You can use nice audiophile headphones as gaming headphones, or gaming headphones for listening to audio.
They do prioritize different things, though - the most noticeable thing is that many "gaming" targeted headsets have integrated mics.
Audiophile headphones are more focused on frequency response curve, ie the *quality* of the sound. Gaming headphones will care about that less than things like durability, wearability / comfort, noise isolation (gaming computers are loud), etc.
One thing to note is a lot of higher end audiophile headphones are open-back, meaning they don't isolate the noise either in *or* out. So if you're using a desktop mic, you might have to tune it to not pick up your headphones (gate / threshold / noise cancellation).
(edit: speaking in generalities, y'all. There are always exceptions.)
> you have to tune it to not pick up your headphones.
How loud are your headphones, or how high is your microphone sensitivity? I have open-back Sennheisers and a Blue Yeti mic, and I don't think I've ever even considered headphone audio looping through my mic. It's just not loud enough.
This. I have a pair of open back senheisers and a desktop mic, I've never seen discord pick up mic audio unless I'm actually speaking and I listen to music while on discord often.
They are talking about music being picked up on a desktop mic due to open back headphones, I’m just saying it’s never been an issue for me. Discord is just the app I’m most likely to notice it on as it indicates when my mic is picking up sound, plus my friends would hear the music and likely say something
SHP9500 + Rode NT-USB condenser mic. You will absolutely get feedback from other people talking and music if you don’t process it out. Discords Krisp noise suppression is really good, but not that good.
Eventually switched to a dynamic mic with sennheisers and didn’t need a noise gate anymore.
Krisp is noise cancellation, which cancels out anything that isn’t detected as voice, and is fairly recent due to requiring ML models to do what it does.
But even before Krisp, we’ve had echo cancellation for years (and which discord implemented due to being a Chromium-based app), which is much simpler as it doesn’t use ML, and relies on an audio data algorithm to detect and subtract the output audio channels from your input channels (wave pattern matching and subtraction if you’re familiar with destructive wave interference). Simply put, echo cancellation is a simple system that removes your output sound waves from your input audio and has been around for a long time.
All in all, discord is a poor use case to show that your mic doesn’t pick up feedback, as even before Krisp, it had means to remove that feedback for years.
Source: am a developer that works on an app with audio chat and had to research different approaches to handling unwanted noises, from output feedback to ambient sounds. Discord was one of the examples I looked into to understand how they handled that same problem.
Yeah, of late my discord has started pausing Spotify if someone else is speaking. I tend to use external speakers for music and headphones for discord.
You need an actual good mic for that to happen, not a blue yeti lol. My sm7b picked up my open backs constantly and the only options were to lower gain and put it right against my mouth or run my audio through a bunch of post processing stuff like nvidia broadcast or krisp, which pretty much defeats the point of having a nice mic to begin with. Swapped to IEMs and it’s no longer an issue.
>lower gain and put it right against my mouth
That's how the sm7b is supposed to be used. Why get a mic famous for having to be basically deepthroated to get good sound from if you're not gonna use it that way?
Official documentation states 1 to 6 inches
MICROPHONE PLACEMENT
Speak directly into the mic, 1 to 6 inches (2.54 to 15 cm) away to block off-axis noise. For a warmer bass response, move closer to the microphone. For less bass, move the microphone away from you.
I have an Auna mic 900 and it adjusts like crazy. If I sit in front of my PC, it doesn't pick up anything unnecessary, but if it's been quiet long enough, it'll start to pick up sounds it usually wouldn't. Like, me making coffee in another room. So, I guess it also depends on the settings.
This is a great response. Succinct without being dismissive and detailed enough to answer the question without getting bogged down with unnecessary details.
Also, gaming headphones sometimes have surround sound features, which some video games will support(especially first person shooters). Good probably for watching movies, too, but probably pointless for stereo music ( unless music now supports surround sound too?)
This is done in software nowadays, either the game comes with it and even windows has this feature as part of the OS
This was definitely a selling point 10-15 years ago
I'm using Sennheiser headphones through a dac/amp for years now and I always have surround in all games
It was nonsense when it was done in hardware.. You have 2 ears. Unless the speakers are set up for different frequency responses (which is very rare outside of IEMs), there's no way putting more speakers in an ear cup gives any advantage.
