These surround sound gaming
headphones are designed to accurately pinpoint the direction of audio. Which
one will help you get the upper hand?
Features and Performance
Asus republic of gamers Orion Pro
From ASUS’ gaming-centric Republic of
Gamers sub-brand comes the Orion Pro, a pair of gaming headphones claiming to
deliver virtual 7.1 surround sound. The looks of the headset have been spiced
up with the inclusion of a hexagonal texture and metallic silver plating on the
outer shell, while colored black with red accents.
The ear-cups of the Orion Pro have a 100mm
diameter, and the cushioning is covered with faux leather. While wide, the ear
cups are quite shallow; this could be a problem for larger ears. In our
opinion, comfort levels for this particular headset were moderately good. The
overall fit when worn was tight, though we’d have preferred a little more
contact with the headband, as the headset didn’t quite feel like it was in
solid contact with our noggin.
The
ear-cups of the Orion Pro have a 100mm diameter, and the cushioning is covered
with faux leather.
In terms of hardware, the Orion Pro is
fitted with a single set of 50mm drivers. Also included in the package is the
ASUS ROG Spitfire Audio Processor; basically a USB digital signal processor
(DSP). You are given three specific audio modes: “Amp”, “Surround”
and “FPS”, for enhancing sound performance when tasked with handling specific
situations.
Use “Amp” when listing to music, and leave
“Surround” and “FPS” for movies and games respectively. When it came to
rendering music, the Orion Pro gave a decent showing. Tracks like Melt My Heart
To Stone by Adele displayed adequate warmth and good melody, although the highs
were not as clear as they should have been. Bass performance was good but
lacked definition. Similarly transient response just met the mark.
Tested with Battlefield 3 in “FPS”
mode, it is almost as if the entire mid-range of the audio spectrum is removed.
While this makes the impact of explosions and gunshots more prominent, it also
led to the headset sounding screechy and unbalanced. The soundstage was also
disappointing in terms of both width and directionality of sound.
Use
“Amp” when listing to music, and leave “Surround”
and “FPS” for movies and games respectively.
Turning on “Surround” mode, we breezed
through Swordfish as our movie of choice. While the soundstage is expanded when
compared to how the headset sounded when used on the “Amp” setting, the width
of the soundstage is still not sufficient to wow the listener. Mids sounded
muted which resulted in dialog lacking impact.
·
Drivers: 2x 50mm
·
Frequency response: 10hz to 20,000hz
·
Audio configuration: 7.1
·
Price: $169
Roccat Kave 5.1
Founded in 2007 with their headquarters located
in Germany, Roccat is a relatively new player. Their 5.1 surround sound gaming
headphones are dubbed the Kave, coming in a simple yet sexy military-style
matte-black finish. The headphones can also be folded, making them easy to
transport.
The ear-cups have a lot of swivel, while
the cushioning has an interesting, asymmetrical form. A lot of padding actually
rests on the user’s side burns. While the ear-cups flail around a lot when the
Kave is handled due to the swivel and fold design, the overall fi t of the
headset is quite tight. We found the polyurethane cushioning to be a bit stiff,
and also experienced slight overheating over continuous use.
Founded
in 2007 with their headquarters located in Germany, Roccat is a relatively new
player.
The Kave claims to deliver 5.1 surround
sounds and also features the Tip ‘n Control Desktop remote box, as well as four
individual drivers on each side. A pair of 40mm drivers handles both front and
rear audio, while a 30mm driver handles the center channel. In addition,
there’s also another 30mm driver handling subwoofer duty. The individual
volumes for each can be adjusted from the control box, which means the
soundstage can be tweaked to your liking. You can also choose between “Game”
and “Movie” modes.
As there was no specific mode for music, we
listened to our MP3 test suite on the “Movie” setting. The Kave impresses with
its clear highs which were evident on the instrumental track Sail On Soothsayer
by Buckethead. Coupled with deep bass and adequate balancing, the performance
of the headphones was enjoyable. The tonal characteristics of the headphones
also help out when listening to dialog in movies. Decent transient response
means that the details of a scene, in our case Travolta lighting up a cigar
during the opening sequence of Swordfish, do add to overall enjoyment.
The
tonal characteristics of the headphones also help out when listening to dialog
in movies.
When switching over to “Game” mode for
Battlefield 3, the Kave impressed with a natural and expansive soundstage. The
fact that the soundstage can also be tweaked according to your fancy was also
appreciated. Unfortunately the sound did tend to veer towards emphasizing the
high notes of the game score, which made certain in-game alerts sound screechy.
As an added unique bonus, the center 30mm drivers have a “vibration” feature to
provide extra stimulus during gaming. We found it to be gimmicky, but some
might find it up their alley.
·
Drivers: 2x 40mm (front and rear), 2x 30mm
(center and subwoofer)
·
Frequency response: 10hz to 20,000hz
·
Audio configuration: 5.1
·
Price: $139
