What Gaming Headset do you Use & Recommend

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Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
Yes, Windows has a test built in that plays sounds from 5 directions, I think it's in the control panel somewhere.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
Glad you like your headphones. I've been using my Audeze LCD-2 for gaming, so very good sound. They make the Seenheiser 363D feel cheap.

Don't forget to compare the HyperX Cloud line as well when shopping - people seem to love them.
 

WhiteNoise

Golden Member
Jun 22, 2016
1,074
184
106
I own a set of the LCD2 myself. Overkill for gaming I would say but fantastic for music!
 

jimrawr

Senior member
Mar 4, 2003
888
1
81
I literally gave away my G930 because of all the problems I had with them. Zero support form Logitech for known issues many people had. Will never buy a headset of theirs again. I would advise you to look at the Logitech headset forums and read through the multitude of issues users have with them, you will quickly decide not to buy Logitech headphones.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
I own a set of the LCD2 myself. Overkill for gaming I would say but fantastic for music!

Yes, but what's the downside?:)

I have a setup now that's pretty great.

They are hooked up to a Deckard Amp with USB and 3.5mm inputs, with a swtich on the front which to use. The 3.5" is hooked up to an Amazon echo dot.

So without changing headphones, I can use the headphones for gaming and with the flick of a switch say "play (music)" and I'm listening to music.

My previous 'high quality gaming headset' Sennheiser 363D is feeling second rate now, unused.
 
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HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
14,667
440
126
I literally gave away my G930 because of all the problems I had with them. Zero support form Logitech for known issues many people had. Will never buy a headset of theirs again. I would advise you to look at the Logitech headset forums and read through the multitude of issues users have with them, you will quickly decide not to buy Logitech headphones.

Yah that's where I am at right now. Not buying anything logitech for awhile especially since their headphones are built so crapily. Too bad crapily isn't a real word but it should be just to help describe logitech headsets.

Actually I haven't had much luck with logitech gear since the original G10 keyboard which I still have. They've had basically build quality issues with most of their stuff for a long time. Razor is basically the same as they are to me. I've had better luck with steel series, but haven't tried their headphones. Wife was wanting a new pair of wireless headphones since the last pair I had for her broke. Was tempted to go the non computer related route as there seems to be better headsets, like the V Moda M100's that I use, that are far superior than any gaming headset out there. But wireless headsets either outside gaming are ridiculously expensive for good ones from what I can tell. Those Steel Series 7's look interesting though for the price.
 

PlanetJosh

Golden Member
May 6, 2013
1,815
143
106
Just using a low end sony headset. Mainly into the visuals/graphics. The headset provides just enough to get by for audio atmosphere.

-------------------------
4k Rig
i7 6700 3.4ghz || Titan X Pascal || Win 10 Home || ASRock H110M-DGS || DDR4 16gb Crucial || Toshiba HD 1tb
Cooler Master 750W || Onboard Sound || 32" Samsung 4k 3840 x 2160
-------------
1440 Rig
i7 3820 3.6ghz || Titan X Pascal || Win 7 Pro || Asus P9 X79 || DDR3 16gb Corsair || WD HD 1tb
Cooler Master 650W || Onboard Sound || 27" Samsung 2560 x 1440
 

crownjules

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2005
4,858
0
76
Anything marketed as "gamer" is going to be overpriced compared to a non-gaming marketed item of similar quality. Your best bet is to go with some quality headphones from someone like Sennheiser or Shure and then buy something like modmic.
 

WhiteNoise

Golden Member
Jun 22, 2016
1,074
184
106
Yes, but what's the downside?:)

I have a setup now that's pretty great.

They are hooked up to a Deckard Amp with USB and 3.5mm inputs, with a swtich on the front which to use. The 3.5" is hooked up to an Amazon echo dot.

So without changing headphones, I can use the headphones for gaming and with the flick of a switch say "play (music)" and I'm listening to music.

My previous 'high quality gaming headset' Sennheiser 363D is feeling second rate now, unused.


Yeah I have a pretty decent setup too. /sniggers

IMG_0083_zpsuozivh0l.jpg
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Anything marketed as "gamer" is going to be overpriced compared to a non-gaming marketed item of similar quality. Your best bet is to go with some quality headphones from someone like Sennheiser or Shure and then buy something like modmic.

Also you could add an Astro mixamp and get directional audio from your games too. The mixamp works with any headphone/mic combo
 

hondaf17

Senior member
Sep 25, 2005
757
6
81
Are there any wireless gaming headsets that plug into a sound card, as opposed to USB? I have a 10 year old sound card (in signature) that I really like - it has true surround sound and does DTS on board. I assume this would have to be better than the USB and relying on software to "fake" surround sound.

