Audio Technica makes great headphones. Period. If you’re fortunate enough to own a pair then you know what I’m talking about. Premium quality build and sound is what they’re about, I know this because I own a pair Audio Technica M50x’s and if you ask me they’re the best set headphones that I own.
My reality is this, I’m a music head and a gamer and based on my lifestyle I find that I change headphones often. When a company like Audio Technica decides to make a set of gaming headphones, just based on their reputation for quality alone you would know this is a must buy and you wouldn’t be wrong 99% of the time. I’m not saying this is the 1% time that you’re wrong either. I’m just saying that we’re dealing with another type of sound.
Gaming is different, the sound quality, sounds and nuances that you look for in gaming are a bit different from what you would look for in music. Audio Technica does music well but did they get it right when they made these gaming headphones? I definitely think so.
Gamers are always looking for something to help to enhance the gaming experience. It isn’t always about your TV. Your sound makes the game experience that much more involving and Audio Technica nailed it in my opinion.
Design
Audio Technica being the company that it is will NOT skimp on the look of its headphones. You will always get a premium look when you get something from them and that is clear when you look at these headphones. They’re gorgeous. I have the Black, Silver and Red versions of these headphones.
Truthfully speaking, the colorway alone was enough to for me to go get a pair and when I took them out of the packaging and really looked at the overall design of these headphones I almost felt like I should have spent more money on these than just the $199 that price tag asks.
The headphones are made mostly of plastic but that doesn’t take away from the premium look overall. The plastic is only to manage weight and the PDG1’s are super light. Gaming with these headphones for hours and hours wasn’t a painful thing at all.
Once I took them out and put them on, I realized that these headphones are extremely comfortable. The ear cups go over my ears just right and they don’t feel tight or constricting. Audio Technica made these ear cups so that they are free moving. They can fold out to about 180 degrees allowing these headphones to have some give when they sit on your head.
Since comfort is key, the material for the ear cups are made of out a breathable velour type cloth and they felt really nice sitting on my face and the best part about it? I didn’t get hot and sweaty with these headphones on. There are another set that are made of leather and closed back as opposed to the vented and open style that I have and of course it’s your choice but I recommend the velour style. Leather just never works for me.
The headband is super comfortable and doesn’t dig into your head and this matters especially for me and the rest of my bald-headed folk (if they’re reading this). If you’re fortunate enough to have hair then you should know that the foam stitched into the headband is very soft yet firm, you can tell that over time the foam won’t flatten out and feel stiff and be hard to use because they’ll hurt. The Audio Technica logo is on top of the headband in red as well as the logo being on the side of the right ear cup. These headphones are super cool without being flamboyant. Everything is cohesive and fits into a nice package.
Sound
Sound on the ATH-PDG1 is fantastic. The sound scape of these headphones is amazing; I can hear everything going on in my games when I use these headphones. All of the background noises, nuances, voices, etc. are coming through these headphones to your ears, not just because they’re on your head but because they are clear enough to be heard.
I love to play action and driving games the most and when I use gaming headphones these games put a set of headphones to the test. It’s sort of my barometer when I want to see how well a set of gaming headphones do since they tend to have a mixture of different sounds at any given time. The PDG1’s performed well.
A balanced sound experience is what you get from these headphones. The 40MM drivers that are built into these headphones give you some great sound without any noticeable distortion even with the volume up really high. The only issue I can say that I had with these headphones is that even when pumping up volume they aren’t very loud but that opinion is subjective to how you like your volume overall. For me however, I wish they were a bit louder and I probably wouldn’t recommend them for music that needs to thump.
The ATH-PDG1 comes with a few attachments for different headphones and a mic. You have what I called your everyday attachment for outside use and for your cellphone, your PC cables and lastly and most important, your gooseneck gaming mic.
You get a good bit for your money although I hate having a lot of cables lying around. But there are always tradeoffs so it isn’t a big deal especially considering some of the best sound you’re gonna get in a set of gaming headphones is with these headphones.
Final Thoughts
Audio Technica knows what it’s doing when it creates headphones for the consumer. They are meticulous and as a result of that you get the ATH-PDG1. I use these headphones every day or as much as I can. The sounds are balanced and crisp, never distorted. The design is top-notch and if you do pick up a pair of these go with the open back ear cups with the gray, black and red colorway.
With a price of $199 the ATh-PDG1’s fall right in line with practically every other set of premium headphones so you aren’t spending more than you would normally but because of how these headphones sound while you’re gaming you might feel as is if you are. It’s worth it to pick up a pair and take advantage. Game on!
