1. #1

    Your Thoughts On Gaming Headsets

    I'm just curious as to what gaming headset you prefer. What you like about them/What you hate.
    Still deciding myself what one to get.


    **EDIT: I guess I should mention, I'll be using the headset for a lot of music as well. Not going to buy 2 headsets.
    Last edited by Sum047; 2012-05-09 at 08:17 AM.

  2. #2
    Scarab Lord Djinni's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    West Sussex, UK
    Posts
    4,232
    My thoughts...

    The only thing that makes a headset a "Gaming" headset is the design logo. There is no practical difference in the sound or mic quality. Don't get sucked in to buying a £50+ gaming headset when a £20 normal one will do exactly the same job, and probably sound better to boot.

    Look for a headset that suit your particular needs. eg:
    Closed cup - If you want an immersive sound experience, these tend to be very good at blocking out any and all external sounds, they also tend to be more comfortable for most people.
    Open-ear - If you want to just use it for Vent/TS etc.. and still be able to listen to music or other things going on in the room.
    Neckband - If you don't like feeling like your from the 80's
    Headband - If you prefer to put the weight of the headset over your head rather than on your ears.

    All of this is down to PERSONAL PREFERENCE, no one can true-fully tell you that any combination of the above is "better" than another.

    Personally I still use the same Logitech communications headset I've been using for about 6 years now, it's a neckband +open-ear type which I mostly just use for vent. It's got good quality sound and I'm told a good quality mic.
    Last edited by Djinni; 2012-05-09 at 08:16 AM.

  3. #3
    I prefer the ones that completely cover your ears (comfort thing), and the microphone is solid, but can moved with ease. Oh and durable! My headset has fallen off my desk to many times, and has been run over many a times by my chair, yet it lives!

  4. #4
    Deleted
    I have a cheap gaming headset I bought at Clas Ohlson (AKA "Clas i sjön"). I only use it for gaming, for music I use a pair of Sennheiser headphones.

  5. #5
    I have just bought the Razer carcharias and i love it. Great mic, great sound, really comfortable aswell for like 70euros.

  6. #6
    Deleted
    Take this with a grain of salt as it's my opinion, but "gaming headsets"(especially razer) are a complete joke.

    Seriously, you're better off with a cheap headset. I've been through a lot of gaming peripherals the past few years, and as far as headsets go, here's my take on them:


    Razer Carcharias - Still have these around the house, but gave them to my mum for casual use on her laptop, because it's just too uncomfortable when you're gaming for hours at a time.
    Mic Quality - about a 6/10, it's average quality, but tends to pick up a fair bit of background noise too, which can get frustrating if you're not using PTT, for example on skype.
    Headphone Quality - about an 8/10, good sound quality, bass could use bit of toning up, but it's not meant to be a studio-esque headset.
    Comfort - about a 3/10 here, I don't by any means have a large head, but this thing is awful, I could only last probably an hour at the most before having to take it off, the earpads pinch and squeeze your head so much, that it's not comfortable in the least for long periods with it on.
    Price - About a 5/10, it's not TOO expensive, but not too cheap either, just a middle ground priced headset.
    Strength/Reliability - had no problems with it, from this perspective, so I can only give it a 10/10.

    Razer Megalodon - Note, I do not actually own this headset, but a close friend of mine does, and I have been on both ends of it.
    Mic Quality - HAHAHA, oh god... there's such a thing as being over-sensitive, and this crossed it a LONG time back. This thing, will pick up your cat meowing downstairs, through three closed doors. It's fucking insane, and due to that i'm giving it a 4/10. The quality is above average, but due to it picking up absolutely every little noise, therefore causing a fuck-ton of white noise, i've lowered the rating.
    Headphone Quality 9/10, can't really fault it other than the fact it sounds a bit "tinny" at times.
    Comfort 8/10 - This headset is comfortable, but doesn't really block out noise around you that well,
    Price 2/10 - are you kidding me though? £100± for a headset :x, No.
    Strength/Reliability - 10/10, No problems.

    Razer Moray+ - still use these with my phone/whenever im watching tv/movies and dont want to be disturbed.
    Mic Quality Brilliant, about an 8/10. For a pair of earbuds, the mic quality is superb, and background noise is nearly nonexistant when using these.
    Headphone Quality 10/10, Amazing. Once you have these in, you will not hear anything that's going on around you. Not even someone screaming behind you(as i've found out many times). Everything seems great, Bass is perfect, audio is clear, there's not a single fault I can give these from this perspective.
    Comfort 9/10 - Very comfortable, no pressure on the ears, only problem is they have such a short wire due to them being for a mobile device, so unless you have front panel audio, you're going to have a bad time.
    Price 7/10 - Great price when you compare it to what it delivers.
    Strength/Reliability - 10/10, no problems from this perspective again, other than the cable length.

    Logitech Premium Notebook Headset - let me just note, this is without a doubt the best headset i've ever used.
    Mic Quality - 10/10, Funnily enough, I had an earlier model of this headset which I picked up for about £10, from pc world, and after trying out all these "gaming headsets" with bad mic quality, I plugged this in, and I recieved nothing but compliments on both the clarity, and noise cancellation of my surroundings from friends.
    Headphone Quality - 7/10, no noise cancellation, and not really close to enough bass, but for VOIP/Media.
    Comfort - 9/10, these things wrap round the back of your head and sit comfortably on your ears, no nipping or squeezing, you will barely feel them on.
    Price - now I'd give it a 10/10 because the pair I own, like I said were £10, but it seems they only sell a more recent version which is £40 now, so I'll lower that to 7/10 out of fairness, either way they're cheaper than any "gaming" headset.
    Strength/Reliability - 9/10 here, they are strong, as long as you don't go slamming them about(applies to any headset though, the only pet peeve is that there is only one wire delicately held in, and after 5 years on-off useage, it has come a bit loose for me. Also, the felt ear-covers have started to wear down, but they're easily replaceable for next to nothing, so a bit of a moot point.

