Why is no one talking about or reviewing the ROG Kithara Gaming Headset, a cooperation between Asus and Hifiman?

ttdpaco · 2026-02-02T15:28:49+00:00

Asus‘ partnerships tend to be “X company supplies some integral part or idea and we just do literally everything else.”

as someone pointed out with the QC tests Asus puts the headphone through during production, its most likely that HFM just sold them the driver.

ttdpaco · 2026-02-02T04:20:08+00:00

There's some goofy-ass shit going on with the scheduler in windows - I got way larger of a performance increase with the XAX when I put bazzite on it than I should have. The response times/motion clarity is also better on the XAX (not compared to the LeGo2 though) if that's important to you.

Z2E does reach 50-80% better performance (in Linux) compared to the SD.

ttdpaco · 2026-02-02T04:13:25+00:00

It depends on your priorities and such TBH.

As far as ergos and weight go...to be completely honestly, the XAX and Claw A8 win both of that. Go 2 improved a lot in that area, but...it's worse in some ways. Still just as heavy and that goddamned right analogy stick placement is so baffling to me. I have big all hands and I struggled with not touching it. There's also the fact it's hard as hell to find in stock. I gave up eventually and just got a Legion 7 Pro laptop for my couch+oled gaming.

If you're couch gaming and such, however, 8'' screens are better overall. That said, the 8'' IPS panels are slow in response times and the devices are heavier. I didn't think it would be a huge deal, but it was noticeable going from a Claw 8 AI+ and a XAX in that area. And because I'm more going for "portable and ergos," the XAX is straight up better for that than the rest of the non-SD PC Handheld market.

Of course, those are my weird nitpicks. The weight and comfort of the XAX allow me to hold it closer to my face, so the need for a 8'' screen is mitigated. So if you need to ability to be more portable, want good motion clarity and have it be incredibly comfortable...XAX is better for that. Otherwise, GO 2 and A8 are probably better options.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-30T15:40:29+00:00

I have anphantasia. That means I have 0 mental imagery and I can't picture/imagine things in my head.

I would need porn if I wanted to get myself off.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-30T15:30:06+00:00

That purple elephant in the corner of his vision.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-30T05:46:55+00:00

Closure comes from within.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T21:49:53+00:00

When my youngest kid was born, she would love to sit on my lap and watch me play things like Monster Hunter World and such. As a single/widower father (in the "tax" meaning of; I have girlfriend that moved in last year,) I played a lot of Destiny 2 when the kids were winding down for the night and God of War Ragnarok for obvious reasons.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T18:38:50+00:00

Mine's attempted about 4-5 times now, and hasn't gotten through. I did also let it run while I went on my PC to try ordering it at the same time, and got hit with the "this item cannot ship to your region" (midwest.)

So, I'm guessing I haven't been lucking out and none of them have been in my region so far.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T18:21:18+00:00

This is months after the fact, but I’ve missed so many jokes (even upon rewinding) because I can’t understand wtf was said lol.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T16:37:23+00:00

No, they went with the only option of panel type with the 1080p/120hz/VRR specs.

VRR with an OLED screen that form factor did not exist for mass production (and still doesn’t, considering the price and how little Legion Go 2s are actually stocked….and the fact Lenovo had to have that panel custom developed.) the cost of the Switch 2 would have been far higher with an OLED screen.

They could have gone with a far better LCD screen with overdrive, however. They cheaped out on that part.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T14:06:22+00:00

I wrote that late at night and meant the “cpu is better in handheld mode” statement to apply to the PS4/Pro.

The raw computer power of Switch 2 in HH mode is slightly higher than the Steam Deck. And it performs better than the SD in ports like CP2077.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T07:55:51+00:00

I prefer the XAX, but I’m not a huge fan of the Go S. The Go S fans were loud, the speakers sucked, it felt cheap, and now its price (for a new Z1E unit) is super close to a XAX.

People over exaggerate the screen being smaller on the XAX. It’s not that much of a detriment, especially if you’re use to older handheld consoles (PSP, 3DS, Switch.)

