ASUS Strix 2.0 Multi-purpose Gaming Headset Review

[Inkie Squid]

Disclosure: ASUS kindly sent me the Strix 2.0 Multi-Platform Gaming Headset to review as part of a recent promotion, however all comments are my own.

 

Released as part of the Strix gaming range of peripherals and graphics cards, all with complimentary styling, the most striking feature of the headset is the orange 'owl eye' visible through the clear shield over each earpiece and features 60mm neodymium-magnet drivers, padded floating headband and large padded ear cups.

 

 

The headset comes with a selection of accessories:

• a removable mic, 
• extension cable to convert from 4-contact 3.5mm jack to two 3-contact 3.5mm jacks,
• an adapter cable for use with some older smartphones.

All cables are fully braided and all jacks are gold plated.

 

 

The cable  includes a volume control, mute switch for the microphone and a useful in-line microphone so you don't have to have the main mic plugged into the headset making it a lot more convenient for travelling. I found the quality of the in-line mic to be just about good enough for phone / Skype calls when speaking directly into it or clipping the control unit in just the right place but using the accessory microphone was a better option as it is far superior not only in sound quality but also it would stay where you want it when moving your head.

At the end of the headset cable is a gold-plated 4-contact 3.5mm jack suitable for using with a PS4, mobile phones and tablets, and this immediately highlights the multi-purpose nature of the headset. It's not just designed to take to a lan party with it's convenient fold-flat ear pieces, but also you get to use it to listen to your music and make calls when you're on your way there. When using on a computer as I did, the jack connects to an extension cable - again fully braided and with gold-plated connectors - with two 3.5mm jacks to connect to your speaker and microphone socket on your motherboard or soundcard. 

 

 

So enough about cables and jacks... on to the headset itself. 

It's HUGE and heavy, both of these points are due to the 60mm drivers, no tinny sound here just good quality robust sound with plenty of range and bass. Regardless of the weight though, these are perhaps the most comfortable headsets I've ever worn due to the padded ear cups that cover your ears instead of pressing them to your head and no noticeable extra pressure on the arms of my glasses. 

Fitting them to your head is as simple as putting them on. Gone are the extendible struts that you would play with for hours trying to click them into just the right position. To get these to sit on your ears you simply put them on and let the elasticated, padded headband do the job for you. 

 

I have lived and died in these for almost a week so far: wearing them all day on the pc instead of my Creative Recon3D Omega wireless headset, using them for mobile music to and from the gym and various outings, chilling out in bed waiting for sleep to almost take me... if I wasn't so worried about strangling myself or whipping my phone across the room in the middle of the night I could have easily slept in them. 

However, any activity that involved anything more than gentle movement and they would start to slip off my head. That expandable headband doing nothing to help stop the avalanche as you can't permanently fix it to your head size. I mentioned wearing these to and from the gym, well there were two problems with wearing them AT the gym. They fell off a lot no matter what machine I was using and if I had them around my neck listening to music they were so loud and clear that I got more than a few funny looks from other members, and a disapproving look from the trainer. 

But back at home I was in my element again, drowning out the sound of family and kid's TV with the preferred sounds of spells and explosions, Netflix and my music library. 

In conclusion:

Good:

• exceptional comfort
• quality plug-in microphone
• great range of sound
• great connectivity
• quality build, braided cables, gold-plated connectors

Not-so-good

• unstable with a lot of movement

The Strix 2.0 Multi-Platform Headset is available in the UK from Amazon priced around £65. I concede that it's not cheap for a stereo headset, but you are getting so much more than just a stereo headset: it's pure quality and attention to detail, almost ubiquitously useful, and I cannot stress the levels of comfort.

 

For more information, view the product page from ASUS here. 

Thank you ASUS for providing me with this review sample. Please comment or leave questions below and I'll try to answer any you have.

[Deli]

Nice review.  

[Inkie Squid]

Thanks, I've not done that many so I hope I didn't make any horrendous errors or miss anything crucial 

[sgloux3470]

Normally I think "gamer" peripherals look like shit, but I'm willing to make an exception for the owl eyes, it's so goofy it became charming again.

[CatCloud]

Nice review and uuuhghugugu You actually have the recon 3D omega? I hope you agree with me that it has no comfort at all. My god do I hate them. But I'll not derail too much about my hate for those.

Aside from.. "those" headset, have you compared the Audio with something else?

Also how good is the Mic really? Maybe do an audio test?

[Inkie Squid]

Nice review and uuuhghugugu You actually have the recon 3D omega? I hope you agree with me that it has no comfort at all. My god do I hate them. But I'll not derail too much about my hate for those.

Aside from.. "those" headset, have you compared the Audio with something else?

Also how good is the Mic really? Maybe do an audio test?

The audio output was less powerful than my Omega's but sounded clearer with better bass, overall it was a more pleasant experience whether listening to music / video on y pc or phone (pc was motherboard sound from a ASRock Z87 OC Formula /ac and phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5), but it's going to depend a lot on your hardware I suppose.

I did a test call through skype both on my phone and the PC to see what the quality was of the mics - the in-line one was not great - you really need to have it in the perfect position for it to be worthwhile, the plug-in mic though was great, certainly on a par with the Creative HS1200, or the omega but those are the only other two that I've really used with a view to seeing how good they were as well as being my daily set.

 

I'm pretty new though to the testing / reviewing game, if you can point me in the direction of a program to use then I can set up a test in the next day or so when the house is quiet again.

[CaptainGazzz]

Nice review, they certainly look very nice!

[ArcticTalk]

Nice to see the other contestants who also won the strix 2.0 from Asus! Great review btw! Good luck with the next part of the contest

[Inkie Squid]

Nice to see the other contestants who also won the strix 2.0 from Asus! Great review btw! Good luck with the next part of the contest

Thanks. I saw your review too, nice job. You're welcome to hijack this thread and post a link for others to see it if you like {;o)

[Bac]

Nice to see the other contestants who also won the strix 2.0 from Asus! Great review btw! Good luck with the next part of the contest

 

Thanks. I saw your review too, nice job. You're welcome to hijack this thread and post a link for others to see it if you like {;o)

 

 

Nice reviews! So far I've spotted 6/30 reviews in the wild.

You can find my review here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziLEgmTLyjs) if you'd like.

Thanks for letting me hijack 

[Inkie Squid]

Nice review, that's 4 (including mine) that I've come across

[DJfern94]

 

Make that 7/30

[Inkie Squid]

Welcome to the party {;o)