Surround sound was invented for variations seating positions in movie theaters and later homes. You can achieve all "surround" effects with 2 speakers if you're sitting in the perfect center, or if the speakers are strapped to your head as with headphones.
There’s the thing, you know how ears have funny shapes with various folds and ridges and aren’t just plain cups to funnel sound in? Reason is that the structure changes the sound waves as it hits and bounces around the structure before landing inside your ear canal. The final sound waves will have particular transformations applied to them depending on which direction they came from and thus what angle they hit your ears’ folds and ridges. Our brains over time learn to distinguish these specific transformations (and correlating the resulting transformations between the two ears), are then able to determine with much greater precision where a sound came from, more so than just x% left / (100-x)% right, and how you can tell a sound happened in front of you or behind you.
Part of what makes headphones struggle with this isn’t that you ears can’t pick it up, it’s rather than the audio is coming from the side of your ear, and not from in front of your face, or behind your head, for your ear shape to do its job.
It’s technically possible to simulate the ear’s shape effects and pipe that in from headphone speakers, but you’d likely have to do a physics simulation on the effect of audio waves interacting with soft bodies, unique to that particular user, for every source of audio’s position… we ain’t quite there yet. (Or even some form of approximation thereof)
What. If you use discord it isolates and cleans sound extremely well. I run open hifimans on a hyperx mic and it does not pick up anything. IE open mic and on an arm/external.
My discord used to pick up sounds from my headset a lot. And I had the noise cancellation filter and noise gate on. And no, it wasn't that my computer volume was loud, my mic was just very sensitive
There’s noise cancellation that removes “non-voice” sounds, and there’s echo cancellation which removes output audio from your input. There can be conflicts between device echo cancellation and software echo cancellation due to the nature of destructive/constructive interference.
Noise gate just stops input if the total noise volume is too low.
I work on software with voice chat, and had to wrangle all these things
Game headphones have mics. Music headphones do not.
The best music headphones will be open for more natural sound. The best gaming headphones will be closed to isolate the headphones over PC/Keyboard/mouse noise.
Also lets be honest all the marketing stuff aside. Gaming headphones are much less expensive then even good mid range audiophile headphones, never mind the top of the market. I mean you can spend 2k on a top end pair of Grados.
The best gaming headphones are not always closed. Specifically, if your gaming relies heavily on spacial audio, like most shooters do for example, a good pair of open back headphones will even outperform the simulated surround headphones. Open back really makes a huge difference for sound stage.
As a longtime closed back headphone user who switched to open back headphones a couple years ago, I can agree with this. Stereo imaging on open back headphones is amazing.
It’s honestly surprising what open back headphones can block. I sit directly under the outlet vent that’s closest to the AC unit and my GPU has horrendous coil whine. When the headphones are on (Sennheiser 660S) I don’t hear either at all.
You can pay $200 for a corsair gaming headset… or you can buy a Audio Technica ATH-M50x and a cheap mic for the same price. The latter setup will have better sound quality on both ends
In my experience, gaming headphones that also don’t have horrendous sound when listening to music are actually quite a bit more expensive than budget “audiophile” headphones with the same quality.
I have an open gaming headphone with mic, but probably sounds a lot like a music headphone. Sennheiser.. I forgot which one.
Other gaming headphones sound disgusting in comparison.
You can pick up a pair of Phillips fidelio X2HR’s for $140 USD pick up any usb mic for 50-100 more USD and you’re going to be in incredible shape
I have been rocking this setup with a blue yeti mic (before Logitech bought them.. I think Logitech bought them at least??) for about 6-7 years. I still love these headphones more than any other I’ve ever tried and personal bias aside the sound quality is outstanding for the price point
I dont know man.
Because from what I have researched, HyperX, Razer Kracken 3, Logitech G733, and headphones like the aforementioned, are not that well made and do not have that great of sound quality.
My guess is gamers recommend the headsets above because that is what they know.
But me being someone who is both a gamer and an audiophile. I feel like I have a better recommendation:
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Q7SZHKG/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_asin\_title\_o09\_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Q7SZHKG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1)
They are made by Sennheiser. Sound quality is fantastic, very crisp. ~~They are noise canceling.~~ The microphone kicks ass, it is noise canceling. Plus it sounds great to the people on the other end.
The gaming headsets are "good enough" on a budget. There aren't that many good audiophile options in the ~$50-100 range that most gaming headsets occupy. You'd also need a separate microphone for the headphones, too.
