Introduction
If you’re new to this site then welcome! This site is all about home theater, gaming room, and man cave set ups. This blog is essentially a compilation of resources you can use to create your ideal space. I’ve done a few articles related to gaming headphones and gaming headsets. Throughout my research and my personal experience, I noticed that it’s hard to get a hold of solid and easy to understand information. This topic is usually filled with a lot of opinions and rarely backed by tangible explanations. I promise this article is nothing but well researched data as well as me drawing from personal experience.
By the end of reading this, I’m confident I can give you a clear picture of what types of gaming headphones and headsets matter. I also want to equip you with the knowledge necessary to make an a quality purchase should you choose to go with any of these options.
Be sure to check out the additional resources and related articles in the conclusion section below. It will further your understanding if you think you need more information on these topics.
So do gaming headsets actually matter?
Gaming headsets only matter if you need a headset that comes with all the features you want for your gaming experiences. Often times, they won’t be at the same level of audio quality as regular headphones. They are typically overpriced and better options are usually available.
If you don’t know this guy already, Linus tech tips is a great channel that is extremely informative. In my research, I came across this video below.
One of the big takeaways from this section Is that gaming headsets exist to try to solve a specific issue.
Gaming headsets try to consolidate all of the features gamers need into one product. Trying to cover all the bases is what tends to lead to lower, overall quality. But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get a gaming headset. You just have to look for the right features in order to make an informed purchase.
I really like his video because he goes into detail about why gaming headsets are the way they are. In order to keep the price somewhat reasonable, gaming companies will sacrifice on audio quality in order to provide gamers with a functional microphone and other customization features.
Gaming headsets will come with a USB, which means you can still receive audio from your system even if you don’t have a good sound card.
They can also be falsely advertised to have “surround sound” in reality, they really have what’s called directional audio. I’ll cover this more specifically in the section below.
Reasons They Matter
As mentioned above, gaming headsets consolidate features such as the microphone, gaming audio, and other audio adjustment settings. Sometimes it’s complicated with trying to set up a working microphone in conjunction with a separate headphone. Everyone has a different type of set up, and the issue of compatibility software even comes into play.
Not all regular headphones have a microphone that will work with your system. A good example would be the Apple headphones in conjunction with a PS4 controller. The headphones have a functioning mic for iPhone and handheld devices. But for gaming controllers, the audio transmitted to other players sounds muffled and is hard to understand.
Gaming headsets with quality microphones will remove all compatibility issues, no matter what type of platform you’re playing games on.
Gaming headsets also offered their own form of customization features. Again, not all set ups can easily adjust base, gaming audio, and chat audio simultaneously Gaming headsets also offered their own form of customization features. Again, not all set ups can easily adjust bass, gaming audio, and chat audio simultaneously. Most headsets will come with a chat dial and a volume dial. These dials allow you to raise the chat audio and lower the gaming audio if needed. It also lets you adjust your bass and treble settings depending on what game you’re playing.
Reasons They Don’t Matter
There are some features that are either redundant or downright completely useless. These features are either advertised to be more important than they really are or they are left out of the description entirely. This list below will show you what I’m talking about.
No gaming headset is truly surround sound. Surround sound is a feature that often gets confused with directional audio. A good graphics card will provide directional audio to any headphones you are using. If you hear gunfire on the left side of your character, you will hear it on the left earphone. This right here is not surround sound. This is what we call directional audio, and every headphone or headset will have this.
Gaming headsets often look aesthetically pleasing because of the color or lights that it comes with. RGB Lighting looks really cool on products, but they add to the price of your headset. The outer shell of gaming headsets is usually completely made out of plastic. If your headset looks too much like a children’s toy from target, it is likely going to be super fragile. There are a lot of people that post on forum pages asking why their headsets break even though they store them perfectly. Cheap brands of headsets made out of plastic won’t last long at all.
You want to make sure you’re getting what you pay for every single time. The reason headsets can be expensive is not because of their audio quality, but more to do with trying to provide too many features in one product. Gaming headset companies don’t narrow down on being exceptional in the audio quality provided. They would rather have a product that provides a jack of all trades, master of none experience.
Why I Recommend Headphones Instead
I’ve written a couple articles related to headphones and headsets. You might have already guessed what my preference is.
I like gaming headphones more because of the audio quality they deliver. I’m not always gaming online with friends, so I don’t need a mic feature every time. I just use my phone and discord to talk to friends. I also want headphones that I can use for more than just gaming. If you’re on the same boat as me, then hopefully you agree. Audio quality of headphones are usually better. Studio listening is the intent with headphones. Companies don’t include high-quality microphone features, so they put that money towards improved and superior audio quality.
From my gaming experience alone, gaming headphones are more durable then headsets. I would credit a lot of this to me finding good products after doing a good amount of research. Reviews really do speak for themselves in this industry (from reputable sources and people who actually know what they’re talking about).
