ASUS ROG ORION PRO Gaming Headset Review - Specifications

There’s not a lot of standout features for the ROG Orion Pro.  It’s pretty standard headset fare.  They are sealed-back, over-the-ear headphones, with a built-in, retractable microphone boom.  The boom is very flexible and reminds me of Dr. Octopus's arms.  You also get the Spitfire USB Audio dongle for 'on the go' audio and a cable organizer.  The Daryl Dixon bobble-head is not included.

The feature that I like the most is the cable length.  At a generous 2.5 meters, it should work with any kind of setup you might have, and the thin braided cord should also withstand a lot of use.  It also comes with a handy cable organizer, which becomes somewhat a necessity with such a long cord.  The inline volume and mute thing also doubles as the clip to keep the cord from hanging heavily.

The other nice thing about the cable is that both connection cables for mic and audio break out into even smaller braided cords.  That is actually impressive attention to detail on ASUS's part.

Let's take a look at the specifications.
 

The general impression is that with the larger diaphragm of the driver, the more bass and sound it can deliver.  Not always, however, but as a general rule, and the Orion Pro do deliver quite a lot of sound for not a lot of power.  Which means they are also quite efficient, and will play at ear-splitting levels.

I notice that the microphone will require some levels adjustment, but I haven’t met a headset that didn’t.  I still think the best microphone that I’ve used was a long discontinued lapel microphone from Radio Shack.  It met its demise after a particularly bad round of Counter Strike.  Anyway, expect to mess with the microphone levels to get teammates to hear you at normal talking levels. One thing that isn’t specified is the frequency response from the microphone.  I didn’t notice any real deficiencies, but I’ll get to the sound quality of the mic in the games section.  The headset itself has a pretty standard 20-20KHz rating, and listening tests verified the Orion Pro were just around there.

In addition to the nice braided cord, the soft and plush padding is very comfortable for long gaming sessions, and didn’t make my head itch.  I did notice a little sweat on the ears after a few long gaming sessions, however.  It's good to take breaks every once in a while and stay hydrated.  At 268g, the Orion Pro are very light in weight, making them pretty much disappear on your head.  This is excellent, especially for their size.

Rounding out the features and specification is the headband.  Plush.

The earpads and headband are a very soft and plush plastic of some sort.  They could be dead-animal product like leather, but I don't think so.  They are very comfortable of course, and I would much prefer this material over cheaper plastic or foam type earpads or headbands.

Saving the best for last, the Spitfire.  I know, you're probably still looking at my thumbnail in the picture above.  Sorry 'bout that, it was just a phase, haven't really had time to trim my nails.  Now then, the Spitfire USB dongle is interesting, and I think one of the better features of the Orion Pro, and something to look for in a headset.  You get a basic set of options with the Spitfire, 7.1 surround simulation, FPS EQ setting, and an amplify mode.  The Spitfire also glows red.  It is also very well designed, put together solid, and resisted my attempts to crack it open.  I'll go more into detail in the games section about the various modes.

Being USB powered, it won’t offer the best quality audio, and some DSP trickery might actually detract some of the absolute sound quality reaching your ears.  But the convenience of having USB means you'll most likely use the Orion Pro this way.  If you so desire the best quality audio out of your headphones, you always have the option of plugging the Orion Pro straight into your computer or laptop.  This, I remind you, is also the second best feature of the Orion Pro, you can disable all the glitter and get down animal style.

We've seen quite a lot of gaming headsets over the years and only a handful of them have been worthy of our recommendation.  Competition is pretty fierce amongst headsets and they need to stand out from each other.  After poking and prodding I think ASUS did an exceptional job on the Orion Pro, they are one of the best headsets I've used in months.  The quality and the features are what I'm talking about here, subtle differences that impressed me after a month's worth of use.  But, let's see how they actually work, shall we?