Asus ROG Delta S Wireless review: Comfort, style, and great sound

Price When Reviewed

199.99

Best Prices Today: ROG Delta S Wireless

$157.99

There’s an immediate enchantment to the ROG Delta S Wireless, which avid gamers will acknowledge proper from unboxing — from the headset’s uniquely formed earcups, to the thick foam padding, swivelling cups, and robust metallic headband, this headset oozes consolation and magnificence.

That swagger is barely accentuated by the headset’s ripper sound high quality — its 50mm drivers are loud and produce an audio signature that you simply’re going to actually dig when the motion will get intense. Mind you, so far as gaming headsets go, its performance is greatest suited to causal avid gamers. Enthusiast avid gamers could sorely miss options like simultaneous Bluetooth and a chat mixer wheel which the ROG Delta S Wireless doesn’t have.

Further studying: See our roundup of the best wireless gaming headsets to find out about competing merchandise.

ROG Delta S Wireless design and construct

Bold D-shaped earcups dominate the Delta S’s look. These seem large and hulking however strive on the headset and its 11.2 ounces (318 grams) really feel surprisingly light-weight. The headset’s average clamp strain helps with consolation; it held my ears with out squeezing them in too tight.

The set’s bulkiness is because of the thick reminiscence foam pads that stick out a full one inch from the bottom. It’s a number of foam, but it surely labored a deal with for me, offering my ears with extra consolation than I’m used to.

The reminiscence foam is roofed in a luxurious 100 p.c protein leather-based that feels decadently easy, however it may get slightly sizzling. When the warmth turned an excessive amount of, although, I merely needed to swap the default cups out for a second pair of extra breathable “Hybrid mesh” covers that got here included within the field. These slid over the outer cup rims however did want a little bit of coaxing to suit on.

Putting the scarf by means of its paces, it proved very effectively made. It’s comprised of a powerful and versatile metallic that you would be able to simply bend by means of 180 levels. There’s a number of vertical adjustment in it too, and the earcups swivel and tilt simply of their yokes, which by the way are additionally made from metallic.

ROG Delta S Wireless

To sum up the Delta S Wireless’s styling, it’s fairly minimalist. There’s no futuristic RGB, but it surely nonetheless seems to be aplomb with its easy black and white colour scheme and ROG logos on every earcup. It slot in completely with different black or white gear in my assortment, like my white Alienware Pro Wireless keyboard, so in case you’ve bought something like that, stylistically it’ll sync properly.

ROG Delta S Wireless connectivity

If you need only one headset to make use of throughout a set of gaming units, the ROG Delta S Wireless might be simply the ticket. It’s appropriate with PC, Mac, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, in addition to the Nintendo Switch and cell units — however not with Xbox consoles.

For connectivity, you get two wi-fi choices: low-latency 2.4GHz Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. This means it’s a cinch to modify between your cellphone and a gaming gadget on a whim — a easy flick of a swap is all that’s required. You also can join the headset’s USB-A to USB-C cable to your USB port for a wired connection, which is the best choice if you wish to cost as you play.

To hook as much as Wi-Fi, the gadget comes with a small USB-C dongle. But you additionally get a USB-A adapter within the field. I discovered this actually helpful for my older laptops that don’t have USB-C ports. What was additionally helpful was the hidden USB storage compartment in the suitable earcup. I’m all the time impressed with units which have dongle storage compartments since they assist stop dongle loss, so the headset scores priceless factors for that function.

ROG Delta S Wireless controls and microphone

The Delta S Wireless’s controls are positioned on the headset’s left earcup. They embrace a quantity wheel, on/off swap, and selector swap for connectivity. Navigating the controls is straightforward sufficient, because of their neat vertical configuration.

That’s how the headset is standard. When it involves the microphone, nevertheless, the Delta S Wireless is something however. In reality, I spent a minute or two on the lookout for a increase mic within the field, but it surely seems it makes use of an omnidirectional beamforming mic positioned contained in the cups as a substitute.

