A good gaming headset

[CyberTroop]

Hello all, I'm looking for a good pair of gaming headset.

I've been doing alot of research on the internet... Now my mind is stuck between these:

Logitech G35
SteelSeries Siberia V2 (USB)
Razer Megalodon

Anyone got recommendations regarding this?

Thanks alot!

 

[casualcolors]

The only headsets "worth the money" so to speak, are Sennheiser PC360's for $206.00 or the Beyerdynamic MMX 330's which cost about 350 dollars depending on your retailer.

Both of these headsets are modeled after regular headphones however, that can be had for substantially less (the Beyerdynamic equivalent of their headset is a $280 pair of their headphones).

The reason I put "worth the money" in quotations is because really no headset is worth the gaming designation markup that they all suffer. This applies even to brands and models as lowly as razer or steelseries. Gaming headsets are essentially 50-60 dollar headphones with a basic boom microphone attached, and then the price marked up by anywhere from 50% to 100%. In other words, it's a scamjob.

If you want to get the best inbound and outbound quality for your money, buy a pair of notable headphones, and a simple 9 dollar clip-on microphone from Zalman (this mic is literally the same quality as any boom mic).

Such headphones include:

Audio Technica AD700 - $105.00 (these were last year's model and were originally 250 dollar headphones) can be bought at amazon. don't let the price fool you they are arguably the best headphones for positional accuracy when combined with a dolby headphone/cmss-3d surround soundcard.

Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 - $155.00 on amazon

AKG K701 - $275.00 Anything beyond the price point is beyond reason.



This is a good link with some quality reading for you on the subject:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-updated-4-12-2012-akg-q701-added



edit: In the interest of full disclosure, I own a pair of AD700's and they are both the most comfortable and the best sounding headphones I have ever used. I use them with a basic X-fi titanium soundcard that can be purchased for 60 dollars. Other headsets I have either borrowed or owned (from recent years) are generic Logitech 30 dollar headset (varies in design by year - owned several pairs), Turtle Beach X12's, Logitech G35's, Tritton AX Pro's (this was the worst headset I have ever used bar none), Sennheiser PC360's, Beyerdynamic DT770, Beyerdynamic DT 880's with headphone amp, Astro A40's with and without mixamp, and Grados SR80i's.

 

[CyberTroop]

Thanks for the advice, ill do some research on the headphones you've mentioned.

 

[mercer95]

I have heard that Astros are the best but they cost a little too much for me as I don’t use my pc religiously so I’m still looking, but I can tell you that you are best avoiding USB the sound quality isn’t very good.

 

[casualcolors]

I have heard that Astros are the best but they cost a little too much for me as I don’t use my pc religiously so I’m still looking, but I can tell you that you are best avoiding USB the sound quality isn’t very good.

The Astro Mixamp is very good. The headphones themselves are very poor though. Absolutely right about USB headsets.

 

[mercer95]

im thinking of getting this http://rog.asus.com/peripherals-accessories/accessories/vulcan-anc/

looks a good price to0.

 

[casualcolors]

40mm doesn't constitute enlarged drivers and looks like they're using a rebranding of the microphone that constantly dies in the Tritton 720 and AX Pro series.

I haven't used them obviously, but if I had to guess I would say avoid those. Marketing standard 40mm drivers as enlarged gaming drivers reeks of deceptive marketing.

 

[shanky887614]

i tried the cyborg headset at the gadget show and i really liked them

there $150 but can be used as normal headphones as well and detachable mic



best thing to do is to actually try some

 

[mercer95]

i might have a look at the cyborg headset, iv got the cyborg R.A.T 5 mouse and its fantastic.

 

[noobatpcbuilding]

I have the Astro Mixamp with a Sennheiser PC360 headset and its amazing. Was expensive though :/

 

[justinwest369]

I prefer to go with an astro gaming headset. I use the Astro Mixamp's and I would prefer them to anyone who asks me about them. IF you look on ebay im sure you could find them for pretty cheap.

 

[OnyxGunslinger]

I've got Tritton Ax180s and love 'em. Works great in both my Xbox and my PC, zero complaints and they cost me about $70.

 

[HEXiT]

i spent a whole afternoon trying to tell the difference between £15 headsets and £200 headsets and i came away with this... you can spend a whole lot of money on em for very little difference... 30mm drivers give a high tinny sound. 40mm give a more mid range and 50mm give relatively bassy sound...
there is less difference between em than you would think. as long as they have a similar output range...
really for audio placement i found its more to do with how well the audio engine is written. cod 4 has poor 7.1 positional audio that actualy works better if you just use a 2.1 headset. while crysis 2 and bfbc2 both prefer the 7.1 audio to be used to give a more accurate placement... really you can go back and forth all day as to what is the better headset but for gaming it doesnt really matter... you could spend £200 on the top of the line audiophile headphones and get just as good audio from a £50 set if the £50 set is designed to work with cms3d and the £300 set isnt...

for instance the creative fatality headsets sound great on fatality cards but not so good on xonar running dolby surround... but my bro in law would disagree... because of his personal preference... personally i liked the steel series 555 and 558 headsets but because i keep rolling over the wires and wrecking em. i decided on the g930 and for all its wireless i cant say im disappointed yes there a little more expensive(due to being wireless) but they sound just as good as pretty much any other mid priced headset and with some sound engines they really do beat out a lot of much higher priced headsets... would i recommend em over any other?... not really you get average sound from what is an average headset if you take away the fact there wireless.

so i recommend you go to a shop or order em online and try em out... if you like em keep em. if you dont send em back...