Most gaming headphones are geared towards letting you hear all audio cues in whatever game you’re playing as clearly as possible. With that in mind, wouldn’t it make sense for gamers to use audiophile-grade headphones that aim to reproduce sound as accurately and transparently as possible? We’re guessing that’s the thinking behind the ASUS ROG Kithara, a gaming headset built to deliver audiophile-grade sound.
Like many audiophile headphones today, the device uses an open-back planar-magnetic design, a first for ASUS. As such, the outfit partnered with HiFiMan, which specializes in high-end audio products, to help in its development. The result is a headset that, the outfit claims, delivers high precision and crystal clear sound that’s fine-tuned to meet the demands of intense gameplay.
The ASUS ROG Kithara is a gaming headset equipped with 100mm HiFiMan planar magnetic drivers, allowing it to produce audiophile-grade fidelity across a wide frequency range (from 8Hz to 55kHz) with vivid detail and exceptionally low distortion. ASUS claims they specifically tuned the drivers to make it perfectly suited for gamers who “demand absolute clarity, precision, and realism.” For instance, they boast a fast transient response that preserves clarity without lingering effects, so that key in-game audio cues are sharply define, while precise left and right tuning delivers accurate stereo imaging and enhanced immersion.
It has an open-back design that creates a spacious, natural soundstage that delivers clear separation across the bass, mids, and treble for enhanced spatial awareness, regardless of what kind of game world you’re playing in. That means, you’ll be able to easily distinguish the position of different sounds, whether it’s a nearby enemy reloading, footsteps approaching, or a distant explosion, even during the most chaotic gameplay, unlike the sound clustering that often happens with closed-back headsets that produce a narrower soundstage.
The ASUS ROG Kithara pairs that stellar sound with an on-cable, full-band MEMS boom mic that, the outfit claims, allow for crystal-clear voice capture. Since it’s a MEMS mic, it delivers an ultrawide 20Hz–20kHz response and higher 74dB SNR, ensuring clear and natural voice pickup with a minimal amount of distortion (less than 0.1 percent total harmonic distortion, according to ASUS). The headset uses separate TRS plugs for the audio and the mic, which is supposed to eliminate crosstalk for cleaner, more uninterrupted communication. We’re guessing that’s necessary to make it suitable for actual audiophiles who might use this as much for music listening as they do for gameplay.
It comes with swappable 4.4mm, 3.5mm, and 6.3mm plugs, ensuring you can use it across any PC, game console, DAC, or amplifier in your gear stash. Heck, it even has 3.5mm jacks on both left and right earcups, so users can use their own cables if they prefer going that route. Other features include a USB-C to dual 3.5mm adapter for use on audio sources with only a USB-C slot, an earcup angle that minimizes pressure against the jaw, a diamond-cut metal plate, a three-layer headband that reduces pressure acrosss the head, a durable metal frame, eight size adjustment levels.
The ASUS ROG Kithara is available now, priced at $300.
