We take a look at a professional, high-quality audio setup
Continuing the Fnatic Gear brand, the company has recently launched a modular headset that’ s designed for both gaming and everyday use.
Working in collaboration with audio design company AIAIAI, the Fnatic Duel TMA-2 is a sleek, professional product that not only looks amazing but is quite a unique concept.
Fnatic prides itself on presentation, and on opening the TMA-2 headset box, you can see why. Once the vinyl covering, soft felt pouch and quick start guides are removed, you come across each element of the TMA-2 vacuum sealed in its own plastic bag.
Within you get two speaker units, the headband, two on-ear cups, two over-ear cups, a microphone, in-line microphone cable and mic splitter cable. It doesn’t take a genius to assemble the parts; you simply choose which ear cup you want to use (over-ear for gaming or on-ear for an on the road configuration), line up the red coloured port on one of the speaker unit to the similar coloured audio jack that’ s hard wired into the headband, and plug it in.
Once you’ve slipped the opposite speaker unit through the headband, connected the microphone and the mic splitter cable, you’re ready to go.
Likewise,, you can easily swap out the ear cup types, ditch the microphone and plug in the in-line cable to hook up to a mobile device, for example. It may sound a bit long-winded, but the TMA-2 is designed to allow easy swapping of setups within ten seconds or less.
In terms of audio quality, the 40mm neodymium and titanium-covered speaker units deliver a rich, powerful and surprisingly bassy sound.
Speech, mid and higher tones are remarkably clear; you could quite literally hear a pin drop in the middle of a battlefield. This high degree of clarity allows you to pinpoint the exact whereabouts of any enemies in-game, and from a non-gaming standpoint, you get some marvellous details in the pickup of individual instruments across an entire orchestra.
The modular concept is certainly unique.
The all-black, soft finish toughened headband, cups and speaker units look and feel superbly built – surprisingly lightweight too, at just 275g. The quality presented from opening the box thankfully continues through to the actual product, and the headset’s uniqueness is actually useful rather than being a talking point or sales gimmick.
As is evident with everything mentioned so far , the TMA-2 is a high-end product, and it costs somewhat more than a standard headset. Priced at £189, you could be forgiven for taking a sharp intake of breath. However, keep in mind the modular design and, most importantly of all, the high level of audio quality.
In short, expensive it may be, but the Fnatic Duel TMA-2 Modular Headset is a great product.
mm David Hayward
