Asus ROG Pelta review

My first thought when I saw the Steelseries Arctis Nova 7'. That second thought certainly isn't a bad one.

The Pelta has a notably soft and comfortable texture—one that doesn't stand out in the looks department but is much appreciated after a long day's work. Coming into the summer months, their light, breathable texture is a welcome sidestep from the Corsair Virtuoso Max I was previously using day to day.

As it is a gaming headset, the ROG Pelta inevitably comes with RGB lighting on the side—with all of its battery sucking trappings—but is otherwise relatively understated. The mic can even be unplugged, which, when paired with the fact that the Pelta can connect to a phone or tablet via Bluetooth, makes it a reliable choice should you want to go for a walk with it on.

There's no worry of your ears overheating, and the light clamping force gives the headset a small amount of protection from outside sounds. It certainly doesn't have active noise cancelling, which I don't hold against it at this price point, but it does a satisfactory job of immersing in music on the go.

None of that would matter if the sound wasn't strong, but luckily, those 50 mm titanium-plated drivers come through clear and loud.

In Doom: The Dark Ages, every inch of the game's music feels well tuned in the headset, pulsing and punching in step with the game's mighty guitars. However, the feeling of the Doom Slayer's feet stomping on the pavement doesn't quite match the weight I was expecting with the standard EQ settings.

Pumping up the bass certainly helps, but the headset doesn't quite have the wurble you may want from authentic bass. It's adequate, but not quite as real sounding as some headsets.

The mids and highs, however, are clear and well-tuned. The intricacies of sound come through well, and directional atmospheric noises are pointed and easy to pick out. This makes listening for footsteps in the likes of Valorant incredibly easy. For its price point, the Pelta really delivers with its drivers.

There's a nuanced fright to the metallic clangs and rhythmic pounding of Buckshot Roulette that adds to the already creepy atmosphere of, well, every other part of the game. The comfort of the headset only adds to this feeling, never daring to intrude on the immersion of whatever game you're playing. It handles music well, too.

Genesis Noir's jazzy, vibey soundtrack slickly oozes out of the Asus ROG Pelta, with both the squealing of smooth sax and the pitter-patter of jazz brushes coming through clear.

In the UK, the ROG Pelta has gone as low as £95, and for that, I don't think I can name a single headset I'd pick over the Pelta right now. However, the US doesn't have it quite as good, only getting a couple of dollars off the headset here and there.

At this point, it puts up a fight against the likes of the Steelseries Arctis Nova 5X. It is over $100 cheaper than the Delta II and certainly doesn't feel like a budget option when it comes to its sound.

As well as coming with Bluetooth, the Pelta has a 2.4 GHz USB-C dongle and can be plugged in via a USB-C. The only connectivity option it's really missing is a 3.5 mm port, but the amount of versatility you'd gain from that inclusion would actually make the side controls worse.

As they stand, the on-ear controls are totally fine, and only on the left ear (like the Arctis Nova Pro). The volume wheel can be accessed easily, then there's a switch to flip between connectivity modes, and muting the mic makes a red light pop up on the side, which is great when you've forgotten if you're muted or not.

The one place this could improve is a quick switch on the mic or some sort of smart mute mic mechanism, as it's a button on the left earcup, and one that always takes me a few moments to find.

Listen to the microphone test here:

The mic performs around the middle of the pack for its price range, coming through fairly clear but not beating out even a cheaper dedicated microphone. In meetings and games, I never felt like it faltered to cut through the noise.

The Pelta has 90 hours of battery life in Bluetooth mode with RGB lighting off and mic on mute. That figure drops to 60 hours with lighting on. The Pelta gets up to 70 hours of power with the lighting off and the mic muted in 2.4 GHz mode, and 45 hours with them both turned on. I practically only charged the headset when the thought occurred to me, and it never ran out. Fast charging means you can get up to 3 hours of listening time with a 15-minute charge, which means if it does run out, getting it up and running again isn't too much hassle.

The ROG software, Armoury Crate Gear, is pretty much exactly what I want from it: barely noticeable. It can change some AI noise filtering settings for the microphone, adjust the EQ, customise lighting, and, more importantly, get firmware updates where necessary.

If I could describe my time with the Asus ROG Pelta in a single word, I'd say smooth. It's comfortable, with a healthy battery life, decent microphone, and all-around great sound. The bass is a tad underwhelming, but this is one of the only real downsides from its reasonable price point.

The light material and great padding have been an absolute boon in hotter months, and connectivity is smooth and fast, with no cutouts in all those evenings spent gaming late into the night.

The Pelta's price point is a tough one for most headsets because there's so much competition at just above $100, but its quality means it doesn't get drowned out despite it.