Hiditec ikos 7.1 review (complete analysis)

Hiditec is a Spanish brand with a vast catalog of peripherals for gamers, whether we are looking for keyboards, mice, headphones, sources, boxes and even some audio equipment, this brand will have a solution to offer us. Among its catalog of headphones we find the Hiditec IKOS, some circumaural helmets with a USB connector that are compatible with PC and PS4, these helmets also include an integrated microphone, a remote control and a lighting system in red to give them a lot of appearance more attractive.

Hiditec IKOS: technical characteristics

Hiditec IKOS: unboxing and product analysis

The Hiditec IKOS are offered in a cardboard box in which the color black predominates, although red is also quite abundant with the left side dominated by this color. On the front we find an image of the headphones with their logo and also their most important characteristics such as compatibility with PS4, 50 mm speakers and 7.1 sound. On the right side there is a transparent plastic window that will serve to appreciate details of the helmets before going through the box. Already in the back we see more detailed its most important characteristics in several languages, including Spanish.

We open the box and in addition to the helmets themselves, we have a quick start guide and a CD that includes the necessary software to manage the Hiditec IKOS, a nice detail that will create users who do not have an internet connection and that also It will serve to install the software if we are with our laptop somewhere remote.

We are already focused on the Hiditec IKOS themselves and the truth is that the first impression that the helmets give us is very good. We have a design based on black and red colors with aggressive lines that remind us that it is a product focused mainly on a young audience, although of course everyone can benefit from high-quality helmets like these. The Hiditec IKOS are built with plastic and metal as the predominant materials, the first is the most abundant and it must be said that it transmits a high quality feeling and helps to achieve a much lighter product than if the metal had been abused, they only weigh 400 grams.

We have a double metallic tubular bridge design that is in charge of puncturing the helmets from above, thus achieving a higher closing pressure on the pads that allows greater insulation than in the case of using only one axis. Beneath the two tubes is a synthetic leather upper strap with two elastic ends, covering the entire upper head path.

The headphone area looks simply spectacular, an aggressive design in black and white that I personally loved, we are too used to seeing that the helmets all have a very similar design in most cases and seeing something different is quite nice, more when it is done well and with a sublime quality of construction as in the case of these Hiditec IKOS. We have a vertical axis with silver plywood, which has a fluted finish and in which we find the Hiditec logo and brand, on a circular cone made of shiny black plastic and which has an intermediate ring that incorporates red lighting, and a circle interior that is made of micro-perforated MESH metal. We applaud Hiditec for looking for such a well-crafted design, which is undoubtedly more expensive to produce than much simpler ones found in much more expensive products.

We are still talking about the headphones area, inside are 50mm neodymium speakers capable of providing virtual surround sound with Cear Xear technology, equalization and several additional parameters that we can configure from the software and that intervene in the quality end of generated sound. The speakers have pads finished in synthetic leather and with a quite soft padding for greater comfort during long sessions of use, let's not forget that the Hiditec IKOS are helmets mainly intended for gamers and these usually spend many hours in front of their PC.

In the left earphone we find the cable and a microphone that is not retractable but that is foldable in a very simple way so it will not bother us when we are not using it. It is an omni-directional microphone with noise cancellation technology that will allow us to communicate with our colleagues in a very comfortable way during our favorite games. This microphone has an impedance of 2.2 KOhm, a frequency range of 16 Hz - 20 KHz and a nominal power of 20 mW. At the end of the microphone we find a small LED that is part of the lighting system and makes it more attractive.

Now we look at the cable of the Hiditec IKOS and we see that it is meshed in red and black to increase its durability, thus preventing it from being easily damaged. In the cable we find a control knob made of black plastic that includes four buttons, these are used to increase / decrease the volume, activate / deactivate the microphone and turn on / off the lighting system of the helmets. The remote also includes a small LED that serves as an indicator of the micro's status, in red it indicates that it is deactivated and in green that it is activated. The cable ends in a high-quality, gold-plated USB connector to protect it from corrosion and improve contact.

Cmedia management software for Windows

The Hiditec IKOS and its complete management software make use of Cmedia and its Xear Living digital processing technology, in case it doesn't sound like it, it is a technology that rivals Dolby and that is capable of achieving excellent results at a much more competitive cost. Thanks to the use of this technology, 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound is obtained and it is also capable of providing greater stereo presence in 2.0 sources. It is very important that we install the application to be able to use Cmedia and Xear Living under Windows since without them helmets lose a lot of charm.