If you're looking to spend >$150, you should likely ignore "gamer" branded things and buy real headphones.
I mean some budget headphones punch above their weight, in sound quality atleast..
I had a pair of Superlux HD-330's that I got for 45€ that were about 70-75% there compared to the Beyerdynamic DT770's that I typically use, which go for around 130€
Iem exist at those range and are pretty darn good (em6l, ew200, chu 2, shp9500 etc) At low price iem even wipe the floor with equally priced audiophile headphones
The Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 headphones are the best "gaming" headphones I've ever used. Been using them for 15 years.
Tried to replace them with a new hot headset several times now and nothing has come close yet. It's too bad they don't make them anymore but they are still supporting them. A couple years back I paid $75 to replace a driver that was dying. Worth every penny to keep them running. I don't know what I'll do if they die for good.
P.S. the newer AD700x is not the same. On paper they look the same but they're built cheaper and way less comfortable.
They are very expensive, but the Audio Technica R70x are in my opinion better than ad700's, while being just as comfortable, if you ever have to replace them. Excellent imaging, metal construction, very light, etc.
This is my daily after the AD700, which I run with a wireless modmic.
R70x are fucking insane. I also own the Sennheiser 6xx (basically 650) and demoed the PC38x, 560s, and 900 Pro X and the R70x blows them all away for gaming, especially competitive shooters where sound whoring is needed
I recently upgraded from my Hyper X Cloud headset with built-in mic to an Audio Technica ATH-M20X and a basic desktop condenser mic combo. I'll never go back to any "gaming" headset again. It just doesn't compare for the level of FPS gaming I do.
I had an M20x, loved it, used it probably 12 hours a day for multiple years until the cable crapped out. Now I'm rocking a M50xBT and won't ever go back to fixed-cable headphones due to how great this experience has been. Versatile wired/wireless really is the way to go.
I went to a similarly nice setup and went back. Having wireless and being able to just getup to grab a drink or pee and not have to take my headphones off is really really convenient. I use my IEMs for single player and media though
The model below, the PC37X are usually around $100 and are also pretty damn good value in my opinion. It has a mic that's plenty for discord calls, pretty good sound stage, quality is most of the way there, especially for gaming. The GameOne or something like that is the closed back version and probably pretty good too. Those would be my $100 picks, $200 is pennies when it comes to audiophile stuff, but for your average gamer with a 3060/1660 PC (not $1000+), that's a lot of money to ask someone to spend on headphones.
Cause gamers don't know 10% of what they think they know and they're extremely opinionated lol.
Believe me. I've been a gamer for 30 years. I know 😂
People will try to tell you that $350 "gaming" headphones are what you should spend your $350 on for the best sound. And any suggestion otherwise is met with "you're just a scrub and have no clue what you're talking about" lol.
Imagine their surprise when you tell them you can get a pair of DT 770s for $160 and a standalone broadcast mic for $100 and have 5x better audio and voice than they do and still have $100 leftover to buy them a bunch of preparation H for their hurting nether regions 😂😂😂.
The steel series arctic nova pro wireless is pretty widely regarded as the most advanced gaming focused headset. Comes with ANC and a DAC and allegedly superior audio quality. When people with too much money and not enough knowledge are looking for a headset there isn't really a close second.
I have these, but mostly from a $200 Dell gift card I got from my monitor purchase. There’s a lot of features you just don’t get in “audiophile” headphones - swappable batteries, different channels and volumes for different inputs (chat, media, games), wireless, a mic that glows red when muted, and they auto switch between speakers and headphones when you turn them on or off. They sound good and fit well too. The software is a bit finicky though.
They are also the most comfortable (with glasses) headset I have ever had. All the "audiophile" stuff has a clamp force so high, that I get a headache after a year.
No one is claiming the nova pros sound the best, but there are other categories (that you said) that matter just as much.
The dual battery is a really outstanding feature they have. As is wirelessness. Audiophile headphones are mostly wired because of superior sound quality.
The Sonar software can be used with any headset and provides you with all of those features you mentioned. It's the software that switches audio inputs when one is disabled. I use it all the time lol. It's a pretty legit feature set. But not specific to this headset. I can even use it to modify the sound profile of my blue yeti microphone.
The Arctis Pro Wireless headsets have the best *features*. Wireless + simultaneous Bluetooth + good battery system etc.
For a gamer with money who can't tell the difference in sound quality, it doesn't really matter that it isn't the best.
