Best brand of gaming headsets for pc?

[mnewsham]

AKG K712 (Schiit Magni/Modi Amp/DAC) + modmic 4.0 is what I use.

 

[Ichigo]

vmoda mic or modmic is a must with standalone headphones. the zalman is shit and so are all other desktop microphones *assuming* you're using them for voice-activated voip.

I have HD598's+modmic but if I had a small budget I'd probably just get the Kingston HyperX Cloud w/e since it just fucking works and it has good to decent reviews sound quality-wise. At a certain budget or personal temperament, if you don't wanna fidget with this stuff there's really nothing wrong with headsets at all. They sound fine. I enjoyed my logitech g430's way more than my 598's+ random standalone microphone that broadcasts my keyboard over mumble. Modmic changed that but headphones + that isn't cheap.

 

[HeXen]

Just be aware that headphones that might be designed for music and do well for that may not be good for games if you are trying to do positional audio through them.

Years ago I fell for all the posts stating to use audiophile HP's for gaming and was severely disappointed. Ones designed for gaming really helped a lot in Battlefield, emphasizing certain frequencies such as footsteps, distant gunfire...etc did a world of difference.
The audiophile ones to me are best only for movies or certain kinds of uncompressed music if you enjoy hearing it exactly as to how much $ the recording studio wanted to spend. Let's face it, it's never created to sound how an artist intends but rather the record company's preference to invest. some record companies put some crappy sounding stuff.

 

[Annisman*]

I have the SteelSeries Siberia V2 headset and I love it. Got mine on clearance for ~$45 IIRC because they have the CounterStrike Global Offensive logo. Like I care how they look.

Glad to see another Siberia lover :thumbsup:

I've probably bought 6 or 7 headsets in my day and all of them sounded like trash to me until I found the Siberia, then I moved on to more 'audiophile' headphones but as expensive as they are the Siberia still holds it's own against them imo.

 

[MajorBrass]

Don't get gaming headphones. Get DT 770 PRO and add a ModMic

 

[cmdrdredd]

Years ago I fell for all the posts stating to use audiophile HP's for gaming and was severely disappointed. Ones designed for gaming really helped a lot in Battlefield, emphasizing certain frequencies such as footsteps, distant gunfire...etc did a world of difference.
The audiophile ones to me are best only for movies or certain kinds of uncompressed music if you enjoy hearing it exactly as to how much $ the recording studio wanted to spend. Let's face it, it's never created to sound how an artist intends but rather the record company's preference to invest. some record companies put some crappy sounding stuff.

A lot of the time it's because of the way the headphone's sound is tuned. It might have a cramped sound stage and just not work well.

 

[werepossum]

Years ago I fell for all the posts stating to use audiophile HP's for gaming and was severely disappointed. Ones designed for gaming really helped a lot in Battlefield, emphasizing certain frequencies such as footsteps, distant gunfire...etc did a world of difference.
The audiophile ones to me are best only for movies or certain kinds of uncompressed music if you enjoy hearing it exactly as to how much $ the recording studio wanted to spend. Let's face it, it's never created to sound how an artist intends but rather the record company's preference to invest. some record companies put some crappy sounding stuff.

I dunno. The Dead racked up huge debts for studio time making their first three albums. Might be rare nowadays, but I bet there are still artists in control of their own sound. (Not that that is always a good thing; the '69 mixing of Aoxomoxoa was not rushed, cost a fortune, and was markedly inferior to every subsequent remix. Sometimes the studio people really do know best. And other times, without the wizardry there's no real talent.)

 

[ControlD]

So which of these suggested headphones are good for not cooking your ears when you wear them? I have a rather cheap pair of Sony headphones that sound OK for gaming (terrible for music) MDR-V55 I think. I can wear them for about 20 minutes before my ears start getting hot. I can hardly stand to use them because of this.

