ASUS Cerberus gaming headset

1. Introduction and Packaging2. The Headset3. Testing and Final Thoughts4. View All Pages

Unfortunately there's no real benchmark that can be run to tell you how good a headset is.

I could throw numbers at you all day for what frequency ranges the drivers can handle, but it won't tell you how comfortable the Cerberus is over long periods and it certainly won't give you a real idea of what it really sounds like. For that, we have to rely on my imperfect and subjective opinion, but I'll do my best to relay how good (or not), the Cerberus really is.

Of course with this being a gaming headset, my first port of call was STEAM. Through several hours of testing multiple games of different genres I found the Cerberus to be very capable gaming partner.

The stereo panning is excellent and a quick Oculus Rift playthrough of Half Life 2's Ravenholm was chilling.

Similarly the mid frequencies on this headset are excellent, delivering a very punchy sound that really does explosions and gun shots justice. This wasn't a one off in one game though, the Cerberus did a great job of reproducing loud noises in a variety of other games.

It wasn't quite as perfect in more softly spoken games, like the orchestral soundtrack-equipped Banner Saga, but it's still great – you can tell the drivers are tuned for more popular genres, though you can mitigate this a little with equaliser settings.

When it comes to music and movies, the Cerberus was similarly well equipped, handling multiple genres without much of a hiccup. I was actually very impressed with bass frequencies. The Cerberus does a good job of hitting the deepest of bass frequencies, without affecting the quality of the vocals in the mid range.

I would have liked a little more volume, as I feel the drivers could be pushed a little harder without distortion. This wasn't so noticeable when gaming, just when playing back high grade uncompressed music files.

In regards to comfort I feel like the lack of headband padding does take away from this headset a little bit, but it's only really noticeable after several hours of solid use.

The earphones on the other hand, being large enough to accommodate even the biggest of ears, should cause no problems for anyone and contrary to many over the ear headphones, the ears don't heat up too much which is a nice change.

Without any material pressing down on your ears too, you won't get ear ache or any of the other problems associated with long periods of headset usage.

The in-line mic built into the volume control wasn't the clearest when used for a quick phone call – and I'm not sure I would walk around outdoors with such a big headset on, but everyone will have a different view on this. For what it is designed to do, it worked well enough. In contrast though, the Cerberus' boom mic produced very, clear, crisp audio and did a great job filtering out background noise.

All in all, the Cerberus is an excellent headset. The Cerberus has a great stereo field for atmospheric gaming aided by the meaty bass reproduction. Minor improvements could be made by enhancing long term comfort and by increasing the maximum volume output.

You may be surprised to learn that these headphones are competitively priced, around the £45.99 inc vat mark. Musically they really deliver the goods and the microphone is especially clear, making it great for those frantic gaming moments.

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Pros

• Great quality sound, very punchy.
• Great bass response from a £50 headset.
• Excellent stereo panning, great gaming atmosphere.
• Eye catching.

Cons

• Headband could do with a little bit of padding.
• Music lacks a little volume, though it is not as noticeable when gaming.

KitGuru Says: This is one thumping, bass strong headset. It's not the most comfortable we have tested, but for the money, you will find this hard to beat.

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