CM Storm Pitch Pro Gaming Earphones Review

Overview

 

We here at pcG take our audio very seriously, I mean, think about your own Gaming experiences and how you felt about the things you heard when you were playing, you need that ping of gunfire, boom of a barrel exploding and also the gentle sound of the trees rustling. Sound in games is not just important, it is downright essential. Those audio boffs back at Gaming HQ didn’t spend all that time creating all those ambient noises, scary screams or authentic gunfire for nothing, these sounds were meant to be heard and heard in the best possible way by you. So that brings us to our review of the CM Storm Pitch Pro Gaming Earphones, as you may have already worked out, these are “earphones” of the “in-ear bud” type variety as CM Storm has your travelling needs in mind.

According to Cooler Master the Pitch Pro ‘s feature: crystal clear and rich Bass sounds, super light and extremely durable metal ear-buds, extremely powerful passive noise cancellation and clear communication without blind spot. Also, super slim in-line remote to Pause/Play Music and Answer/Hang Up calls and they come with a high quality pouch bag and airplane adapter.

 

 

 

The CM Storm Pitch Pro Gaming Earphones arrived at pcG in a small sturdy black box, the front of the box has a clear plastic window so the product can be viewed before opening. We can clearly see the earphones, gold plated jacks, in-line controls and extra ear tips. The logos and name of the earphones are printed on the front in silver print.

The back of the box has four images highlighting the Extra Ear Tips, Audio/Mic Splitter, Travel Kit, In-Line Mic and Remote. Below we have a list of features which are included in the paragraph above, below that we have a list of specifications (see Specifications/Features). There is not much to the sides of the box, just the name of the earphones in 24 different languages and a few more images.

 

 

The box lid is kept shut by some strong little magnets and once opened reveals the plastic blister packaging. On the inside of the lid we have a Frequency Response Chart with a short explanation. Now the box is open we can see the travel bag/pouch visible through the clear plastic packaging. Once removed we find that all the contents sit in a plastic blister with the outside plastic over the top to prevent the earphones and accessories from falling out.

 

 

At the time of writing the CM Storm Pitch Pro earphones are available from mid to late September for approximately £25.00.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of CM Storm

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

The CM Storm Pitch Pro Earphones look like a quality item when you remove them from the packaging. For their approximate price of £25.00 I felt that they looked like they were made to a high standard, more than I expected they would in fact. The ‘Tangle Free Flat cable’ is the same as the pcG Platinum award winning CM Storm Resonar Gaming Earphones from back in 2014.

 

 

The ‘Tangle Free Flat cable’ is approximately 1.2m long which is more than long enough for your on the move Gaming using a Tablet or phone, not sure if it is long enough for static Gaming at home when connected to your PC though. The rubber coating on the flat cable feels very tactile and has a matte finish to it, on the whole it seems pretty strong and durable. There is a small velcro strap to keep the cable neat and tidy during transportation or usage.

The earphones are connected to your device of choice via either a single gold plated 3.5mm plug (as found on most other smartphone/audio player earphones), or via an audio/microphone splitter (also gold plated), if the earphones are to be connected into the standard PC speaker/microphone ports. The plugs are well labelled showing a headphones icon and a microphone icon on the splitter and the CM Storm logo on the smartphone 3.5mm plug.

 

 

The CM Storm Pitch Pro Gaming Earphones are red and black in design with a brushed metallic look on the main Aluminium chamber. The CM Storm logo stands out very well on the back of each earphone, giving them an almost illuminated look. The earbud part of the earphones is very soft and delicate which is ideal as this is the part you will be sticking in your ear after all. 🙂

 

 

There is a Play/Pause and Receive/End Call button on the left earphone wire with a logo of a phone printed on it and a CM Storm logo embossed on the reverse.

