Asus R.O.G. Vulcan ANC review

[siopao1984]

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Asus R.O.G. Vulcan ANC review by VR-Zone.com

Introduction

Ah, gaming headsets, the one thing where it's guaranteed that everyone has a different opinion of which model is the best. Well, we're going to try to do our best to give you our thoughts on the Asus Republic of Gamer Vulcan ANC headset based on a couple of weeks of solid usage in various scenarios, of which not all of them are gaming related, as after all, it doesn't make sense buying a headset that's only good for one thing, as most, if not all of us use a headset for multiple things these days.



Build and Construction

The Vulcan ANC is anything but a discrete headset in black, red and carbon fibre livery, although it's all rather tastefully blended into a design that looks very stylish as long as you don't mind the R.O.G. logo's on the sides. What struck us is how comfortable the Vulcan ANC was in use, as despite being a fairly large and heavy headset at 325g, even during extended periods of wear the headset felt comfortable. It should be pointed out that yours truly is wearing glasses and this is usually something that tends to cause ear pain after an hour or two, but not so in this case.



According to Asus, the ear pads are made out of memory foam covered with some form of leather and in all fairness we did get sweaty around the ears after an hour or so, this didn't cause any discomfort beyond feeling slightly wet. The ear pads covers the entire ear and provides some noise reduction on their due to the closed design of the ear cups. It should also be noted that the headband features a thick cushion made out of the same materials as well and it helps further improve the comfort of the headset.



Asus has also made sure that the headband offers enough adjustment even for those with fairly big heads, as some headphones and headsets can be quite tight around the head. The ear cups are also mounted in a kind of pivot that allows them to further adjust to a comfortable position around your ears. Let's not forget that the headset is foldable which makes it easy to store and transport. There's no flimsy plastic to be seen in the hinge construction either, as Asus has gone for what appears to be really sturdy metal hinges which should hopefully make the Vulcan ANC's long lasting.

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Acoustics

There are of course two key features beyond the comfort of a headset that makes it a great product or a completely useless one, the transducers (speakers) and the microphone. In case of the drivers we're looking at a pair of 40mm moving coil drivers (the most common type in headphones of this type), also known as dynamic drivers. Asus makes some claims about a fine tuned chamber space inside the ear cups and we'll have to take their word on this one as we're not audio technicians and couldn't say if it was a good design or not even if we would've torn the headset apart. What we can say though is that the Vulcan ANC produces very clear mids and highs and it's a great headset for both voice communications and gaming where you need to be able to pin-point sounds.



What did surprise us though was the lack of bass, although the Vulcan ANC is far from the worst headset or headphones we've ever heard, we expected the 40mm drivers to produce a lot more bass. This means that the Vulcan ANC's aren't great for listening to music with heavy bass tracks or for games where the music track is key to the overall ambiance of the game. That said, we feel that Asus has gone the right way here as we think it's more important to have a clear sounding headset for gaming rather than a really bass heavy one.



Connectivity

What about the microphone then? Well, it produced very clear sound, at least based on several Skype calls using it, as the people we spoke to said it sounded much better than our regular headset. The fact that the mic is removable makes the Vulcan ANC much more usable as a pair of headphones as well, as you don't have to worry about the microphone being in your way all the time. We're not so keen on the stiffness and limited adjustment range of the mic though, as it felt like it was too far away from our mouth, but no-one was complaining that it sounded muffled or too far away, so this is most likely just a matter of perception.





On top of everything else, Asus has also added a detachable cable for the Vulcan ANC and this not only makes it easy to transport the headset in the included carrying case, but it also means it should be possible to get a replacement cable if for some reason you'd end up breaking the cable. There's a mic mute switch and a volume control located on the cable, but we'd like this to be a little bit higher up on the cable, especially as there's a clip on the back that allows for it to be attached to your clothes. The current location of the volume control adds too much cable between it and the headset and there's no need for that much slack. An interesting little feature at the end of the cable is a storage compartment for the mic jack for when you want to use the Vulcan ANC's as a pair of headphones rather than a headset.

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Active Noise Cancelling

So what about the active noise cancelling feature? Well, for starters it requires a AAA battery to be inserted into the right ear cup, the side pops off with the press of a button on the bottom of the ear cup. Asus claims that a single AAA battery is good for up to 40h of usage. Unlike many noise cancelling headphones the Vulcan ANC's have been tuned specifically to reduce noise from computer fans and Asus claims an 85 percent reduction in fan noise with ANC enabled. Beyond reducing fan noise there's also a reduction in general noise. In as much as we'd say that this feature does indeed work pretty close to Asus' claims, it also changed the way the headset sounded. We felt like the bass lacked even more with ANC enabled and we're not certain that it added anything to our gaming experience. On the other hand, if you have a really noisy PC, then this might just be a life saver for your ears.



Final Words / Conclusion

It's quite tough to sum up the Asus R.O.G. Vulcan ANC's, as on one side they're excellent for gaming and voice communications, but we would really have liked a little bit more oomph in the bass department. The microphone lacks adjustment, but it doesn't seem to impede the voice quality. The active noise cancelling doesn't really add much, at least not unless you're gaming in a noisy environment. Overall it's an attractive product, but with an MSRP of S$179 (US$149) PHP 6,265 it's a fairly expensive headset as well. But then there's the comfort level, this is simply one of the most comfortable headsets we've ever used and if you're using a headset for several hours a day, this is one of the most important aspects of a headset. If you've got the money to spare, this is a great headset, just as long as you're aware of its limitations.



Overall this is a product we’d highly recommend and we think Asus has done a great job on the design of this headset, even though it’s not perfect, but then again, very few products are. Even so, taking into account the clear audio and the comfort of this headset, it’s a clear winner as a gaming headset; it’s just not quite as flexible when it comes to music and watching movies as we’d hoped it’d be. It’s also worth remembering that this is Asus’ first in-house designed gaming headset and as such it’s hopefully just a sign of things to come.

[eXpLoDe]

this is nice. slight cheap than beats. looking forward to it.