Asus Steps Into Audiophile Territory For Gamers
The Asus ROG Kithara is one of the more surprising gaming products to appear at CES 2026. Instead of just another RGB headset, Asus has teamed up with high end headphone maker Hifiman to create a planar magnetic gaming headset aimed at PC and console gamers who care seriously about audio quality.
Planar magnetic drivers are usually found in expensive audiophile headphones. They use a thin diaphragm suspended in a magnetic field to produce sound with impressive clarity and detail. The trade off is that they are often harder to drive and can struggle with punchy bass unless tuned very carefully.
With the ROG Kithara, Asus is clearly trying to bring that high end tech into the gaming world. It is positioned as a premium wired headset that can double as both a gaming and music listening pair of cans, without losing the style and functionality gamers expect.
First Impressions And Sound Quality
The ROG Kithara uses custom tuned Hifiman 100 mm planar magnetic drivers. That is a big driver size by gaming headset standards and very much in line with what you would expect from serious audiophile gear.
One of the classic weaknesses of planar magnetics is low end impact. They are often praised for clarity and precision but sometimes feel light on bass slam. According to early impressions from the CES show floor, Asus has clearly focused on solving this. When demoed with Counter Strike 2 gameplay, the Kithara reportedly delivered bass that was strong enough to feel in your jaw, with explosions and weapon impacts coming through with real weight.
That powerful presentation was helped along by a substantial DAC and headphone amplifier setup at the booth. The headset was being driven hard, which shows what the drivers are capable of when they get proper power. Even in the noisy show environment, the ROG Kithara produced a wide soundstage that should be excellent for atmospheric single player titles and for positional audio in competitive shooters.
Asus claims a very wide frequency response from 8 Hz to 55 kHz. Human hearing does not reach those extremes, but specs like this typically signal that the headset can handle sub bass effects cleanly and keep treble detailed without harshness when paired with good source gear.
PC Gaming Features, Connectivity And Competition
For PC and console gamers, the way a headset connects is just as important as sound quality. The ROG Kithara is a wired open back headset, and Asus includes a generous selection of cables and plugs to keep it flexible.
- A balanced 4.4 mm plug for high end DACs and headphone amps
- Two single ended 3.5 mm and 6.3 mm plugs for typical audio interfaces and amplifiers
- A USB C to dual 3.5 mm adapter for laptops, PCs and mobile devices
This means you can hook the Kithara up to pretty much any serious audio setup you might already own, while still having a straightforward path to plug it into a PC, console, or gaming laptop. The headset has a low 16 Ohm impedance rating, which suggests it can technically run from a regular motherboard headphone jack or a controller port. The big question is how much of its potential it will retain without a dedicated amp.
That is an important point for mainstream gamers. Most players do not want to buy extra DACs and amplifiers just to make their headset sound decent. If the Kithara manages to keep strong performance straight from a PC or console jack, it will appeal to a much wider audience. If it only really shines with expensive supporting gear, it will remain more of a niche choice for enthusiast audio fans who also game.
Price wise, Asus is targeting around 300 to 350 US dollars. That drops it right into the same ballpark as one of the biggest names in planar magnetic gaming headsets, the Audeze Maxwell series. The newly announced Audeze Maxwell 2 is wireless, which makes the Kithara’s job even harder. Gamers are increasingly expecting wireless freedom at this price, so Asus will have to win people over on pure sound quality and tuning.
On the design side, the Kithara leans into a gaming style rather than a totally minimalist audiophile look. For many PC players that is a plus. It promises the look and feel of a dedicated gaming headset, with the technical performance of a hi fi pair of headphones underneath.
What The ROG Kithara Means For PC Audio
The launch of the Asus ROG Kithara is another sign that gaming audio is getting more serious. A few years ago most gaming headsets focused on flashy lighting and heavy bass, with sound quality as a secondary concern. Now we are seeing large planar magnetic drivers, partnerships with established audio brands and a real emphasis on detail, accuracy and soundstage.
For PC gamers this is good news. A headset like the Kithara promises better positional cues in competitive shooters, more immersive soundscapes in RPGs and cleaner music playback when you are not gaming. The trade offs are that it is open back which means more sound leakage and less isolation and that it is wired only at a time when many players are moving to wireless setups.
If you already own a decent DAC or audio interface and you value audio detail as much as frame rate, the ROG Kithara looks like an exciting option to keep an eye on when it officially launches. It aims to bridge the gap between the audiophile and gaming worlds, giving PC players access to planar magnetic sound without abandoning the features they care about.
As more companies like Asus, Audeze and others push into this territory, expect gaming audio to keep evolving. Your next big upgrade might not be a GPU or a CPU but a headset that finally lets your games sound as good as they look.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/gaming-headsets/asus-has-tweaked-the-twangers-out-of-hifimans-planar-magnetic-drivers-in-its-new-audiophile-grade-gaming-headset-and-it-shows/
