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With its factory tuning and data center DNA, an Intel 730 series SSD is an

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amazing choice for gamers and performance enthusiasts. Welcome to my

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review of the Audio Technica ATTH

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AG1s. So, let's start with a physical overview. Man, they absolutely nailed

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the looks of these things in my opinion. matte black with gold accents that look

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sharp and hint at the high performance nature of the product without turning

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into the over-the-top gamer bling. Very, very nice. The ear cups themselves have

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a soft fabric on the inside to cushion your earlobes against the angled drivers

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inside the ear cups and feature a padded pleather outer cushion that is very soft

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against the skin while not necessarily being the most realistic feeling faux

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leather that I've ever encountered. The 3D wing headband design boasts

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convenient, no adjustments necessary

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compatibility with any head. And like

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anything designed to be one sizefits-all, doesn't fit perfectly on

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everyone. Personally, I found it made me acutely aware of the two spots on my

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head where the weight of the headphones were hanging, but at least due to the

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lightweight design of the AG1s, it didn't cause me any discomfort even

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after a couple hours of continuous use. The other issue for me with these is

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that they just plain don't stay on for me. The left side of the headset is

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slightly heavier than the right side due to the cable and the microphone. So, I

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found that that side sags more than the other side. And because the materials on

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the top pads and the ear cups, while soft and cushy and nice, are also a

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little bit slippery, they don't really do anything to help them stay on. There

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is an easy fix, however, a band-aid

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solution, if you will. Just put an elastic band between the wings like so.

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You'll have to experiment with the right size elastic. And I found that once I

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found the perfect elastic, it addressed all the issues that I had with them and

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they were both comfortable and stayed on just fine. One way Audio Technica could

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fix this for me would be to include some tasteful black or gold elastics that

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come with the headphones and I can try whichever one fits perfectly for me so I

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don't need to use some janky solution. But on a future product, I'd just much

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rather have a full headband for comfort and convenience. I mean, lots of gamers

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that I know hang their headsets around their necks or pull one ear off to hear

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the things around them. And I found that around the neck puts the plastic support

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bars directly against your neck. Oops. And taking off one ear cup makes them

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basically fall right off for me. Another oops. The good news is that the elastic

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that I needed to make them stay on my head in the first place also helps with

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these issues. While I'm picking on the ergonomics of the product, though, I

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wish that the mic had a wider range of motion. It's 100° as it is. Um, so that

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it's not always kind of hanging in my peripheral vision when I'm not using it.

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Um, I mean, this last complaint in particular looks like it could be very

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easily addressed simply by removing a little plastic stopper here so that it

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folds up a little bit higher. It comes with a 1 m cable pre-attached that

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terminates in a four- pole connector for compatibility with mobile devices or the

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included USB sound card. and it is not detachable, but it is very robust

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feeling. So, I doubt it will ever need to be replaced. And I'd rather have a

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solid pre-attached cable than a proprietary or fragile removable one. If

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I had any complaints about the cable, it would be that perhaps it's a little bit

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too stiff. And another 8 to 12 inches of length would help me uh get it not only

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to the front audio connector, but also kind of, you know, routed a little bit

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further down so it's not anywhere near my arms, especially if my tower is next

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to me. Audio Technica does include a 2meter extension that splits into two

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three poles to work with your analog sound card and to help you reach around to the back of your computer, but it

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doesn't address folks who might want to use the surprisingly decent USB sound

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card that can easily drive these headphones past comfortable audio levels

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without distortion, but have it in the back of their system where they can't

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see it because these don't go in here. So, a four-pole extension with a small

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pigtail adapter would have been a more versatile solution, allowing front

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analog, rear analog, front USB, and rear USB operation, all without a trip to the

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store for an extra adapter. Back to the mic for a moment. It is a very premium

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feeling. The flexible boom is outstanding and it can be easily

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positioned exactly where you need it. This is a big complaint I have about a

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lot of microphones and not this one. It also features a nearby mute button

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that's nice and easy to reach, but is unfortunately not automatically

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triggered when you move the microphone up out of the way like some other

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headsets in this price range. Now, let's move on to listening tests. All

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listening tests were done on a stack in a Titanfall game stream or with

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my usual mix of top 40 music. And I'll say this, the AG1s have a much more

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balanced frequency response than you'll typically find on a gaming headset. nice

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accurate and clear highs, rich mids, and

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punchy, strong, but not overpowering lows. I haven't tried the open back at

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ADG ones, but man, I don't think I care.

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Even though I got the closed version, it's amazing how natural they sound.

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They do such a great job of not making me feel like I'm in a tiny little cave

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with a plastic speaker mounting apparatus clamped to my head. I mean,

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sure, that's what's actually going on here, but that doesn't mean I want to

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confront that reality. I'm in my zone, right? And even more impressively,

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because of their DADS or double air damping system, they don't leak sound.

