Full Review

9 May 2007 - You want to play games on your PC late into the night, but are afraid you'll disturb the neighbours, kids, Mrs Pocket-lint (delete where applicable). One option and preferred by us at Pocket-lint Towers is to get yourself a decent pair of headphones and sack the speakers.

So can Sennheisers latest gaming set - the PC 161 perform? We get playing to find out.

Designed specifically for gamers the open-backed headphones come with large padded cushioned ear-pieces and nicer still a padded over-the-head strap.

Breaking away from being just another set of headphones, Sennheiser realising that most gamers now want to talk with other gamers have added a boom mic into the mix as well.

Swinging out from the left had headphone this allows you to fire off plenty of instructions to other gamers if you're playing online. Rather than set in one specific position, the boom can be moved to suit your mouth position and the performance in our online gaming and VoIP tests, most likely thanks to the noise cancelling technology included was very good.

Better still, like the PC 151's, the PC161's come with an independent volume control. Why would you want this? Well it's ideal for in game volume adjustments, as you don't have to faff around with volume settings in game if you want to talk to someone in the room. Furthermore you can also mute the microphone at any point with the units on off button, again useful for video conferencing.

VERDICT
Okay, so you'll look like a pilot or one of those blokes from a call centre advert selling insurance or loans, but the performance outweighs looking like a pratt.

There isn't much to say about the Sennheiser's apart from that they do what they set out to do; offer great sound without disturbing those around you.

If you are looking to save some cash you can save £20 and go for the company's PC 151's, which include don't have the open-back headphones and less padding compared to this set.

Top marks.