Alienware has long been a brand known for their pre-built PCs, gaming laptops, and gaming monitors. This year, though, they seem to be making a concerted effort to stamp their name on the accessories market. In January, for instance, they debuted a new Pro line, which showcased a wireless mouse and keyboard
According to the outfit, they worked with over 100 esports competitors and streamers to develop the new gaming headset, designing various elements of the device based on insights collected from the different players. The result is a headset poised to meet the demands of competitive play, incorporating features and technologies pros and competitive players are going to appreciate.
The Alienware Pro Headset houses 50mm drivers that are coated with graphene to minimize the distortion generated at higher frequencies, performing significantly better on that end compared to drivers made using other materials. The outfit further claims that the drivers are incredibly responsive, allowing them to produce clear, natural, and accurate sound with plenty of depth. Basically, they’re promising superior directional audio, making it easier to discern the location of sound cues to help inform you of what’s happening in the game, as well as tuning that’s specifically geared towards the needs of competitive gaming.
According to Alienware, the headphones were built with passive noise cancellation in mind, so it can block out a lot of noise all on its own. However, it also has active noise cancellation (ANC) onboard for an even more effectively drowning out any sounds in the immediate environment. It uses hybrid ANC, by the way, which allows you to fine tune the amount of background noise it’s going to remove, allowing you to let in just enough to still be aware when you’re mom’s yelling at you to come down for dinner.
The Alienware Pro Headset uses a noise-canceling dual-mic array for voice pickup, with sounds processed by a machine learning model that eliminates noises and enhances voice clarity to ensure clear comms even during heated moments in the game. The outfit claims, in fact, that it’s going to facilitate clear comms whether you’re playing with a dog barking loudly in the background or 50,000 fans cheering on players during a global LAN tournament, so we have high hopes for the mic performance on this thing. It’s designed for wireless use, by the way, with the option to connect either over Bluetooth or via a 2.4Ghz dongle.
Battery performance is listed at 75 hours when you connect over Bluetooth and 70 hours over 2.4GHz, both with ANC turned off, although that goes down to 35 hours when connecting via 2.4GHz with ANC running. Other features include a Bluetooth latency of just 80ms, soft memory foam earcups with leatherette cover, a detachable boom mic, USB-C connectivity (in case you want even clearer and more detailed audio), and Dolby Atmos integration through the Alienware Command Center app.
The Alienware Pro Headset is slated to come out in October, priced at $230.