Bloody Ordinary – BloodyUSA G501 & G480 Review

<p>Simply put&comma; PC gaming is incomplete without a few key components&period; The way Bloody sees it&comma; every gamer should have access to decent gear for a moderate price&period; In thoroughly testing the G501 headset along with the G480 tone controller&comma; I found their mission statement to be &&num;8212&semi; for the most part &&num;8212&semi; accurate in their claim to provide innovative&comma; stylish technology&period; I also found&comma; however&comma; that no matter how many bells and whistles are attached&comma; an ordinary headset is still &&num;8212&semi; for the most part &&num;8212&semi; ordinary&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175941&sol;Bloody-1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;" wp-image-91338 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175941&sol;Bloody-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Bloody 1" width&equals;"358" height&equals;"239" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bloody are purveyors of Gamer Gear catered directly to PC gamers&period; Dealing mostly in computer mouses and keyboards&comma; they have proven themselves sufficiently innovative with several multi-core component designs and software built specifically for accessory customization&period; While gamers with deep pockets may argue that the 7&period;1 surround sound set is virtually unusable in comparison to other high-end headsets&comma; Bloody seems to hold its own in the crowd of gear suppliers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Upon opening the Bloody G501 Radar 360 Headset&comma; one will immediately notice it nestled comfortably in a tough plastic shell&period; Appropriately decorated in red and black&comma; at first glance&comma; the headset looks comfortable&comma; edgy&comma; and easy to use&period; Packaged along with the G501 Radar 360 headset I received was the G480 Tone Controller&comma; which was equally as aesthetically pleasing&period; In use&comma; the headset is not only rugged and cool&comma; but cozy as well&period; The side pads are incredibly comfortable and easy on the ears&comma; making long-time use a definite possibility&period; The microphone is adjustable&comma; keeping use of it simple&comma; and ignoring it when it’s unnecessary even simpler&period; The cords on both the headset and the controller are sufficient in length to comfortably reach the back of the computer&comma; and back up to the user&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175931&sol;bloody-2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-91339 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175931&sol;bloody-2-300x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"bloody 2" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"300" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first &lpar;and only&rpar; truly disconcerting issue encountered was immediately after unboxing&period; There is no instruction or quick access guide included in the G501 or G480 packages&comma; making setup perhaps more complicated than necessary&period; Most headsets should function as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Plug-&OpenCurlyQuote;n-Play” accessories&comma; but unfortunately&comma; these particular pieces do not&period; The G501 box has illustrations on the back displaying everything included&comma; which are really the only hint for immediate setup&period; The G480 package boasts about the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;completely customizable controls” that can be used with the available device software&comma; but says nothing as to simple setup instructions&period; The one helpful hint was found with the G480 in the form of a business card-type advertisement for the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Tonemaker” software available for use with the product&period; This lack of instruction leads one to believe that unless further accessories are purchased &lpar;for console or other gaming&rpar;&comma; the only way to use the headset is to plug it into the computer and download the requested software&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175850&sol;Bloody-3&period;png"><img class&equals;" wp-image-91346 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175850&sol;Bloody-3&period;png" alt&equals;"Bloody 3" width&equals;"374" height&equals;"242" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After much Googling and a quick 30 MB-ish download&comma; the headset is ready to use&comma; and the software is ready for customization&period; Admittedly&comma; Tonemaker is perhaps the biggest selling point on the otherwise ordinary headset&period; Shooters rejoice&comma; as the software caters directly to those in need of noise boosts to reloading&comma; shooting&comma; and breathing effects&period; Up to four different settings can be assigned using the software to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;boost” whichever sound effects are desired&period; However&comma; in action&comma; the difference this audio lift makes is somewhat minimal&period; It is noticeable&comma; but because the software cannot entirely rewrite the audio scripts of any game&comma; all other effects are still in use&comma; even with the customization in place&period; The consequence is marginal in gameplay&comma; if there is any consequence at all&period; This being stated&comma; the software is still totally unique and innovative&comma; and definitely worth playing around with&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sound quality in the headset alone is a bit less impressive than when it is coupled with the G480&period; Bloody states that the 4 pin stereo plug attached to it is for tablet or smart phone gaming&comma; and it is true – the plug <em>can<&sol;em> be used with any tablet&comma; monitor&comma; or phone that has the accompanying jack&period; They do not&comma; however&comma; promise a gratifying result for this use&comma; and there’s probably a reason for that&period; The G501 seems to be automatically tuned to only shooter effects&comma; making other game effects oddly disjointed&period; Dialogue-heavy or cut scene filled games seem to be pragmatic for the niche headset&comma; as everything that isn’t an attack of some kind is almost too quiet or hushed to even bother with&period; This was true of every non-FPS game I attempted to play using the regular audio plug&comma; making the prospect of using the headset for travel or casual gaming a disappointing unlikelihood&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175917&sol;bloody-4&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-91341 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175917&sol;bloody-4&period;jpg" alt&equals;"bloody 4" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"258" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The attached microphone has some excellent aesthetic features&period; It is both extendable and retractable&comma; and almost fully disappears when pushed back into the headset&period; The extendable portion of the mic is also adjustable&comma; so moving the microphone up or down is no problem&comma; making breathing or other avoidable noises easy to circumvent&period; Along with maneuverability&comma; the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;youtu&period;be&sol;9GeN9t4F-F0" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">quality of the microphone<&sol;a> is rather impressive&comma; especially when used in loud environments&period; The noise-cancelling feature&comma; while not perfect&comma; still does an excellent job cutting out voices&comma; white noise&comma; and other sounds that would better be avoided&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The headset&comma; when paired with the proper accessories and software&comma; is definitely an impressive piece of equipment&period; On its own&comma; however&comma; it holds up only as a decent component in a sea of other &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;decent” components&period; Overall&comma; it is best used by those who love shooter-based PC games&comma; and those with the patience to properly program the many features provided&period; Casual gamers beware&semi; for those who just want a quiet sit-down experience&comma; other headsets may be a better choice over the specialties provided by Bloody&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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