooting through Turtle Beaches FAQs I found this

" A few of our customers have reported that using the Logitech G15 USB Gaming
Keyboard/hub (usually with Ventrilo) installed causes the AA_SRM to
malfunction. An error message states that there is "Insufficient USB
Bandwidth." However, disconnecting the G15 allows the SRM to work properly."

These headphones are touted for gaming. How many people who game use a USB mouse and keyboard. I use a Logitech G9, a Zboard keyboard and teamspeak. However they offer a fix

"One customer purchased and installed a PCI USB/FireWire port card, to which
he connected the Logitech G15 USB keyboard. He then connected the SRM to
the computer's built-in USB port. The customer reported that this allowed
his SRM, G15 keyboard and Ventrilo to function properly together. "

So I removed the PCI USB card from my old machine and installed it in the new box, plugged the keyboard and mouse into the PCI card and after renistalling all the drivers success.

Hopefully any readers who run into the same problems can use this info.

[Rob Williams]

Thanks for the information Greyguy!

I don't use TeamSpeak or similar programs, so I guess I was not bound to see the problem. I didn't have any issue with in-game chat, however. I also use a USB keyboard but connect via PS/2, which might be another reason why I didn't experience any issues.

How are you liking the headphones overall? Have you found any issue with sudden loud noises due to Windows or other applications? I think that's my biggest beef with these... any given volume is actually louder than it seems... and you know it when Windows decides to ding.

[Greyguy]

I have noticed that some windows sounds are louder. Overall the headphones perform well for gaming now that the USB issue is solved.

[Rob Williams]

Good to hear. What game are you using them with?

[Greyguy]

Unreal Tournament 3

Regarding "Although the company is not particularly well-known for high-end audio equipment,", you might want to do a little research:Turtle Beach has been "well-known for high-end audio equipment" since it was founded--probably before a number of the readers here were born. In the early 90s, Creative SoundBlaster hardware was what you bought when you couldn't afford the Turtle Beach MultiSound. In fact, the way Creative made the transition to quality sound hardware was to buy the eMu synth manufacturer out from under Turtle Beach and use the eMu hardware to create the Audigy.

Hey Rob. I greatly need your advice on this. I cant decide between the HPA2's or the AK-R8's . I know that both of these model carry the same headset and the difference is the inline amp on one and the AASRM on the other. I dont own a pc, I only use my laptops for gaming, movies, and music. I also want to play these head phones loud and want them to sound clear. 1.Can you please tell me if the HPA2's with a Creative Audigy 2 zs pcmcia card would sound better than the AK-R8's? 2.Would the Surround Sound be better with the HPA2/audigy 2 zs option? 3.Would the Sound Clarity be better, especially at high volumes with the HPA2/audigy 2 zs option?
4.Do the AK-R8's get enough power through the USB port to be as loud, if not louder than the HPA2's even though the HPA2's has its own power supply(which I dont mind in exchange for better sound)? 5. Also, will I be able to adjust the sound level for each channel through the audigy 2 zs pcmcia and does the audigy 2 zs have something similar to the 10 band equalizer for each channel like the AASRM of the AK-R8's. These are the ONLY two headset that I am debating on. Please dont recomend me stereo headphones. I just need help in deciding between these two. Any info will be helpful. Thanks.

Hi, so.. I read A LOT about errors with Windows Vista.. Can someone asure that this headphones work properly with Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit??? and since the review was made in 2007, so it's OLD xD.. would someone still recomend this headphones or there are betters things right now?

Thank you.

the drivers for the AK-R8 will not work on a vista 64 platform and ther is no real support from the turle beach support page. I would not recoment anybody to purchase any products from Turtle Beach as the products are garbage.