Brain-melting bliss thanks to Turtle Beach's newest Ear Force X4 headphones.

Plug in, turn the lights down low, and fade away. But not to some serene beach, no; we are talking about fading into the most explosive battle field, the furthest reaches of human space, or to a world of clashing swords and a bloody war. But to fully lose yourself in the gaming experience, us gamers must be in the zone.

Hardcore gamers are meticulous about their setup. Everything has to be perfect. The picture must be calibrated just right for the crisp, window-like screen. The volume is worthless if it is not just right. Clear and environmentally immersive are two of the best adjectives to use when thinking of what makes the audio in gaming up to snuff.

Thanks to the folks at Turtle Beach, gamers have been experiencing high quality sound through their headphones without having to drop $1,000 on a home theater system, and letting those around them stay in their boring, "real world". Not content to simply let us "make do" with simple sound though, Turtle Beach has release what may be called The Gaming Headphone. We are talking about the Turtle Beach Ear Force X4.

The X4, the latest in their Ear Force X line, is vastly improved over its predecessors. The biggest and most brain-melting feature of the X4, is its full Dolby Digital 5.1 support, and its wireless. Most will think immediately that there is no proper way to get that depth of sound from a simple pack of headphones. They are wrong.

Upon first turning on the headphones I still had my giant surround sound system going. So, after I clicked the switch I was somewhat disappointed. Not only did they not work well, they were bleeding in from the outside, an awful feature for such pricy gear. But then I cranked the volume down on my home theater system, only to realize it was on mute the whole time. The thundering, environmentally specific experience was indeed, my new favorite headphones.

I chuckled at just how amazing the sound was from such a small unit. It perfectly captured the crystal clear sounds of battle in Call of Duty 4. I could accurately pinpoint enemies, choppers flying overhead, and bombs blasting to my sides. It was as if being in a room filled with sound and imagery, and nothing else existed.

So, this much is decided, a set of phones, from the right manufacturer, can accurately produce a fantastic, mind-pounding, surround sound experience. It is probably due to the fact the X4's actually have Dolby Surround to accurately emulate the environmental audio. But honestly, once you see the job get done, you'll not care how.

Another great feature is the fact that some can now toss away those broken and breaking Xbox LIVE freebee headsets. That's right, the X4's come equipped to take on the voice portion of Xbox LIVE for the 360 as well.