Alienware is better known for its gaming laptops and desktops than the accessories that surround them, but the low- and mid-range gaming headsets it launched in 2020 gained traction among gamers on a tight budget. Now, Alienware is entering the premium market with its AW920H.
Priced at $US200 ($276) and arriving on Feb. 9, the AW920H comes with 40mm drivers and features active noise cancellation (ANC). It connects wirelessly via a USB-C dongle to your PC or you can use Bluetooth 5.2 to pair with a laptop, phone, or tablet. Console support is limited to using the included 3.5mm cord to your controller.
The AW920H looks like a sleeker, more luxe version of the AW510H, trading chunky rectangular arms for slim ones that connect to the back of the cups. They have softly curved, egg-shaped earcups that come in two colours: Lunar Light or Dark Side of The Moon. (That would be white or black.) The cups have an open end that reminds me of a vacuum cleaner attachment (in a good way), and they’re embossed with a customisable RGB glowing alien head logo. The earpads are made of faux leather memory foam.
Borrowing from non-gamer headphones, the AW920H uses touch controls on the right earcup for adjusting volume; skipping or replaying a track; answering and hanging up calls; and turning active noise cancelling on or off. Speaking of which, the headset has ANC for both blocking out ambient sounds and for filtering out noises from entering the detachable microphone.
We haven’t used these yet, but the 40mm drivers are on the smaller side at this price (some rivals use 50mm drivers), though bigger doesn’t always mean better. And Alienware is promising “3D audio” thanks to the Dolby Atmos Virtual Surround Sound support. That’s a lot of buzzwords, and we recommend waiting for reviews or sampling these if audio quality is most important to you.
What is unquestionably good, if accurate, is the AW920H’s 30 hours of runtime of 2.4Ghz or 55 hours of Bluetooth. They also support fast charging over USB-C, so only 15 minutes on the outlet gets you six hours of gaming.
The Alienware Tri-Mode Wireless Gaming Mouse was also unveiled over night. This thing can be connected via a USB-C wireless dongle and will give you up to 140-hrs of lag-free gaming. Alternatively, get up to 420 hours with a Bluetooth connection. It’s available in lunar light or dark side of the moon colours. We’ll let you know pricing when we know.
Comments