ASUS Also Intros the ROG Orion PRO and Orion Gaming Headsets

[Cristian_25H]

ASUS ROG Orion PRO and Orion full-size gaming headsets are designed to provide gaming enthusiasts with the finest audio immersion and positioning needed in any game and at any location. After extensive research and development and taking customer feedback into account, the ROG team concluded that user comfort is key when it comes to gaming headsets. As such, ROG Orion PRO and Orion possess 100 mm over-ear cushions for greater comfort, and bring immersive audio with large 50 mm neodymium drivers.

Gaming comfort with superb audio performance

Following a prolonged trial period aimed at finding the perfect fit, ROG designers chose large 100 mm over-ear cushions covered in highly-breathable quality leather treatment. They fit snugly on heads to generate greater user comfort over extended gaming sessions while eliminating ear fatigue. Large 50 mm neodymium drivers on both Orion PRO and Orion have been meticulously fine-tuned to provide dynamic audio positioning, while the larger ear cups afford passive noise cancellation that isolates up to 30dB of high frequency ambient sounds such as environmental noise and human voice. This high degree of noise elimination makes busy LAN parties virtually library-quiet, allowing gamers better focus.





Retractable microphone and cable organizer

Taking community feedback into account, ROG Orion PRO and Orion use a retractable microphone boom for easier angle adjustment and neat storage when not in use. New microphone noise filtering technology boasts more sensitive voice capture capabilities for clearer in-game communications, and Orion PRO further includes an easy to use cable organizer for convenient wire management and unsightly entanglement prevention.

Quality audio enhancement with ROG Spitfire (Exclusively with Orion PRO)

Gamers who choose ROG Orion PRO experience additional audio enhancement technologies via the exclusive driver-free ROG Spitfire USB audio processor. ROG Spitfire comes with three in-game audio modes: FPS EQ for better audio positioning in first person shooters, 7.1 virtual surround, and headphone amplifier. Each has a dedicated one-click on/off button, with no need to enter a software interface. FPS EQ has been developed by analyzing the audio characteristics of several leading first person shooters, with advanced sound algorithms built into the hardware to improve equalization and bring out details with better clarity. Gamers can hear opponent movements, gunfire, call-outs, and other auditory cues with better directional precision, contributing to successful play. The 7.1 virtual surround mode presents lifelike and distortion-free in-game surround. Its design optimizes effects originally not programmed specifically for games, resulting in more natural and balanced enveloping in-game audio. ROG Spitfire's integrated headphone amplifier features ROG engineering that boosts in-game sound detail, and has been tailor-made to match the tonal performance of ROG gaming headsets, as opposed to off-the-shelf headphone amplifiers.

Specifications

[raptori]

seems promising, any news about price ?

[Darkflame]

Managed to get these from a British retailer who is selling the headsets a week or so early.

So far the impressions have been highly positive.

The headphones are the most comfortable i've ever worn, however my ears do get warm after 10 minutes of use, not sweaty, just warm but i guess this simply cannot be avoided with ear pads that create a seal to block out noise (the main reason i got the headset).

The sound quality for games and music is superb and easily beat my Turtlebeech PX5's, the only sound aspect that lets this model down is the bass.

Whilst the bass is not particularly strong, it's not pathetically weak either, fine by me personally because i don't listen to heavy bass songs anyway.

The headset is very light (50g+ lighter than the Vulcan model) and the headband is very soft so after 3 hours of wearing the headset i have felt no pain on the top of my bald head so far.

My biggest grape with the headset is that the cable is not detachable yet the Asus Vulcan's is, i know the Orion isn't meant to be a 'high end' product but for something that has been designed to be more portable, fixing the cable to the device is a step backwards in my opinion.

Still the included 2.5m braided cable is very light and with the included cable tidy should make it easy enough to manage outside of the house, it still means that the cable / connection is not replaceable if it ever gets damaged through normal wear and tear.

This model is 20% cheaper than the Asus Vulcan Pro, thus it doesn't feature Active Noise Cancelling (which the majority of online reviews say is terrible to have on during gaming / listening to music anyway) and it doesn't have an included travel case.

It's a shame it doesn't come with a case as these headphones have clearly been designed to be far more portable than the Vulcan's and are stylish enough to use outside of the home.

Whilst the included Spitfire USB adapter adds power and different useful effects to the headset, it has its flaws.

Plugging the microphone into it resulted in absolutely diabolical microphone performance.

This was resolved by plugging the mic directly into my sound card and i've gone from sounding like i'm in a fishbowl to being told i've never sounded clearer.

Another issue with the adapter is background noise; to remove a lot of background static from the headset whilst plugged into the spitfire (when voice chatting, not music / game playing) the volume in Windows 7 has to be lowered to 66%.

It's still plenty loud, and if you plug the head directly into a sound card you can bring this up to 100% with no increase in background noise (although the sound quality will not be as good unless you have a decent sound card).

That's all i have to say about this model so far, i'll update this 'first impression' review as time goes by.

I look forward to trying these out over the weekend

[shilka]

It does not say anywhere is these are jack or USB headsets does anyone know if they are USB or Jack???

[Absolution]

Originally Posted by Darkflame

This model is 20% cheaper than the Asus Vulcan Pro, thus it doesn't feature Active Noise Cancelling (which the majority of online reviews say is terrible to have on during gaming / listening to music anyway) and it doesn't have an included travel case.

Can you provide links for that?

[Darkflame]

Originally Posted by shilka

It does not say anywhere is these are jack or USB headsets does anyone know if they are USB or Jack???

3.5mm jack is the main connection for the headphones, they can be used in all major audio devices and phones.

If you get the pro version of the headset, they bundle in a USB sound card to improve the experience on USB enabled devices.

Originally Posted by Absolution

Can you provide links for that?

Just read the user reviews on major retailers websites like newegg and amazon.

[silapakorn]

I bought a pair of slightly used Asus Vulcan headset for a very cheap price and still think that it is a waste of money. My old Denon AHD1100 kicks Asus' ass very hard when it comes to audio quality. The so called 'comfortable' ear pad makes the cans heavier and more tiring after long hours use. If this Orion is cheaper than Vulcan, then I think it can't be better.

BTW, ANC feature on Vulcan is pure crap. It blocks external noise at the expense of the audio quality. All the lows are practically gone when ANC is enabled.

[Darkflame]

Originally Posted by silapakorn

I bought a pair of slightly used Asus Vulcan headset for a very cheap price and still think that it is a waste of money. My old Denon AHD1100 kicks Asus' ass very hard when it comes to audio quality. The so called 'comfortable' ear pad makes the cans heavier and more tiring after long hours use. If this Orion is cheaper than Vulcan, then I think it can't be better.

BTW, ANC feature on Vulcan is pure crap. It blocks external noise at the expense of the audio quality. All the lows are practically gone when ANC is enabled.

Orions are more than fine for the low asking price in my opinion.

Hey since you're a Vulcan owner, could you tell me if there is any sound leakage at decent volumes?

What's annoying about the various headset review youtube videos is they very rarely do a sound leak test

Orions leak about 30% sound at max volume, was wondering if the Vulcans did better.