Today I am testing out another gaming headset. This time, that headset is the Afterglow AG 9 Wireless Gaming Headset. I want to remind everyone that the main focus of me reviewing these gaming headsets is to find a good all in one podcasting package and that is how I am approaching this review. If you are interested in this headset, it will set you back about $90 on amazon for the PS4 version or $100 on Amazon for the Xbox One version.
What's In the Box
- Wireless Headset
- Removable Noise-Canceling Microphone
- Wireless Transmitter (USB)
- 6-foot Charging Cable
- 3.5 mm Audio Cable
- User Manual
Performance / Features
The build quality of this headset is the best of any headset I've tested to date, and on top of that it is also the most comfortable. The battery in these headphones is also advertised as lasting ~16 hour which is a very admirable battery life on a fully wireless headset.
On the left ear cup we have all the controls. The center button on the earphone will turn on the headset when pressed for a few seconds, and then while using the headset wirelessly, pressing this button once will mute your microphone. The button directly above the microphone port changes the headphone sound between pure audio and bass boost modes. On the bottom of the left ear cup you will find the charging port as well as the 3.5mm output which will allow you to plug directly into your computer, and lastly, on the back of the earphone is a volume slider to adjust the headphones volume.
The headphone drivers are 50mm, but I wasn't able to find any advertised frequency response. While doing my test, I found that when wired into the audio source (using the 3.5mm cable), I heard audio between 20-25Hz in the low end and around 19.5kHz in the high end. When I was wireless (using the USB transmitter), I heard audio between 20-25Hz in the low end and around 17.5kHz in the high end. So we see a significant drop in the high end performance when we are wireless.
The microphone is severely lacking on this headset. After testing the AGU.50's and finding that the microphone sounded great, I was shocked to find that the higher end headset had a lower quality microphone. I think that this lower quality/performance could stem from requirements to make the headphones full wireless, but I cannot speak to this with any certainty. The best way I can describe the microphones audio is that it sounds digital and narrow (just listen to the audio in the above video if you want to know what it sounds like).
Pros
- Great Sounding Headphones
- Excellent Build Quality
- Very Comfortable
- 100% Wireless / Wired Option
- 16 hour battery life
Cons
- Microphone Audio Quality is poor
- No Gain Control of Microphone
Conclusion
I think that the absence of a microphone volume control on the headset is a large oversight. I also did not like how a lot of the functionality is disabled when you use the headphones plugged into the 3.5mm cable. The microphone is another big downside to this headset.
Basically, this is a good gaming headset, but only if that's what you are going to be using it for. The headphones build quality and sound quality is excellent and I am very impressed with both of these aspects of the headset. However, if you are someone who needs usable audio out of the microphone, then this headset is not for you. I would actually recommend the slightly lower quality headset (Afterglow AGU.50) if you are looking for a headset with a good mic on it. If you have any questions about the microphone, leave them in the comments down below or on youtube and I will get back to you ASAP. Thanks for watching & reading.
Afterglow AG 9 (PS4): http://amzn.to/1lVj5mG
Afterglow AG 9 (Xbox One): http://amzn.to/1T5aIPC
Afterglow AGU.50: http://amzn.to/1lVjaa3