I have been looking at these myself: http://www.amazon.com/Phiaton-MS-430-Headphones-Microphone/dp/B00F6OV6T4/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1428935075&sr=1-10&keywords=phiaton

The Phiaton in-ears that I have are by far the best sounding headphones I have ever used. if their full sized cans are anything like those then I will be set.

 

[HeXen]

I dunno. The Dead racked up huge debts for studio time making their first three albums. Might be rare nowadays, but I bet there are still artists in control of their own sound. (Not that that is always a good thing; the '69 mixing of Aoxomoxoa was not rushed, cost a fortune, and was markedly inferior to every subsequent remix. Sometimes the studio people really do know best. And other times, without the wizardry there's no real talent.)

Yeah I have a number of poorly done rock/metal CD's. Hum's second album is probably the worst I've ever known personally. But it's usually the lesser known or new bands but even some of these remasters of long time bands aren't that great. Most of all my Death Metal albums are terrible. Some of it I'm sure it's just the bands sound and how they wanted it...like how Pantera has this hollow'ish sound that I have to cut the EQ around the 500hz and 3k range if I listen using my Ultrasone's or Sennheisers but I know it's still not right. Sounds worse in my car cause I can't control the sub's EQ curve so that hollow like sound is way over bearing.
I'm certainly no audiophile and I just prefer to tailor the sound myself and is probably why I was always disappointed with audiophile headphones and speakers.

 

[santz]

Bluedio R+ for $90

bluetooth 4.0 wireless over ear headphones
20 hours battery life
exceptional ratings and reviews on amazon
better than beats when it comes to bass
can play from sd card
built on controls
foldable for travel

i am too lazy to post a link, so do it yourself, hehe

 

[calyco]

ATH-M50 or bust...

That is a very mediocre headphone, good only if you get in on a great deal imo (I returned them). I love my Audio Technica A900X and Beryerdynamic DT770 but I prefer closed. The new gaming headsets from AT looks interesting

http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/97d660ada89c32c8/index.html

 

[Cerb]

better than beats when it comes to bass

Just from seeing FR graphs of some Beats, that shouldn't be hard.

 

[sxr7171]

The best gaming headset is not a headset at all.

You will get far better sound quality for the money out of a regular set of headphones.

My humble opinion is that my current setup is the best bang for the buck (well maybe not cheap) setup you can buy.

PC -> HRT Music Streamer II+ -> FiiO E9 headphone amp -> AKG Q701's

You could obviously spend thousands of dollars and get better than what I have, but this is my favorite setup for under $1000.

That's a great setup for music and by extension all audio. But what if you need something wireless with a mic for gaming?

 

[sxr7171]

Years ago I fell for all the posts stating to use audiophile HP's for gaming and was severely disappointed. Ones designed for gaming really helped a lot in Battlefield, emphasizing certain frequencies such as footsteps, distant gunfire...etc did a world of difference.
The audiophile ones to me are best only for movies or certain kinds of uncompressed music if you enjoy hearing it exactly as to how much $ the recording studio wanted to spend. Let's face it, it's never created to sound how an artist intends but rather the record company's preference to invest. some record companies put some crappy sounding stuff.

Well said. I've been down the audiophile path and I still am - with an added modicum of common sense. Most audio out there these days does not befit an audiophile setup. Certainly not gaming audio. One might even be better off with a set that glosses over the quality of compressed game audio and just makes gaming sound like a game. There is a headset that's great for your FLACs and ALACs and one that is light, convenient and practical for your gaming.

I find it weird that a tread on gaming headsets has gone all audiophile. I wish that stuff stayed at head-fi.

 

[zmaster]

g930
got them. never looked back

 

[Annisman*]

Well said. I've been down the audiophile path and I still am - with an added modicum of common sense. Most audio out there these days does not befit an audiophile setup. Certainly not gaming audio. One might even be better off with a set that glosses over the quality of compressed game audio and just makes gaming sound like a game. There is a headset that's great for your FLACs and ALACs and one that is light, convenient and practical for your gaming.

