ASUS Orion Pro

ASUS Orion Pro

A solid effort but, it fails to wow

Price £75 inc VAT

 +    ORION Good sound; reasonably priced; comfortable; USB or 3.5mm connection

 -    ONION Vulcan has better noise isolation; bass can overwhelm

Asus’ Republic of Gamers (ROG) division shook up the headset market in spectacular style with the Vulcan ANC, which remains one of our favourites. Keen to cover all bases, Asus has now introduced the Orion Pro alongside the Vulcan, which is a slightly different beast. 

The oval ear cups of the Vulcan have been replaced with a circular, closed-back design. However, the result of this design isn’t as comfortable to wear, or as effective as the Vulcan when it comes to noise isolation, as the circular ear cups leave gaps through which outside noise can enter. 

The Orion Pro also boasts both a pair of 3.5mm headphone jacks and Asus’ ROG
Asus’ Vulcan ANC wowed us when we first saw it in Issue 98. It dished out rich and varied bass frequencies without encroaching too much on the rest of the audio spectrum. It was also one of the most comfortable headsets we had the pleasure to use. Its headband is supportive and perfectly squishy, while its closed-back ear cups provide impressively tight noise isolation. It also sports a removable headphone cable and boom microphone, and offers active noise cancellation (ANC) via a single AAA battery. Our current tests saw it perform very well again, although its generous bass output sounded a little overzealous compared to the subtler Qpad QH-90, which outputs a more
Spitfire USB sound device. There’s a nifty retractable boom microphone included as well, which coils back into the left ear cup when not needed. 

Meanwhile, the 50mm drivers deliver a similar sound to the Vulcan, with a capable high end and mid-range accompanied by rich and powerful bass. However, as with the Vulcan, this can sometimes overwhelm; bass frequencies sounded strong and deep, but explosions in games and movies sometimes sounded overly deep and rumbly.

CONCLUSION There’s plenty to like about the Orion Pro, but it fails to match, let alone surpass, its sibling,
the ANC Vulcan. However, its main threat comes from the fantastic Qpad QH-90, which has the same price tag and is superior in every way. AL

Connections USB or 3.5mm mini-jack 

Extras USB sound card, in-line volume and mic control

Drivers 50mm 

SOUND 33 / 40

DESIGN 23 / 30

VALUE 14 / 30

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