Plenty of padding and a retractable mic, but
how does it sound?
Asus hasn't been in the headset market for
very long, but its first entry, the Vulcan, is excellent. It sounds great, is
comfortable and at $129 is also very competitively priced. Like the Vulcan, the
new Orion Pro has Republic of Gamers branding and, as such, is clad in the
traditional ROG red and black. It'll need to be very impressive to justify its
$16 price premium over the Vulcan, however.
Asus
ROG Orion Pro
The headset is comprised of two 100mm
padded earcups connected by a single headband, also padded. A retractable
microphone sits in the left earcup, which is a neat feature, but it's flimsy in
use and has difficulty staying in the position you set it to. The headset can
be connected to your PC with a standard pair of 3.5mm jacks, or you can connect
these jacks to the supplied ROG Spitfire USB sound card and plug it into your
nearest USB port instead. There's also a clip-on in-line remote with volume
control and microphone muting capabilities.
The
headset is comprised of two 100mm padded earcups connected by a single
headband, also padded.
Thankfully, the headset is comfortable,
largely due to the leather-finished padding. The earcups should be big enough
to cover large ears fully, and they can be extended along metal rails to cater
for bigger head sizes too. As it's rather lightweight and doesn't fit too
tightly on your ears, it's comfortable during extended sessions too. The fit isn't
as snug as the Vulcan, however, and though the 30dB of passive noise
cancellation is certainly apparent, the Vulcan's active variant is naturally
far superior.
Via a direct connection to the PC with the
3.5mm jacks, sound quality from the two 50mm neodymium drivers is great. It
doesn't distort at high volumes, and sounds from low bass notes to higher
trebles are clear but balanced so that neither is dominating.
The microphone's voice quality is fine, but
one odd feature is that when connected via USB, Sidetone is activated by the
drivers by default, meaning you can hear your own voice through the headset in
voice applications like Skype. This is easily disabled under the properties of
the speakers, however.
Via
a direct connection to the PC with the 3.5mm jacks, sound quality from the two
50mm neodymium drivers is great.
Rather than software, three buttons on the
sound card itself are used to control the sound output. The FPS EQ button
instantly increases the mid-high range, which is useful in games, since it
makes voices and noises like bullet fire clearer, but it has a less pleasant
effect on music. The Surround button activates the headset's virtual 7.1
surround sound, which again is detrimental to music but slightly beneficial in
games. Finally, Amp mode is designed to complement the tonal performance of ROG
headsets, and it works very well, making sounds in music, films and games more
dynamic.
FPS, Surround and Amp are all activated by
default when you connect the headset via USB, and the sound card does not save
your previous setting. Evidently it has been optimised for gaming where FPS and
Surround modes are actually beneficial. You can, however, use them in any
combination or independently, with red LEDs illuminating the currently active
settings.
FPS,
Surround and Amp are all activated by default when you connect the headset via
USB, and the sound card does not save your previous setting
The impressive sound quality is retained in
USB mode, although it's still not quite as good as that of the Vulcan. The
volume limit is also increased in this mode, but at the highest levels a
noticeable hiss occurs, although it can be eliminated by turning your system
volume down. Finally, with the extra cabling that comes with the USB sound
card, you're left with a mass of wires to deal with. A cable organiser is
provided, but it's fiddly to use and not as effective as it could be.
The Orion Pro is by no means a bad headset.
Sound quality and comfort are very pleasing, and the USB sound card simplifies
the process of sound adjustment while remaining very effective. However, the
Vulcan headset is $16 cheaper, offers active noise cancellation, better sound
quality and a far superior microphone, meaning that the Orion Pro's pricing
lets it down massively.
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Details
·
Price: $145
·
Manufacturer: Asus
·
Tel No: 0870 1208 340
·
Website: uk.asus.com
·
Required spec: USB 2.0 port
Ratings
·
Quality: 8
·
Value: 7
·
Overall: 7
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