ASUS ROG Delta S USB-C Gaming Headset Review

1. Introduction & Specification Details and Close-up
2. Design & Software
3. Performance & Microphone
4. Final Thoughts

TweakTown's Rating: 93%

The Bottom Line

ASUS's ROG Delta S is one of the most premium headsets I have had the pleasure of getting my hands-on. It comes equipped with almost every feature you'd expect on a gaming headset, but at a premium price.

Buy at Amazon

Introduction & Specification Details and Close-up

ASUS has announced a new headset to its large line of gaming headset solutions. Introducing, the ROG Delta S.

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ASUS has released a new headset to its Delta line of gaming headsets, and this new model features an updated design, AI noise cancellation microphone, USB-C, and more comfort. The ROG Delta S, which will be referred to simply as the Delta S in this review, features industry-leading high-resolution ESS 9281 with QUAD DAC technology and is the first gaming headset with MQA technology.

In this review, we will be running the Delta S through a series of different tests. First, we are going to take a look at its physical design. Then we will run it through some sound quality testing in games and music. Lastly, we will dive into some microphone testing, and then I will provide you with my final thoughts on the product. The Delta S comes with a price tag of $199

Close-up

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As always, we start with a picture of the front of the box, and as you can see, the box shows off a nice graphic of the headset and the RGB support.

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Next, we have a side shot of the box, and we can see some nice reflective ASUS branding reading, "ROG Delta S".

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Moving on to the back of the box, we can see that ASUS has detailed all of the features of the headset in separate categories for consumer convenience.

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Here we have an image of the inside of the box, and as you can see, the packaging is very simple, and the headset has a nice tight fit.

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Above is an image of the headset taken out of the box, and as you can see, the headset has a nice slick black design with a large removable microphone.

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Here we have a close-up shot of the microphone, and as you can see, the microphone features a clean black design and doesn't come with a pop-filter.

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Next, we have a shot of the earcup, and from the image, we can see that it features a nice leatherette coating and, on the inside, the ROG logo.

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Next, we have an image of the USB-C connection, and on the end of the cable, we have some subtle ASUS branding.

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Moving on, we have an image of the top of the Delta S headband, and as we can see, we have the classic ASUS branding - Republic of Gamers.

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In the box, ASUS provides buyers with a USB-C to USB-A extension cable, as you can see from the above image.

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ASUS provides Delta S buyers with a spare pair of earcup cushions. The spare earcup cushions are fabric, so if you don't like the leather ones, you can swap them out.

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Lastly, we have an image of the headset size adjustment mechanism, and from the image, we can see that the size adjustment mechanism features numbers and has an aluminum coating.

Jak's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero X570 (Wi-Fi) (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X @ 4.4GHz (buy from Amazon)
• GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER XC GAMING (buy from Amazon)
• Cooler: be quiet! Silent Wings 3
• RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 3200MHz (buy from Amazon)
• SSD: GALAX HOF Pro SSD PCI-E M.2 2TB
• Power Supply: Corsair CX Series 750 Watt (buy from Amazon)
• Case: be quiet! Silent Base 600 (buy from Amazon)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (buy from Amazon)

ASUS ROG Delta S

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$39.99	$39.99	$39.99	$39.99	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 4/17/2024 at 6:19 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Design & Software

Design

ASUS is no stranger to putting most of its good eggs in its 'Design' basket for its gaming headsets, and the Delta S is no exception, at least in my books. Personally, I love the design of the Delta S, and I think my love begins with the earcups.

The earcups of the Delta S are shaped like a "D", and at first, I didn't think I would enjoy the way that they sat on my head, but after a lengthy amount of testing, I came to love the shape. The shape of the earcups, plus the incredibly comfortable cushioning, created a very pleasurable wearing experience that featured no downsides whatsoever. There wasn't a single time throughout my testing of the Delta S that I felt any unnecessary pressure on my head, which meant that I could wear the Delta S for hours on end.

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While we are on the topic of earcups, let's talk about the left earcup and its functionality. On the backside of the left earcup, ASUS has placed a volume wheel, mute microphone, and a LED switch. I really like how both of these functionality options are evenly spaced and how the mute microphone button is hidden under the volume wheel. If I were to offer any improvements to the left-earcup design, I would suggest an EQ preset switcher, as it would save users having to go to the ASUS software to switch EQ's.

I suppose we can't talk about design without mentioning the LED's that are present on both earcups. Now, I'm not usually one that falls in love with LED's on a gaming headset, as I usually find them quite gimmicky. But, the Delta S is different, and let me explain to you why. In the headsets I've tested, I've commonly found that the LED's located anywhere on the headset don't have deep colors. They aren't usually very bright and lack color depth. The Delta S is the complete opposite and features very rich and deep colors, which is why I think it's the best RGB headset I've tested so far.

Ok, let's wrap up the Delta S's design. The Delta S is a very lightweight gaming headset (300g) that features incredibly comfortable earcups, and at least in my experience, it didn't cause any discomfort when I wore it for upwards of 5 hours in one sitting. The Delta S also comes with what I consider the best-in-class RGB's and an earcup design that is bound to compliment any ear shape.

