Sharkoon X-Tatic SX

Sharkoon X-Tatic SX review

There's a big flash on the front of the Sharkoon X-Tatic SX box, proclaiming their greatness as an Xbox 360 headset. That doesn't necessarily mean it's not also a darned good set of PC cans, though. The Sharkoon Xtatic SX comes with a normal 3.5mm stereo connectors to jam into your PC's soundcard holes, so it's very much PC-compatible. That said, it's not really as simple as that. I've been happily using a set of Plantronics GameCom 377 earbashers for ages now, and if you just use the standard 3.5mm jacks they work beautifully with a normal PC. Jam in the Sharkoon 3.5mm jacks though, and all you get is a dull hiss and no noisy goodness. Unfortunately, you actually need to plug the Xtatic SX into a spare USB port as well as the analogue cables. And that's all due to the Xbox Live gubbins jammed into the little controller box dangling from the left can. It may be tiny, but thanks to all the microphone amping stuff in there it's also a little too heavy. There's a clip on the cable so you can hang it off your collar if you like, but that will just end up throttling you. The cans themselves feel comfortable and don't crush your skull after a few death matches, and if you like your clean, white look they'll suit. Unfortunately the sound isn't so good.