ASUS Echelon Camo Edition Gaming Headset Review
Category : Headsets
Published by Christian Ney on 14.02.13
With the Echelon Camo Edition, ASUS wants to target first person-shooter gamers. Indeed, this new gaming headset features a camouflage skin to "extend gamer's identity to the real world", right! Besides the camouflage design this headset is equipped with a retractable flexible microphone, a 2.5m long braided cable, in-line volume control and has been designed to be very confortable. Let's see!
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On the following pages we will show you the strengths and weaknesses of the ASUS Echelon Camo Edition.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Wearing comfort/ergonomics |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Acoustics |
| Page 3 - Specifications | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Test conditions |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Preview
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Wearing comfort/ergonomics |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Acoustics |
| Page 3 - Specifications | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Test conditions |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Specifications
Headphones
- Frequency: 20 – 20'000 Hz
- Impendance: 32 Ohm
- Cable length: 2.5m braided
- Driver size: 50 mm
- Plug: mini Jack
- Earpads made from artifical leather
Microphone
- Frequency: 100 – 10'000 Hz
- Characteristics: Retractable, noise-filtering, flexible
Delivery
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Wearing comfort/ergonomics |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Acoustics |
| Page 3 - Specifications | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Test conditions |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Test conditions
Regarding our Headset respectively Microphone tests we subjectively describe acoustics, microphone quality as well as ergonomics. The endresult therefore relies also on the tester himself. We're doing our best to ensure comparable results if different reviewers were testing different products. We think these review can be seen as a help if you like to buy a specific product and can therefore be seen as subjective consumer advice.
Music
Movies
Games
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Wearing comfort/ergonomics |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Acoustics |
| Page 3 - Specifications | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Test conditions |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Wearing confort and ergonomics
If you have the Echelon Camo Edition on your head for the first time, it is very comfortable. There are several reasons for this. First of all the headset is light and the weight is being distributed perfectly on the bolsters of both ear pieces. Furthermore the earcups have a flexible connection to the bail which makes them fit perfectly all the time. Taking a closer look at the earpads one can see, that they've been made from soft foam with synthetic leather that is really comfortable to wear even if it's for several hours. The round shape and the fact that the ear pieces are quite big, make sure, that the cussions don't touch ones ears. Something else we like is the noise isolation, which is the result of the the closed design. It's not that you can't hear anything anymore but ambient noise is being reduced notably.
The cable is 2.5m long and braided. At the end you find two gold plated mini jack connectors, the pink one for the microphone and the green one for the headphone. Not far from the connectors there is a connector to put the microphone cable if you shouldn't need it.
The in-line volume control (center picture) allows you to easily tune the volute and mute the microphone. It can also be clipped to yout clothes.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Wearing comfort/ergonomics |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Acoustics |
| Page 3 - Specifications | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Test conditions |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Acoustics
Headphone
ASUS chose to equip their gaming headset with two 50 millimeter drivers, which turned out to provide a reasonable sound quality. For gaming and multimedia purpose they do a very good job like most of the gaming headsets. But the real question is, can it handle music? Typically, gaming oriented headsets are really bad to listen to music due to their nature. They are completely lacking transparency, comes with an unbalanced preset, have too loud bass (low tones) and tire the listener very quickly. But the Echelon is far from that! Actually we were very surprised by the audio quality of this headset while listening to music. Of course it is lightyears away from an expensive high-end headphone quality wise but is way better than most of the gaming headsets out there.
Although this is an analogue stereo headset we would love to see a software from ASUS offering different audio profiles. We think this would be a very nice addition that people will love and enjoy.
Microphone
From a technical point of view the microphone is very good. Furthermore it is practical thanks to his flexible and retractable abilities, SteelSeries-like. The distance to the mouth is ok and ajustable so people on the other end of the line will understand you lound and clear. Also the noise cancelling is working well and there will be no white noise on the far side.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Wearing comfort/ergonomics |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Acoustics |
| Page 3 - Specifications | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Test conditions |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Conclusion
The ASUS Echelon Camo Edition is a very comfortable gaming headset which comes with very good drivers and a good microphone. To be honest, the drivers preset is good and it's even possible to listen to music with this gaming headset. Furhtermore also the microphone was able to convince. The quality is good and noise cancelling is working fine. We would have loved to see a software in the delivery or on ASUS download page which offers different audio presets. This would make the sound appealing to a wider audience. Furthermore it's a very easy way to optimize and improve the audio quality.
The very best thing about this headset is definitely the wearing comfort. Both ear pads fit perfectly and they suite different head shapes. A big plus is also the fact that the ear cups are flexible and the very soft ear pads made from soft froam covered with synthetic leather. If you should play games with 3D glasses or eyeglasses on you will feel no pressure marks. In fact this is one of the very few gaming headsets you can wear for hours and you wont feel anything hurting.
Last but not least we have to say that the ASUS Echelon Camo Edition come with a very competitive price tag. You can get this headset for about 65 Euros (est. 78.- Swiss Francs). For this amount of money you really get what you pay for and it's definitely a good choice.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Wearing comfort/ergonomics |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Acoustics |
| Page 3 - Specifications | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Test conditions |
Discuss this article in the forums
Author: Christian Ney c.ney@ocaholic.ch