Asus ROG Strix 7.1 Headset Boasts Ten Drivers

[exfileme]

There are five drivers located on each side for true 7.1 surround immersion.

Asus ROG Strix 7.1 Headset Boasts Ten Drivers : Read more

 

[-Fran-]

I hope they have a preset called "Music doesn't suck ass and you actually enjoy the sound quality".

Cheers!

 

[jay2tall]

It's called get professional headphones and pop on a modmic. Best decision I EVER made for headphones. Several great brands out there that make excellent headphones that blow away any gaming headset. I rock Beyerdynamics, but there are many other awesome brands. Everyone I've ever recommended going that route has never regretted it. Good professional headphones will last you a decade+ easy if not longer.

 

[dstarr3]

There's a typo in the headline. It should say "Asus ROG Strix 7.1 Headset Boasts Ten Drivers and Looks Bloody Awful."

 

[imsurgical]

It's called get professional headphones and pop on a modmic. Best decision I EVER made for headphones. Several great brands out there that make excellent headphones that blow away any gaming headset. I rock Beyerdynamics, but there are many other awesome brands. Everyone I've ever recommended going that route has never regretted it. Good professional headphones will last you a decade+ easy if not longer.

^
This. I've been using AntLion Audio's modmic since seriously and honestly the start and their product is amazing with a pair of good cans. Mic is simple, easy to use, no hassle and straight plug-n-play AS CAN BE. Will never ever go back to a "Gaming Headset" ever again since using some 518's and 558's with a modmic.

 

[TeddyShotgun]

Or you can buy a $110 Sennheiser 558, add a $20 cord mic, and a $10 Turtle Beach DSS (for Surround Sound). You'll get way better sound quality and with the money you save you can buy a nice amp like the Fiio E12.

 

[R6ex]

This will be my next upgrade!

 

[R6ex]

This will be my next upgrade!

 

[thor220]

This must be sponsored material because this isn't aimed at PC gamers. PC games don't need a cheap external sound card. The integrated on most motherboards is probably better than the one provided with this.

Even worse is they are usb. They will totally bypass your on-board sound.

 

[Pherule]

Don't think I will buy Asus headsets/headphones again unless I'm rich. I got Asus Vulcan ANC, which are AWESOME but only come with a 1-year warranty. The cable broke after 1 and a half years and oops, it's impossible to buy a new cable. I tried the official Asus service center, I tried various other routes... it's basically impossible.

The cable still works, it just keeps cutting out and forcing me to re-adjust, really annoying. But the headset itself has fantastic sound quality and is really comfortable. Ugh, if only it had a 2-year warranty, or if they sold cables.

 

[pilsner]

Another +1 for the "good headphone plus separate mic" here. I use a Sennheiser HD650 plus Antlion mic, and the HD650 is connected to an external DAC (Dr. DAC prime via TOSLINK) to avoid the power supply noise generated by the graphics card.

 

[mlopinto2k1]

How about a Bluetooth enabled sound card and Motorola's stereo/mic headset. Lightweight, loud and clear and crystal clear mic audio with noise cancelling so you don't hear you stupid little brother screaming like a maniac in the background.

 

[-Fran-]

It's called get professional headphones and pop on a modmic. Best decision I EVER made for headphones. Several great brands out there that make excellent headphones that blow away any gaming headset. I rock Beyerdynamics, but there are many other awesome brands. Everyone I've ever recommended going that route has never regretted it. Good professional headphones will last you a decade+ easy if not longer.

I do/did that and have my "audiophile" Shure RH440 (they were with an AMAZING discount), but I got from my GF a CM Storm headset, so you know the drill... I *have* to use them. Plus, exchanging from one to the other when needing the mic is not very "optimal". I have a "neck" mic and does it's job and all, but I have to recognize the mic in the CM Storm headset it a thousand times better.

Now... I won't say there are no "gamer headsets" that sound decent. Not at all. In particular, Corsair's headsets sound very good (not audiophile level) and the SteelSeries (I've tried out the 7H series) also make a great job. I've also tried out the Razer Kraken, and while it does sound good as a standalone headset, the mic is a piece of junk. And of course, they're all overpriced pieces of plastic.

TL;DR: I don't disagree, but there's pro's and con's

Cheers!

 

[3ogdy]

I know these are high-quality products but I for one don't understand why in the F's name they had to use an owl as the line-up logo. It looks outright ugly.

Is this some sort of a (bad) joke? Yes I have a problem with that - I care about performance and would usually accept a compromise if the specs and performance are right, but this is too much to take.

What next, ASUS? The next high-end line-up will have some dog shit logo or what?
The ROG one looks superb, but the Strix shit is just impossible to accept on high-end hardware.

So keep your owls for yourselves, my money goes to someone else.

 

[falchard]

Its not red and black enough for me to consider it a Gamer's headset.

