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LucidSound LS30 Universal Gaming Headset: Review


Posted on August 1, 2016 by Fionna Schweit

Review by: J. C. Campbell

This Year at E3 I had the pleasure of meeting up with Alex Verrey of LucidSound, and he gave me a pair of their brand new LS30’s to take home and use. Since then I have been using them, and these are my impressions from use since then.

If there’s one thing that defines the LS30 gaming headset from Lucid Sound, it’s a wide range of unadvertised and understated features. First of all, the headset is advertised as working with consoles, the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4, and mobile phones. However, the LS30 works extremely well with PCs, a fact that isn’t mentioned anywhere on Lucid Sound’s site or packaging. This is rather unfortunate, because the LS30 is a near-perfect companion for PC gaming, whether you’re using voice chat software or playing a game with built-in voice chat.

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The Box in Question, Notice it does not mention PC

Standard Wired Mode

The LS30 can be operated in two different modes. In the first mode, the LS30 operates as a normal wired headset with no special features. This is the mode that you have to use with a mobile phone. In this mode of operation, none of the other special features of the headset work. What comes out of your phone is what goes into your ear, and what comes out of your mouth is what goes into your phone’s microphone input. This is done via the standard 3.5mm 4-pin “TRRS” combined microphone and headphone jack. The LS30 can be used with standard 3-pin PC 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks, or any other analog setup if you get the correct adapters. In this straight in, straight out mode you wont get any of the fancy bells and whistles but you do get a perfectly good mobile ready headset with a microphone.

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The White Model has very pretty champagne colored accents

Wireless gaming mode

However, what really shines on the LS30 are all the wireless digital features. In this mode the LS30 uses a USB stick as a wireless digital transmitter and adds various features such as mute, microphone monitoring, microphone monitoring mute, three different equalizer settings, and on-ear volume controls. Wireless mode is strong, and has perfect performance as long as you are in the same room as the headset, or one room away. I was able to listen to clearly even on a different floor from the transmitter, as long as I stayed in a room that was above the room with the transmitter. I would guess the maximum range on the wireless transmitter to be around 100 feet in a circle around where the transmitter is placed.

When using the transmitter, volume can only be controlled by the on-your-ear volume control. In some ways, this is good because it simplifies the number of volume controls that might be accidentally turned down. I have often had to check the volume control in a game, the volume control in my OS, and the volume control on my speakers to figure out which one was turned down so I could get sound back. The LS30 eliminates the OS volume control from the picture. The volume on the LS30 ranges from uncomfortably loud to not-quite-quiet-enough. You can turn the volume all the way down to 0 using the ear-knob, without muting, and it acts exactly as a mute, but the step above that, while very quiet, might not be quiet enough for everyone or every situation.

The mute functions play two different tones to indicate which function is being muted (the monitor or the normal audio) and whether it’s being muted or unmuted. No matter what the volume is set at, the in-ear tones the LS30 plays to tell you that it’s muted or unmuted are always the same volume, which can be a little startling if you have the volume down. Unfortunately, because the mute buttons are on your ears, this makes the headset hard to use while lying down with the ears against a pillow because the mute button will get triggered accidentally.

Equalizer settings

The three different equalizer settings are for normal, enhanced bass, and enhanced treble, and can be switched with a small button on the right ear of the headset. In normal mode, the headset sounds perfectly adequate, definitely high-quality sound, though it doesn’t match the quality of a pair of high-end studio monitor headphones. This can’t really be held against it, because such headphones would cost as much if not more than the LS30, and would come with none of its features, let alone a microphone.

LucidSound claims that the audio is transmitted wirelessly uncompressed, and I certainly didn’t notice any compression artifacts. Listening to music, the LS30 sounds like a pretty neutral pair of headphones, with possibly a little less bass than would be preferred for some genres of music. But the LS30 of course has a mode to fix that, the bass enhancement mode. When in the bass enhancement mode the bass becomes noticeably more pronounced but not obnoxiously so. In treble-enhancement mode, the sound of the LS30 is, quite honestly, terrible for listening to music. However, it could be useful for some purpose such as listening for the footsteps of enemies in a game.

