Asus Theta Electret
Rare innovation in this area – but is it worth the price?
It’s exceedingly rare that any company actually innovates and delivers a gaming headset that is genuinely interesting. Audeze shook things up a year ago with its planar-powered Mobius, which HyperX then cloned under license as the Cloud Obit. Adata innovated just recently with its hybrid electrostatic plus traditional speaker XPG Precogs. And Asus has just become the third company to ever release gaming headphones that actually advance things, with its new and very premium Theta Electret.
Electret drivers are somewhat similar to planar and are closely related to electrostatic drivers – in that the sound is generated by a single electrically-charged sheet of material. Unlike electrostatic, electret do not require an external power source. But you will need a good audio source/ DAC to power these effectively. While the impedance is very low at 32ohm, so almost anything can drive them, you want a decent output voltage (Vrms)
“It’s able to deliver a discernibly crisper and cleaner sound without distortion. ”
to get the electret driver working optimally. Usually a laptop, phone or motherboard delivers around 1vrms. Asus recommends at least 3vrms – preferably higher. An amp is highly recommended.
The electret driver is paired with a regular 45mm neodymium driver which covers 20-7500Hz, with the electret covering the high end of 7500Hz and above. While there’s some overlap where both drivers are working in conjunction at certain frequencies, for the most part each driver is tuned to handle only its optimum range.
The nature of the dual driver type design suits gaming perfectly. Because the electret driver delivers all of the high end, and its sound signature is so distinctively different to regular speaker drivers, the treble is isolated and exists apart from the overall noise in the soundscape. Bullets will snap and ping with sharper presence, and really stand out from the background and ambient noises. Driving games are wonderful. A high-revving engine is clearly painted as a particular sound source, with its own elevated place in the spectrum against the rumble of road noise.
This is all taking advantage of the unique attributes of the electret driver. It’s able to deliver a discernibly crisper and cleaner sound, and can handle very high volumes without becoming distorted. But, it’s poor at lower frequencies – hence the pairing with what Asus term the ‘bass driver’.
These are pure headphones. There’s no DAC built in, and it connects via 3.5mm aux with no USB option. The only control on it is a mic mute switch. There is no RGB! But, they are indeed gaming cans, and they aren’t suitable for anything else. Music falls down because the two driver types are so different the soundstage is jarringly unbalanced.
The cable is only 1.2m long, probably because it’s made from expensive-sounding silver-plated pure copper.
If you really appreciate high quality audio and run an amp or headphone amp, then the Asus Theta Electret headphones are a very satisfying investment.