On a more personal note - My favorite part about the Delta S probably has to be the earcup cushions and the leather finish. While I have mentioned this earlier, I cannot understate how comfortable these are. They mold to your head shape and also have an adequate amount of room for your earcups.

Overall, ASUS, you have done fantastic work on the design of the Delta S, I firmly approve of your direction.

Software

The Delta S uses ASUS's Armory Crate for its software, and of you are in need of a download link one can be found here.

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The Armory Crate is quite an extensive software, but the purpose of this review we will just be concentrating on the Delta S settings. There aren't actually that many settings, but what you do have to work with does its job quite well.

I would recommend you using the presets for whatever you are doing. For gaming, I used the FPS preset, and for music listening, I used Studio. I would also recommend playing with the Bass Boost setting and enabling Perfect Voice when you are communicating with someone else, as it drastically improves microphone quality.

The settings are quite straight forward and work as intended. I also really appreciate that when a setting is adjusted, the changes are immediately updated on the headset, which rules out the need for the "Apply" button. Great work here, ASUS.

Performance & Microphone

Performance

I ran the Delta S through my usual testing regime, played numerous hours of games, and listened to different types of music. As with all of my gaming headset reviews, I like to spend anywhere between 20 - 50 hours with the headset.

Gaming Audio

So, how did the Delta S go in games? I took the Delta S through some different types of games. I played Apex Legends, some Cyberpunk 2077, and some Call of Duty: Warzone. With all of the games, I didn't experience any distortion and was quite satisfied with what I was hearing. I was overly impressed, but I wasn't disappointed either. The Hi-fi ESS 9281 Quad DAC certainty pulled some weight, along with the

50mm Neodymium magnet drivers.

Throughout all of the games I played, I noticed that some of the highs became a bit tinny. A better way to put it is the highs sounded flat, but this problem was easily solved by going into the Armoury Crate and increasing the Bass Boost. Overall, the guns sounded very crisp in all of the games, and directional audio was very decent as well - I had no problems accurately tracking my enemies down.

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Things changed when I enabled the 7.1 virtual surround sound, and as someone who isn't a big fan of virtual surround sound, or at least have tested very few headsets that have impressed me with their surround sound, I was very happy with what I heard with the Delta S. Directional audio was on point in all the games I played, and truly felt that I was able to track my enemies much easier when I had 7.1 surround sound enabled, which is something that usually never happens for me.

ASUS has done a fantastic job with the 7.1 surround sound in this headset. If a gamer that really wanted a surround sound headset asked me for a recommendation, the Delta S would be in my top 5 recommended products. Great work in this aspect, ASUS!

Music/Movie Listening

I played many different genres of music in stereo and found that through Spotify, all of my music was at an acceptable quality. The drivers of the headset, combined with the DAC, really pulled some weight. I also tested the Delta S with some of my FLAC collection, just to compare Spotify quality and uncompressed audio.

I played Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, DOOM 2016/Eternal soundtrack, and The Doors. All of the music sounded fantastic through the Delta S, and for that reason, I believe that anyone that listens to music as much as they play games would be happy with what they would be hearing.

Microphone

ROG Delta S - Default Settings

[strong]Delta S Perfect Voice [/strong]

[strong]HyperX Cloud Revolver S[/strong]

[strong]Logitech G395[/strong]

[strong]Sennheiser GSP 300[/strong]

Final Thoughts

What's Hot

The Delta S has an awesome design that is coupled with incredible performance when surround sound is enabled. The Armory Software is very straight forward and offers many improvements to the headset with the use of Perfect Voice and presets. The headset's microphone is very average when used with Default settings, but with Perfect Voice-enabled, it's very good. The Delta S also held its ground with music listening, even at the highest of qualities.

What's Not

The price of the Delta S is quite premium, and when compared to some of its competitors in its price point, it can seem overpriced.

ASUS tried to create a gaming headset that can almost do it all, and it shows. The quality of the Delta S feels very premium, and that premium feel is proportionate to its price tag.

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The Delta S is priced at $199, which is on the expensive end of gaming headsets. If you are on a budget, aren't looking to spend a lot of money on a gaming headset, and want a surround sound-oriented headset, I would steer you towards the HyperX Cloud Revolver S, or the ROCCAT Elo Air. But, if you are after a gaming headset that has awesome RGB, an intuitive design, performance that is fantastic in both games and music, and software that is easy to use, I would recommend the Delta S.

As I previously mentioned, the Delta S is expensive, but with the price tag, you get a large range of features that are high quality. So, it all really depends on your financial situation, how much you are willing to spend on a gaming headset, and what features you want out of it. There are many headsets that can produce the same quality of in-game performance as the Delta S for a lower price, but with those headsets, you lose some other key features that the Delta S comes equipped with. But if you want the majority of the best features a gaming headset can offer, feel that 'premium' quality, and don't mind paying for it, ASUS's ROG Delta S can easily take you there.