I like the Arctis 7 but I'm not amazed by them.

The other thing is, in Titanfall 2, my only audio option is "stereo/headphones". I'm assuming that setting isn't giving me the best surround sound, but I can't change it.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Are there any wireless gaming headsets that plug into a sound card, as opposed to USB? I have a 10 year old sound card (in signature) that I really like - it has true surround sound and does DTS on board. I assume this would have to be better than the USB and relying on software to "fake" surround sound.

I like the Arctis 7 but I'm not amazed by them.

The other thing is, in Titanfall 2, my only audio option is "stereo/headphones". I'm assuming that setting isn't giving me the best surround sound, but I can't change it.

With the Astro headset using the mixamp you can output Dolby digital via optical to the mixamp and get directional audio that way.
 

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
60
91
I get you're real excited about the Mixamp, but a decent sound card will suffice for PC gaming and provide surround sound mixing for stereo headphones.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
I get you're real excited about the Mixamp, but a decent sound card will suffice for PC gaming and provide surround sound mixing for stereo headphones.

Not without a digital output. All you'll get is stereo, no directional audio. This is why usb is a popular option for gaming headsets you use the DAC in the USB connection. You have to have something that allows the game you are playing to toggle surround on. Plugging in a pair of headphones into a sound card will default to headphones/stereo as the poster above mentioned.
 
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hondaf17

Senior member
Sep 25, 2005
757
6
81
My USB connection from the Arctis 7 is just plugged into a normal USB port on my computer. NOT a USB port on my sound card, because my sound card doesn't have a USB port. My sound card is old school with both a digital and optical out. Do they make sound cards with USB ports? All of these stupid wireless gaming headsets connect via USB and I'd like to utilize my sound card. What am I missing?

Those Astro's with the MixAmp are like $250, right? Little pricey for me.
 

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
2,559
136
I have been plenty happy with my Razer Krakens. They do NOT have the best sound ever (not sure any gaming set does), but I like the retractable mic, and they are comfortable. And so far their build quality has held up well.
 

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
60
91
Not without a digital output. All you'll get is stereo, no directional audio. This is why usb is a popular option for gaming headsets you use the DAC in the USB connection. You have to have something that allows the game you are playing to toggle surround on. Plugging in a pair of headphones into a sound card will default to headphones/stereo as the poster above mentioned.
I said a decent sound card.

Plug some basic headphones in, youtube the 3D barber video. Note how you're getting surround sound over stereo channels. Those USB headphones are either doing the same thing, with inferior hardware, or actually have many speakers in them.

A decent sound card will mix surround over stereo for you.

EDIT: some clarity
 
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hondaf17

Senior member
Sep 25, 2005
757
6
81
So how do I get my sound card, that has no USB input, to mix my audio when my Arctis 7 (wireless) is plugged into a normal USB port on my computer. My sound card doesn't have a USB input. My sound card has digital and optical only.

Why do all these "gaming" wireless headsets have USB connections, as opposed to optical or digital?

WTH am I missing?
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,085
5,618
126
So how do I get my sound card, that has no USB input, to mix my audio when my Arctis 7 (wireless) is plugged into a normal USB port on my computer. My sound card doesn't have a USB input. My sound card has digital and optical only.

Why do all these "gaming" wireless headsets have USB connections, as opposed to optical or digital?

WTH am I missing?

Convenience, every PC these days has USB. Having USB on a Sound card is pointless.
 

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
126
So how do I get my sound card, that has no USB input, to mix my audio when my Arctis 7 (wireless) is plugged into a normal USB port on my computer. My sound card doesn't have a USB input. My sound card has digital and optical only.

Why do all these "gaming" wireless headsets have USB connections, as opposed to optical or digital?

WTH am I missing?
You would need to plug headphones into the 3.5mm jack to use your soundcard with a wired set or use something with a dock like the A50.
 

Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
Why do all these "gaming" wireless headsets have USB connections, as opposed to optical or digital?

WTH am I missing?

USB is digital.
Optical is digital.

Digital is digital, it doesn't matter which is used from a sound quality or feature perspective, When you are using your sound card's digital port, you are bypassing your sound card. Any adjustment to the sound is being done by the computer in sofware. The sound card is just passing the digital signal from the operating system to the optical port. At this point your sound card has become the functional equivalent of an expensive wire that also consumes power. A wire that is 100% functionally equivalent to using the built-in USB port or SPDIF port on your motherboard. That is why every wireless headset uses USB, because every computer has a USB port, and not every computer has an optical or coax SPDIF port.