    Well, that seem's to be pretty balanced, and my fingers are getting tired now, 2 gaming, 2 non gaming headsets.
    In summary - "gaming" Headsets are pretty much useless... you are paying for the logo/name, just like you are when you buy an apple pc for $3000, when you can get the exact same specs in a HP for about $600.
    Stick to something cheap/comfortable that you like.
    Sennheiser without a doubt have the highest quality if you don't mind paying the price.
    Logitech seem to be a good balance of quality/price.
    Razer/gaming companies are pretty much terrible with the exception of a few products, e.g. Razer Moray.
    Last edited by mmoce7a0623b54; 2012-05-09 at 09:25 AM.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    In short:
    They are too expensive for what they offer. Often big, bulky and heavy. Shiny plastic/lights makes for a cheap look (or bloated, depends on how you view it). Often with "gimmick-y" features like 5.1 or 7.1 surround speaker systems or USB-soundcards that are on-par with integrated (or even worse).

    Some are decent but often at a much higher price. The "sound performance per dollar" is often much higher with a good pair of headphones.
    Last edited by mmoc7c6c75675f; 2012-05-09 at 09:31 AM.

  8. #8
    The Patient Valkari's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Southcentral Alaska
    Posts
    339
    I usually look for headsets specifically that don't make my ears ache by the end of raid. Annoyingly, all cheap ones do that, and a lot of the expensive ones as well, have gone through quite a few. The ones I eventually settled on are those soundblaster WoW ones. Sure, overly expensive, but comfortable, didn't cause my ears to ache, and good sound/mic quality. Plus they're shiny XD.

  9. #9
    Personally, I'm still using the Fatal1ty headset I bought a few years ago.

    They're very comfy, and the headset covers both ears to help cancel out any background noise, as well as enhances the audio. Theres an on/off toggle for the mic, and the mic is also detachable so I can use them when watching movies or listening to music.



    http://us.store.creative.com/Creativ...B002DS4HTM.htm
    Last edited by ninjee; 2012-05-09 at 09:45 AM.

  10. #10
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by ninjee View Post
    Personally, I'm still using the Fatal1ty headset I bought a few years ago.

    They're very comfy, and the headset covers both ears to help cancel out any background noise, as well as enhances the audio. Theres an on/off toggle for the mic, and the mic is also detachable so I can use them when watching movies or listening to music.



    http://us.store.creative.com/Creativ...B002DS4HTM.htm
    THIS TIMES A MILLION! no seroulsy I use it too, and the mic is detachable so you don't have to go around looking like a space cadet

  11. #11
    I am using TT eSports Shock Black.Never gave me a headache or hurt my head.

  12. #12
    The Patient
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Denmark
    Posts
    228
    I´d grab the Fatality headset if I were you, had it for several years myself and in general the headset is great for everyday stuff at its price point.
    However if you want the audio to be as good as it can get within reasonable prices, you might want to look in to other brands like Sennheiser for example. The difference is significant
    Last edited by Protonet; 2012-05-09 at 10:27 AM.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Adt View Post
    Sennheiser without a doubt have the highest quality if you don't mind paying the price.
    Logitech seem to be a good balance of quality/price.
    Razer/gaming companies are pretty much terrible with the exception of a few products, e.g. Razer Moray.
    Alright, let me clear this out. Sennheiser is not always the go-to brand. They have a very specific signature on most models. Probably around the 200 to 300 range though, you want to stick with either denon or beyerdynamic as their offered performance exceeds sennies. at the 500 range they're pretty sweet but then again, there's alot of competition, especially with the new beyers and the D5000.
    Their lower models are also prone to cracks, i personally am biased towards beyerdynamic, can you tell?

    Are the moray the buds? If so, what other buds have you tried? I'm pretty confident you can pick up a pair of im716s or some Etymotics for less then 50 euros nowadays.


    Out of all headphones, open ones sound the best, closed ones are only in case you're using them outside / in the field.
    Other then that gaming headsets have 3 goals in mind - look shiny, sound okay and have a convenience such as a USB jack. They're prone to breaking, they're nowhere near HiFi, they also have too much marketing around them to warrant a decent product.


    In all fairness though, if you get a pair of good hifi headphones, you should probably get an amp aswell, it doesnt have to be anything fancy, a HA-INFO U2 Plus, a Fiio e10, an iBasso amp would all do the job and save you from headaches with your cables.
    "Marketing is what you do when your product is no good."

  14. #14
    Deleted
    Yep the moray are the buds.
    I'm comparing them between themselves, default iphone buds, and the "sennheiser l300" i do believe it was.

    Like i said though, everything is my opinion up there, so your mileage may vary, and I am in no way a reliable reviewer, or have any idea what im talking about audio wise. Just going from personal experiences.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by ninjee View Post
    Personally, I'm still using the Fatal1ty headset I bought a few years ago.

    They're very comfy, and the headset covers both ears to help cancel out any background noise, as well as enhances the audio. Theres an on/off toggle for the mic, and the mic is also detachable so I can use them when watching movies or listening to music.

    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...OL._SL250_.jpg

    http://us.store.creative.com/Creativ...B002DS4HTM.htm
    I also have this headset. It's not the best ever but it's good quality for the price. My (small) ears fit nicely inside, and as stated you can take the mic out of the direct jack from the headset which is nice when you don't need it, or when you're eating so you don't dirty it.
    Computer: Intel I7-3770k @ 4.5GHz | 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM | AMD 7970 GHz @ 1200/1600 | ASUS Z77-V PRO Mobo|

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •