ASUS R.O.G. Vulcan ANC warning.

TheDocGG

Honorable
Dec 8, 2012
2
0
10,510
Hi guys,

You have probably seen the many reviews that name the Vulcan the best headset in its price range. I know myself that has bit-tech.net's recommendation, which is one of the main reasons that I purchased it to replace my problematic G35 headset. I have to admit that the sound quality of the Vulcan is impressive, the bass is nice and strong and the sound is warm. The ANC works well, even though I cant see myself using it, and the sound quality over the mic is also great.

I purchased one on Friday of last week from amazon.co.uk, and it arrived on Tuesday morning. First off I was struck by how substantial yet easy to open the packaging was. I plugged it in and began testing, loving every minute. It wasn't until about 2 hours later when I received a skype call from a friend that I notice a problem. A BIG problem.

Every sound being produced by my computer, every explosion, gunshot and cry of anguish, was being transmitted down the line to my friend. At first I thought it was just the impressively sensitive mic picking up noise leaking through the ear cuffs, as I was told the sounds were relatively quiet, so I switched the mic off using the controls. The results were not at all expected. I witnessed a fully grown man hurl a headset off of his head, while recoiling in pain.

After he had recovered his composure and put his headset back on, he had a few choice words to say. In short, muting the mic causes the transmitted PC audio to become a lot louder. Strange. I began testing, first using an old headset pout from poundland. No problems there. No audio transmitted. I then tried the Vulcans on another PC, same result. the problem is now quite clearly with the headset, so i contacted amazon, who arranged for a new headset to be shipped to me today.

When it arrived this morning, i removed it from its box, plugged it in and opened skype. I used the call testing service to test, with spotify being the source of audio output. The results were dissapointing to say the least. The same issue on a brand new replacement headset. After a bit of google-foo I found my way to the ROG forums, and the post below:

http://rog.asus.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-11137.html?s=39af211a4bcf6af07a22a598e0bbb602

Turns out that this is a common problem, with several other sites backing up the claims made here. Looking at the range of dates, the issue has been occuring regularly for nearly a year now. There goes my theory that it was just a defective batch. ASUS have been regularly notified about the problem, for the entirety of that period, and have chosen to do nothing about it. As of this afternoon, amazon.co.uk have removed this item from sale pending a review:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005G4XBW4/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

I'm replacing the Vulcans with a set of Vengeance 1500's, which by all accounts are a great headset.