Hi!
Welcome to Lachlan Likes A Thing, a show where I take a thing and see whether or not I Iike
it.
Now the thing we're looking at in this video is the Audio Technica AG-1 closed back gaming
headset.
Now first of all I want to thank Audio Technica Australia for loaning me a pair of these to
have a listen to.
This headphone has a recommended retail price of $349 Australian dollars though I have seen
street prices go a bit lower than that.
Now in case you don't know the AD700 from Audio Technica was a very popular headphone
in the gaming community, both because of its very comfortable fit and because of its wide
open soundstage.
And for a while now people have been taking the AD700 and the A700, which is the closed
back version, and they've been doing things like adding third party microphones to make
their own gaming headsets.
Now I guess Audio Technica finally twigged on to the fact that people have been doing
this because they finally made their own versions.
We have the ADG-1 which is based on the AD700X, which I looked at in an earlier video, and
that's the open backed version, and this is the AG-1, which is based on the A700X, and
it's got a closed back as you can see.
Now first of all, I gotta say, I think the AG-1 is a really attractive looking headphone.
And you've got Audio Technica's typical attention to build quality so everything feels very
solid, really love these kind of matte plastics, and I think Audio Technica has gone for a
design that is definitely a bit more flashy than their other headphones, but I think it's
flashy without being cheap and gaudy looking like a lot of other gaming headsets that I've
seen.
Now the other thing you'll probably immediately notice about the AG-1 besides the awesome
design is this fancy looking headband mechanism here.
And if you haven't seen this before, this is what Audio Technica calls its 3D Wing Support
mechanism.
And it's used in basically all their full sized headphones.
And what it basically is, is it's a headband mechanism that just sits on the top of your
head and doesn't require any adjustment.
So you get these wings just sitting here like this.
And a lot of people, myself included, really love this system, because it's quite light
weight and comfortable.
There are some people this 3D wing support mechanism doesn't work for, they do report
that for instance they'll feel like the headphone is kind of sliding down the side of their
face.
And I think it depends on the shape of your head etc, etc, so I think it is worth, if
you get a chance, to try out this headphone before you buy it, just to make sure this
actually works for you.
As for the rest of the headphone we have this adjustable microphone here on the end of a
flexible boom pole, and we have a mute switch on the inside here.
And I'll show you what that sounds like later on in the video.
Now the cabling setup on the AG-1 is a bit unusual.
Attached to the AG-1 itself we have this nice thick 1m cable that ends in a 3.5mm 4 pin
connection.
And then in the box we also get a 2m extension cable that plugs in the end of the 3.5mm connection
and it separates outs into the separate microphone and headphone inputs that go into your soundcard
on your computer.
As I mentioned before the 1m cable on the AG-1 ends in a 3.5mm 4-pin connector and what
that means is that conceivably is that you could connect the AG-1 to a phone and use
the microphone to take calls.
But obviously looking at the AG-1 it is way too large to be worn outside practically.
What the 4-pin connector is for is for you to connect it to computers that have a single
port for sound where the microphone input and the headphone output are combined.
And this happens a lot on laptops to save space, it's also featured a lot on Apple computers
so this iMac has a combined port, and this connector will work.
You can also connect that 4 pin connector to this little doohicky here.
And this is a USB DAC / amplifier Audio Technica includes in the box with the AG-1.
And what this basically is, it's a little mini USB soundcard that you plug into your
computer and you use it to get a 4-pin output for the AG-1 that'll get you the microphone
input and the headphone output.
Now as you can see from the size of this thing, it's not going to deliver a great deal of
amplification to the AG-1, and honestly the AG-1 doesn't require much amplification, you
can plug it into a phone and it'll be quite comfortably powered by just a little phone.
So the USB DAC / amp is only really for two scenarios.
The first scenario is you have a really poor quality output from your computer, so it's
noisy or it just sounds terrible, you can use the DAC / amp to kind of hopefully improve
the sound quality a little.
Your other scenario is if you just don't have convenient access to the outputs on your computer
so you can use this DAC / amp to convert one of your USB ports to a sound output and you
can use the AG-, sorry you can use the AG-1 with that.
Now keep in mind that this is just a simple little thing, it's not going to support the
vast array of 3D processing audio technologies that a lot of dedicated gaming soundcards
have.
This is more just to give you a bit more flexibility.
Now this brings me to my one main complaint about the AG-1.
I think the 1m cable attached to the AG-1 is just a bit too short to be used comfortably
when you connect it to your computer, even when you're plugging it into a laptop or into
the DAC / amp with a USB port nearby, I just think that 1m is too short and you feel a
bit anchored to your computer as a result.
I would have kind of preferred it if they used a 1.5m cable attached to the AG-1 and
then gave you a 1.5m extension cable.
