Asus has always been pushing their peripheral game lately. The same goes with their Strix line-up and as always, the owl-eye aesthetic continues to stand out in that particular range. Let’s have a look at the ROG Strix Wireless gaming headset.
Its imposing design, features virtual 7.1 surround sound, customisable audio through the Sonic Studio, 10+ hour claimed battery life and a decent wireless range that found me talking to my overwatch team when I moved to another room. I’ve enjoyed their other iterations of the Strix but was sceptical when it came to wireless editions of headphones, this isn’t a bluetooth wireless headset but wifi based through a USB dongle which I’m happy to say performed phenomenally.
Headset Features
- Low-latency 2.4 GHz wireless connection.
- Dual-antenna design for better and more stable audio transmission.
- 7.1 virtual surround sound.
- Full audio control with Sonic Studio.
- Wide compatibility with gaming consoles, PCs, Mac, and mobile devices.
- 10+ hour battery life for marathon gaming without interruption.
- Full PS4 compatibility, with working on-headset buttons.
Specifications
General
- Weight: 350g.
- Cable length: 1.5m
- Microphone: Detachable 3.5mm.
Headphones
- Driver diameter: 60 mm.
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Driver material: Neodymium magnet.
- Impedance: 32 Ohm.
- Frequency Response: 20 ~ 20000 Hz.
- Sensitivity: 98 dB.
Microphone
- Pick up pattern: Uni-directional.
- Frequency response: 50 ~ 16000 Hz.
- Sensitivity: -40db.
Out of The Box
Along with the headset , you get a small accessories box which comes complete with a quick setup manual and warranty notice, as well as a number of additional cables. There is a USB-micro USB cable for charging purposes, a boom microphone, a 3.5mm splitter and a 3.5mm extension and the USB Wi-fi Dongle you’ll be using on your PC or laptop to connect it. There’s no Sonic Studio driver installed and oddly it never automatically installed for me, but a quick search for the software on the Asus website should solve it.
Design
With its eye-catching ‘owl-eye’ design, the ROG Strix Wireless has a bold orange and black color scheme. They don’t light up like other ROG headsets since this is a wireless headphone and battery was invested more on functionality other than aesthetics which means you get that wireless functionality for a few hours more.
The overall build of the headset is solid. The ear cups are memory foam padded with a leather cover and are soft to the touch. They can be rotated in its base so you can put it in a laptop bag. More so, for people with big heads ( guilty as charged) this headset snaps right on like a nice puzzle piece. It can creak a bit though.
The ear cups are designed to fit most ear shapes, you’re wearing this to show that you’re a gamer and subtlety is not the name of the game. You can detach the wireless microphone out to use the headset as a day to day device, but if you like to attract a few looks from people, you’re going to get plenty. The left ear cup features four buttons with volume controls, microphone muting and a power switch. The other side features a trio of connectors: one for the mic boom, another for micro-USB charging cable and a 3.5mm connector as a backup wired solution for when the battery is low, or when wireless is not available. The mic plugs in easily and is also flexible so it can be bent
Performance
I used the ASUS ROG Strix wireless headset to play a number of games, listen to music, skype and Discord over a few weeks. Sonic Studio wasn’t around at first when I first used the headset as it didn’t install with the driver but when I finally got it, I used Sonic Studio to customize the headset’s sound and direction and had some pretty interesting results.
This is undoubtedly a tried and tested capable piece of gaming hardware, you’ll hear footsteps, bullets firing in directions and environments in such definition and clarity that it may just up your awareness in fps games. In other genres, like the The Witcher 3 for example, you can hear the cracks of burning firewood in amazing 7.1 surround, it felt surreal.
There was little distortion, the only time I felt it was during different genres of music. Sounds pan nicely from different sides and you can hear the drums with a sense of deep bass and the mids of electric instruments. Movies, TV shows sound pretty great too, dialogue is balanced, though it depends what format you download since you won’t discern too much of a difference on 128 mb h.264 files. While nothing comes to true surround sound, the virtual surround does a good attempt at keeping things centre of the action, it’s something that I would see users with a dedicated setup want to have a headset that will give them the atmosphere they so desperately crave.
It’s fairly comfortable and it stays on but it can get warm and trap some heat between your ears and it can creak a bit. The wireless range on this thing is impressive. Standing at 15m you can move around a fair bit before a connection becomes hard to maintain. Its large but surprisingly portable enough to rest on your neck.
As far as audio communication goes, my friends over discord were pleasantly surprised that I suddenly sounded so much better, the comm’s mic on the Strix wireless works like a charm, you can use Sonic Studio to change your mic settings and it cancels out most background noise, both for listening and talking and you’ll be doing this for a good part of the day on a single charge.
Verdict
The ASUS ROG Strix Wireless gaming headset is one of my favourite headsets now. This is a 2016 product but if you’re looking for a headset for an all purpose experience, this one checks all the boxes and does everything it’s meant to do and more. It’s probably not the best designed headphone but this one sounds great.
The 7.1 virtual surround is a nice addition to improve the quality of atmosphere you’ll experience in the gaming world. With the Sonic Studio, you can play around with various presets and see what fits your fancy. They are also great for music, I enjoyed Jazz with the studio’s preset and felt the bass on the strings, I can’t say how many gaming headphones can nail music but this comes close.
Asus does say that the headset can work wirelessly with a playstation using the adaptor so there’s another plus. Wireless headphones these days would be ideal for a VR setting, so if you have a VR device, this headset could potentially add to the immersiveness.
So a decent headset for wireless gaming, great sound and software to back it up and comfortable for a fair bit of duration make this an ideal pick up.
