Best headset for PC gaming?

[Mai72]

I bought the SteelSeries Wireless Arctic 7 a few months ago. I use these for work and when I'm gaming. I don't do much online gaming so I don't know how good the mic is, but the reviews on YT have stated that it's pretty decent. For about $150 on Amazon. It might be a bit expensive but IMO good headsets cost money.

Anyone use the same headset or something similar?

 

[aigomorla]

I use Audio Technica headphones.
My next pair will probably be Audio Technica...

I have used almost all the vendors, and for the price / quality , i think its very hard to beat Audio Technica...

 

[nurturedhate]

Just bought the wife a pair of Arctic 7s for christmas actually. Was purchased more so because they were lightweight, wireless and fit a small head which were the requirements. They were only $100 at Best Buy though... I prefer Sennheiser myself and currently using an old pair of PC 350 Se. As for the Arctic 7s I find the mic to be the slightest bit tinny and the sound quality isn't close to my sennheisers but is still solid. At $100 for a wireless headset it's in a good spot. Unless a person just doesn't care about audio quality or they haven't used a nice pair of headphones the sub $200 market is full of trade offs. It's kind of like an SSD, a 144 hz monitor or a good mechanical keyboard - it's good when you first get it but you don't truly appreciate it until you are using something else.

I use Audio Technica headphones.
My next pair will probably be Audio Technica...

I have used almost all the vendors, and for the price / quality , i think its very hard to beat Audio Technica...

They make good stuff, have used some of their studio line before.

 

[DigDog]

this is a problem that has been discussed before so you get the short version of teh answer, otherwise look in this subforum for more.

1. your headset is fine
2. if you want more and are willing to pay, but a professional (NON-gaming) headset from any professional audio company (AKG, Audio-TEchnica, Beyerdynamic, Shure, Sennheiser, Sony) and add a AntLion ModMic https://antlionaudio.com/

Steelseries makes pretty decent audio for the money, plus teh convenience of having a microphone already built in. At this price level, the sound you will get will be "just as good" as a more expensive professional level, IF you play games with it. You will only notice the difference if you use it to listen to well-reproduced music.

 

[EXCellR8]

or just buy a cheap podcast mic and clip it to your shirt for 20 bucks.

I used to buy Plantronics but their QC has suffered a bit; I broke my last two pairs which had minimal use hours. Ever since someone on here recommended RBH Sound I don't even look at "gaming" headphones anymore; I believe I am now a better person because of it

 

[Ranulf]

I agree with plantronics QC going down lately. Though its getting hard to find a good one ear usb mic these days which is what I prefer for most voice chat since I use speakers for game audio.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Another vote for getting a good pair of headphones and then either a modmic or other type of microphone. The "gaming" headsets are all market speak for selling a $30-50 headphone that they integrated a $10 microphone into and selling it for $200+. Spend that money on a set of real quality headphones instead and pony up the couple bucks for the modmic if you have to have a boom style mic.

I personally use a pair of Mrspeakers Alpha Dog Prime (no longer made as they came out about 4 years ago). These are quite frankly still an amazing set of closed headphones, and will blow away anything called "gaming" (they also retailed for around $1k so, in all frankness they should blow them away).

 

[JerYnkFan]

I recently paired a Sennheiser HD579 with Schiit Fulla 2 DAC/Amp. Works great. Got them both for 200


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[hondaf17]

I've had the Arctis 7 for about 9 months now. Paid $150 for it. Love it. Very comfortable and works excellent. I'm pleased with sound and mic quality. Only thing I did was turn off automatic software updates. Way too many - I just do it manually maybe once a month now.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Just got the Arctis 7 today too. $100 - $90 in Dell credit that I needed to use. I don't game 8 hours a day anymore like my teenage years so this should be good enough for casual play.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Okay so stock these headphones sound like trash. I used these settings I found and it's a night and day difference.

https://www.reddit.com/r/steelseries/comments/65ogu1/best_arctis_7_equalizer_settings/

I also decided to purchase Dolby's Atmos software for $12 which is now an app for Windows and cakes in the emulation. Works with 7.1 headphones and it's amazing.

 

[TeknoBug]

I have an Arctis 5 too and am a tad disappointed in them but am still using them since I paid for them, also still have my Siberia V2 which are better sounding. The Sennheiser HD598 and Steelseries 840 are top notch (but wait for Steelseries 850 for better mic) for a lot more though.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

this is a problem that has been discussed before so you get the short version of teh answer, otherwise look in this subforum for more.

1. your headset is fine
2. if you want more and are willing to pay, but a professional (NON-gaming) headset from any professional audio company (AKG, Audio-TEchnica, Beyerdynamic, Shure, Sennheiser, Sony) and add a AntLion ModMic https://antlionaudio.com/

Steelseries makes pretty decent audio for the money, plus teh convenience of having a microphone already built in. At this price level, the sound you will get will be "just as good" as a more expensive professional level, IF you play games with it. You will only notice the difference if you use it to listen to well-reproduced music.