 

 

The earphones come with the medium sized earbuds attached and a larger and smaller set included. They are very easy to remove and reattach, a little bit of care is needed here as they are very thin and light and easy to spring out of your hands when doing this process, especially if you have big fingers like me. 🙂

The CM Storm Pitch Pro Gaming Earphones feel very well made, they look sleek and have a lovely finish to them throughout. I am not the biggest fan of in-ear audio devices, but if I was going to choose some on looks alone I would be inclined to pick these up, now to see how they perform…

 

Hardware Installation

 

 

The CM Storm Pitch Pro Gaming Earphones can be connected to your Gaming Rig by using the provided splitter, this has two 3.5mm gold plated jacks which are clearly marked with an earphone and microphone logo. This can then be connected to the jack ear/jack sockets on your motherboard I/O panel or into your dedicated sound card. There is also an airplane adapter included for your long haul flight Gaming sessions.

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

The CM Storm Pitch Pro Gaming Earphones were tested using our Test Rig, as no software is included or required for full operation of the earphones no fresh installation of Windows 7 Home 64bit (service pack 1) was performed.

GAMES/BENCHMARKS USED IN TESTING:

• Mad Max
• Divinity Original Sin

• Metro Last Light (benchmark)
• Unigine Heaven (benchmark)

 

Hardware Performance

 

• Earphones

I wanted to try the CM Storm Pitch Pro Earphones by not only Gaming on my PC but also with my smartphone (listening to music and games). Of course there are no test results I can supply you with apart from my own subjective opinion…

Before I got to any real Gaming I plugged the CM Storm Pitch Pro’s into my smartphone and sampled some music. It seemed that the drivers were of a good quality as the sound was clear and clean, but, I did find a bit of a lack of bass which did not surprise me due to the size of the earphones. I listened to the sampled music at about 80% volume as I do like it loud, anything over that and I did hear a bit of distortion. The trouble is that when I lowered the volume to less than about 60% volume there was too much real world noise interfering with my experience. On a whole though the CM Storm Earphones performed well when listening to music, and, Bass aside they are well worth using for this purpose.

I am not an avid smartphone Gamer, but I did have a few games on my phone that are there to while away the hours when I am sitting outside changing rooms etc. (for my wife okay!, I don’t just sit outside changing rooms like our editor). The clarity in the sound was there mainly because the games featured a high degree of mid-range and treble and not much bass.

During my benchmark testing of Metro: Last Light I found that the CM Storm Pitch Pro Earphones were well up to the task for their size. The explosions were a little bit distorted when the volume was on the high side, but, on a whole you could still enjoy the rumble. Also, the gun fire and ricochets had a lot of clarity, still keeping the background music clear throughout. The ambience of Unigine Heaven was very clear, here is a benchmark that does not have a lot of Bass and is more about subtle sounds. I did not get the usual surround sound feeling effect that I usually get from the Unigine Heaven benchmark, but to tell the truth I did not expect to…

When it came to Gaming the CM Storm Pitch Pro Earphones delivered what I expected they would. Playing Divinity Original Sin with my trusted colleague and Editor, we were both pleasantly surprised by the quality of the microphone and myself the earphones. I found the sound of the subtle RPG to come across well with crisp and clear speech not only from the game but also my counterpart Wizard friend. The microphone was the biggest surprise of all with clear and realistic voice transfer (see below). Mad Max being a more boisterous game gave me the chance to test the Bass of the Pitch Pro earphones. The revving of the car was throaty and strong and the banging of metal against my body during the storms was hectic, clear and strong in my ears.