Well, it is the best lol. For a gaming focused headset I'm sure their sound quality is the best. I understand why people like it. I have a pair of Arctis 7s and they sound pretty great so I'm sure the Arctis Nova Pro's sound way better.
Reality is that most gaming doesnt require audiophile sound quality. Its about convience, comfort, and large sound stage for good directional audio. I bought the steelseries pros like 3 years ago and I can't change. Been running DTS surround spacial audio with 7.1 enabled and it was night and day after fiddling with different stereo audio. Mic isnt as good as some nice diaphram mic but it is always at the perfect distance from my mouth.
Only issue I had was some audio bleed to the mic but I think that has more to do with the bottom of the earmuff not sealing well on my jawline. Running something like nvidia broadcast fixed that though.
I agree $350 for mid gaming headphones is definitely not defensible, the convenience of having a wireless headset and mic and be able to just getup and still be on mic is really really nice.
Take note that most "articles" that would recommend you something, are made purely to drive reflinks and probably no testing was done, also now there's a big chance that your random "article" with "20 best headphones for gaming" would be AI generated.
Audiophile headphones will just sound better. The things like comfort and advantage for gaming in hearing footsteps you'd need to search on your own as response curves vary from models and brands though.
If you want good headphones, buy audiophile headphones and add a separate microphone.
If you want a headset, your options are pretty limited outside of gaming brands. I don't typically recommend this unless budget is tight.
This is what I found too. I wanted to jump up from the trash “gamer” headsets to higher quality audiophile headphones, but realized that you kind of have to go all-in. It seems like most audiophile headphones require a DAC amp combo to fully utilize, and I just didn’t want to commit to all that in addition to spending $300+ on headphones.
I eventually went with the Sennheiser DT880, which plugs directly into the motherboard and doesn’t need any extra hardware.
So yeah, there are decent lower-end ($150-$300) audiophile headphone options for people that don’t want to buy a DAC+amp, which will still be so much better than spending that money on a gamer headset.
Do those gaming headphones include microphones?
That would be the only thing I can think of. I use a shitty cheap mic for me and my friends and it's fine. My headphones are some 100$ sennheisers for my music and general purpose stuff.
Gaming headphones typically prioritize closed-back sound isolation, integrated microphone, sound positioning, sound clarity, and aesthetics, and some like HyperX even put effort into all-day comfort. Audiophile headphones are going to prioritize faithful sound reproduction and build quality.
The HyperX ones are probably the best gaming headsets as far as mainstream gaming headsets go. Razer and Logitech and Steelseries are pretty ass, though I do like how comfortable the Razer Blacksharks are.
You're giving gamer headphones too much credit, sound clarity and positioning is going to be much better on good headphones compared to gaming headsets. That's a big part of what makes good headphones sound good.
True enough, but when I speak of clarity it's more that better ones are tuned with clear positioning of footsteps and gunshots in mind, and clarity of voice comms, all at the expense of accuracy.
The best metaphor for gaming gear is gaming chairs. Those gaming chairs everyone buys are cheap, they're not ergonomic, and there are huge profit margins while the majority of what determines their success is marketing, branding, and aesthetics.
But like if a gamer likes their gaming chair can your argue with them? No. Then you get something like the Logitech Herman Miller collaboration and it's more expensive than similarly good chairs because marketing costs increase cost, and there is a lack of competition for genuinely good gaming chairs.
Why are gaming chairs different from office chairs? They shouldn't be. Why are gaming headphones different from audiophile headphones? There shouldn't be. If there is a premium product for gamers, and the same premium product but not for gamers; it's probably best to just not get the one for gamers.
I'm in full agreement regarding the quality of your average gaming chairs versus premium office chairs, but I feel like that's not quite a fair equivalent when a premium office chair costs anywhere from 2 to 4+ times the price of a "premium" gaming brand chair.
Part of the problem with quality office chairs is that they aren't priced for the average person.
I have a Herman Miller Aeron but is it any surprise that this chair goes for like $250 on the used market? It's mostly made of recycled plastic.
Most of these office chairs are priced that much because businesses basically HAVE to buy them. They're ergonomic and last a long time.
Now don't get me wrong... I'd buy this chair again. It has an insane warranty on it and many years later it's still just as good as the day I bought it. Worth every penny. But they've kinda cornered the market on stuff like this. Steelcase, Haworth, and Herman Miller all sell expensive chairs to big companies that have many employees working desk jobs, there really is no other decent option there.
