Audio Technica
Audio Technica ATH-PG1: The bass sticks to his skin
Aprox. 119€ - see price -
After the duo ATH-AG1 and ATH-ADG1, Audio Technica offers two more conventional gaming headsets, the ATH-PDG1 and ATH-PG1. The latter offers a different experience from that of his brother, but it is nonetheless interesting ...
Our review
Ergonomics
Like the ATH-AG1 and ADG1 duo, the Audio Technica ATH-PG1 looks a lot like the ATH-PDG1. They share the same manufacturing quality and the same design. The first is distinguished by its closed design, its imitation leather pads and its black dress.
The choices made on this model mainly change the comfort at the level of the ears: the helmet insulates better and it heats the ears a little more. The feeling of heating remains contained during long play sessions. The memory foam is not the densest, but it still offers a comfortable rest and above all pressure points distributed evenly.
For the rest, there is a helmet rather well finished, solid, light and flexible, but no case is provided. The roll bar of the ATH-AG1 is deployed quite widely, so it is suitable for small as well as large heads. On the other hand, the hinges which hold the earpieces always tend to pivot too easily when the helmet is not on the head and they do not lie flat when it is around the neck.
No change in connection. Three cables are delivered with the helmet. The first is the one that has the gooseneck microphone and the listening / mute volume control box of the microphone. It measures around 1.2 m, ends in a 3.5 mm 4-point mini-jack and can be connected directly to a laptop PC or compatible game controller (latest generation PS4, Xbox One, etc.). The second is a 2 meter Y extension (double 3-point mini-jack, one for the headset, one for the microphone) and the third is a 1.2 m smartphone cable with button, volume control and integrated microphone.
Audio
The sound experience offered by the ATH-PG1 is particularly different from that of its open version, but it is nonetheless pleasant both for the game and for listening to music.
Immediately put our finger on the point that takes away its fifth star: the rendering on the border of extreme low / low. This area is more favored than the rest of the spectrum, which also shows a fairly rare balance in gaming headsets. This is in addition to membranes that "stick" a little on the attacks, especially on the very fast and close transient effects in this area, to deliver a slightly more cottony sound. Even if it provides more seat and more immersion, some sources (the bass drum or the bass, for example) tend to take a little too much space and hide the low mids / mids.
Apart from that, there is nothing wrong with this helmet: the rest of the spectrum is reproduced in a natural and defined way, without overbidding. Where other helmets are content to compensate by adding more treble, the ATH-PG1 remains sober to avoid V-signatures that are too marked and often poorly mastered. The voices still stand out well and remain intelligible in all circumstances, without aggressiveness or sibilance. Even with this overweight and closed design, the ATH-PG1 offers a beautiful stereophonic width with good separation of sources. Their identification on a horizontal plane is easy, but it is a little bit more complex in depth because of the prominence of the bass. The immersion in the sound space, whether virtual or not, is rather good especially since we can count on its passive isolation, more than correct.
Thanks to a very correct sensitivity (155 mV to reach 94 dB), the ATH-PG1 can be supplied without harm, even from nomad sources. Nothing to say about the distortion, which remains particularly low over a very large area of the audible spectrum.
Microphone
The ATH-PG1 shares the same two microphones as the PDG1: the gooseneck microphone is dedicated to the game, the one that is housed in the smartphone control allows communication in mobile use.
The first is still as efficient, even if the captured signal requires a small boost to be perfectly audible in any situation. The second is quite satisfactory for a conversation on the move, because it detaches the voice relatively well from the sound environment.
Conclusion
The ATH-PG1 is overshadowed by the sound performance of the PDG1, but it does not deserve it. It can count on good neutrality over a large part of the spectrum, on the good comfort it provides, its lightness or even on the quality of its microphone ... but the competition is fierce.
Reviews
Finally, A FANTASTIC Gaming Headset (TL;DR at the end) - video included with included microphone audio!
When you are looking to purchase a gaming headset. Most people will go to well known "gaming" brands like Steelseries, Razer & ASTRO. But with all headsets from these "gaming" brands come with some cons. Some have great sound, but a horrible mic. Some look great, but are unbearable to wear. And some even have awesome lights on the sides so that you can show off your favorite colors ... that you won't even see when wearing them. With this headset, the Audio Technica ATH-PG1's, they make no compromises and give you the best you can possibly get for your money.
Just to clear things up, I am a 20 year old gamer and small YouTuber who formerly played Modern Warfare 2 competitively on console, to playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive on PC. I still play on BOTH platforms, so when it comes to making a choice in a headset, I need them to fill those two roles in one. As a long-time gamer, I've been through A LOT of headphones. Ranging from TurtleBeach (back in the ol '360 days), Tritton, ASTRO, Steelseries, HyperX & now finally Audio Technica. I've owned a pair of ATH-M50x's, another well known (and probably best) set of headphones you can get for your money, which is also made by Audio Technica. These were perfect for me for gaming on PC but sadly, I had no way of recording my microphone for my friends to hear me, so I couldn't use it for console gaming. Here comes the saving grace, the ATH-PG1's. They are a SUPER lightweight and extremely comfortable, even better than the HyperX Cloud II's that I used to own (which was marketed as "the most comfortable gaming headset"). The sound is not on par as the M50x's, but a little less in the bass department, which isn't a bad thing at all (more on that later). The sound overall trumps all the previous "gaming" headsets that I've owned. The microphone quality is EXCELLENT. Paired this with an ASTRO Mixamp and you're golden. The microphone is warm, providing a lot of bass response for such a little condenser. It's not just great for talking with your friends over Discord or Xbox Live, but also a great choice for voice overs and commentaries. This all seems too good to be true, and it's true, believe me. However, there are two small problems that you must know before purchasing this headset.