I find it weird that a tread on gaming headsets has gone all audiophile. I wish that stuff stayed at head-fi.

I use my DT 990's for gaming + music, I feel like it's the best of both worlds.

Makes both my FLACs and games sound great, at the same time it is true that if all you care about is gaming there is no need at all to look at audiophile cans.

 

[Karl775]

I've always stayed with Turtle beach headsets. For both console and PC. They work great, just don't get the cheap and nasty ones, I paid about £85 for the set I use, would love the new wireless set but if I paid £300 for a headset my wife would knock the crap out of me. Lol my son uses Turtle beach as well. It's just our preference. Never had any problems with them , just one minor accident , left the headset on the floor and we had a new puppy and yeh it chewed the crap out of them. No harm really as I bought the dog for the wife so she treated me to a new set that I'm still using two years on. Think it might be time to get a puppy and push for the wireless set that I would love.
Hope this has helped.

 

[lazybedone]

I have AKG Q701 and they are pretty cool I can tell
sound is amazing not just for gaming.

 

[rivethead]

I got my Superlux 668Bs yesterday. Here are my initial impressions (compared to the JVC HARX700s that I had before):

- mids are definitely more crips....amazing sounding to be truthful. They added real clarity to my metail/punk music I hadn't heard before.
- highs were also clearer
- Bass was slightly less powerful
- the semi open 668Bs did nothing as far as sound stage compared to the closed JVC HARX700s - games/music sounded exactly the same to me - so the whole open/closed issue is a wash to my ears. I will say that I can hear outside noise more with the 668Bs...especially my noisy case fans. I might just put black duct tape over the holes and turn these cans back into closed.....
- The 668Bs warm up my ears faster than the JVC HARX700s, but never got too hot
- The 668Bs are very light and comfortable - I would say better than the JVC HARX700s

I'm not audiophile. One persons opinion. YMMV.

Bottom line: initially very impressed with a $37 pair of headphones used for both gaming and music

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I got my Superlux 668Bs yesterday. Here are my initial impressions (compared to the JVC HARX700s that I had before):

- mids are definitely more crips....amazing sounding to be truthful. They added real clarity to my metail/punk music I hadn't heard before.
- highs were also clearer
- Bass was slightly less powerful
- the semi open 668Bs did nothing as far as sound stage compared to the closed JVC HARX700s - games/music sounded exactly the same to me - so the whole open/closed issue is a wash to my ears. I will say that I can hear outside noise more with the 668Bs...especially my noisy case fans. I might just put black duct tape over the holes and turn these cans back into closed.....
- The 668Bs warm up my ears faster than the JVC HARX700s, but never got too hot
- The 668Bs are very light and comfortable - I would say better than the JVC HARX700s

I'm not audiophile. One persons opinion. YMMV.

Bottom line: initially very impressed with a $37 pair of headphones used for both gaming and music

Glad you like 'em. Give it some burn in time, bass response should pick up a little bit. Thanks for posting up your thoughts

 

[Cerb]

I have AKG Q701 and they are pretty cool I can tell
sound is amazing not just for gaming.

<- K7XX or K271 mkII, depending on ambient noise.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

g930
got them. never looked back

I bought 2 sets of g930s and a g430 during a holiday sale at Amazon a couple of years ago. One g930 went to my youngest brother and I gave my middle brother the g430; I kept the other g930 set but have not opened it up because my Razer Carcharias headset from 2011 still works great.

I'm not an audiophile like some of the folks in this thread, but I CAN attest to one thing -- my brother loves his g930 and said it sounds awesome. Even more importantly, he is VERY rough on headsets -- they generally don't last more than a few months for him. The g930 has lasted well over a year and keeps going strong. I suspect it is because it is wireless as opposed to being wired (I think he was tripping on the cable and pulling it too much), but nevertheless, it has been great for him.