YEARS ago, there was a bunch of different proprietary softwares for positional audio that was tied to specific brands of soundcards. Those sound cards processed the digital signal with their proprietary software on a dedicared sound chip before converting to analog. Also digital to analog conversion was not a simple thing done by a tiny inexpensive chip.

But now, now all these positional softwares have merged into either DirectX and happen as a part of Windows, or they are incorporated into the game engine and done by the game, and the game pays a small royalty. All the positional audio happens in sofware, digitally, by the CPU before it gets passed to the soundcard. This is possible because CPUs and games are multi-threaded and can handle that kind of thing very easily with much, much less penalty than when sound cards were relevant to gaming. If someone has convinced you that sound cards are still relevant for positional audio in games, that your sound card is ANYTHING other than a glorified DAC and amplifier, they are wrong. Sound cards are still useful for music processing. Making music, accessing and modifying the digital music stream, providing more or different output jacks than standard. But for gamers using a headset or standard 2.1 setup, they are no longer relevant at all. An external DAC + AMP is more flexible and (usually) superior.

As a result, now one of the best gaming setups is to just get a good COMFORTABLE headphone that uses a standard 3.5mm connector (I use Philips SHP9500) and run an external DAC / AMP like a FiiO or SMSL or Schiit (or if you're crazy about this kind of thing and spend lots of money, an OPPO or whatever floats your boat), hook it up to the USB or optical out and use a V-moda boom-pro to get a mic. Now you have great headphones for music or games or whatever... you can actually use open headphones which tend to have much better imaging and are good for positional audio, but for some reason nobody makes an out of the box open headphone gaming headset... and since you're smart, you choose a DAC / AMP with a volume knob, and you can reach over and adjust the volume easily without having to enter game options or hit some strange combo of keys to adjust the volume whenever you want (I just love my knob, okay... maybe it's not healthy, but I love my knob.)

Also, for those who don't know, you can compensate for a headset's weakneeses with an equalizer program (Equalizer APO, for example) which will EQ everything (Music, Youtube, games,etc...) I use it to bump the bass region of my SHP9500s a couple dB. They don't have huge extension in that area, but a small tweak goes a long way. It improves the gaming aspect of the headphones without giving the overdone bloated bass that many headsets build into their frequency response.
 
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DamienStanford

Junior Member
Jun 25, 2017
1
0
1
If you're looking for a budget gaming headset don't think you need to spend more than 50$ for a good set od headset that will serve you for a fair period. I personally find company SADES as a very reliable manufacturer of gaming headset for people on a strict budget. Check this list of budget gaming headset and you will see some of the best models.

Currently using HyperX which I bought for less than 50$. It has great features and if you're playing games on the consoles this model is compatible. The only bad side I found is no 7.1. sound system support.
 

HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
14,667
440
126
So turning into a bit of a headphone guy over the past few months. The V Moda 100s got me interested in learning more and checking out different headphones.

I still stand by the point I made above that the majority of gaming headsets are crap. There are a few exceptions, but I wouldn't buy anything today that doesn't have at least a detachable cable. Then there is comfort, sound quality, and durability concerns as well. I did however find my older pair of barely used Logitech ue 6000 headphones. The UE (ultimate ears) headphone line was the only good line of headphones Logitech ever made. They weren't made as gaming headsets (so no mic), but as great listening headphones.

If you are just stuck on having a gaming headset (because you can't or won't deal with a good separate condenser microphone), then these are about the only good ones worth picking up in wired format.

1) Hyper X Revolvers (sounds and mic quality are pretty darn good)
2) Hyper X Cloud 2 (sound is great, mic quality is bleh)
3) Razer Black sharks (sound and mic quality are great)

In wireless format these are the only ones to consider

1) Siberia 800s
2) Logitech Artemis G933s


And that is the short list. Anything else and you are sacrificing a lot on sound quality, build quality, and mic quality.

Now going with even a cheap condenser microphone instead of a "headset" the headphone world without the attached microphone has a huge world of available products.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
470
126
After all these suggestions, I'm curious to know what the OP eventually chose and how he/she likes their purchase. I forgot I had an old Corsair 5.1 headset in my closet that I got for free a while back and gave that a try and while the sound is pretty good, the ear pieces were a lot more rigid than my current headset which hurt my ears after about an hour.

I think the toughest part about buying a headset online if you don't have the chance to try it on at a store somewhere is finding out how it will fit and feel after a few hours.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
My setup is, Audeze LCD-2 with an Audeze Deckard Amp, and an Amazon dot with 'Amazon unlimited music' $4/month. So, they play the games and PC audio; and with the flip of a switch and saying what to play (voice), music. Hard to imagine how to improve it.