Testing out the mic confirmed it to be a bit hit-or-miss. With the AI Noise Cancellation function turned off, it picked up my voice loudly and clearly, regardless of not being positioned proper over my mouth. But it additionally picked up background noise — in my case the sound of my TV blabbering away behind me, which didn’t encourage a number of confidence for distraction-free workforce chats.

Switching the AI Noise Cancellation function to ON did scale back the background noise quite a bit, but it surely additionally appeared to compress the audio greater than I’d have favored. Consequently, I used to be left wishing it had a increase mic, which could have helped isolate the undesirable sound slightly higher than the present setup.

ROG Delta S Wireless software program

Settings changes may be made within the Armoury Crate app, which could be a little complicated to navigate at instances, however the app does present a ton of choices to personalize your sound setup.

There are a large number of presets obtainable to select from, together with for particular recreation genres like racing, FPS, and RPG video games. There are additionally generic presets for multimedia varieties like music and films, and these work effectively. Or, in case you can’t discover what you need, you possibly can simply create and customise your personal presets and save them within the app for later.

I used to be effectively happy to seek out 10 bar EQ presets protecting a wide range of several types of music — all the pieces from techno to hip hop. The Delta S Wireless doesn’t help high-res audio, however you possibly can actually get near studio-grade sound from them with the presets — as I discovered with the Blues preset and my BB King tracks.

In Armoury Crate it’s also possible to flip the Virtual Surround Sound and the AI Noise Cancellation on or off. Overall, there’s so much to find and for the very best sound high quality, it’s undoubtedly value your time.

ROG Delta S Wireless gaming efficiency

Launching a recreation of Apex Legends allowed me to check out the Delta S Wireless’s audio high quality, which is obvious and exact with a full-bodied soundstage. The 50mm neodymium drivers are an actual ear splitter. On low quantity, they sound about 30 p.c louder than headsets just like the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid and Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, which is kind of spectacular contemplating how a lot reminiscence foam they should challenge by means of. Consequently, I needed to modify my system quantity decrease to seek out the suitable stage.

Listening carefully to the headset’s tonal vary revealed it had fairly good acoustics throughout the spectrum. The mids sounded heat and rounded, whereas treble tones had been shiny and zingy. The bass too is healthier than in some premium models I’ve tried — it actually introduced drama to my load-up music, creating a way of foreboding whereas I waited for video games to start out.

When it involves performance, the Delta S Wireless seems to be like a heavy hitter, but it surely’s truly extra of a light-weight. Perhaps I’m slightly spoiled for choices, however I discovered the headset to be missing the form of performance I’d usually lean on for a deeper extra immersive gaming expertise — options like a chat mixer and simultaneous Bluetooth performance. That stated, that slimmed down performance is mirrored in its $199.99 price ticket. While choices with a fuller suite of performance can value upwards of $300 — just like the mighty SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset — for what you’re paying right here the Delta S Wireless appears about proper on level for the form of plush informal gaming expertise you get on your cash.

On the upside too, the ROG Delta S Wireless has each an honest sign vary and an extended battery life. In Bluetooth mode I bought roughly 20 meters away earlier than my sign began to interrupt up, which is rather less than the marketed 25 meters, but it surely nonetheless allowed me to seize a snack from my kitchenette whereas listening to Discord.

My headset lasted 27 hours earlier than the battery died — which is 2 hours greater than the 25 hours it’s rated for. When I did run out, a mere 15-minutes of fast-charging was all that was wanted so as to add an additional three-hours cost again into the set. That proved extraordinarily helpful for charging on brief breaks between video games.

Should you purchase the ROG Delta S Wireless?

The ROG Delta S Wireless has a likeable two-tone gamer-centric aesthetic and a snug and sturdy design. It additionally has a commendable audio high quality. While it doesn’t present fairly as a lot deep recreation performance as some premium headsets do, just like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, for instance, the Delta S Wireless nonetheless elevates any causal gaming expertise with its lengthy checklist of premium options. If you’re after a headset that’s easy to make use of however with the comfort of twin wi-fi connectivity and nice cross compatibility, then the Delta S Wireless is a superb choice.