Whether you’re a die-hard PC player or a console baby, the bleeps, bloops, and gunshots of your video games will ultimately irritate the folks you live with. Maybe you already have a terrific pair of headphones and a camera with a microphone to meet your multiplayer needs, but it’s good to have everything in one location. The gaming headset comes in handy at this point..
These headsets provide a simple, all-in-one solution for your game audio demands, often including a microphone, acceptable quality, and long wires to accommodate almost any gaming setup. As with any type of technology, there are a plethora of gaming headsets on the market, many of which are subpar.
Here are some things to check for when purchasing a gaming headset.
A comfortable headset is a good headset
One of the most crucial factors to consider with over-the-ear headphones is how they fit on your head, especially with gaming headsets. If you’re planning to play for extended periods of time, a terrible fit might be physically unpleasant, which means you won’t be able to focus entirely on fragging.
It may appear to be alright at first, but trapped heat, perspiration, and friction can accumulate with time. After an hour or so, even moderate discomfort might be excruciating. A little more weight in the incorrect place might cause neck discomfort. Slight pressure in the band might cause aching ears or headaches.
Isolation matters
The quality of a headphone’s seal has a considerable influence on the quality of the sound produced by that headset, as well. Poor isolation may drastically alter what you hear, which is especially critical for headsets and games that rely on extremely subtle directional audio cues.
The size and substance of a headphone pad can have a significant impact on the seal’s quality. If the foam of the headphone pad does not instantly form an effective seal, it may just require time to adapt to the shape of your head. If the pad itself isn’t large enough to go around your ear, you should consider purchasing a larger pair of headphones or replacing the pads with larger circumference pads.
You should consider purchasing velour pads for your gaming headset, or at the absolute least gaming headsets that have eyewear channels built into the ear pads if you wear glasses. Will almost surely lose out on a lot of bass if you do not have them. You may see a graph of frequency response by clicking here:
Although they are extremely rare, some gaming headphones offer noise cancelling, which may filter out background noise and improve the clarity of your audio output. Even if you’re playing at home in a somewhat calm environment, this can assist. Traffic outside the window, or annoyances from roommates or family, will not create too much disruption.
Walking through Fatal Fields in Fortnite, you may be saved by hearing footsteps and distant gunshots coming from all directions. To miss out on any one of them would be a real pity.
Build Quality
Gaming headphones are made mostly from plastic, which is generally of poor quality. Choosing a headset that feels substantial is essential. Having anything with a metal or wire frame is amazing. Look for something with a wide range of motion to fit your particular head shape, if you’re stuck with plastic.
Even a small amount of stress or pressure on a headset constructed of cheap or weak materials might pile up. When plastic is pressed even slightly, it can creak quite loudly. Even though I don’t have a very huge head, I’ve had a headset rip in half pretty abruptly after a while.
Some headsets, like Beyerdynamic’s Custom Game, have an all-metal chassis, which means they can take a hit and keep going. Keep this in mind if the headset is going to be used by a… ardent player.
Mic considerations
There are a few factors to keep in mind while selecting for a gaming headset’s microphone.
Don’t get hung up on finding a high-quality microphone for your gaming headset—they don’t exist. Gaming headset mics frequently suffer in the bass area of the frequency spectrum, making people with particularly deep voices seem like they’re coming through a tin can. These mics also frequently don’t receive enough power through their respective connections, whether 3.5mm or USB, which means you may sound a little quiet. If you’re using Discord or a console voice chat, you can easily fix this in the settings.
If this is a headset you’d like to use on the move like a regular pair of headphones, it’s worth looking at one with a detachable microphone. Make sure the microphone can move a few inches, even if you’re a homebound player, since even a few millimetres may make a major impact in call quality.
Surround Sound
Surround sound, not to be confused with 3D sound, is a rather popular feature in gaming headsets, and depending on the type of game you play, it may be quite essential. Sound headsets provide a 360-degree soundscape, with numerous speakers covering each ear. They create it such that if anything is approaching from behind you to the right, you will hear it. This is a premium feature in most types of entertainment. It can give a significant competitive advantage in games. If you’re one of the millions of people who like Fortnite, it’s an absolute must-have.
There’s Dolby Atmos for headphones, DTS:X 2, Windows Sonic, and a slew of others developed by headphone manufacturers. Nowadays, almost every game platform has its own type of spatial audio—Windows and Xbox consoles both utilise Windows Sonic, while the PlayStation 5 has its own Tempest 3D audio engine. These built-in standards work with any headset, whether it connects through USB or 3.5mm, making it far less necessary for your brand new headset to contain its own solution.
The stereo sound produced by any gaming headset is adequate, and if you don’t feel compelled to adjust spatial audio, you should be just fine. Stereo headsets are perfect for MOBAs like League of Legends and DOTA 2, character action games, and pretty much any single player game. Just know that you have alternatives, even if the headset you buy doesn’t support DTS or Dolby Atmos.
How does the gaming headset look
Many gaming headsets resemble regular headphones with a microphone attached. Many others have the appearance of an extraterrestrial spaceship parked on your head. Some of these objects are brightly colour, have unusual angular shapes, colourful LEDs, and names that appear to belong to something that fires lasers rather than covers ears.
This is particularly critical if you intend to wear your headset in public. Having a detachable microphone won’t help if you appear like you’re riding a Tron lightcycle on your head.
Conclusion
It’s not difficult to buy a good gaming headset at a reasonable price. They start to become really decent at $60 and go up from there; So you don’t have to break the money to get the proper one. Razer Kraken X and Fnatic React headsets, for example, provide good, no-frills experiences on the cheap. Even as you approach $100, alternatives like the HyperX Cloud Alpha and SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless provide fantastic experiences. Regardless of whether you get one of them, as long as you keep the points; I made in this piece in mind, you should be able to find something that works for you.