Asus ROG Kithara hands-on review: this audiophile-grade headset is designed for gaming
Asus’ first planar magnetic gaming headset
🎧 Asus ROG Kithara is a new audiophile-grade wired gaming headset
🔊 Powered by ROG-tuned 100mm HIFIMANN planar magnetic drivers
🎐 Open-back design allows sound to flow freely in and out of the earcups
🥁 Deeper bass offers more detail for different sounds like gunshots vs footsteps
📈 Expanded treble range produces more detailed music notes
📦 Ships soon for $359
The Asus ROG Kithara is the audiophile-grade headset gamers have been dreaming of for decades. Announced at CES 2026, it combines 100mm HIFIMANN planar magnetic drivers into an Asus ROG-tuned gaming headset. The result is a wired gaming headset that delivers deeper bass and detailed stereo gaming sound. Plus, this headset comes with a variety of audio jacks, USB-C adapters, and corded cables to connect it to a DAC and listen to high-definition music.
For years, gamers craving audiophile-grade sound have plugged in Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, and Audeze headphones into their gaming systems. The Asus ROG Kithara is here to do the same thing, but it’s been designed for gaming from the ground up. The Asus ROG Kithara demands a premium $359 price, even compared to the new Audeze Maxwell 2 at $329-$349. However, the Asus ROG Kithara is a bit more affordable than the roughly $600 Beyerdynamic MMX 330 Pro and Sennheiser HD 650.
🔊 Big 100mm planer magnetic drivers. The Asus ROG Kithara trades neodymium drivers traditionally used by gaming headsets for much larger 100mm planar magnetic drivers for higher power and fidelity. Thanks to these much larger HIFIMANN drivers, the Kithara offers a much wider frequency response of 8Hz to 55KHz, compared to the usual 20Hz-20KHz most headsets deliver. That translates into deeper, richer bass with a greatly extended treble range for a more nuanced sound profile.
🎧 Open back listening. All that power from the Asus ROG Kithara’s larger drivers requires this headset to have an open back like other audiophile-grade headphones. This open design allows sound waves to pass freely out of the headset, as they would otherwise reverberate in an enclosed earcup, muddying the different frequencies. Now, of course, the open back design lends zero noise isolation, so you’ll hear anything coming through these headphones – so you’ll want to game in a closed room or area with little to no outside noise.
🌌 Another dimension of sound. Testing a pair of open-back headphones at a noise convention is the worst place possible, but I was able to listen to the Kithara in Asus’ semi-closed listening the Asus booth. Thanks to the deeper bass range, I could tell the difference between a distant gunshot and nearby footsteps. Meanwhile, you can truly enjoy intricate soundtracks in RPGs like Clair Obcura: Expedition 33 and Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.
📻No surround/spatial sound. One other thing to keep in mind about the Asus ROG Kithara is that they’re purely passive headphones. Without any processing to produce surround sound, all you get is a stereo. The natural sound stage still produces strong stereo separation, so you can tell where sounds are coming from – at least in a left and right sense.
👜 Accessories. The Asus ROG Kithara comes with a box full of accessories, including a balanced 4.4 mm cable, 3.5mm and 4.4mm single-ended plugs, a USB-C adapter, and two braided cables, including a shorter one with a built-in microphone. Those different cables and connectors make it easy to plug this headset into an audio DAC and enjoy lossless audio. So you can use it as a pair of audiophile headphones on top of a gaming headset.
🎙️ High-end game chat. Lastly, Asus gave the Kithara an upgraded full-band MEMS boom microphone with a 20Hz to 20KHz response and a high-grade signal-to-noise ratio. I haven’t had a chance to test this yet, but this microphone should capture natural-sounding voices.
Up next: Audeze Maxwell 2 promises to deliver better audio quality, comfort upgrades, and new features
Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.