Icemat Siberia Headset Review
By: Michael Phrakaysone
Edited By: Steve M. Silver
Everyone wants the best their money can get. It’s only natural to want the best but almost none of us have an unlimited budget. This especially holds for gamers where our priorities tend to be for higher priced video cards and CPUs. So if I can get a hold of a headset that is the best bang for the buck and leaves money for other gaming gear, then I am going to go that route.Icemat is known for their involvement in LAN parties and is a major producer of high performance mouse pads. Recently, Icemat introduced a couple of new lines of interest, the ‘Wear’ and ‘Audio’ lines.
Today I will share our long term review of the Icemat Siberia Headset. Is it worth your look or should you avoid it? Find out right now.
About Icemat
“The original Icemat was launched in 2000, targeted at one of the most demanding consumer groups in the world: gamers. Since then Icemat has expanded the portfolio and today offers a wide range of products. Everything is created by people who demand as much from the visual design as they do from the performance of the final product.
Our staff is distributed throughout the world, working from offices in Europe, North America and Asia. The Icemat headquarters are located in Europe ( Copenhagen, Denmark), and host the primary office facilities for the company. The headquarters handle all planning, production and partner coordination. For logistical reasons we also have sales offices in Asia ( Taipei, Taiwan) and USA ( Los Angeles, California). From Taipei we can reach the entire Asian market, as well as New Zealand and Australia. From Los Angeles we can reach North America, Canada and South America.”
Specifications
- Frequency response: 18 - 28.000 Hz
- Impedance: 40 Ohm
- SPL@1kHz, 1V RMS: 99 - 104 dB
- Cable length: 1.0 m + 1.8 m = 2.8 m / 9 ft.
- Jack: 3.5 mm (6.3 mm converter included)
- Microphone Frequency response: 80 - 15.000 Hz
- Impedance: 2K Ohm
- Pick-up pattern: Uni-directional
- Sensitivity (1V/P@1 kHz): -38 dB
Now that you know a little bit more about Icemat, its time to introduce to you the Icemat Siberia Headset.
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The Icemat Siberia comes packaged in a really big box. I was not expecting the box to be so huge; I find it a little sad to see such a big box for such a small item. Hopefully, Icemat can save some trees by making their packaging smaller. The packaging comes in a corrugated box with the Siberia predominately displayed in the middle. The back of the box displays all the information about the features and specifications of this headset.
When opened, you will find the following items:
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- Icemat Siberia headphones
- Icemat Siberia microphone attachment
- 1/8” to 1/4” stereo jack plug converter
- Manual and warranty card
What I really appreciate when purchasing any listening gear is the presence a 1/8” to 1/4" converter. This allows you to use your listening gear on your ‘real’ audio equipment such as your receiver or your home theatre. Thankfully Icemat provides a nice gold one.
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The Icemat Siberia looks like an oversized headset but is meant to accommodate the size of your head. Some folks with larger heads sometimes have a hard time wearing these old school headphones and have to resort to the newer around the neck types.
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The Icemat Siberia sports an excellent white paintjob. This paint is very shiny and long lasting. I have had the Siberia for about a good 7 months, and they haven’t faded, nor has the Icemat logo rubbed off due to greasy fingers or salty hands.
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The Icemat Siberia is very comfortable to wear. They have nice black ear-muff padding and have not ripped or gone hard. They still feel the same way since I first received them, very soft and comfortable. Ears that are smaller than 2.7 inches in height can fit in these headphones. The ear muffs are very large and can accommodate almost any size of ear and provide some external sound blockage. The Siberia has large open type speakers. The speaker measures in at around 2.5-3.0 inches and provides excellent bass, very good treble, and provides really vibrant sound. The Icemat Siberia does not sound hollow in any way. These are totally opposite from the A+GPB 3D headphones reviewed some time ago. The A+GPB are not in the same league as these bad boys. As I said before, these speakers are open types. The magnet side of the speaker is covered by a speaker grill. So when you crank the volume up, other people can hear what you are listening to more so than closed type headphones.
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The Icemat Siberia consists of a couple of parts. You have the headphone that has a nice cord that is wrapped in a jacket; however it only measures in at 1m, which is really short. Icemat includes a volume regulator on another 1.8m length of cable that attaches at the end the microphone dongle. This gives you plenty of length, perhaps too much. I don’t use a separate volume regulator, so I chose to wear only the headphone, with the microphone attachment separately.
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The clip-type microphone is of excellent quality and looks cool. You can clip it anywhere you want. The microphone works pretty darn well. It produces nice sound, and very little pickup from the ambient environment according to feedback from people I’ve talked with online.
The Icemat Siberia is never loose when you wear it. This is because the Siberia has a very tight spring pre-load, which I like.
Conclusion
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I have nothing major negative to say about the Icemat Siberia Headset. These things sound awesome, vibrant, rich, and have excellent bass. Anything I have thrown at them has sounded ‘high quality’. The Siberia has a unique look to them as well. The frame loops well above the pad that sits on the top of your head and provides a bit of a ‘retro,’ 1930’s-style look. You look a little funny wearing these Siberia’s but I think that’s a very small price to pay for great sound. A thing to keep in mind when purchasing these types are that open type headphones allow others to hear what you are listening to quite easily. So if you want to annoy people on the bus, wear these headphones and you won’t have to increase the volume too far up for others to hear what you are listening to. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem though.
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The Icemat Siberia Headset has held up like a champ. The construction and build quality is excellent; these are very sturdy and will take a beating. The white paintjob is shiny and taken the abuse of regular without a hitch.
I can easily recommend the Icemat Siberia to anyone looking for great sound, a great microphone, and a great package. These have replaced my favorite ear buds because they are so comfortable and sound great.
Pros and Cons
+ Excellent sound quality; vibrant and rich
+ Great clip-on microphone
+ Comfortable
+ Excellent paint
+ Vented
- Cord for headphone only is short (personal preference)
- Cord is too long when volume regulator and microphone is attached (spaghetti wiring)
- Open type headphones pose possible problems. Can easily get annoying for others.
- Could still be too pricy for some folks; but I think it’s worth it.
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I would like to thank Icemat for supplying this Icemat Siberia Headset for review.
Alternative pricing:
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