PAX Prime 2012: Plantronics GameCom Commander
The GameCom Commander is a brand new, limited edition, gaming headset developed in conjunction with the Plantronics aviation and military divisions. The shell of the ear-cups was taken directly from a military-aviation style headset and then filled with clearer and more accurate sound reproduction technology for a solution that caters to the professional or tournament gamer. Due to the noise cancelling design of the headset for use on aircraft carriers, the headset does a great job at passively cancelling out ambient noise. We were able to clearly hear the game of choice even with the overload of ambient noise from PAX in the background after donning the Commander. The 7.1 virtual surround sound technology provided by Dolby did a great job at representing the 360 degree game environment even while on the show floor.
Additionally the lack of software configuration allows you to take your Commander with you where ever you go. This allows tournament gamers who may not be able to install software on their tournament computer to still take the familiarity of their personal headset with them.
Updated [Sept 10, 2012]: Here are the technical specifications!
• Speaker driver size: 40mm
• Speaker frequency response: 20Hz–18kHz
• Microphone frequency response: 100Hz–10kHz
• Noise reduction: up to 18dB
• Cable length: 6.5 feet (2 meters) with coil cord
• USB connection: 3.5mm dual connection and 3.5mm single connection
• 2-year limited warranty




We've seen this before 1000 times. Overpriced "gaymen" headsets with bad sound quality and high price tag.
I constantly see people praising things like the the Razer Tiamat and the Astro headsets when they sound like total garbage sound quality wise and the multiple drivers in headphones is a gimmick.
Buy a real set of headphones from a reputable headphone company such as Sennheiser, Grado, audio-technica, etc, and use it with a sound card and a clip on mic.
are we talking sailor-proof, army-proof, or marine-proof?
With the price these come, all of those.
A decent David Clark headset easily costs more and does not have 5.1 sound etc.
Of course when you try to land a plane in the rain at night surround sound is not high on the list of things you want in your head set. Just clean static free communication with the tower will do.
Bottom line, this all sounds like PR buzz to charge some kid a boat load of money better spend on a faster GRU. Get a nice Sennheiser set like an RS-20 instead. Perfectly ok for gaming, great to listen to your music and even your GF will not mind using them. Hell, for $299 you can buy 2 (his and hers) and have change left to take her out on a few dates :-)
ah then you want morine...I mean marine-proof
Really? A smartphone? Who the hell would buy a $299 headset like this and use it with their smartphone? Someone needs to tell THG that "The Onion" is a spoof site, and not a real news source.
i firmly beleive that every piece of head mounted anything, should have to use metal to re enforce any area where the product would fail,i dont care if there is plastic on the thing, so long as if i take all that plastic away, the thing still holds onto my head.
this is a problem from every pair of headphones i have ever owned, even higher quality ones get cracks in the plastic for me.
lets assume that it does work with smartphones/tablets
lets say you are at home, and have this you want to do something and not be tied to a computer, and you have some calls to make.
well there you go, no longer tied to the computer, and no need to smash a touch screen on your face to talk to someone.
if gameing really takes off on a tablet, as in we get real games, i could see something like this being useful, remember, diablo like games lend themselves well to touch and console interfaces.
sennheiser hd555
get a mic that attach to the cable
personally i have a blue yeti for my mic, so i dont need a on headphone mic, but these things... its hard to get better in that price range,
if you have the amplifier though, an old sennheiser hd 430 cant be beat, for 20-50$ you get a 600 ohm headphones, granted they are 20 some years old, but quality, you cant beat it of under 300$,
I've updated the article to include the technical specifications from Plantronics.
When I was hands on at PAX the headset seemed much more durable than a lot of other high-end gaming headsets I've tried out in the past. They were designed in conjunction with Plantronics military and aviation devisions and the headset seemed to live up to them. I've used various military electronic hearing protection cans in the past and the Commander headset, from the exterior at least, stacks up well.
Indeed, it does work with most smartphones! The headset uses standard 3.5mm plugs to support these. The 3.5mm plugs attach to a dongle that controls the activation of Dolby 7.1 Surround and connects to a PC via USB.