Battery life

Since the LS30 is wireless, it does have a built-in battery which lasted for over 15 hours in my testing. While this is definitely enough for a full day’s worth of non-stop gaming, the LS30 can also be charged while in use by simply connecting the standard micro-USB port to a USB charger.  The headset also gives you plenty of warning when you’re running low on battery, playing two beeps into your ear every few seconds to warn you.

Microphones

One of the biggest features of the LS30 for me is its ability to monitor the microphone output. This means you can hear yourself talk while you use the headset. This is important because it helps prevent awkward situations where the microphone is either too close or too far away, and suddenly your teammates are either annoyed or can’t hear you at all. This also prevents the issue of having over ear headphones and it dampening your voice. This can cause unfortunately loud screaming or other noise which can be disruptive to others.

This feature gives you an accurate representation of how you sound and how much background noise coming through. It is common for games or other software to provide this functionality also, but in games and other software (such as Teamspeak, Mumble, Discord, Skype, etc.) there is a tiny delay between when you say something and when you hear it. That tiny delay can be aggravating and makes most people talk strangely and slowly, but it does not exist in the LS30. Therefore, using the LS30’s built-in monitoring is far preferable to using software monitoring.

On top of that, the LS30 has two microphones. One, is a boom mic, that has a rich, warm sound, as long as you’re not speaking directly into it. The boom mic has a LED on it which lights up when the mic monitoring feature is disabled. It is also removable, and when you remove the boom mic, another microphone mounted on the left ear takes over which also has an excellent sound quality, but it’s position is not adjustable.

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A better view of the side plates, and mic attachment point

Nitpicks

I do have a few nitpicks however. First of all, on my unit the audio mute and the monitor volume were on the left side whereas the monitor mute and the audio volume were on the right side. I don’t know if every unit is like that or if mine was just cross-wired on accident at the factory. Second, the included USB cable is far too short to charge the LS30 while it’s being worn, even though the headset itself supports that feature. The headset does not remember your volume, mute, or EQ settings when you turn it off and turn it back on again, which is slightly annoying but not a big deal.

In Conclusion

I found using the Lucid Sound LS30 headset very enjoyable. It’s for sure one the best gaming related headset’s I have ever used. The wireless features of  the LS30 make it a very liberating to use. I can get up and move around, and even walk to another room while still being connected. Since both major consoles and PC now have much more than gaming involved, you could for example take a Skype call with you to the kitchen, or bathroom with out ever hanging up. It has intuitive controls. The ear mounted plates are simple to use, turn one way for up and one way for down, press in to mute. Its as simple as it gets.

 

The sound is great both for me and my teammates. If you are in a noisy environment the microphone will get your voice relayed to your teammates, and the drivers in the headset ensure you can hear your teammates.  This is hugely important, because in my experience, most headset mics are plagued with issues such as being too quiet where the LS30 is not. In addition, it’s comfortable for long periods of wear. I will be happily using the LS30 as my personal headset because of its excellent sound quality and the freedom it gives me  to game all day while still getting up and walking around without losing contact.
 Prices and where where to get it

At the time of writing the LS30 can be found for $120-$150 in the US which is an excellent price given the rich feature set and wide-ranging compatibility. You can currently buy it Game Stop, Best BuyNew Egg, or Game if you are in the UK. The LS30’s are available in black and white with champagne accents.


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E3 2016: Lucid Sound Heaphones Ears-On


Posted on June 16, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Lucid is hoping to change the landscape of affordable gaming focused headsets that were the focus of the companies’ E3 2016 offerings. Consisting of the readily available LS30 headphones and the upcoming LS40 & LS50 headsets, LiquidSound is poised to offer a range of headsets whose features rival their competition. Don’t count out LiquidSound just yet because I’ve been using a pair of LS30s for all of the video editing that I’ve done during the convention. Read on to find out why you should give these up & coming headphones a listen before choosing your next gaming headset.

