ASUS ROG Strix Go Headset Review

Conclusion

Whenever a company creates a product there is always a balance between price, performance, build quality and feature set. If you consider those four elements as the corners of a square then there are few products indeed that fill the corners. Usually if you jack up the performance, build it like a tank from high quality materials, and wrap it all up in a heavy feature set then the price will rise to match. Similarly if you want to make the price extremely attractive you’re going to have to compromise in other areas.

The ROG Strix Go takes a slightly different approach, with the final result being that the aforementioned metaphorical square would be filled in the performance corner and fairly in the middle everywhere else. Let’s get all the negatives out of the way first, because they’re comfortably out-weighed by the audio quality.

Removing it from the packaging and the first thing that strikes you is the cheap feeling. It’s a very plastic headset. That’s not a problem as such as nearly all headsets are largely made of plastic, but here it feels hard and scratchy, rather than feeling like a premium effort. The thin metal that forms the headband is the only element that gives any structural rigidity. Even the vinyl ear pieces feel more like the type of vinyl you’d get on a 70s car than a high end replacement for leather. We know that just a dot shy of £100 won’t leave us with a headset that has the build quality of some BeyerDynamic, but if we had to guess the price just from feel we’d be more in the sixty pound bracket rather than the hundred. As a model that is part of the Republic of Gamers range, and particularly their Strix arm, one would expect the Strix Go to be fully bedazzled and yet there is no RGB lighting, not even a different colour for the famous ROG Eye logo. It’s all a bit lackluster.

Now if you’re the type of person, like us, who can ignore any lack of sizzle as long as the steak is good, then the moment you put the Strix Go on and attach them to some audio all those above issues melt away. The audio quality is, for the money, nothing short of spectacular. Whilst the headset might feel like a £50 number when you just checking it out, as soon as you hear it you’re stunned that ASUS have managed to produce this level of audio quality for such an affordable price. With a closed back design the bass is as tight as you might expect, but it remains so no matter how hard you push the 40mm neodymium drivers. Excellent bass is fairly easy to do, but excellent bass that doesn’t remotely dominate the aural landscape is much harder and the Go manages it with aplomb. At the other end the highs are smooth and clear. In the middle zone, where most of your frequencies lie, the separation between instruments/effects is fantastic.

The ROG Strix Go have plenty of connectivity options thanks to the popular Type-C connector and included Type-C to Type-A adaptor meaning almost anything that supports USB audio is compatible, including all of the main consoles and high end devices. They might not feel amazing and might be entirely free of any flashy bits, but if what you want from a headset is spectacular audio quality for the MSRP of £79.99 then they hit it out of the park.

  

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