Written by Profi | 13 January 2013
Posted in Articles - Reviews

I have reviewed Sennheiser PC 360 in 2012 and I liked it a lot. Moreover, it has become my main headset lately.

I received an option from Sennheiser Middle East to review another model in gaming line of Sennheiser which is PC 323D. It is at a lower price, has a USB 7.1 Soundcard and many features of PC 360.

Could this headset be the compromise for those who find PC 360 too expensive? Well, in this review I’ll try to answer to this question and will compare PC 323D with PC 360 eventually.

Specifications:

• Acoustic Design - open
• Frequency Response – 15-23,000 Hz
• Impedance – 32 ohm (headphones), 2 ohm (microphone)
• Sound Pressure Level – 113 dB
• Connectors – 2 x 3.5 mm / USB 2.0
• Ear Cups – around-the-ear
• Cable – 2 m + 1.2 m with USB extender
• Weight – 230 g
• Warranty – 2 years

The Box

All gaming products of Sennheiser have specific mixed colors of black and green. Same is for PC 323D. In front of the box there are big pictures of headset and sound card.
 “3D G4ME” is written with special layer which has glossy effect of iridescent colors.

On backside of Sennheiser PC 323D there are detailed descriptions of all features. Pictures and explanations are informative and clear, making it easy to understand what you can expect from Sennheiser PC 323D.

Headset oriented for professional gamers as well. Sennheiser has marked this by providing recommendation from professional Counter-Strike: Source player  Andre ‘nooky’ Utesch.
 

Unboxing and Design

Inside the box there is: the headset Sennheiser PC 323D, USB Soundcard, USB cable extension, Quick Start Guide and disc with the driver. Opposite to modern tendency, content of the box is pretty rich.

Despite the availability of a disc with driver, it’s always better to check official website for latest version of the driver which definitely includes fixed bugs (if any) and probably new features.
First impression – very lightweight! If you think that good thing should have heavy weight – you’ll change your opinion after few hours of wearing heavy headset.

Headset is fully black with silver rings on ear cups.
Special thanks for matte materials. Maybe glossy stuff looks more impressive on storefronts, but in real life matte is way usable.

Ear cups are big and have a round form. Inside part of the ear cups and headband are made with the soft material for extra comfort.

Ear cups are made with special functionality called CircleFlex. Inside part of cups are flexible and adjust automatically to head. 

Volume control embedded to right ear cup. Same function we saw at Sennheiser PC 360. The difference is that size of volume control is way bigger on PC 323D and almost equal to the size of ear cup itself.
 Another great feature which comes from PC 360 is related to the microphone.  The microphone automatically turns off when you flip it up and turns on when you swing it back.
Microphone is non detachable and has almost the same design as PC 360.

Height of Sennheiser PC 323D is adjustable up to 4cm.
“Rails” inside the extenders are for fixing the adjustments.

Besides the headset, there is USB Sound Card 7.1. It is of small size and looks pretty stylish.

There are two special holes for fixing the cables.
By sliding the top cover you can turn On/Off a special feature from Sennheiser called “Engaged DD” which boosts Dolby Digital effect.

In Use

First of all, I started to test it in stereo mode. Just connected to PC and that’s it.  

Honestly, I thought that sound of Sennheiser PC 323D will “lose” to PC 360 easily, but hey, I didn’t feel the big difference there, especially in games and movies. I’m not a musician and certainly PC 360 will show better results on dedicated soundcard due to better technical specifications, but overall the sound quality of the PC 323D is amazing and is competitive with the more expensive Sennheiser PC 360.

I used it for few hours in a row and my ears didn’t get tired at all, thanks to the open acoustic design and natural airflow which kept my ears “cold”. For sure the very light weight, CircleFlex design and soft materials for the ear cups and headband played a huge role too.

Microphone showed excellent results in chats. I didn’t receive any complaint related to the quality of the microphone.  As a broadcaster, I tested the microphone of PC 323D as a possible streamer’s microphone and from this point PC 360 is slightly better.

Volume controller which is embedded to right ear cup is bigger than in PC 360 and due to the radius it’s more easier and accurate to tune-up the volume level on PC 323D. You can control volume level with finger or even with entire palm.

After the first test, I connected the soundcard. Windows 7 automatically recognized the device and it started to work without any issues, but for switching between 2, 4, 5.1 and 7.1 speakers which the soundcard supports, you have to install the driver. As mentioned above, disc with driver comes with the box and you are free to use it, but I recommend you to check the official website for probably newer version of the driver. I checked the same for Sennheiser PC 323D and found out that version on disc and on a website are currently the same. 

After installation and reboot, the icon with Sennheiser logo appeared in the tray. Right-click mouse on it and now you have option to switch between the speakers. Switching the channels working in real time, no need to save, reboot, etc.. 

For music I prefer to use stereo (2 channels) and 5.1 for games, but certainly it’s subjective.  Also, in case of using multi-speakers in games, make sure that you have selected relevant speakers in sound options of game as well.

Conclusion

If you wish to buy Sennheiser PC 360 but find it too expensive, you should give a try to Sennheiser PC 323D. It’s also “open acoustic” with embedded volume control and excellent microphone which could be muted just by raising the boom.

Moreover, PC 323D comes with soundcard which supports Dolby Surround (2, 4, 5.1, 7.1) and you can switch among the speakers within two mouse clicks.

It’s oriented for gamers, but definitely you can use it for any other purposes as well. There aren’t too many headsets around with such level of quality and comfort.

The only cons which I found that headset couldn’t be folded and microphone is non detachable. If you’re traveling a lot, you could have small difficulties with transportation.

Bottom line is short. Sennheiser has been in audio market for many years and definitely they know how headset should sound. Sennheiser PC 323D is another proof of it.

Pros:

• Great sound and build quality
• Very comfortable to wear for many hours in a row
• Full support of Dolby Pro Logic II via included USB 7.1 Soundcard
• Noise cancelling microphone
• Turn Off/On microphone by flipping it up and down
• Volume controller embedded to right ear cup.
• Rich package
• 2 years warranty

Cons:

• Not foldable
• Non detachable microphone

Note:

Take a note that Sennheiser PC 323D has open acoustic design which means that you can hear outside noise if it’s pretty loud. And same time, people around you can hear the sound from your headset if you are playing or listening music on too high level. Advantage of open acoustic is “natural” sound and airflow.

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Special thanks to:

Sennheiser Middle East for providing Sennheiser PC 323D headset for review.
CA Electronics for providing HS-1 headset stand.