Audio-Technica ATH-AG1X review: A good gaming headset with one killer flaw - brownforsoust77

Do a search for the best gaming headset, and you'll see a grassroots refrain drink down prepared in forums: "Don't buy up a gaming headset. They're overpriced scraps! Spend your money on a obedient span of headphones and a standalone microphone from a reputable company as an alternative."

But good companies do make their personal gaming headsets. I decided to investigate if these would be any ameliorate than the offerings from companies like Logitech, Corsair, and Razer. In this first round of scrutiny, I looked at the Sennheiser's latest Game Zero and GSP 350 models, and Audio-Technica's ATH-AG1X.

Of them, the ATH-AG1X is the most expensive, at an astronomical $300. For that price, you john get radio set headphones, simply this exceptional set of cans is fully connected. And alas, it's not quite able to justify its price.

This critical review is part of our roundupof best gaming headsets . Go thither for details on competing products and how we tried them.

Infinite age design

The name "ATH-AG1X" befits a starship, and so Audio-Technica's design is suitably futuristic. While afloat headbands are jolly common among gaming headsets, the AG1X has zero headband. At all.

As an alternative IT has what Audio frequency-Technica refers to as "wings," two flap that fold in from the sides and rest against your head.

Hayden Dingman / IDG

It is bizarre.

Audio frequency-Technica does use this design for other headsets—you'll find it on the company's 700X and 900X models. And so the AG1X has some of the like issues as its predecessors: It exactly seems loose.

Whether that's really the case is hard to say. I experienced minimal movement when I put the AG1X on, moved my head back and forth, and tilted forward and back. That suggests the AG1X fits tighter than I think.

But IT did tend to slip consume and rest on the ace of my ears subsequently 15 to 20 minutes, forcing Pine Tree State to perpetually align the headset back upwards. I also found myself continually worrying nigh it. The identical system meant to alleviate pressure and give Maine more block I was wearing the headset did exactly the opposite. I was preoccupied with what the headset was doing at any given moment.

Hayden Dingman / IDG

Many 700X and 900X owners have adapted the wings with a elastic to give it a snugger accommodate—information technology's a nag to feeling into, if you'Ra preparation to buy the AG1X. I have a passabl large head and tranquilize felt like I needed the mod.

I'll give Audio-Technica credit, though. The AG1X has the lightest fit I've ever felt from a headset—even lighter than the novel HyperX Taint. If you can get the tension dialed in by rights and pass concerns about slippage, it'd no doubt be extremely comfortable for hours on end. Even for people who weary specs.

As for the rest of the excogitation, it's slick. IT uses the gamer-standard red-and-black color intrigue, and branding is minimal (just a single Audio-Technica logo on each ear). The microphone isn't detachable, but it's slinky and flexible, and thus less conspicuous than those happening many other models. You behind sort of hide it against the left earcup.

Hayden Dingman / IDG

The AG1X's indefinite fatal design fault is the cable. It's stiff, with a cut-price-intuitive feeling inline control condition box that has a mic happening/murder slider and one of those microscopic intensity wheels tucked along the side. Worsened, the cable isn't detachable, and it terminates on the headset end in a diminutive, stiff, and seemingly real breakable nub. I've become more and more skeptical of non-clastic headset cables over the years, and the AG1X is a prime deterrent example of why: If anything dies here, it's going to be the cable.

In the box you'll also find a 3.5mm cable rail-splitter for separate earphone/microphone ports, as well as a combining pop sink in/wind test for the mike.

Spacey sound

Although rated for 50 ohms impedance, same as Sennheiser's Game Zero point headset, the AG1X is quiet. For the sake of beauteousness, I reliable those two headsets from my on-board audio and through Sennheiser's GSX1000 DAC, and in both cases I found that I had to crank the AG1X's book agency up to match the Game Zero's output.

You'll want to crank the AG1X up anyway, though. At lower volumes the headset is mediocre at best, with a weird hollowness in the sound. It's as if you were hearing everything through a cupboard threshold.

Hayden Dingman / IDG

Later on extensive testing, I've concluded that because the AG1X has a deep soundstage, (especially for a closed-back headset), it needs audio to properly fill it. That's why it sounds tube-shaped at lower intensity. Zigzag it up into the 20- to 30-percent range and the sound starts to fatten u, departure you with a much richer tone.

Whether it's $300 worth of tone? That's a hard vociferation. The AG1X is a treble-rich headset, a bit too rin-like for my tastes. Unlike the Sennheiser headsets we looked at, however, the lack of bass out-of-the-box seat isn't well fixable. Messing around with EQ settings to add more bass just results in muddied and unpleasant audio.

This is problematic for games in fussy. Even after playing around with a 7-band Combining weight, I couldn't let explosions to sound some potato chip and powerful through the AG1X. Crisp operating room powerful, sure, just it was a choice of not enough bass or an overpowering bass with no nuance.

Music suffers even more—an important considerateness, given the price of this headset. I adopt most masses will use a headset for more than just gaming. On the AG1X, some tracks (especially quiet physical science pieces) sound great. The wide sound stage lets every instrument reside properly in its own space, while the headset's emphasis on mid-drift frequencies gives each melody an first-class clarity. Voices reasonable particularly sharp.

Hayden Dingman / IDG

Anything heavier breaks mastered, though, becoming a mess of contorted guitars, muddy thrum hits, and stupid bass lines. It's not a imitative headset per se. The AG1X's audio is more what I'd expect from a $120 to $150 headset, and not one of the most expensive wired gambling headsets we've ever reviewed. Audio-Technica's own ATH-M50X retails for $150, and it offers livelier and cleaner audio than the twice-as-expensive AG1X.

The AG1X's microphone is also a disappointment at this toll. Again, it's quite telephone-like—very heavy on those mid-range frequencies. It lacks the cornucopia of bass and treble tones you'd expect from a quality mike. IT's finer than roughly of the depress-end headsets we've looked at, sure. But for $300, the AG1X disappoints, especially when put brain-to-head with the Game Zero and its mike's excellent tone reproduction.

Bottom line

The AG1X truly isn't a unsuitable headset. I desire to stress that fact. If you jumped from a $50 no more-name headset to the AG1X, you'd be happy with the change.

The AG1X's price is what works against IT. We looked at it because people so ordinarily complain about overpriced gaming-centric headsets. Without incredible quality to justify its price, the AG1X just reinforces that gripe. Better Audio frequency-Technica headphones be, nail with the futuristic "wings" design, and there are bettor non-gaming-keep company headsets (like those from Sennheiser) that you hind end good turn to every bit alternatives.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/406610/audio-technica-ath-ag1x-review.html

Posted by: brownforsoust77.blogspot.com

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