Photos and Features
Like with the packaging, Fatality headphones in the past have all had a similar theme. They are typically black with red trim. So the first time I saw the new FxM 200’s it is a drastic change. They went with a more elegant looking gray and dark gray on the earcups. In fact, they look like they are made out of metal. So when I picked them up I was really surprised at how light weight they are, I was expecting the exact opposite. At 8 ounces the FxM 200’s are much lighter than the other large headsets that we have taken a look at. My initial impression from the light weight wasn’t very good, I went in expecting this all metal high-quality headset and picked up a flexible headset and it made them feel cheap to me. Once I got over that and I saw that one of the main selling points was the light weight I did start to understand, though. Like with gaming mice, less weight is typically good and it should hopefully translate to better comfort later on.
So the earcups have a black ring around them and then have a brushed aluminum finish. In the middle is the Fatal1ty logo but they keep it all simple and clean, no flashy lights or bright colors. Sadly none of the specification listings or information on the headset gave me any information on what is most important about the headset, the drivers inside. So I don’t have a driver size, but I do know they use Neodymium magnets.
I mentioned the headset looking elegant and beyond the subtle colors on the headband and earcups a lot of that is because of the maroon color they went with on the pads. No one else is going with a color like this and I love it, it looks great. The pads are extra thick, from the side profile you can see they the pads are about as thick as the earcups themselves. The padding is a fake leather and because of that, it will seal to your ears well, cutting out outside noise. Inside the cups, the mesh is also maroon to match as well.
For the headband, Monster and Fatal1ty went with a traditional band design. This means the padding is built into the underside of the band and the band slides to expand. The Monster logo is small down at the base of the band but then up on top of the band they put a huge “Pure Monster Sound”. The padding at its thickest point is about as thick as the earcup padding but overall I normally look for a little more padding, with the headset being so light weight they most likely didn’t need much, though. The padding does have that same maroon finish that I liked on the earcups as well.
Being a headset not a pair of earphones the FxM 200’s do need a microphone right? Well, they include a boom microphone that plugs into the bottom of the headset. It has a flexible boom and a foam cover over the microphone at the end to cut back on any wind or breathing.
Normally there isn’t much to talk about when we get to the cord of a headset but this time around we have a few things going on. For starters, the FxM 200 doesn’t have the standard sleeved or round cable. They went with a rectangle shaped cable with a smooth rubber finish. I’ve seen this same cord before on SteelSeries’ high-end headset and earbuds and it is marketed as a tangle free cord. I was really excited to see this because I’ve had a great experience with this cord type and they really are tangle free. In line, the cord also has a volume control. It has a clip on the back, then the volume on one side and a microphone mute on the other side. On the front, they also slipped in a ControlTalk button. ControlTalk is for hands-free calls on your mobile phone and also for controlling your music playback. Last but not least we have the end connection. The FxM 200 uses a single 3.5mm plug. This in itself isn’t a bad thing, in fact, it opens up support for gaming consoles, mobile phones, and some thin laptops as well. Normally though headsets like this would come with a cheap adapter for hooking the headset up to a PC and they didn’t include one. This is especially baffling when Fatal1ty himself is a well known PC gamer.