Best answer. For actual "gaming" phones, I think the Kingston Hyper Cloud or whatever they're called are the best. Better comfort than steelies, infinitely more durable, and are just a rebadged takstar with mic added which are pretty good value cans.

 

[DigDog]

like i said before, in countless other identical threads, i know of high-skill players from "serious" games (quake, CS, UT) that use SteelSeries, HyperX, Plantronics, Razer, so i bundle these into the "not garbage" group.

And, there is no way anyone short of a professional headset reviewer could know what ALL the headsets on the market do. Unless you own a whole bunch of them, and the person you are speaking with also owns a bunch of them, then you have enough to actually discuss how one is better than another.
if two people have one set each, there's no way to describe how one compares to the other.
Headsets are expensive. At least $100 each, up to much more. And the quality and cost have basically zero relation, you can buy great $50 headphones, and crap $300 headphones. You would need an extensive firsthand knowledge of these products to know which one performs best.

But you can also broadly generalize to say that:

1. Low end stuff like Creative Fatal1ty are garbage
2. NAMEBRAND stuff like Beats is mediocre and overtly expensive
3. Specialized headsets like SteelSeries are all pretty good, and not too expensive, plus they tend to be very user-friendly.
4. Professional stuff like AKG are superior in everything, but start from higher cost and are less user-friendly
5. High-End stuff is for idiots.

why do i generalize? because every headset thread goes like this:

What headset is better, this or that?

guy 1: i have the XXY, they are awesome

guy 2: i have XYZ, they are so cool

guy 3: get these here LINK, they are the best

guy 4: random trolling

guy 5: i know everything because i own a fedora you should buy GARBAGE PRODUCT

guy 6: totally unrelated question

guy 7: im looking for a fight with guy 1 and his product is shit

guy 1: your product is shit idiot

etc ...

 

[MrSquished]

Any good high end headphones paired with a mic like an antlion is the way to go IMO

 

[MrSquished]

I've been playing a lot of BF1 with my Beyer T90's run through a nice Schiit DAC and they are killing it for sound, both positional audio as well as just great gaming sound. I don't fiddle with software driven quasi surround sound gibberish, just get a nice DAC and a nice pair of headphones. Open-eared headphones would be best I think for positional audio if you have a gaming situation where you can have your headphone leak a lot of sound, but otherwise closed ones will do.

 

[bfun_x1]

I use Audio Technica headphones.
My next pair will probably be Audio Technica...

I have used almost all the vendors, and for the price / quality , i think its very hard to beat Audio Technica...

My main PC headphones have always been the AD900. My first pair lasted through 6 years of heavy use before they literally started shocking me, ear to ear. After that I switch to the AKG K701 for a few years but then I bought another AD900X and have been very happy again.

 

[Selena Anderson]

How is Razer Kraken? I am looking forward to buying it in near future.

 

[nurturedhate]

How is Razer Kraken? I am looking forward to buying it in near future.

Giant pile of junk that will break within a year. If you are dead set on buying them then have a local best buy price match them and pay the $10 for the in store replacement option.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Giant pile of junk that will break within a year. If you are dead set on buying them then have a local best buy price match them and pay the $10 for the in store replacement option.

+1 I can confirm these are not at all durable. A little better than the complete garbage Turtle Beach anything but not a whole lot better.

Check out Sennheiser. There are both inexpensive (gsp 301) and expensive (game one)
I've had a few pairs of their headphones and find the quality and durability to be good.

 

[shortylickens]

I just bought a Corsair Void Pro, as a treat to myself.

Its nice. Good audio and strong microphone.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Massdrop has Sennheiser HD58X now...

 

[shortylickens]

OK, so the only thing I got out of this headset is that my guild is full of crazy people. I know too much about them now thanks to chat.

Also, Discord works pretty well.

 

[Selena Anderson]

Giant pile of junk that will break within a year. If you are dead set on buying them then have a local best buy price match them and pay the $10 for the in store replacement option.

Thanks for the reply I was about to buy them any suggestions for a durable and good quality headset under $100 range?

 

[nurturedhate]

Thanks for the reply I was about to buy them any suggestions for a durable and good quality headset under $100 range?

Under $100 is really hard to recommend something that would last more than a year. I'd honestly try to save until about $150. That really seems to be the tipping point between something lasting a year and something lasting 5, 10 years. plus the sound quality and comfort level shoots up considerably.

At $140 is https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-G...19066160&sr=1-4&keywords=sennheiser+headphone but you would need a clip on mic.
At $160 is https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-G...19066160&sr=1-4&keywords=sennheiser+headphone

Depending on how fast you want these I've seen both at $120 or so. Also look for PC 350 SE's, they are an older model and usually sell for about $240 but on occasion can be found for around $120 as well.

On a side note if you have a really small head and need something wireless the Steelseries Arctic 7 at around $120 isn't a terrible option but I really can't make a recommendation on their longevity yet as the wife has only had them since christmas 2017. They don't sound anywhere near as good as the sennheisers though.