Armaggeddon Avatar Pro ZX100

Armaggeddon is a relatively new player in the ever-expanding gaming peripherals market. As we said when we covered their launch event sometime last month, they’re launching an attack on multiple fronts in order to break in and leave an impression on hardcore and casual gamers alike. The burning question here is, are their products up to par with the mission?

At first glance, the Avatar Pro ZX100 looks like a pretty hefty headset, and it is for good reason. It comes with 50mm drivers encased in rather sizable ear cups. Each individual piece feels a bit heavy on its own, and when all the pieces come together, the entire headset does weigh down on your head.

Weight aside, the ZX100 is a pretty comfy piece of audio equipment to wear. The ear cups are nicely padded and cover the entirety of your ears. The headband is adequately padded at the top, too. Because of this, you’ll feel most of the headset’s weight on the sides of your head. Don’t get us wrong, prolonged use doesn’t result in any massive discomfort or anything, but compared to some of the lighter options out there, this is one of those headsets that you will always feel resting on your noggin.

In terms of sturdiness, the ZX100 definitely looks built to handle long gaming sessions and being transported from one place to another. Our only little nitpick here is the headband, which feels like the weakest link in an otherwise solidly built package. We’re just not sure if it can handle physical wear and tear as well as the rest of the headset.

Of course, this headset’s main selling point is its 7.1 surround sound output, which is done through the help of the included Z10 USB audio processor. Like a lot of USB headsets and sound cards these days, it can be plugged in right out of the box, but you’ll have to install drivers to really get it going. The Z10 pretty much delivers on its promise of 7.1 surround, so we’ll give it that. However, those on less than up-to-par PCs may take a considerable hit in terms of performance as the surround output requires more resources than initially thought. PC specs aside, the ZX100/ZX10 combo is pretty sweet when you get the surround sound running. And as a stylish little bonus, the Armaggeddon logos on the side of each ear cup lights up with a nice blue glow when plugged into the ZX10.

The sound quality of the headset itself is a bit of a mixed bag. While the bass is sufficient and never obtrusive enough to go into brain-mushing territory, higher frequencies sound a wee bit muffled. Overall, the sound quality’s serviceable, but when you focus on specifics, that’s where the ZX100′s shortcomings become apparent.

We put it through its paces using it for games such as Borderlands 2, Torchlight II, and Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. The results are satisfying and the surround definitely works for the games that support them, but then again, that’s more of the ZX10 sound card at work here. But, like we said earlier, your PC has to be pretty souped-up to compensate for the toll the surround sound driver apparently takes on system performance.

For its price range and what it’s capable of, the ZX100/ZX10 combo is a good deal if you’re looking to jump into the world of surround sound headsets. It’s a comfy, albeit chunky headset that adequately does what it sets out to do, while looking good at it.