Unboxing & Specification
As always, we start, really, with an unboxing of the product. This is traditionally a strong point of Asus gear, and I like to use it as a benchmark of user experience. Sure, a product stuffed roughly into a box will perform exactly the same as one housed inside a shiny box, but they will ultimately perform the same. That said, if I were the user unboxing something, I'd take a bit rough/ready over neat/tidy any day of the week, as long as my product performed to spec and did what I needed it to.
I hope, therefore, that the W's perform to spec and do what I need them to, because having taken the lids of both the regular 500's and more expensive 700's, the experience of unboxing the product was a let-down, in all honesty. It was apparent that my sample was not the first to be sent out by Asus, but given that this is common practice, I won't hold it against them. What was a bit disappointing was the lack of flair over what is meant to be a premium product? Please note, there is a difference between 'flair' when unveiling a product from a company that has a history of packing their products in a fancy way, vs. a company that doesn't tend to. My Topre keyboard, for instance, is worth over £200, but was very simply packed in a box with some protective wrapping and a simple logo/product name stamped on the top of the box. I didn't expect anything more from Topre, and the product spoke for itself. The regular 500's and 700's, however, had true fanfare. I say this is disappointing because whilst there is nothing inherently wrong with the unboxing experience when compared to the others, it does look a little weak.
Looking it entirely objectively, however, this would still be very nice indeed. The box features soft-touch material that opens up clamshell style, to reveal the headphones nestled neatly, along with a small USB wireless adapter (which, let's be honest, you will likely lose before long). The accessories, though few in number, are all you really need, and can be found in a black cardboard box below the plastic pallet that the headphones call home. Mine was a little bashed up, but hey, review samples can sometimes be so. An instruction guide, braided USB cable (for charging, that can lead to around 15h of listening/use time, which is none too shabby), and warranty info. It's 100% standard, and even though I felt the unboxing didn't hold a candle to the base 500's or 700's, it was still absolutely fine.
Product Specifications
This is where things usually get interesting. This time, however, they do not. Not because the W's are lacking. Not at all, they boast exactly the same earpiece specs as their non-wireless cousins. To that end, they also share the same pedigree as the more expensive 700's, albeit minus that DAC/Amp. I'm not sure, as I write this, how much this will affect the whole listening experience. In case you're wondering, the attached microphone also shares the same specs as with the other two units mentioned multiple times in the review so far. I really, really, need to find a better way to refer to them.
What about the wireless, then? This product's big selling point? The Asus product page certainly ups the ante in many ways, with regards to claims re. the W's wireless performance. As a gamer, naturally, you don't want latent or unreliable wireless implementation. The Fusion Wireless uses the 2.4Ghz band to transmit, meaning that - through a lot of buzzwords, and liberal use of the word 'technology' - wireless performance on this device should be very solid, and not subject to the potential perils of using Bluetooth in a public place. On that point, actually, the use of this product in a public place is something you can very much consider doing, for one very good reason (which I will get to later on). I will be testing out the wireless vs. wired performance later, as well.
A small, yet needed, word on compatibility. The product is only listed to work with PC and PS4, with no mention of Xbox or MacOS. I can't see this being an especially big deal to those on Apple's pretty Unix based OS, but it might irk some Xbox users who were looking for a gamer-oriented wireless headset. Asus is a company that has made a name for themselves, so much so that I sometimes see people utterly refuse to buy motherboards/GPUs, or anything, from other vendors. I'm not one for dedication and will buy what suits me the most, but not having the W's work on Xbox - for whatever reason - might annoy some. In the wider scheme of things, though, it's really a non-starter of a problem.
Just a couple more things before we move onto what I think is this unit's party piece. Anyway. First up, touch controls. These remain unchanged from my first use of them back in March, and I have little reason to doubt they will work well. In fact, I may as well get this out of the way. They did. Tap to pause/play, swipe left/right to skip forward or back, and swipe up/down to change volume. Beyond checking that it worked, I didn't find myself using the touch controls at all. That, however, is just me. Some may get significantly more mileage out of it than I did, and that's great. I controlled volume/audio from my PC/laptop where needed.
A nice addition to the lineup, for most, would be Asus' Armoury software, a suite that aims to provide a one-stop shop for controlling your headset. Naturally, we will be looking at this software in slightly more detail later. On the face of it, however, it provides EQ, different profiles per title/application, and - if needed - the inbuilt microphone. Having said that, on the last point, you all well know my feelings toward 99.99% of inbuilt headset mics. They are 100% fine for the majority of people, but if you need something dedicated or higher spec, chances are you know you're that person. Simple.
Right, onto let the Strix Fusion Wireless (I felt like using their full name there was at least justified) do a little twirl, and we'll get on with the testing afterward.
