As somebody with a massive head, I’ve always struggled to find headphones that don’t make me feel like I’ve accidentally put my skull in a vice. The Z6A has pleasant reach in this regard, and the pivoting ear cups keep it firmly attached without feeling uncomfortable, even after five straight hours of wear. A soft fibre mesh covers the ear cups, and a leatherette finish has been applied to the underside of the headband, and overall it’s difficult to really find a fault with the fairly sturdy construction (which weighs in at nearly 400 grams). If there’s a weak point in the Z6A it would appear to be in the hinges which connect the ear cups: they feel quite flimsy and hollow by comparison to the rest of the kit and would seem to be the most likely place to find any cracks or fractures after repeated use.

The Z6A will eat up four of your audio jacks as well as a USB port, and comes included with a splitter so you can connect it to your 5.1 speakers and swap between them easily. It also includes support for XBox 360 sound in stereo only, with the purchase of an additional Talkback Cable (not included). Speaking of talking, the Z6A’s microphone is encased in flexible plastic tubing so you can adjust it in any direction you want or twist it under the most fulsome of moustaches - vastly preferable for me to the retractable microphones which have a tendency to stop working. Visually the whole kit is quite appealing, coming in a royal blue colour with a minimum of distracting LED’s or unnecessary branding.

Twelve inches or so down the line from the headphones themselves is the channel amplifier. This black box is quite a hefty little thing at 120 grams of its own, and allows you to tweak any of the channels individually on the fly. You’ll need to spend a few minutes getting this right during set-up naturally, but during regular use it will end up sitting around in your lap while you play, which some may find irritating.

Mounted just below the channel amplifier however is one of my favourite features, a breaker to allow you to quickly disconnect the headphones from the computer. I’ve personally snapped two headphone cables by accidentally standing up without realising, so this addition pleases me immensely. Overall the whole design is almost identical to the recently-released Modern Warfare 3 branded “Ear Force Charlie”, which retails for around $140 AUD at places like EB Games.

The stated aim of the Z6A is to provide high-performance sound at an affordable price, and for the most part it delivers. The four speakers in each ear cup are angled to give good 5.1 directional sound - greatly improving my ability to swat decloaking spies in TF2 - and being able to play with the channel amplifier on the fly in each game makes it easier to pick out exactly what you’re looking for from moment to moment (although unfortunately you’ll need to adjust it again for the next game as the Z6A lacks the PX5’s ability to save presets). The high and low ends are perhaps a little bit flat but the mid range - where all the important stuff happens - is crisp and sharp, and even if the bass isn’t the most amazing it still packs a solid punch. Microphone quality is good and voice chat comes through perfectly clear, which is basically everything you can really hope for in a gaming headset.

When it came to regular music and movie-watching the sound quality was more than acceptable although still falling short of the quality you’ll get out of a twice-the-price Sennheiser or equivalent - but then, those don’t have channel amplifiers and microphones. You can easily keep the Z6A slung around your neck and still hear what’s happening without any real difficulty for those of you who have other human beings in your houses that might want your attention every so often. Ultimately however the Z6A is clearly designed as a 5.1 gaming headset, and if you’re after something more versatile or just for listening to music, then you’ll find yourself with a whole pile of leftover features and excess cables. If you’re in need of a new gaming headset though, and you’ve got the $100 or so that Turtle Beach are asking, the Z6A is a solid investment that punches above its weight in a lot of areas.