Now as far as comfort goes I think the AG-1 is a very comfortable headphone as long as
you get along with the 3D wing mechanism.
The AG-1 uses synthetic leather earpads unlike the velour earpads found on the ADG-1 and
the rest of the AD series headphones from Audio Technica.
Now I do think the synthetic leather earpads are quite soft and supple but they aren't
as breathable or as comfortable as the velour earpads.
And combined with the closed back, obviously these aren't going to be as breathable as
an open headphone.
That said the internal volume on the earcup is quite large so you do get a pretty breathable
fit.
Now in terms of noise isolation the AG-1 does block out a fair bit of external noise, it's
not fantastic in terms of noise isolation, but that's obviously not going to be that
much of an issue because you're not going to be wearing these on a subway train or a
plane or something, so in just kind of an office environment these aren't going to let
out a lot of noise, they aren't going to let in a lot of noise, so you're pretty much covered
there.
As far as sound quality for the AG-1 goes, the AG-1 does sound very similar to how I
remember the A700X and the A900X sounding.
So the AG-1 sounds very lively, it has a lively, dynamic kind of glossy sound to it that is
really fun to listen to.
So in particular it has a V-shaped kind of sound signature, and that means that it has
an emphasis on the low end with the bass and on the high end with the treble.
Now at the low end I think the bass on the AG-1 is done really well.
It's got an equal mix of both sub-bass and mid-bass, so it doesn't sound bloated, it
doesn't sound sleepy, it just sounds punchy and dynamic and fun.
And it's definitely got better bass impact than open backed versions of these headphones
from Audio Technica.
Now on the high end in terms of treble the AG-1 sounds glossy and exciting, so at times
it really has that classic kind of Audio Technica signature to it, it does really well with
female vocals, but at other times I do think the 'S' notes can sound a bit harsh on the
AG-1.
So in particular if you're listening to something that is already mastered a bit harsh or a
bit hot the AG-1 will emphasise it and it will sound just a bit aggressive to my ears.
And that's probably my second biggest complaint about the AG-1.
I do find the open backed versions of the AD700X and the AD900X don't have as much problem
with the sibilance and the S notes the AG-1 has.
As far as soundstage goes the AG-1 has a nice open wide soundstage for a closed back headphone.
So it sounds quite spacious but again it's not going to be completely open sounding like
the AD series of Audio Technica headphones.
You do sometimes get a sense of internal reflections from the earcups, the sound bouncing back
into your ears, it's not a huge problem and obviously this is always going to be the trade
off with a closed back headphone, in return you do get better bass impact and the sound
isolation from a closed back headphone.
So for gaming and movies on the AG-1 the things that really stand out about the sound are
low frequency effects like explosions and that kind of thing, and also dialogue and
voice chat, that kind of thing tends to sound more pronounced on the AG-1.
So as far as gaming headphones go this is probably the most important thing.
And the AG-1 is definitely fit for purpose in that regard.
You get a sense of visceral impact without everything being muddied up and losing out
on the detail.
One thing to note though is that at lower volumes it's quite easy to hear the voice
chat, etc, but at higher volumes if the other person's microphone is already a bit harsh,
the AG-1 will emphasise that.
So it might be a bit irritating.
As for how the microphone on the AG-1 sounds what you're hearing right now is being recorded
on the microphone of the AG-1 plugged into the amp / DAC that comes with the AG-1, and
as you can hear everything sounds very clear and really nice.
You want to move the microphone close to your mouth but not too close so you don't get those
plosive P sounds, apart from that everything sounds really good and I'd be more than happy
with this microphone for any sort of normal voice chat.
So overall who do I think the AG-1 is for?
Well I think the AG-1 sounds lively and exciting, but for longer periods of listening I would
prefer an open backed headphone like the ADG-1, because you get a more comfortable, more open,
breathable fit, and you also get a cleaner, more wide soundstage.
If that's not an option, you have to use a closed back headphone, I think the AG-1 is
a solid choice, but if you are sensitive to high frequency treble I would consider looking
at something like the Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro, which offers similar sound quality
to the AG-1, but it's more relaxed in the treble, you can use Beyerdynamics own headphone,
sorry, microphone attachment to convert this into a gaming headset, and you can check out
my review of these on my channel, I've linked it in the description of this video.
If you already know that you like a more lively vocal sound or you already like Audio Technica's
house sound I would take a look at these.
These are a solid gaming headset option, just make sure that the 3D wing system is going
to work for you.
Anyway thanks for watching this video, please click the like button if you found it helpful
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I'm looking forward to your comments and thanks to all my regular subscribers.
Also check out my spreadsheet, my Google Drive spreadsheet where I've listed all my reviews
and you can see what I've recommended and what I haven't, and you can use that quite
easily to check out the rest of my reviews, and happy listening!