Keen to build upon the foundations laid out by its existing ROG peripherals, ASUS has announced two new gaming headsets, the ROG Theta, and the ROG Theta Electret, at Computex 2019.
Keeping to the stylish origins of the rest of Republic of Gamer catalog, the Theta series is based on a luxurious, soft-touch ear cup design with metal covers to provide sustained comfort and longevity.
ASUS ROG Theta
First up, we have the ROG Theta centered around a future-proof USB Type-C connection allied to eight Essence drivers, four in each ear cup. In a departure from traditional headset design, ASUS has opted to remove the sub driver entirely.
The four larger ESS 9601 cups cover the front, center, side and rear channels with a broader frequency spectrum and, by extension, a larger aural soundstage to compensate for the absent subwoofer. A ROG exclusive high-end 7.1 surround sound DAC helps matters too with crisp audio output.
On the microphone end, the Theta uses a dedicated processor allied to AI-defined profiles to identify and cancel out unwanted background noise. ASUS claims the machine-learning process can eradicate 50 million types of unwanted sonic pollution, and this up to 99% of the time. In keeping with the rest of the ROG range, the Theta has Aura Sync RGB lighting for full-color customization.
ASUS ROG Theta Electret
The Theta Electret is the analog Hi-Fi alternative aimed at the audiophile gamer on the hunt for true-to-life quality. Allowing the headset to be used with all manner of devices is a classic silver-plated copper 3.5mm audio jack input and a handy 6.3 mm input adapter.
The ear cups consist of a dual speaker setup fitted to electret drivers and a dynamic transducer. The drivers have a lightweight polymer film wedged between two plates. A transformer amplifies the signal causing an electromagnetic field to move the film and create output audio with much lower distortion levels than dynamic drivers.
To cater for the low end, one 45 mm dynamic driver per ear cup acts a subwoofer of sorts and when combined with the electret drivers create a well-rounded frequency spectrum defined by clear high end and punchy bass. The microphone on the ROG Theta Electret is removable and carries certification from Discord and TeamSpeak, so we can expect more than decent audio quality.
In what is a running theme at Computex, no details about pricing or when and where both the ASUS ROG Theta and ASUS ROG Theta Electret will be available.