CM Storm Pitch Gaming Earphone Review

The gaming peripheral market has been one of the fastest growing sectors over the last few years with companies like Cooler Master even setting up their own gaming range, CM Storm. Today's product is the CM Storm Pitch Gaming Earphones which feature 10 mm drivers, a solid metal casing, passive noise isolation and in-line super slim microphone. Are these earphones good enough to compete with the much larger and more costly gaming headsets? Specifications Part Number SGH-2060-KKTI1 Headphone Driver 10mm driver Frequency Response 10Hz-20KHz Impedance 16Ω Connector 3.5mm headphone jack Cable Length 1.2m Microphone Pick-up Pattern Omni-Directional Frequency Response 70 Hz – 10000 Hz Sensitivity -42 ± 3dB (0dB = 1V/pa.1KHz) Signal to Noise Ratio 58dB or more The CM Storm Pitch Gaming Earphones ship in a small black box with a large transparent window allowing you to see both earphones and the connector. On the right-hand side of the box we see a similar view but this time it's a product picture and not the real thing. The back of the box lists the features and specifications of these earphones. These include; crystal-clear and precise sounds, super light yet extremely durable metal ear-buds and extremely powerful passive noise cancellation. The left-hand side of the box has 'Gaming earphones - Pitch' written in a total of 21 different languages. The CM Storm Pitch is packaged very simply in a polystyrene mould, and a plastic transparent cover (not shown). CM Storm has also managed to include (and fit in) a small storage pouch which feels like it is made from a high-quality material. As with most earphones, the CM Storm Pitch includes a total of 3 sets of earphone tips (1 set are already fitted) all of slightly different sizes so that you can find the perfect fit for your ears. Also bundled is a splitter cable, which splits the standard audio cable down into its two components of Microphone and Headphone so that they can be plugged into all Sound Cards/Computers/Laptops. This should ensure there aren't any compatibility issues. Looking at the product itself, we can see that they have opted for a cylindrical In-Ear design. This means they sit further into your ears than standard earbuds giving you better 'noise isolation'. On the back of each earphone is the CM Storm logo which is white on a red background. CM Storm have also fitted an in-line microphone on one side and a call/answer button on the other, which makes them great to use with a mobile phone. The total cable length is 1.2 metres, with a good length of separated cable leading to each earbud. The cable is also flat, allowing it to be coiled up more easily, and should reduce the chance of it knotting with itself, we do certainly prefer this! The 3.5 mm has been gold-plated to improve the connection and this will certainly improve the longevity of the earphones. We tested these headphones over a 3-day period using them in a variety of scenarios. The pre-fitted tips were too large for my ears so I selected the next size down and they fitted perfectly. Many in-ear earphones will cause discomfort or irritation if used for a long period of time, but the CM Storm Pitch remained relatively comfortable over several hours. They were certainly better than many off-the-shelf designs we have used before. The sound quality of the CM Storm Pitch was close to excellent. The 10 mm drivers are able to reproduce most frequencies with a crisp and precise tone and a tight focused bass response. This made listening to our classical repertoire very enjoyable as the sound errs on the warm side of neutral. When we moved to a gaming environment, first playing F1 2011 - we still felt like the earphones delivered and we were fully immersed in the sound of the naturally aspirated V8's. Moving to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the earphones delivered very capable sound staging which allowed us to tell precisely where specific audio was originating from. Gun shots sounded realistic and other ambient sound effects had plenty of impact. The other important aspect of these gaming earphones is the microphone, so we conducted several tests first using our mobile phone to make a call, and then the same using Skype. The clarity of voices from these earphones is excellent, and the 'passive noise-cancellation' is also very good. We made one call while next to a busy road and the headphones were able to isolate engine noises perfectly. The quality of the microphone is good, but due to the nature of the omni-directional design it does pick-up some background noise. Overall we enjoyed using these earphones, they are comfortable and the sound quality is very good indeed. They aren't however going to compete with and replace some of the larger gaming headsets, but we wouldn't expect that anyway. It is worth pointing out that there are a lot of advantages to a pair of earphones that you can then slide into your back pocket and take with you easily. With an expected price tag of £27.95, they are certainly good value for money. If you are however a keen gamer then you will still probably want to spend a bit more money and buy a larger gaming headset, but these are great for 'on the move' gamers. Pros Good sound-quality. Very comfortable for in-ear. Call/Answer button. Very portable. Small storage pouch included. Cons Microphone will pick up background noise. Soft sound reproduction not some gamers' tastes. Kitguru says: A great pair of gaming earphones that can also be used on a day to day basis.