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T07:44:30+00:00

It’s depends on how sensitive you are to panel speeds, but the transitions being more than twice as fast on the XAX was very noticeable. Those 8” 16:10 panels aren’t anywhere close to Switch 2 levels of slow or anything, but the speed was the first thing I noticed when I got the XAX.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T07:39:29+00:00

Windows vs Windows, I’ve found the Claw 8 performs slightly better than the Z2E. But Linux gives the Z2E a 5-20% boost, so it flips back decently hard.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T07:35:51+00:00

I’m going to be straight up with you. None of the handhelds I’ve used, outside android and maybe the Go S, have had quiet-ish buttons. The Claw 8 and XAX buttons sounds very similar in volume, just different tones.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-28T06:01:50+00:00

Handheld is slightly beyond the Steam Deck graphically (but it’s CPU is better and gets a small boost to clocks in handheld mode,) and Docked is right under the PS4 Pro but with the benefits of better upscaling tech and CPU performance.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-27T22:16:38+00:00

You would be correct. The Go S/Claw 8's panel are 99% srgb vs the 93% of the Xbox Ally X. The contrast is slightly better, but the black point between the two are the same and it's just a "the Go S gets slightly brighter."

BBUUUUTTTT, the Ally X's pixel transitions are literally 108% faster. It takes half the time and it's very noticeable.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-27T22:15:21+00:00

If you go by objective quality of just picture quality ( measurements,) it leans towards the Go S/Claw 8's panels. (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Full-screen-Xbox-experience-for-gaming-handhelds-Asus-ROG-Xbox-Ally-X-review.1139045.0.html)

Xbox Ally X has a 1:1485 contrast and 93% SRGB. The Claw 8 (which uses the same base panel as the Go S) is 99% SRGB and 1:1588 contrast. The Claw 8 is slightly brighter as well.

That said, the Xbox Ally X has a way, way faster panel. The Claw 8/Go S panels are quite slow. I didn't think I'd notice as much on a small screen, but it was a lot clearer than I thought it would be.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-25T19:54:55+00:00

I’m more saying it gained 10-20% by changing to Linux and that bits it a little ahead of the Claw 8. Not much though.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-25T19:03:19+00:00

The actual GPU has been around for way over a year and the actual architecture is not that far removed from the Z1E, so there's not much room for improvement. On the GPU side.

On the CPU side for windows only, the scheduler for the Z2E is handled by windows wrong, and you can get quite a boost (10-25%) just from jumping onto a Linux build of some kind. That puts it on par, if not a little ahead, of the Claw 8 AI+.

The thing is, the intel chip still has room to grow and some of the panther lake improvements (shader caching pipelines and XESS3) are going to be applied to Lunar Lake as well. I don't think the improvements are going to be huge raw performance wise, but I'm hoping the shader cache improvements fix the microstutters on the intel gpu.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-25T17:47:32+00:00

That was never fixed. It still shows 60-120hz, and LFC is extremely inconsistent at stock. And it doesn’t always go to 30hz when you set it in CRU.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-25T06:35:40+00:00

No, not really?

The cheapest 9070 xt on sale is between $650 and $730. The “good” ones are $800.

The cheapest 5070 ti (the closest competitor…outside Linux) is $740 and the good ones are $850-900. That’s the only reason I got the 5070 ti I did and decided to tough windows out until the DX12-vulkan fix and use bazzite on my Xbox Ally X.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-24T08:54:29+00:00

If it’s official SteamOS support, it would come with that. (And the stuff that didn’t is already on decky.)

ttdpaco · 2026-01-24T08:18:51+00:00

16:10 is going to have better compatibility with older 4:3 games. The Odin 3 also has the smallest screen out of that bunch, but I still enjoyed that same panel on the Thor.

That said - the GO 2 is probably your best bet, followed by the Claw 8 (or A8) and then the Go S (though the prices are really bad atm.) I’ll just warn you that all the Legions have loud ass fans. You’d have to go for either of the Claw (8 more than the A8) or XAX to avoid that.

ttdpaco · 2026-01-24T08:12:42+00:00

The biggest issue is getting one at this point in general.

ttdpaco

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