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That translates into better positional audio because your left ear can't

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accidentally hear right channel sound and more immersive gaming since you'll

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never be bothered by annoying spouses, children, pets, and I mean, hell, the

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apocalypse could probably happen with these on, and I wouldn't notice that either. The other real world benefit of

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their isolation is that you also won't bother those other folks with whatever

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you're listening to, whether it's games or music. Now, because of their price,

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they end up in sideby-side listening tests against some tough competition,

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though. By comparison, the AKG K72s are

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much harder to drive, having much higher impedance and similar bass response, but

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lack some oomph in the mid-range and have more sparkle at the high end.

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Something that some people prefer, but past a certain point, I find fatiguing

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to listen to. I do prefer AKG's suspension headband implementation, but

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I really do not prefer the hard foam that they use on the ear cups compared

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to this nice soft stuff. I also dug my PC 350s, which are still quite similar

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to the current model high-end closedback from Sennheiser, out of a bin where I

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found them at Luke's place. He's so fired. Uh mids were strong on these,

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similar to the ATS, but the highs were comparably veiled, something that may be

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an issue when pinpointing in-game sounds. and their base, while strong and

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punchy, only really delivers if I press them against my head to seal them

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because I think Sennheiser was designing these for elves. These are also really

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hard to drive for a gaming headphone. My last competitor was the DT770s from

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Bernamic, and it's obvious why these have such a good reputation. I've got

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the 80 ohm impedance version, and apart from being much more difficult to drive

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and sounding a little bit bassier, they were, I'd say, equally pleasing to

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listen to. Noise isolation is not as strong though, and this is likely partly

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due to the cloth ear cups. And obviously, they have no included mic or

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included USB sound card, but then again, they are less expensive overall. Now,

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speaking of the included mic, let's get into microphone quality. This headset

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will be the first entry into our new standardized mic testing system. I'm

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going to record three test phrases on an ASUS Thunderx external sound card. one

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like I'm having a conversation with someone on Skype, one like I'm excited

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in the middle of a game, and one like I'm speaking quietly um so as not to

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wake the baby. I'm going to link to these sound clips in the video description. For your convenience,

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though, here is a clip from this headset that should basically make you want to

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go buy it right now. Holy actual balls.

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The mic on the AG1 is unreal. If you didn't tell me this mic was integrated

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on a gaming headset, I would believe it was a much more expensive standalone

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solution. Bravo Audio Technica. I guess that's what some audio engineering

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expertise brings to the gaming headset scene. So, the conclusion for this

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product is this great first attempt.

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Audio Technica took a new market, one that they admittedly haven't addressed

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before and designed a product for it that is really solid. It sounds great in

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games. I mean, good headphones sound good in games and will satisfy all but

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the most discerning audio files when it comes to music enjoyment as well. And I

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mean, when I say discerning, I don't mean in terms of quality. They sound great. It's just that some people prefer

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a slightly different sound signature for music enjoyment versus gaming. That's

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all. They've got a fantastic microphone on here. And apart from a few ergonomic

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complaints, which I covered pretty thoroughly in the video, this is pretty

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much as good as I could expect a gaming headset to be. The drawback, I mean,

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well, it's linked in the video description if you want to buy one, but

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prepare yourself because the price tag reflects the premium quality of the

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product, is price. They are very

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expensive, but sometimes you get what you pay for. Speaking of getting what

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you pay for, audible.com, I swear, with over 150,000 audio books available to

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download at a moment's notice and listen to on your phone or in your car or on

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your headphones. See how these things went together so nicely? Oh, sorry, I

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got distracted there. The point is that whenever you wherever you happen to be,

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these guys seem to have everything. One of the hot items on the bestseller list

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right now is an original story called Doctor Who Dead Air that is not only

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about the 10th Doctor, but also happens to be voiced by David Tennant. So, if

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like me, you didn't get enough of him in his relatively long but still too short

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run as the doctor, you can easily get your fix by signing up for a free trial

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of Audible's monthly audiobook service. The first one is free, and if you decide

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you like it, you'll get an audio book of your choice every month to enjoy. Just

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head over to audible.com/Linus to learn more. Guys, like and share this video if

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you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it, and leave a comment on the Linus

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Tech Tips forum linked in the video description if you want to discuss this product or you have constructive

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criticism for me and my team. Also linked in the video description is our

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support link with options to buy t-shirts like this one. Give us a

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monthly contribution to help us keep making these videos for you or give us a

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kickback whenever you buy random junk on Amazon. Check it out if you enjoy our

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videos. It helps us out a whole bunch. And as always, thank you for watching

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and don't forget to subscribe.