Zalman ZM-RS6F 5.1 Surround Headphone

Cost-effective, Portable, and Really Really Neat-O

Strengths: Real 3D sound (none of this immatation surround sound :-). Fold's up well (great for taking to LAN parties or a friends hosue). Very comfortable. Long cord (not confined to a 3' area).

Weakness: Speakers can pop/crackel alittle when the bass is heavy (though bass still sounds good). Not the lightest headphones (though not as heavy as you'd expect).

All in all, these are some great headphones (considering the price tag), and they're definitely an attention grabber (I get more comments on my headphones sometimes than my computer). Wish they had a better mic (instead of the clip on you can buy from Zalman), but then again, these are first generation (can't wait to see the next gen.) Haven't used them yet to watch movies, but from what I've...
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All in all, these are some great headphones (considering the price tag), and they're definitely an attention grabber (I get more comments on my headphones sometimes than my computer).

Wish they had a better mic (instead of the clip on you can buy from Zalman), but then again, these are first generation (can't wait to see the next gen.) Haven't used them yet to watch movies, but from what I've read, you can really hear the bullets wizzing buy your head. I can say that they sound pretty cool in games (unfortunately I've been playing WoW a lot, so I haven't really been maximizing them to their fullest potential, but I can say that you can really tell where sounds are comming from in the game, which is pretty cool.)


I don't know if I'd recommend paying $50 for them, but I got mine for $32 and never regretted it.

By whayers - Aug 21, 2005

Bottom Line - If I would have know...

Strengths: True 3d Sound. Great for gamers that either cant afford a good set of surround sound speakers or for people like me who are not at liberty to crank up their speakers all day and all night long.

Weakness: Seeing that these headphones may be targeting gamers, and that they are a bit expensive, an attached mic and volume / mic mute funcionality should have been included.

Bottom Line - If I would have know about these headphones when I bought my computer, I would have opted out of buying the expensive surround sound speakers and purchased these instead. --- For the gamers: I have to say that when I first used these headphones in a FPS it was like an "I was once blind but now I see" moment. I now have a good idea of whats going on around me without having to spin...
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Bottom Line - If I would have know about these headphones when I bought my computer, I would have opted out of buying the expensive surround sound speakers and purchased these instead.

--- For the gamers: I have to say that when I first used these headphones in a FPS it was like an "I was once blind but now I see" moment. I now have a good idea of whats going on around me without having to spin around and look.

By nallw - Jan 27, 2005

This is my first experience with a...

Strengths: Very good sound quality as well as very good construction. The headphones are light and well made. The long cord allows for freedom of movement.

Weakness: Lack of a volume control on the headphones. It would be great to control the volume at the headphones instead of having to go into the game or soundcard controls to adjust the volume.

This is my first experience with a set of headphones for computer gaming. I tried out a couple models at local stores before deciding on these. While there were some very nice higher end headphones, the price was way out of my range (over $200). These headphones are lightweight and comfortable to wear. The sound range is nice and acurately represents the direction of sound in games. I have played...
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This is my first experience with a set of headphones for computer gaming. I tried out a couple models at local stores before deciding on these. While there were some very nice higher end headphones, the price was way out of my range (over $200). These headphones are lightweight and comfortable to wear. The sound range is nice and acurately represents the direction of sound in games. I have played with Doom3, UT2004, and Call of Duty, and they headphones have been great. I am using them with a Audigy 2 6.1 sound card and am very pleased especially for the price (less than $50). I plan on buying a 5.1 external sound card for my laptop to use the headphones with it when on the go. For someone on a budget, these are very nice surround sound headphones and I would recommend them to anyone.

By CancerKiller - Sep 14, 2004

Paired with my entry level...

Strengths: Real Surround Sound headphones

Weakness: A volume control/mute switch on the headphone itself should make this 5 star.

Paired with my entry level SoundBlaster Live 5.1 sound card made me stay up all night. Bass is enough to make your eardrums hum afterwards. Wires are long enough for you to move. Not a noise cancelling piece, but suits well for me.

By bhk224 - Apr 10, 2004

There are flaws in this great...

Strengths: The surround sound is nice in games using enviromental effects. Has a true surround sound with 6 internal speakers. Is super stylish, with a comfortable ear muffins, and a head rest.

Weakness: The headset needs to have a good sound card to work its best. but if you go into creative driver setting or whatever you card manufacture is you can set it up to work perfectly.

There are flaws in this great idea. The concept is more the reason i got the headset in the first place. its not the top of the line. but its the first of its class. and hopefully more will follow. the sound effects do work, but its hard to tell with the default settings. the back speakers are just to low for me to feel the background effects. The back speakers are either muffled or they are...
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There are flaws in this great idea. The concept is more the reason i got the headset in the first place. its not the top of the line. but its the first of its class. and hopefully more will follow. the sound effects do work, but its hard to tell with the default settings. the back speakers are just to low for me to feel the background effects. The back speakers are either muffled or they are suppost to be that way to get the distance effect. but i found that balancing the fade in the settings to distribute the audio to the back speakers a little, is best for all around dvd and games. For audio cd and mp3 playback - i would suggest not having any back speakers play at all. the clearity is far better on the sides and front speakers. so change the balance to all forward. The only flaw that i see is that you have to switch it all the time unless you have a really high end card that supports external manual nobs for each of the 5.1 speakers. I love my headset so far. just wished it was a bit lighter as well as have some more vents my ears dont get so warm. I suggest people with large heads make the width of the band even larger then there heads. it helps release some of the pressure. Or maybe i just have a fat head either our its not perfect yet....

By D_Trizzy - Apr 16, 2004