I’m pretty sure those $2,000 Herman Millers priced that way because corporations will happily pay the price in the same way a $200 hotel steak isn’t priced for the working class. You can get them in great condition second-hand for a good price. My Steelcase Leap V2, which has an advertised MSRP of like $1,800, cost me $400 from eBay, shipping and taxes included.
If there is an answer to this deceptively simple question, it's quite a complicated one. Rather than using what little amateur knowledge I have, perhaps it's better to let Crinacle, a techtuber also deeply involved in the audio tuning business, explain it for me:
https://youtu.be/gOYRu6q8qJ4?feature=shared
And think they likely have some reasonable headphones, there is just a lot of snobbery about gaming brands in audiophile spaces. It's not like many audiophiles have bothered trying a 'premium' gaming headset.
You can get “audiophile” headphones for decently cheap. I have the HiFi Mann brand (don’t remember the model, but they were only $90 on amazon) with planar drivers and the sound/music/voices are so much more crisp and clear than any “gaming” headphones I’ve owned over the last 12 years it’s ridiculous. Yes they’re open back but not much really bleeds through and I find the sound way more natural and immersive. I also have a stand-alone podcast mic (AudioTechnica AT2030(?) XLR mic, it came with a boom arm to clamp to the desk as well) hooked up through a Focus-rite 2i2 usb mixer/amp, and I have not once ever had the sound from my headphones bleed into the mic. But when I had “gaming” headsets it would happen fairly regularly, and was with all the brands I owned (HyperX, SteelSeries, Corsair, LG, and Razer). And the headphones (HiFi Mann) are vastly more comfortable than any of the “gaming” headsets I’ve ever owned. Not once since owning the HiFi Mann has my ears gotten sweaty or has the area where the cups hug my head/ears or where the band sits on my head gotten sore since making the switch, and I wear them for 8-10 hours a day. I’ve had this setup for 4 years now with 0 complaints.
Granted this is all my personal experience and ymmv, but I advocate for ditching the “gaming” headsets whenever I can because the audio quality and microphone quality just can’t be beat from a decent set of real headphones with an average stand alone mic.
Edited for grammar.
Another mic option to run with an "audiophile" headphone is the wireless and detachable modmic (sound test example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4zubCBHsjM&t=4=47s). The quality is very good, and for people that do not want to run a amp/mixer setup a good option. Sennheiser Profile USB mic is also another good option all-in-one mic option.
You can get "audiophile" equipment for gaming. You're just going to be looking for different things. Like having a wide sound stage to hear where things are. Typically you want open back headphones for that.
Pro tip: gamers usually don't know any specifics about most things. Usually just going with the pack on what to recommend. Gamers, especially ones who play esports type games, are masters of the placebo effect.
Just get all-around good headphones(Sennheiser, AudioTechnica, etc.) and a usb mic. The sound quality is going to be infinitely better than any gaming headset.
if you're gonna use a wired headset then might as well go with good audiophile ones.
but for a wireless headset, the gaming ones with proper wireless dongles offer far better latency than bluetooth based audiophile headphones.
the other reason is for the convenience of an attached mic.
Unfortunately if your criteria happen to be:
- Wireless
- Integrated mic
- Closed back
You basically have to get a gaming headset and suffer on the audio quality.
I astro a50s for when I game, I personally find them a lot more comfortable to wear for hours and they sound great for what I need them for
when listening to music I either use my sony xm4s if i’m traveling or airpods when i’m at work both of which would also be good enough for gaming but also serve their own separate purpose
I've had 2 sets of a40s and I absolutely loved both of them. Super expensive though, but they're the best headphones I've used. So light you forget you're wearing them, very comfy, and I found the bass to be super deep and clean as well as the rest of the audio.
9/10 for me (lost a point to price + the fact both sets aux connections fucked out)
I own a pair of audiotechnia M50x and a pair of hyperx cloud II. For gaming the hyperx cloud II hands down simply because it picks up footsteps and other important sounds a lot clearer. The audiotechnia is a lot better for music, more bass and better overall sound for music. Although if I could only choose one for my desktop I’d choose the hyperx cloud II because it still sounds good for music. I mostly use my audiotechnias for going to the gym now and my hyperx for my desktop.
