tested &
Geek
Approved
You mIght not have heard of V-MODA.
That’s OK; you’re about to. Italian
design marries Japanese engineering
tech, producing some of the highest-
quality audio gear we’ve seen. Its
latest headset, the Crossfade II,
is no exception. As the box says,
“Veni, Vidi, Vici.” It came, saw, and
conquered, pumping out top-quality
bass and clarity, thanks to unique
dual-diaphragm drivers and coils that
support high-res audio sources.
It’s wireless, too, boasting an
impressive 14-hour battery life and
simple buttons for volume and call
control on the right headphone. A
Qualcomm audio codec ensures sound
quality is preserved over Bluetooth,
and passive sound-damping tech
means you can blast some tunes on
the train without disturbing everyone
around you. If you’re really craving that
zero-latency performance for gaming,
the Crossfade II also comes with a
cable for wired use.
It’s really comfy, too. The headband
is adjustable on both sides, and the
earpieces use squashy memory foam
cushions to keep your ears cozy. The
box also contains a groovy hardshell
carry case with a carabiner attachment
to transport the headphones around.
V-MODA produces custom-made
shield plates for the earpieces, too,
which are 3D-printed and laser-
engraved for complete design freedom.
Choose from one of V-MODA’s designs,
or submit your own, as we’ve done. –Cg
$ 330 , http://www.v-moda.comV-MODA
Crossfade II
Lexip pu94
GaminG mouseI saw some neat
peripherals at E3, but
one stood out to me in
particular: the Lexip
Pu94 gaming mouse. It’s specifically
designed to work with flight sims and
city-building games with its two built-in
joysticks. One is a small thumbstick on the
left side, where some gaming mice have
buttons; the second is built into the top half
of the mouse, and is controlled by rocking
your hand slightly in all directions. Both
joysticks make this mouse incompatible
with FPS games (you’re better off with a
standard five-button mouse), but being
able to control X and Y axis movement with
one hand is seamless, and makes playing
flight sims with a keyboard and mouse
nearly as easy as using a regular joystick.
I’ve spent a little time with the Pu94
since E3 ended, and I like building homes
in The Sims 4 a lot more. I’m able to fully
customize the mouse controls to the
game—and let me tell you how much more
I enjoy tilting the mouse to pan across
the screen instead of moving my mouse
cursor over to the side or using the arrow
keys. And instead of right-clicking to rotate
objects, I use the thumbstick. Sometimes
small things make all the difference.
$129, https://lexip.usKiLL-a-Watt eZHow much power is
your PC using right
now? You probably
have no idea, unless
you’re using something
like P3’s Kill-A-Watt. It’s a super-handy
device that I’ve had in my arsenal for years.
It’s also inexpensive, and can easily pay for
itself by helping you cut down on power
use. Our modern PCs have sleep modes
and power-saving features, but fire up a
game, and it can be surprising just how
much juice your system drinks. My GPU
test bed idles at 72W, but can draw over
500W while playing games with a 2080 Ti,
depending on what CPU I’m running. I
also discovered that setting my Nvidia
card to “Prefer Maximum Performance”
instead of “Optimal Power” caused it to
draw about 45W more power at idle.
The Kill-A-Watt measures outlet power,
which is what most people want to see.
It won’t tell you power-supply efficiency
or how much energy just your graphics
card uses, but switching from a generic
PSU to an 80 Plus Gold unit should cut
your PC power use by 10–15 percent. It’s
not just about PCs, either. That box fan in
my bedroom uses
60–100W, depending
on the fan speed,
while my upright
vacuum cleaner
chugs 1,100W. And
do you remember the
Falcon Northwest
Mach V that I tested
back in March? It
peaked at over 950W
while gaming.
$20, http://www.p3
international.comHardware staff writer, Joanna Nelius, and senior editor,
Jarred walton, reveal the gear that improves their liveseditors’ Picks:
digital discoveries
©^
lexip
maximumpc.com aug 2019 MAXIMUMPC 93