Asus STRIX DSP Gaming Headset Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The ASUS STRIX DSP is a flagship premium grade headset, packed full of features, so as you would expect, it has a sizable price tag to match its feature set. The DSP will set you back a whopping £120 + shipping from Overclockers.co.uk, which is expensive, but it’s comparable to rival offerings of a similar specification.

Overview

I’m not usually a fan of flashy gaming headsets, I like something a little more refined and generally I favour a headset that was designed with music as its number one priority, but the ASUS STRIX DSP really caught my attention. I have to admit that I’m not overly fond of the design, it’s very loud and actually a little garish in my opinion, but I can see that it’s a design that will appeal to a lot of gamers, as style is a highly subjective matter.

In terms of performance, the DSP doesn’t disappoint one bit, it’s certainly one of the best headsets I’ve tested this year. The sound quality is crystal clear, the built-in audio processing actually works very well and for some, it’ll even provide you with benefits to your gameplay, especially the footsteps focus setting for first person shooters.

The DSP sounds great in movies, music and gaming alike, but I especially like the speaker pass through, as it means I don’t have to tinker with any cables or system settings to change sources and this can be a real time saver for many gamers; just tap the headphone button and your headset is good to go!

It is rather expensive, but no more so than other high-end gaming/desktop orientated headsets. There are some headsets out there that sound better, some that offer more features, some that offer sleeker designs and so on, you just need to find the balance that’s best suited to your needs and the DSP certainly ticks a lot of boxes.

Pros

• Durable build quality
• Crystal clear sound
• Powerful drivers
• Universal fit headband
• Speaker passthrough
• Plug and play ready USB soundcard (via base unit)
• Gaming DSP audio settings
• Surround sound processing
• Detachable microphone
• Environment noise cancellation
• Compatible with mobile devices

Cons

• The headset is quite large
• The “Owl” face ear cup design is a little garish

Neutral

• The headset is quite expensive, but that is justified by the features and performance
• Pointlessly inaccessible switches on bottom of base unit

“The ASUS STRIX DSP is big, aggressively styled and quite expensive, but it excels at providing superb audio quality for a wide range of multimedia applications. It’s perfect for gaming, but you’ll find its feature set is just as well suited to movie, music or chatting on Skype.”

Thank you Asus for providing us with this sample.