An interview with SteelSeries CMO Kim Rom at E3 demonstrated some of the merits of SteelSeries’ latest line of hardcore gamer accessories.

A manufacturer and retailer of high-quality accessories for dedicated gamers, SteelSeries’ lineup of PC products includes everything from headsets and mice to software. Now they hope to enter the Xbox 360 market with the Spectrum 5XP, a high-quality headset designed for competitive gamers.

“A good gaming headset has to be able to withstand what we call the twelve-hour test,” Rom said, meaning that it must be able to endure abuse and remain comfortable to wear for over twelve hours.

SteelSeries’ headsets are designed for comfort and ease of use. “Any peripheral that you are aware of you are using I think is failing on a fundamental level,” Rom said, and the Spectrum certainly meets that criteria. Though bulky, it is surprisingly light and can be easily disassembled for transport or twisted in ways ordinary headsets could not survive. It also features a pop-out microphone.

Rom also showed off a prototype device called the Spectrum Audio fixer, designed to be inserted into an XBox controller. This device is intended for more complex volume and audio manipulation, featuring two volume sliders- an in-game and chat volume slider- and a function to balance and equalize both channels in real time.

SteelSeries currently plans to release the Spectrum 5XP around August.

The full interview is available below.

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