ZOWIE Hammer Gaming Headset

Technical Overview

Speaking technically, let's start by looking at some specifications.

Headphone:-

Frequency response:15 - 25.000 Hz

Speaker dimension: 40mm

Impedance:32 Ohm

Sensitivity:98 +/- 4 dB

Cable length:3

Jack: stereo mini

Microphone:-

Frequency response:60 - 10.000 Hz

Impedance: N.A.

Pick-up pattern: Uni-directional

Sensitivity: -57 dB +/-4db

Okay, on closer examination we can see that the ZOWIE Hammer has been provided with a frequency response figure of 15Hz-25,000Hz which is very good indeed.

However, as I have said before, I feel that these figures have been cooked a little to extract on paper better performance than what is there to begin with.

I was not able to garner anything more in depth in the specs department. But given that there is not even a product manual, I'm not surprised.

So, regarding how loud they will sound on paper, I cannot offer much. What I can say, though, is that volume is never really a factor with most headsets and headphones. As long as they are matched to an appropriate source, the nature of how they interface with your ears usually insures that maximum volume is attainable most of the time, unlike loudspeakers that have to constantly battle with ambient noise. However, as with anything in life, it's not black and white and there are exceptions to these rules.

I have a feeling that we might be home for dinner a little quicker than usual on this technical overview. So let's keep on moving.

The speaker dimensions for the actual speakers in the headphones themselves is 40mm which is a pretty 'middle of the road' size; about what you might expect for a product like this aimed at the gaming crowd.

The cable length is fine coming in at 3 meters and it should be plenty of length for most people unless you really like to move around.

One interesting little feature here is the inclusion of a spare set of ear pads. The fabric is meant to be for gaming and the leather is meant for music and games.

On the microphone side of things, we get quite a large one here that seems to be fairly well protected in its molded plastic shell.

As you might expect on a mic like this, the frequency response is quite tame coming in at 60Hz to 10.000Hz which is really just meant to pick up the human voice.

Speaking of 'picking up', the pattern of this mic is uni-directional which means it's meant to be used in one direction and does not pick up ambient noise from the environment.

Connections are handled by two stereo mini-jack cables, so we are dealing with an analog only system. As a side note, these cables both come with extensions that can be used if needed.

Also included is a small volume control which can be clipped onto the user's shirt if needed.

Overall, regarding build quality I think they are strong enough for what they need to do. But this is at the cost of visual appeal.