Review: Tritton Detonator (360)

I am the kind of person who appreciates a good headset, especially during the peak of my work year. During the busiest time of the year for my job, I generally have to be out of bed by 5:30 in the morning so that I can get to work by 6:30. I must be quiet as a doormouse to keep from waking my wife, who generally tends to wake up grumpy (sorry, love). On occasion, I get “sick,” and have to work from home. I’ll sleep in until 6:00, then get cleaned up and head into the living room to remotely access my work computer and run my morning analyses. When I’m done, the Xbox comes on, and the gaming begins…on mute. The Tritton Detonator, an officially licensed Xbox 360 headset from MadCatz, lets me play at any volume I like without waking she-who-must-not-be-awakened.

The Tritton Detonator is generally extremely comfortable. It has a great deal of padding surrounding the earpieces and the arching headpiece that keep you from feeling the harshness of hard plastic that can become so uncomfortable over extended periods of time. Speaking of extended periods of time, however, those with glasses be warned: the Tritton Detonator may push the top of your ear against the temple arms of your glasses, resulting in pretty sore ears after a while. I haven’t been able to figure out any way past this issue, since I need to wear my glasses to prevent eye strain, but thankfully you don’t really feel the pain until after you remove the headset, so at least it won’t interfere with your gaming experience!

Visually, the Detonator has a very sleek, powerful look to it. It has mass, it has elegance, and it retains function without sacrificing form:

[slickr-flickr search=”sets” set=”72157627852964451″ items=”20″]

The only problem with the Detonator is the odd wiring. In order to get full audio into the headset, of both chatting and game/video/etc, you need to plug in a USB cable, and the white and red attached A/V cables. You plug the outgoing A/V from the Xbox into the attached A/V, then plug the attached A/V into your audio input, so they act as a sort of a pass-through for the console’s audio. Unfortunately, the A/V cables branch off from the USB cable very near the end, which doesn’t allow you to have your Xbox 360 very far from your TV if you want full functionality from the headset.

MadCatz has produced a quality headset in the Tritton Detonator. While it may not be ideal for larger sized heads, or those with glasses, for extended periods of time, it provides a great deal of comfort in its padded design, and incredibly clear and crisp audio, with a minimal amount of background and outside noise making its way into your precious, precious ear canals. Also, while the wiring configuration can be somewhat detrimental to your feng shui, it functions wonderfully if you can manage to organize everything well. For $79.99, it’s a fantastic headset that provides great functionality in a great form.