The LS40 is compatible with all of the major consoles including the PS4, Xbox One and Xbox 360 as well as any devices that is compatible with a standard 3.55MM jack, so if you’re like me and you can’t live with your iphone then the LS40 might be your new best-friend. In the box owners will find a standard 3.55MM cable, a 3.5MM to 2.5MM cable, a wireless dongle and a USB charging cable. That’s right, using their own proprietary 2.4GHZ wireless standard owners can plug-in the included USB dongle to their console for wire free quality sound. Just make sure to charge your headset before you use it because the hardware inside of the Liquid Sound LS40 requires power from an internal battery.

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I’ve used the LS30s for the entirety of my E3 experience as well as casual relaxing after the convention. While doing the hour long demo for Nintendo’s stunning The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild through the Wii-U Gamepad’s built in headphone jack. The LS30’s noise cancelling & cushioning pleather cover drowned out the sound of 100s of others also playing the game quite well and allowed me to become fully immersed in the land of Hyrule for the entire demonstration.

You can find out more information about these headphones at their official site. Please be on the lookout for our full review in the coming weeks once we’ve had a chance to try the headset in a full environment.


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Lucid Sound wants to reinvent gaming heaphones


Posted on April 24, 2016 by Fionna Schweit

How many times have you been out while wearing your gaming headphones and thought “I bet I look pretty un-professional”? If you answered yes to this question Lucid Sound has the answer. Found by a series of alumni from Triton and Mad Catz these folks are no strangers to video game peripherals.  We got a chance to talk to Alex Verrey about the brand new product and I was quite impressed.

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For the audiophiles of you out there here are the technical specs of the headset:

Speaker Size: 50mm

Sound Space: Amplified Stereo Sound

Power Output: 70mW 32ohm per channel

Frequency Response: 20 – 20,000 Hz

Characteristic SPL: 97 +/-3dB

Lucid Sound also includes 3 EQ Modes already baked in to the headset: Normal, Bass Boost, and Treble Boost

The headset I tried out is the current production model the flagship LS-30. I got to try out the white model of the LS-30 (color makes no difference in quality i just like white headphones).  I found the LS-3o to be extremely comfortable, Alex told me it weighs just 188 grams and so I hardly felt it sitting on my head. Padding was ample with out being obnoxious. He went on to explain that the idea was that this is an everyday headset, to use with your phone or PC to listen to music, but to also use when you are sitting down at your Xbox or playing CS:GO.

To accomplish this goal of every day carrying (EDC) Lucid has done several things, first and easiest to see, these are just dam pretty headphones. Modeled off of hi-end sets like the AT-M50Xs and the Beats range of headphones they are sleek and made of metal and hi grade plastics. Appearance is a huge part of EDC headphones for me, so seeing something as professional looking as the LS-30’s always makes me feel more confident that I look good.

The second thing that’s been done is to remove clunky gaming controls, and integrate all of the controls in to the headset it self. It sounds odd, but its quite intuitive. The volume is a twist of the right ears outer casing, the balance of game vs voice is on the other side. Both controls feel smooth and are easy to use. Tapping one side mutes your mic, with the other silencing the speakers. This has the effect of removing the large amp box that many gaming style headsets come with, and means you can be rocking out to your music one minute, then go right back to your game the next with out fiddling with a bunch of cords.

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The LS-30 can be operated either wired in to your choice of sound sources, or wireless with what Alex told us was a “new proprietary loss-less Bluetooth technology”. I got a few minutes of playing some Call of Duty in with the set and I have to say, despite it running on wireless the base was deep, footsteps sounded good, and I couldn’t see much of a difference from my much more expensive “gaming” headset that has wires strung across the floor of my living room.

The unit is fully rechargeable and Alex told us that a brand new set would get up to 12 hours of battery life on a 2.5 hour charge. Many people will appreciate the fact that the boom microphone is removable, but that even with out the boom mike the headset can function as a hands free phone device, as there is a secondary mic tuned for just this purpose. At an MSRP of $149.99, the LS=30 is available at Best Buy, Game Stop, and Newegg. If you are interested in more information you can check out  the Lucid Sound website

 

 


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