For one, there is very little clamping force. For some people who wear glasses or have larger heads, this is great. But it can cause some sound to leak and sometimes pick up into your microphone when gaming at high volumes. Then again I have never yet to run into a headset that DOESN'T leak into the mic at high volumes, because that's pretty much unavoidable due to the mic being so close to the sound source. The low clamping force can also be an issue with the slight lack of bass that I mentioned earlier. It's not a bad thing to have a lack of bass because when you're gaming, you need to focus on footsteps and positional ques, which are mostly in the mid to high ranges. So I don't know if this is meant as a mistake or for the gamer to have an advantage when playing. Either way, these two issues you should take with a grain of salt. Because written out like this, it sounds like a make or break issue. But in practice, it's hardly an issue at all.
In conclusion, out of all the headsets I bought, this is hands down. THE BEST you can get for under $ 200. If you want to know the headsets I went through (in order), here they are
TurtleBeach X11's, Titton AX720's, Tritton Detonators, ASTRO A30's, Steelseries Siberia V2's, ASTRO A40's (2009 Edition), Steelseries Siberia Elite's, HyperX Cloud II's & the ASTRO A40's (2011 Edition)
Yeah, that's a lot of wasted money up there ^^
TL; DR
Get these headphones as soon as possible. These have the best mic & audio quality you can get in an all-in-one headset under $ 200.
PS: If you want to know what the microphone sounds like, my unboxing video and video review is commentated entirely from that microphone. Thanks for reading! The YouTube Channel is called LLIMIT GAMING
Lots of crosstalk, flat audio, bad in-line controls, but very comfortable
I purchased an ATH-PG1 set with the intention of replacing my Sennheiser GAME ONE headset which is plagued with several bad design flaws. I've used Audio-Technica hardware (incl. Headsets!) In the past and been impressed, so the number of basic problems the ATH-PG1s had came as a bit of a shock - especially when marketed as a "gaming headset" .
Negatives:
1. High amounts of headset-to-microphone crosstalk (ie the microphone picks up what you're hearing). This has nothing to do with the audio that's coming out of the cans themselves but more to do with bad shielding and wire segregation. How much the microphone picked up depended entirely on the volume level. The only workaround I found was to set the volume level * extremely * low, almost to the point of sound being almost inaudible. Use of the mic mute slider had no bearing on the situation - meaning, even with the mic muted, the wiring still picks up audio being played. I did several recordings in Audacity and the levels are extremely high, ie teammates in-game or on TeamSpeak, Discord, etc. will certainly be able to hear themselves (almost a form of loopback).
2. In-line volume control was awful. When adjusting the volume knob, I would hear volume variations between left and right, sometimes as much as roughly 60% variation (usually right would be louder than left). A slight tap or wiggle of the volume knob would sometimes rectify the problem, but more often than not I had to adjust the knob even more to try and find proper balance. This is usually caused by use of a cheap potentiometer. Considering the build quality of the rest of the headset, I'm thinking AT added this (and the mic-mute) at the last minute.
3. Audio quality was extremely "flat". Whatever drivers these are feel like they're designed solely to pick up treble and upper mid-range. Bass felt virtually non-existent (I'm not a "bass person", just for the record). The best way I can describe the audio quality is: slightly better than a generic set of US $ 10 laptop headphones. Use of a software EQ was able to balance out the ranges a little more, but then things sounded unequal (as in bass was trying to fight with mid-range, eventually sounding over-compressed). In other words, you can't overcome the shortcomings with a software EQ. This surprised me because I've come to expect good quality audio from AT.
4. Faux-leather pads resulted in my ears sweating after 3-4 minutes of wear. As someone who wore Sony MDR-7506s for hours on end until they literally fell apart, without sweating, I'm really not sure what to thinks. This negative is not reflected in the rating I gave these on Amazon; it may just be my skin having a strange sensitivity to whatever the fabric is made from, but I wanted to note it here anyway.
Positive:
1. Headset is lightweight and doesn't have a lot of horizontal tension (ie pressure against your head). Other reviewers on Amazon as well as on YouTube are describe these as extremely comfortable and I agree. For those who have larger heads (I have an average-sized head), this will certainly be a good selling point. The headband is also quite comfortable.
2. Headset adjustment was excellent; metal is used to connect the headband to the cans themselves, not flimsy plastic.
3. Microphone is flexible yet stays where you put it. This is because the microphone is surrounded by low-grade FMC (flexible metal conduit). This is in contrast to other headset mics out there (I'm looking at you, SteelSeries).
Readers can draw their own conclusions from the negatives and positives.