ASUS Strix 7.1 gaming headset

[HEXUS]

A true 7.1 surround gaming headset with all the bells and whistles.

Read more.

[Roobubba]

Thanks for the review! I've been looking out for these as a potential replacement for my nearly 10-year old AudioTechnica ATH M50s (studio stereo headphones), which I use daily for music and gaming alike. The M50s are fantastic headphones, but I still very fondly remember my old Speedlink Medusa 5.1 headset, which had admittedly bad sound quality, but phenomenal sound placement. The newer version of the Medusas doesn't compare to the original, and I then bought some roccat kave 5.1 cans, which disappointed me greatly and led me back to using the stereo studio headset for the better sound quality. I barely used the roccat headset - most unlike me as I usually research to the point of agony to make the right decision on such things before buying.
I'd like to hear some of these in the flesh - it's a lot of money to drop on something which will be worse in sound quality, but may offer good positional audio without being *too* bad sounding. Not knowing how much worse they will sound is the problem, and as it's truly subjective, this could be tricky!
The only way I could see to test it is to get studio quality recordings of each headset and let readers compare the sound files on their own devices (with the caveat that unless they use good quality equipment, it might all sound bad, but at least it will be comparable).

[raven1001]

Naff...

[Hanzo]

The review says:

Unlike the Razer Tiamat the Strix 7.1 provides hardware-level control between stereo and 7.1-channel operation

and

The ability to toggle between 2.1 and 7.1 with a quick-response button is what sets the Strix 7.1 apart from the competition.

I'm an owner of the Tiamat 7.1 and I think you need to revise the above 2 mentions in the review, since the Tiamat 7.1 has a hardware switch for stereo mode right on the volume control unit.

I'm in no hurry to replace my Tiamat but this looks interesting, if my headset breaks I'm happy the Tiamat has some competition to consider

[LeetyMcLeet]

These will no doubt appeal to a certain age group
Not for me I'm afraid lol

[boothy02]

As much as i like the look of these i cant merit spending that much on a headset.

[Lowe]

Does the positional audio actually work these days? I had a set of the Razer Barracuda for a while and frankly they were rubbish. The surround effect was minimal at best, and was simply not in the same league as a speaker array. I'm tempted by a set of cans for late night play, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to risk a set of 'surround' cans over a traditional stereo set.

[Kebab]

I agree not sure it would be that much different from what you could do with stereo.... Also, like with Razer chroma headsets, what is the point of varying illumination on the side of the headsets?

[Singh400]

Looks like someone attacked one of these with a protractor. Nutty angles...

Also, that's A LOT of money for a pair of headsets. I'm not sure they are worth that much.

[azrael-]

As good as the Strix 7.1 might be, that "owl" theme put me right off them. Like Jenny_Y8S I absolutely despise "gamer" aesthetics. What's even worse is that a lot of otherwise premium products these days apparently need to be wrapped up in this "gamer" guise to sell.

[ValkyrieTsukiko]

Same as Roobubba, I still use the Speedlink Medusa 5.1 on my pc for gaming. Audio sounds ok on it but I've been looking into an upgrade. Tempted by this.
Does anyone know if this headset is console compatible (dolby decoding off optical), or if it has separate phone cables for each channel? what about the Tiamat? I have a Xonar DX soundcard and i would prefer to use it for audio than usb soundcard like most of these headsets seem to offer :S

[whatif]

Since I literally have a large head, these may not be a good fit.
But like in the article, for a first attempt, they came out OK.
Maybe if they could squeeze in a set of high quality 50mm drivers, it would be better for 2.1 sound (music, etc). But with the heavier weight of the 50\mm drivers, even these Stix 7.1, the fit needs to be excellent to be able to wear them for hours..
I still use a set of 5.1 speakers surrounding me at the PC, fortunately where I am does not bother others with the noise.