Now to be honest, I would still prefer to use an over the ear style headset setup for my static at home PC Gaming. I had to pull my PC much closer to me as the wire for the Pitch Pro earphones is only approximately 1.2m long instead of the usual 3m I am used to dealing with (no bragging!). But, if you are a Gamer on the move and you did not want to lug a hefty headset around the country then the CM Storm Pitch Pro Earphones will take care of your needs perfectly, and to be honest, this is how they are marketed…

 

• Comfort

The CM Storm Pitch Pro Earphones are of a bulbous shape, the earbuds almost have the look of a jellyfish with the earbud exterior floating off of the earphone itself. CM Storm have included three different sized earbuds so you can choose the size to fit your ear interior and provide maximum noise isolation. I found that the earbuds that were already attached to the earphones were fine for me, these are the medium sized ones of course, I guess I must have medium sized ears. I found the earphones pretty comfortable during my initial use, the earbuds rubber is very malleable and mold to the inside of your ear very easily and stay in place without much effort. I am not the biggest fan of using in-ear earphones and prefer an over the ear set-up, I just don’t like having things in my ears I guess. I found that the CM Storm Pitch Pro was comfortable enough for me for a couple of hours, but then I could not wait to get them out, I don’t put this down to a problem with the CM Storm product itself, but more with the style of earphones in general. What you have to remember though is that these Gaming Earphones are marketed for the Gamer on the go, not the Gamer sat at home…

 

• Microphone

The testing for the microphone was done on-line with our VOIP program of choice (Razer Comms) and during speech my friends said that my voice was clear and very much like my real voice (hope that’s a good thing!). The Play/Pause and Receive/End Call button is placed quite high on the wire and not far from your ear which can make it a bit difficult to reach as it’s not in your line of sight.

 

Final Thoughts

 

The CM Storm Pitch Pro Gaming Earphones performed better than any other in-ear device I have used in the past. I would still stick to my big over ear set-up when playing games at home but if I was on the move this would be my earphone of choice…

The CM Storm Pitch Pro earphones came to pcG in a modest sized small black box, the whole package was very sturdy with a lot of information on the back. The contents inside are well presented in the plastic blister and everything has a well molded place to fit into.

Once out of the box the CM Storm Pitch Pro earphones look to be well designed and well built. The ‘Tangle Free Flat cable’ feels very tactile to the touch and has a nice finish to it. The actual earphones themselves look pretty sleek with their red and black design and the brushed Aluminium Chamber really has a futuristic look it. The earphones came with the medium sized ear-buds attached and CM Storm has included a bigger and smaller pair in the package. They are very malleable and soft to the touch, also, they are very easy to detach and reattach if you choose to use the other sizes. There is a bag/pouch included with the earphones, this has a spring opening system like the little coin wallets of yesteryear.

The sound quality for the CM Storm Pitch Pro Earphones was very acceptable considering their size, I did not expect the results I got with them based on my previous experiences of in-ear earphones. During my smartphone testing the pitches in the music I listened to were very clear, all the highs and lows were present and provided me with a very enjoyable experience. I kept the level of volume around 80% as I found that after that it could become a bit distorted when there was a lot of bass. Playing the small amount of games of my phone was no problem with the earphones, everything was clear and even during quieter moments there was no hiss or dead noise. During the benchmarks the CM Storm Pitch Pro Earphones performed well, the subtle sounds of Unigine Heaven were well realised and the frantic sounds of Metro: Last Light were very clear, even though the explosions were a little bit too much for the bass. During Gaming the good experience continued and when I was playing my loner game of Mad Max all the sounds of the cars, storms and general ambience were clear and well defined. During my time in Divinity Original Sin I used the microphone a lot to talk with my colleague and he said that my voice was very clear and a true representation of my actual voice, which I assume is a good thing. 🙂

My only qualms are that the cable is too short (1.2m) long and I am not a big fan of using in-ear earphones as after a while I just can’t wait to take them out. But, they are marketed as earphones for the Gamer on the move, so you would not expect a super long cable (I guess). Also, for the slight discomfort of in-ear earphones it is better than lugging your hefty headset to your mates house for a spot of Gaming. So, they are not the best earphones for at home static gaming of course and why should they be, they are not marketed for that purpose…

For the price of approximately £25.00 you will be hard pressed to find a better pair of on the move in-ear Gaming earphones. I was more than happy with the sound that was produced by such a small package. If you’re a travelling Gamer, then grab the CM Storm Pitch Pro’s when you leave your home…

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to CM Storm for providing this sample for review