Gaming headphones are more durable. This is true and more cases than not. They’re designed for more use than just sitting at a desk. Headphones have a harder shell and are made from more durable material at the cost of aesthetically pleasing plastic.
I preferred to game on headphones because I know that my investment is going to result in better audio quality. I don’t need a headset that is overpriced and one that tries to do too many things. My set up also allows me to adjust base settings as well as chat audio.
I don’t need my headphones to come with a volume dial that tries to do this for me. I also game on a computer and not a console, so I can see where peoples situations will be different than mine. As a prior PS4 player, I don’t recall there being a way to adjust bass and chat audio in the actual settings.
Recommended Products
The following three products have been well reviewed and researched. A lot of people on Reddit talk about these in various forums. Eventually, I started to notice a common denominator and these were the ones that were starting to show up the most.
I’m currently researching these headphones because I’m probably going to consider one of these for my next set up. I really like my Sennheiser Momentums. I got them on sale and I’ve used them for over 5 years for gaming, working out, and taken them with me on all my travels. They have a great mic too so I’m glad I found these before I started looking into actual headsets.
Important note: Headsets that are $100 and undergo on sale all the time. If you can afford to wait, try to get them on sale so you don’t have to pay full price!
Headphones more expensive than $300 give you diminishing returns. There is only so much that can be improved from that point on. Around this price is where you literally start to get the best headphones money can buy, especially if you’re a casual gamer (who isn’t an audiophile).
Razer Kraken
All three of these headphones in this list are highly rated for comfort. But these are the most comfortable. These are great entry-level headphones for gaming with friends or alone. They’re not super expensive but they are rated well for durability. It’s hard to come accross a pair for this price that doesn’t break easily but these are the ones. You’ll likely use these for gaming or watching movies, probably not for working out.
ATH M50x
These ones have better audio quality than the first because of their 45mm aperture drivers. It’s definitely more of a price jump but you’re also getting the quality you pay for with these ones. This was one of the most recommended from the Reddit forums I was on. I follow a DJ vlogger on Youtube and he only talks about using Audio-Technica. They make great products, even the studio recorders seem to think so.
Pioneer HDJ1500
I had to put this one in here. This one will give you the biggest bang for the buck. The earpads are large for its size, but this is a good thing. Its earpads focus the bass really well and it sounds awesome when you crank them up to full bass (but probably not good for your ears).
Are wireless headphones good for gaming?
Wireless headphones are perfectly fine for gaming. People that take their audio output seriously will argue that there is a delay using Bluetooth headphones or headsets. Good headsets, and good receivers will be able to do the job perfectly fine. Even if you think there is a millisecond of latency using Bluetooth headsets, this won’t ruin any competitive advantage that a wired gaming headset or provide.
There is no real competitive advantage to having one type or the other. I think wireless headsets can even be more convenient and practical for peoples set ups. I personally would wear a wireless headset because I don’t spend as much time gaming with friends as I do by myself working through open world games. I expect some people would massively disagree with me though. This is also one of those things that is a completely personal preference.
Are gaming headsets more comfortable than gaming headphones?
Not necessarily. This also comes down to product reviews. People don’t need to be experts at understanding audio quality to be able to speak on the long-term comfort a product gives them. I’ve seen more reviews on gaming headsets where people think the comfortability decreased over the years of use than they did with regular studio headphones. You want lots of padding regardless of your decision. If you’re not comfortable wearing a pair after the first couple of hours of use, they likely are not going to get any more comfortable.
How important is the input type of gaming headphones or headset?
A gaming headset or headphone can be either an auxiliary cable or a USB port. Headsets often come with both to be able to be universally compatible with the gaming platform. There’s debates regarding which one is better, but if you’re just someone looking for a good set of headphones then you won’t be able to notice a difference from the input type alone. I do think auxiliary inputs are more durable in the long run. I’ve ruined a couple of headsets that were USB ports because they got bent easily. If you do your best to take care of anything, you shouldn’t have any problems with this.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are some important things to understand before you purchase a gaming headset. The type of product you get can make all the difference in your experience, and that’s why it is important to be aware of the qualities that matter. Hopefully by the end of this article, you understand and won’t get distracted by some of the useless advertising gaming headsets come with. This is a market that is easy to oversaturated with knock off brands, and digging up the reputable companies is all the more important.
Please don’t think that this means you should overthink every product you come across. Paying cheap for the sake of convenience in the simplicity of talking to your friends while gaming is a perfectly good reason to get the first pair of headsets you find. I’ve gotten a lot of hours off of the crappy $50 pair are used with my PS4 for many years. I am glad I invested in a real set of studio headphones, which I’ve made my single player games all the more enjoyable. There are a bunch of related articles to gaming headsets and gaming headphones which I’ll leave a link to at the bottom if you’re interested.
Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out at the email I provide in all my other articles. I’m also currently taking article or topic suggestions if you guys have any. As always, be sure to check back regularly for new articles and stay tuned for the next one.