Hardware Talk: Tritton Kunai (PS3/PSV)

Posted 7 months ago By Cayoux - Fred Laroche

There are several reasons to consider adding a headset in your gaming setup. Beginning with the idea of respecting your entourage by eliminating the gun shots, car engines, and zombies groans, while enjoying a much improved chat experience, or just wanting to have a better audio experience in your ears. One of the first questions that comes to mind purchasing a headset, is often the number of consoles that you own and the potential compatibility issues. Therefore, you need to correctly evaluate your needs before getting a headset that can be used on more than one device. The folks at Tritton have addressed this problem head-on with a solution which is called the Tritton Kunai, which can be used on both the PS3 and the PS Vita, as well as on Windows PCs. We tried it for you and here are our impressions.

The stylish design of the Kunai makes it an accessory that inspires respect right out of the box. Available in Canada and the US in red, black, and white versions, the glossy plastics used seem to be of high quality. The microphone, which can be removed if necessary, has a lock system to prevent it from getting removed accidentally. On the ears, the two big cushions that can move slightly to fit our heads add a measure of comfort to our long gaming sessions. We also must point out the presence of two volume controls to adjust the chat and the in-game sounds separately. That feature though is only available while using the headset on the PS3.

When using it with the PS3, the Tritton Kunai can be set in two configurations. Just as a chat tool, it only requires plugging it into a USB port on the PS3 console. The headset will be then detected in the "audio accessories" menu of the console. Doing so, in-game sounds will be diffused via the TV or sound system speakers, while the chat will be reserved to the headset. But because the Tritton Kunai has two RCA inputs, you can enjoy both in-game and chat sounds in the headset.

The image above is showing the two RCA inputs from the Kunai’s cable. But to use those, it requires the use of the RCA output from your console, not HDMI or optical audio out cables. In my case, my audio setup is based on the use of a HDMI 7.1 Yamaha audio-video receiver. It was totally out of the question for me to go back to the old school RCA cables to manage my sound just to use this new headset. I did end up finding a very good solution that worked like a charm for me. I simply used the headphone output port of the receiver and plugged-in a RCA adaptor. Therefore, I could shut down the main speakers and divert the volume control over to the Kunai headset without having to get behind my equipment to plug and unplug after each use.

Once connected, what was most striking to me was the Tritton’s Kunai capability to render very good low frequencies, which is an important part of gaming. We sure can attribute that to the 40mm diameter speakers with neodymium magnets. Same for chat discussions over the headset, as the higher frequency renders was crisp and clear. One of the things I was the most afraid of was the USB power cord. I was afraid that it would require me to sit very close to the screen to play. Again there, the Kunai is just perfect by counting on a 4.3 meter or 14 feet long USB cable, which is more than enough to cover most living rooms.

Using The Kunai On The PS Vita

As mentioned above, you can also use the Kunai with Sony’s PS Vita portable console. In this case, it only require the use of part of the cable to connect to the standard headphone jack of the handheld. You can chat and enjoy the in-game sounds while playing through the headphones. Similarly, you can use the Tritton Kunai for voice communications over the Skype application of the PS Vita, reducing the constant background noise you have when using the built-in microphone. Take note that when using the Kunai with the PS Vita, you cannot use the two separate volume adjustment configuration (chat and in-game).

The Kunai Also For Your PC Needs

I also used the headset on my computer running Windows 8. It was immediately recognized and I was able to enjoy it for both voice communications and for listening to music. This headset offers several interesting possibilities besides gaming because of the sound quality it provides. I even recorded a voice track for a semi-professional video recording and I must say, I saw an amazing result.

Final Focus

For $70 in Canada ($60 in the US), the Tritton Kunai stereo headset for the PS3, represents an excellent value. Its quality design makes it a high quality product, at least in appearance, that every gamer will be proud to show off. Of course, many other companies offer similar solutions for the PS3 at various prices and quality, but this is the first hybrid solution out there to be used on both PS Vita and PS3.

 

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