Not too long ago Mad Catz announced their F.R.E.Q. 7 Dolby Digital 7.1 headset for PC and mobile devices. This unit stands as Mad Catz flagship piece and now accompanies the F.R.E.Q. 5 headset. What sets the two apart is the included Dolby Digital Pro Logic IIx technology. The addition of the Pro Logic technology bumps up the 5.1 signal to a more immersive 7.1 surround sound experience. The F.R.E.Q. 7 even ships with a neat little stand to mount your new headset on when you need to take a break from gaming.
It is clear to me that Mad Catz has taken the construction of the F.R.E.Q. 7 headset very seriously. The unit has been crafted using lightweight metals, which give the headset a more rugged look, not to mention it allows it to be more durable. The earpieces also fold in if you want to hang the unit around the neck. The version reviewed is the red F.R.E.Q. 7; however, the F.R.E.Q. 7 comes in matte black, regular black and a glossy white. The red looks particularly striking. All in all, the headset looks great. The frame of the headset looks fantastic, and it is the best looking headset I’ve seen from Mad Catz to date.
The F.R.E.Q. 7 connects to your PC via USB. It also supports tablets, smartphones and MP3 players via an included 3.5mm standard stereo cable. The mic is detachable, and within the packaging one can find a cap to cover the open space left when the mic is not plugged in. The mic also has a red LED that illuminates when muted. However the mic cannot be rotated up and does not retract into the set.
Setup is fairly simple overall. That being said it is not quite plug and play. As the quick start manual suggests, you must navigate to the company website to download drivers and software utility. Once you have this up and running, you can select from three different EQ presets; Gaming, Music and Chat. I found the gaming one to be the best even when listening to music. Chat works as you would think and excelling when used with Skype for example. You can also toggle the Dolby Headphone mode on or off from within the software. This feature is also available directly on the F.R.E.Q. 7, as there is a button you can press to activate or deactivate the surround sound.
The software is easy to navigate, though beyond the three preset audio options there aren’t many options as far as doing any personal equalizing. That being said, most modern computers have access to programs that can equalize audio how the user wants it, and the headset will react accordingly. The F.R.E.Q. 7 is a powerful headset that performs with an incredible degree of audio clarity with solid high and midranges. It also provides impressive low end with great growling bass drops. Its performance left me feeling very satisfied.
The aforementioned three EQ presets can only be toggled within the software. With the F.R.E.Q. 7, the only functions on the headset are the Dolby headphone toggle switch found on the front of the left earpiece, a microphone mute button located just below the Dolby toggle and the volume dial positioned at the bottom of the right earpiece. I found the volume dial too be overly loose, and it was a bit annoying that it took excessive turning to get any increase in volume.
The F.R.E.Q. 7 does a great job of replicating a full sized surround sound set-up. During my time with Skyrim, the directional sound effects were amazing and I was quite impressed with how solid the bass sounded. The winds of Skyrim roared by me, and when I encountered a dragon I found the sound scape to be incredible. The surround sound caught me off guard multiple times, and I had to look around myself to make sure I wasn’t being attacked by anything in my computer room. Each spell I cast sounded full of life. The surround sound really brought me into the experience. When playing Left 4 Dead, I found all of the action to propel around me with the surround sound, and was once again impressed with the definition I found in each tone. Gun shots were crisp, and zombie sounds were loud and clear. Music sounded clean and punchy; however, it took a bit of equalizing through a program on my PC to get it to a point in which I was happy. The 3 present EQ options felt like they weighted the music too heavily to one kind of tone. Too much bass was found in the gaming option for listening to music, and the music EQ option was a bit muddy.
In terms of listening to music, I enjoyed the experience and found the clarity to be impressive. The guitars sounded raw and impressive, with the vocals soaring over top appropriately. The bass sat nice and low and I felt each note hit. Likewise, voice chat is clear and crisp. I tested the voice chat by using Skype with a friend, and he expressed that my voice came through sounding great. When connected through a USB connection, recording quality is much crisper and clearer than through the everyday 3.5mm headset jack, but both forms are completely acceptable and perform better than most other headsets I have used.
The flaws I found are small, and next to the general audio performance and lasting comfort this is easily the best headset I have ever used. The F.R.E.Q. 7 looks fantastic, and sounds even better. Sure, a more in depth program for equalizing would have been preferable, but what the F.R.E.Q. 7 offers is incredible. At the end of the day when you consider the price compared to other high end headsets, the F.R.E.Q. 7 is fantastic bang for your buck.
