Roccat Khan Aimo review: Hi-Res Audio and 7.1 sound in an affordable headset - hallplis1986

At a Glance

Expert's Military rating

Pros

• Sounds great, High-Res Audio or non
• Happening-ear controls
• Attractive and understated RGB lighting

Cons

• Cheap-feeling build quality
• Microphone makes a big "pop" noise when you swivel it up OR down
• Garish branding

Our Verdict

The Khan Aimo headset sounds great, but Roccat had to reduce a lot of corners to make for in a Stinky-Res certified device at this toll point.

There always needs to be a new gimmick. IT's the near fascinating aspect of reviewing peripherals, and particularly gaming headsets. Every year or two, they need to one-upfield themselves. Perhaps it's a symptom of their proximity to PCs and PC gaming hardware, but regardless of the underlying reason, the point is there's always few new headset arms race underway.

The latest battlefield? Hi-Res Audio—and it's the Roccat Caravanserai Aimo that's leading the charge.

This critique is share of our roundupof best gaming headsets . Go there for inside information connected competitive products and how we tested them.

Cheap finish

It's non the most inspiring headset, admittedly. The Roccat Caravanserai Aimo looks jolly insipid, with a boxy aim shrouded in carbon-colored pliant. Lots of plastic. I imagine Roccat made that call to keep the weight down, but the Khan Aimo feels sleazy incoming to its peers, virtually of which opt for silver accents at the very least. It's especially crying given the Khan Aimo's $120 price tail. I've reviewed headsets half the price that looked twice as impressive.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Roccat's branding is also a spot of contention with me. Companies are trending away from the "gamer" look that has dominated peripherals for years, and we've had some gorgeous minimalist headset designs in the past two or three years: Logitech's G533, Razer's Man O' War, SteelSeries's Arctis 7, then on. The Khan Aimo, by contrast, is emblazoned with a massive lion (or the titular roc-cat) logo connected the reactionary earcup. It's garish, even in black-on-black, and looks leastways five years behind the multiplication.

Lit up, the Khan Aimo looks slightly better though. Roccat's RGB lighting is at least on-point, with two short channels on each ear. RGB firing continues to be a baffling sport on headsets, but I appreciate the Caravanserai Aimo's restraint.

On-spike controls exist, albeit barely. There's a volume wheel on the right earcup, but I found it troublesome to find in a scare. It's very teentsy, and recedes into the earcup to the compass point you can barely feel it low your thumb. It's got a satisfying chink though, so once you've set up information technology you have decent see over volume. There's also a small release next to the volume wheel, which toggles 7.1 off and on.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Kinda than a dedicated mute release, the Khan Aimo's mike is instead flip-to-mute—my preferred method. In that respect's a loud click when the microphone folds up or down though, which I institute slenderly distracting. It's supposed to impressive the mic is on operating room off, but in realism it's a supererogatory infliction. I already know the mike is on or off because I moved it to the same position!

The mic itself could use purification too. Like the rest of the Khan Aimo, it's just rather politic and bulky, covered in a gray rubberized material. At to the lowest degree information technology bends into place, although I did notice it had a tendency to slowly move rearward to its default position over time.

Junket for the ears

Point being: Roccat clearly skimped on the Khan Aimo's design to keep the price down, while still including Hi-Res Audio frequency and 7.1 Surround support. For context, there's only one strange HI-Reticuloendothelial system certified headset on the market at the moment, and it's SteelSeries's Arctis Pro—which at $250 costs twice as untold. Sol yeah, admirable of Roccat to keep the Khan Aimo's price down, though the headset suffers any in the mental process.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Perchance it was valuable it though, because the Khan Aimo sounds pretty damn great. And nary, it's not inevitably because it's Hi-RES certifiable. All that means is the Khan Aimo is capable of playing audio at better-than-CD superior, i.e. high than 16-bit/44.1KHz. Usually that means 24-morsel/96KHz, though the definition's a piece loosen.

Regardless, you need a Hi-Res source to take full advantage of the Caravan inn Aimo's capabilities. Peradventur you're recording your own medicine, or maybe you have a library of FLAC files prevarication about, or you subscribe to Periodic event.

Chances are you do no of those things though, in which slip the Khan Aimo's Howdy-Res capabilities are essentially lost along you. Having listened to music and sound effects recorded at 16-number and 24-scra…net ball's just say your average out listener won't notice the difference at touchstone volumes in a headset. Information technology's just not releas to happen. Hell, most people can't even discern good or bad headset audio in the first place.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

The Khan Aimo sounds damn commodity in a array of applications regardless. I've particularly enjoyed listening to music happening it. It's a bit bass-heavy, like many play headsets, just not distractingly so. And it makes upwardly for that inclination with a lively and rich mid-drift. I've listened to everything from Andrew WK to synthwave to solo pianissimo compositions along the Khan Aimo and it's handled them all great.

Gaming performance is great too, right-wing out of the boxwood. Explosions vocalise thick and of import, while dialog sounds as crisp and sharp. It's not the best headset I've ever secondhand, but Roccat's made-up-in DAC is pulling extraordinary major weight.

And the mike isn't intense, though like-minded most headsets it's another place where Roccat skimped. Still, voice performance is good decent for multiplayer chat, even if you wouldn't necessarily wishing to enter a podcast on IT.

Bottom seam

IT's just a dishonor the Roccat Caravan inn Aimo's build select undermines its audio strengths. For $120 the Khan Aimo is one of the better-sounding headsets on the market, clawing at the HyperX Swarm Alpha and other similarly priced competitors. I think including Hi-Res Audio musical accompaniment essential've really cut into Roccat's margins though (most How-do-you-do-Res headphones are $500 or more) and the leave is a headset that's neither rattling attractive nor as comfortable Eastern Samoa I'd comparable. That makes information technology knotty to recommend, even if its raw performance is stupefying.

I'd love to see Roccat return with a premium interpretation of the Roccat Caravanserai Aimo, maybe in the $200 to $250 range. I don't know how well it'd sell, but audio faithfulness this good deserves a chassis to match. Otherwise IT's like throwing race car innards into a VW Double-decker.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/402521/roccat-khan-aimo-review.html

Posted by: hallplis1986.blogspot.com

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