 

[alidan]

i didnt know about the modmic... that seems like it could be nice, but about 2 years ago i got a blue yeti,

i set the thing to only whats in front of it and adjust gain till i stop hearing the pc fans when i play a demanding game...

i can stand 10 feet away from the thing and it picks sound up better than any headset my brother ever use, and it sounds better than any "pro" quality headset thats under 300$. there may be better mics, but the versatility of the yeti, on mic gain and position controls FAR surpass anything else i have even had the chance to use or listen to for under 100$

as of right now you can get the blue yeti for 96$ new (black one) and 74$ used (sliver one) new is 109$ and as far as im concerned its money well spent.

also, a fiio dac amp is a FANTASTIC deal for driving headphones, my brother and me have about the same on board audio but he had the fiio i think 10, i go about straight form the pc, the onboard cant drive my headphones without pops and quality issues his drives them perfectly... though if that extra quality is worth the 70~$ is another question entirely...

small edit, i also for headphones recommend at least sennheiser hd 518 as it has a removeable cable and the price puts it VERY competitive with other headphones in the range, and with few exceptions is better than them... on a side note, i currently use hd 598's, and if you get a 558 you can mod them to be as good as the 598 but even unmodded, they are still great sounding headphones.

 

[UVB076]

Having 10 drivers in a headset is absolutely pointless because single ear can't actually determine positional audio on its own. You hear in stereo; headphones should be stereo.

 

[thor220]

Having 10 drivers in a headset is absolutely pointless because single ear can't actually determine positional audio on its own. You hear in stereo; headphones should be stereo.

Not true. While having two ears helps determine the source of a sound, each ear itself can determine the direction of a sound. Close your eyes and you can discern which direction it's coming from. Of course you don't need this headset to do this. Surround sound emulation on 2.1 cans has been around for a long time. The only advantage to this approach is that direction sound will be very accurate.

 

[shadowfamicom]

Sennhesier 555's + $10 Mic [/done]

Although I added an Asus Xonar STX Sound Card to power them.

 

[Johan Kryger Haglert]

On = much louder.

So.. Yeah..

Personally I don't want any modifications. Guess if the game designers focus on doing something realistic it can make sense whereas with music it never does. But anyway, likely not as perfect and with the control the game producers could had brought anyway.

Also I have "no" interest in real surround headphones. Rather have virtualization with good headphones.

I also don't want animal pieces in or on my headphones. Leather is a no-go. Silly to add "Protein" to the name to try to make it more cool too.

 

[Marcus52]

Everyone making headsets should check out Sennheiser's HD 598s for comfort. "Protein plastic" isn't going to cut it in terms of hours of gaming comfort or how long it lasts.

And 5 drivers? What for? Again, the 598s have excellent sound with 1 driver. 598s make excellent gaming and music-listening speakers for about $250 (or less). I'll bet these things won't come near that price (but to be fair they do come with what is essentially a USB DAC).

 

[iam2thecrowe]

When i read "10 drivers" i thought for a second they meant the software drivers. They had to provide 10 because they cant make one good one. Creative sound drivers are much less problematic.

 

[ubercake]

Independent of movies, surround sound really helps especially for FPS-type games. If you already have a headset with 10 drivers in it and have also used a two-speaker virtual surround setup, you know the difference between virtual surround and real 7.1 surround. Virtual surround is just that. There's nothing good about fooling yourself into thinking two channels can simulate real surround.
There is absolutely no beating the positional sound using a true 7.1 headset with 10 drivers in it.

One of the things that makes the Asus better than my Tiamat 7.1 headset is the USB connection rather than having to rely on the analog connections plus, I'm guessing Asus is throwing premium processing in the included USB sound. Also, 40mm drivers is standard for most virtual surround headsets with only 2 total physical speakers. With the Tiamat 7.1 you get great positional audio, but going to 30mm front drivers makes you sacrifice sound quality a bit if you're used to a 40 or 50mm driver on your two-speaker setup. The 10mm greater size of the front drivers of the Strix (uses 40mm for both sub and front!) compared to those on the Tiamat 7.1 (uses 40mm for sub and 30mm for front) will make listening to stereo sources and any overall sounds on-par with the best two-speaker headsets. I also like being able to throw a switch to change sound output modes (including different pre-set equalization settings... ie footsteps mode). You can't do this kind of thing over analog even with the bypass on the Tiamat. Also, my guess is the sound quality is really good using Asus sound processing. I'll definitely have to try these out.

One thing though... I wish these headsets were more color neutral. All black would be appreciated. I don't need only green or only red. If you want to stick colored lights on these things give us the options like on modern keyboards with the selectable backlighting.

 

[soccerplayer88]

I'm more of a traditional style when it comes to headsets. I'll stick with my modified Sennheiser 350's.

 

[The_Icon]

@jay2all I did the same thing! I have Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro which has excellent sound stage, got mod mic 4 for superb voice quality but using Razer surround pro which surprisingly does the job really well. Buying studio grade headsets and separate mic separately will allow you to get best quality of both worlds instead of settle for a compromise which is usually for gaming headsets.

What mixer would you recommend?