Turtle Beach Releases Ear Force HPA2 Headphones

ELMSFORD, N.Y., April 3, 2007 - Turtle Beach, a pioneer in digital audio and multi-channel headphone technology, today announced its next generation Ear Force HPA2 gaming headphones.  Designed for the serious PC gamer to better discriminate from where audio cues originate, the HPA2 feature true 5.1 surround sound with front, center, surround and subwoofer speaker drivers in each ear cup, powered by a multi-channel in-line amplifier.

While most high-quality stereo headphones only contain a single 40mm driver, the HPA2 feature a 40mm front, a 40mm surround, a 30mm center, and a discrete subwoofer driver in each ear cup.  These high-quality and large diameter drivers dramatically improve the positional cues that are crucially important during serious gaming.

"This new model represents a leap forward in discrete-speaker surround-sound headphone technology,” said Seth Dotterer, director of marketing for Turtle Beach. "The design of these headphones is the result of listening to our customers - professional and casual gamers - and applying three-decades of audio expertise to deliver state-of-the-art technology at a reasonable price. Between the improved comfort and enhanced surround sound performance – it's hard to imagine any serious gamer ever wanting to use ordinary headphones again.”

Since game audio does not have a pre-encoded subwoofer track, the bass of explosions, gunfire, etc... is usually played through front, center, or surround speakers, instead of being directed to a subwoofer designed to play the low-frequency portions of each sound.  This flaw results in the bass of the sounds being not as powerful as a pre-encoded movie with a discrete subwoofer channel would sound.  Turtle Beach engineers have solved this problem by adding bass enhancement - redesigning the amplifier circuitry to process low frequency signals from all inputs (rather than just the sub-woofer input) and routing it to the sub-woofer inside the ear cup, delivering explosive bass during dramatic episodes in the game.

The HPA2 builds on the innovative technology introduced in the original award-winning HPA, and in addition includes the following improvements designed by the Turtle Beach engineering team to dramatically enhance the surround sound experience:

• A new, acoustically enhanced speaker positioning array - which improves the directionality of front and surround audio cues to create pinpoint-accurate surround-sound positional audio effects.
• Redesigned deep, velvet, ultra-soft ear cushions provide maximum comfort during long gaming sessions.
• Increased tilt range of the ear cups improves the closed-ear fit to allow for different head anatomies.
• Improved removable microphone for game chat with a notched rotator and adjustable boom shaft for close-mouth positioning to enhance voice clarity and reduce room noise interference.

In addition to the in-line multi-channel amplifier, the retail HPA2 package also includes a bonus speaker cable splitter, allowing simultaneous connection of both the HPA2 headphones and external 5.1 speakers to a PC sound card. The HPA2 is compatible with any 5.1 channel sound card or motherboard audio system.

The Ear Force HPA2 has a MSRP of $129.95 and is available at retail outlets nationwide, as well as through the Turtle Beach website and direct sales center (914-345-2255). For more information, visit www.turtlebeach.com.