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Listen To Believe Mentor Deluxe HeadphonesReview Date: February 14, 2004 Reviewed by: Cory Zerkee Sponsored by: ListenToBelieve.com Games are becoming more and more realistic on a daily basis, with surround sound being used more often for added realism. There is nothing like immersing yourself in a game of Call of Duty or Vietcong for example, and having 5.1 positional audio to pick up on the direction of enemies near by. If you are like me and you like to watch DVD’s on your computer relatively regularly, then decent surround is the key to your enjoyment. Cranking up your 500W home theater and rumbling the walls of your neighbors house 4 doors down is all good, hell, I do it all the time………and I hear about it. In fact, my better half has been dropping some very direct hints that I should pick up some headphones so she can study and not have to listen to gunshots and death screams while she is doing so. Well, I am not going to lie, I have never been a fan of headphones, gaming in stereo versus surround really bites. The same goes for viewing my DVD collection. There are now some brave manufacturers trying to bridge the gap between headphones and home theater by creating 5.1 headphones. I found this out a while ago when I discovered and picked up a set of Zalman 5.1 headphones. To my surprise, they actually worked quite well when paired with my Audigy 2. The sound quality was relatively decent for the price and the surround worked pretty well also, once your ears became accustomed to it. The only thing that irked me about them is the fact that you had to unplug your speakers to use them; that was a pain to say the least. Based on the fact that I had tried 5.1 headphones already and rather liked them, Dwayne and I were more than happy to review two higher end sets from Sunnytech when they offered them. 
 Click for larger view. Company info: Sunnytech, Inc is a distributor of PC accessories and has offices in East Brunswick and Teterboro, New Jersey. They have over 15 years experience in the mail order computer business, widely distributing products to retailers, system integrators, and other large volume corporate buyers. They have grown from a mail order house started in 1986 to a large company employing many experienced employees. They now distribute a wide range of well known products from companies like AOpen and Acer America. We are only interested in one of their products today however, the Mentor line of true 6 channel headphones. The Mentor 5.1 headphones come in three main flavors, Professional, Deluxe, and AC-3. I received the Deluxe model for review and have been test driving them for a couple of weeks now. So without further ado, let’s get down to it, shall we? Specifications: Firstly, here are the specifications of the Mentor Deluxe as listed on the www.listentobelieve.com website.
The Mentor Deluxe 5.1 Headphones arrived packed in a red box of which the front was adorned with the Mentor logo as well as a picture of the headphones and logos showing some of the more prominent features. Flipping the box around reveals more details on the Mentor, such as the SafeBass™ technology, the use of independent sound chambers (more on that later) and a listing of the applicable patents. 
 Click for larger view. Removing the plastic wrap was easy as it was not wrapped in the air tight adult proof thick plastic that I have learned to loath; but in a thin wrap, not unlike a CD wrapper. Pulling the headphones out of the box I was greeted by the headphones themselves sealed in the plastic wrap from hell that I just finished sharing my distaste for. Along with the headphones a small instruction booklet was included. The fold-out instructions are very basic and just tell you how to install the USB drivers for your operation system should you need to. If you are funning a modern OS such as Windows XP, they are native and you don’t have to install anything. 
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 Click for larger view. After spending several minutes hacking my way into the package for the headphones, I finally got them free and immediately noticed how light they really are. They weigh in at a timid 5 ounces, and have to be the lightest headphones I have used to date. The Mentor Deluxe headphones come equipped with an extremely lengthy 8ft cord at the end of which is the USB connection. 
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 Click for larger view. About 1/3rd of the way along the cord (from the USB end) there is a black box which contains the control unit for the Mentor. It has an orange plastic window on the top which contains the Mentor logo and an LED that glows when the headphones are plugged in. Mounting it along the cable and not in the headphones themselves almost halves the weight of the headphones, since the cable and unit weigh 5 ounces on their own. The headphones are not only very light, but also attractive. They can be best described as egg shaped, and fit around my ears nicely. The ear pads are cloth covered and extremely soft. They are not that large around though, so if you have large ears, I would imagine the headphones might sit ON them rather than around them. The outside of the headphones is silver and has a honeycomb area as well as a raised plastic piece with a chrome look to it mounted on the center. The Mentor headphones use a twin plastic rest to retain them on your head. The rest is adjustable to several different lengths to accommodate almost any head size; you just pull it out to the next click on each side. It is not padded but due to the extreme light weight of the headphones, padding is not needed. 
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 Click for larger view. The key to the Mentor headphones is the patented six audio chamber drivers used. There is little to no information on their site as to HOW the technology actually works, but looking at them I can see the use of tubes to direct the sound. The Mentor Deluxe 6 channel headphones also incorporate SafeBass technology, which directs the Bass through the front channels to take the pressure off of your ears, preventing damage. Well the true test of any product is in the actual usage. I have been using these headphones constantly since I have received them for review. They are extremely easy to set up, just plop them on your head and plug in the USB connector. Your OS – in my case XP Pro – just recognizes them as a ‘USB Audio Device” and they just work. Your sound card and speakers are automatically disabled when the headphones are plugged in. The only downside to not having any software is that you don’t get the option of configuring the sound settings such as having an EQ. You can only use the generic windows volume control which doesn’t allow you to adjust the bass or treble to your liking. I found this to be a slight pain because I do not have a keyboard with volume control shortcuts on it and I had to find a third party program to control the volume through keyboard shortcuts. The addition of some kind of volume controller in the cable for the headphones would have solved this problem, but for some reason Sunnytech chose not to include one. That has to be the only gripe I found with these headphones, although as I said, I found software to make it easier. I also noticed that they had no external sound insulation, so outsiders could hear what you are listening to at higher volumes. The fidelity of the Mentor headphones is downright excellent, much better than the Zalmans I already own. After watching several DVD’s, I can tell you that the surround sound works extremely well and my ears did not seem to have to adjust to them like they did the Zalmans. DVD’s really show off the excellent sound quality the Mentors offer as well. Gaming offered a similar experience. I played several hours of Call of Duty as well as Vietcong and was able to discern the direction of the enemy or enemy fire quite easily. Sure, they don’t offer the wall shaking bass when something blows up that a surround home theater system does, but the bass IS there and not overly bad for headphones. CD’s and MP3’s are encoded in stereo, so surround is not an option, but the sound quality for music was very good, dependant on the bitrate of the MP3 of course. I did notice, or my other half pointed out on more than one occasion rather, that due to the holes in the outer part of the headphones and having no sound insulation, others can hear it when you are listening to audio at a mid to high volume range. If you are looking for something to tone town the noise in your gaming room because it annoys your better half or something to that extent and you do not want to lose your surround, I definitely recommend giving the Mentor Deluxe 5.1 headphones from Sunnytech a try. They offer excellent sound quality and range, and come in a super light package. The USB plug in and use option is great because I for one hate having to unplug my speakers to use surround headphones. The surround offered by the Mentor series is in my opinion, unequaled in a set of headphones. I found the lack of a mounted volume control to be a tad disappointing, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t find a workaround for. The extremely long cord allows for usage in almost any configuration of PC, whether your USB connections are on the front or the rear of your machine. The lack of some sort of built in volume control and no external sound insulation were the only quirks I could find with the Mentor Deluxe headphones. Since I was extremely pleased with them overall, I am going to give them 4 out of 5.  
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