We can download the software from the official website of Hiditec or we can install it using the CD that comes inside the bundle. Once downloaded, its installation is extremely simple since we only need to click next until reaching the end.

Once the software is installed we open it and see that it is fully translated into Spanish, which is great. The application remains in the background and is accessible from the Hiditec icon in the system tray. Once we open the application we see a control panel that is divided into two sections: speaker configuration and one-way microphone configuration. In addition, at the top we have a bar to adjust the volume level, something that we can also do from the integrated control in the cable in problem.

The software panel does not have tabs, to access its different sections we just have to secondary click on the 2 icons on the left that correspond to the speakers and the microphone, once we do the secondary click it is displayed an individual menu of options.

The different submenus include the following speaker adjustment panels:

General volume control with a slider bar and two bars for the left and right channels. Adjustment of the sampling frequency in 44.1KHz or 48KHz, both being at 16bit. A 10 band equalizer that goes from 30 Hz to 16 KHz and with a level range of -20 db to + 20 db in each band. menu to set various environment effects, plus reverb is added in some environments and allows us to select the desired environment size. Virtual Speaker Shifter for virtual 7.1 surround sound configuration, can also be configured as 5.1 or stereo as well as regulating the proximity of the transducers. Xear Sing FX that allows us to change the tone of the sound source in 5 novels. Xear Surround Max to enable 7.1 emulated surround sound effect to add some reverb and widen the sound field.

Finally, we see the different submenus referring to the microphone configuration:

A slider bar volume control. Adjustment of the sampling frequency to 44.1KHz or 48KHz, both being 16bit. Xear SingFX that allows us to add different pre-defined tone profiles to the microphone for voice effects and up to 5 echo levels. Microphone Boost to boost microphone volume.

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Final words and conclusion about Hiditec IKOS

I have been using the Hiditec IKOS for several days in order to offer you the most realistic evaluation of the product possible. Certainly the first positive impression they gave me when they saw them for the first time has remained and has even gone further. Despite being a fairly inexpensive product, Hiditec has been able to install a sound subsystem that works really well and offers excellent sound in both treble and bass. I have used them to play, listen to music and watch videos and the result has been very good in all scenarios with a loud and clear sound, the sound they are capable of offering is high, very loud, so there is no problem in this regard. In fact, I have used them with a lower volume level than other helmets, which shows their great power.

The virtual 7.1 sound system does its job perfectly, it is true that it does not reach the level of other more expensive helmets, but it is totally logical and the truth is that compared to other helmets that can cost 20 euros more it has nothing to to envy. The software allows us to deactivate virtual surround sound and leave them as stereo headphones, something that can be convenient if we are going to listen to music, for example.

The comfort of the Hiditec IKOS is quite good, although in this aspect perhaps a headband with a more abundant and softer padding is missing, this does not mean that your headband is far from uncomfortable, but it is something to take into account to improve in future reviews. The pads did seem really comfortable to me, making it hard to wear the helmets during long sessions of use.

Finally, the microphone offers the expected performance in a product like this, it will help us to communicate perfectly with our friends, but as it always tends to be below the quality of the speakers and this time it is also true, we have a very correct microphone but that does not stand out, really nothing to object because we remember once again that we are facing one very cheap gaming helmets.

As a final conclusion we can say that the Hiditec IKOS are an excellent option if you want to buy high quality headphones with virtual 7.1 surround sound, for an approximate price of 55 euros they offer us excellent sound, an attractive and comfortable design and a microphone that meets perfectly with its mission. The Hiditech IKOS are for sale in the main online stores for an approximate price of 55 euros. It is not easy to make such an attractive product amid so much competition in the market for PC helmets.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ HIGH QUALITY ATTRACTIVE DESIGN	- IMPROVABLE INSULATION
+ COMFORTABLE PADS	- THE HEADBAND COULD BE MORE PADDED
+ COMPLETE SOFTWARE
+ INTUITIVE INTEGRATED CONTROLS
+ GREAT SOUND QUALITY 7.1
+ LIGHTING SYSTEM