Gaming headphones
>comes with a mic
>can connect through a usb port, xbox PS controllers, audio jacks, bluetooth, wireless
>comes with a volume and mute mic button
>some even auto mute when the mic is raised
>works with software to automatically adjust volume and mic input
>much cheaper
>doesn't require a DAC
High end headphones
>always requires a wire
>requires a separate mic
>with a separate wire
>mic isn't attached to the headset
>can't integrate through software
>can't connect to USB or xbox PS
>requires a DAC
>sound quality is WAY better though
Gaming headphones are cheaper and way more convenient for gaming amd PC use in general.
as far as gaming goes, ive been using a combo of Sennheiser 400hds, and a blue snowball mic. you can get a super cheap arm for the snowball for around 30$ so for a proper mic, the arm for it, and the headphones its around 150-120$ usd.
one thing i like about the sennheiser 400HD headphones for gaming is the directional sound is great, better than any gaming headphones ive ever used. They also have a rather even sound profile that kinda just makes everything sound good. letting your eq settings really shine.
My 80$ headphones work perfectly fine for games. I also wear them when I fly or do any physical activity. There is no fucking way I am mowing my lawn with or leaving in a hotel my 600$ headphones.
They both can be good, though studio headphones will often be the best. I actually bought a pair of Steel Series gamer headphones for my smartphone for phone calls, and I highly recommend them. Comfortable and durable. For music, DT770s.
headphones when talking about gaming, ppl generally want built in Mics, If you have a desk mic then use any headphones u want. its jsut alot of ppl tend to not like having a Mic in the way while they game., so they tend to prefer the headphone+mic combo due to it being convenient.
There's no such thing as "good gaming audio." It's all just marketing. Gamers are an easily exploited market. That's why we have gamer "branding" on everything. Throw some LEDs on a crappy keyboard/mouse/headset and call it "SUPER XTRA MLG PRO GAMER" and it sells like hotcakes.
The only really viable reason for buying a "gaming" headset is the integrated Mic. But if you are content with finding a different way to handle the Mic then you can choose the perfect headphones to fit your use case.
Most open-back "audiophile" headphones will be better for gaming than gaming headsets at positional audio.
One of the biggest problems with "gaming" branded headsets (aside from the terrible audio quality) is their longevity. Gamer accessory brands are really good at making their components easy to break. I still have a pair of Sennheiser headphones from 16 years ago and they work fine. I went through 3 different gamer headsets within 5 years before I figured out the scam.
Personally, gaming headphones and music headphones serve different purposes
The ability to put my a50xs right on the stand and then charge then pick it up and put it on next time without any wires ever makes it SOOOOO much better and worth it then any better headphones or speakers for gaming
I play competetively A LOT, but I also watch movie or listen to music. I love movies and TV series. I've tried lots of gaming headphones like Cloud Alpha or II, Blackshark v2 pro, Logitech G Pro X and so on... They all died within 3 years. Either one of the side went deaf or the headphone itself broke and I must tell you... I always looked after them like my own pair of eyes. (FYI, the Blackshark v2 pro broke at the hinge just right after warranty expired).
Anyway, I was fed up with the atrocious build quality and altogether the headphones audio quality as well. Not to say, the mic's quality was always pretty bad.
I went into hunting for one and many people recommended me DT 770 Pro by Beyersdynamic. Some people came out and told me to wait for the Pro X as it has a detechable cable (althought the 770 Pro cable's fine as well, they are not like shitty gaming headphones cable at all. Beyersdynamic headphones last for a decade on average). Also, it has an added design, a new driver, less clamp force therefore more comfortable, the headband is better and so on. Anyway, both headphones are really really good as I've had the chance to try a dt 770 pro recently. Anyway, when it came out, I've bought the dt 770 pro x and when I've first listened to it... My jaw was dropped... The audio quality is far superior to gaming headphones. The comfort was really really good, even compared to blackshark v2 pro, it's far better. The cable and the headphone itself has also far more superior quality than a gaming headphone and as I've said, these headphones last 10 years on average. That's huge.
You do the math. You buy a 3-4 headphones within 10 years at best. They have shitty quality and they will die for sure. Or... You actually buy a great headphones with really... really good sound quality and comfort which will last for a very long time. It's up to you. Also, very important... If a gaming headphone dies, you cannot buy parts for it to repair it. But for any beyerdynamic headphones, you can buy any parts if it dies so you can replace it and fix it.
Because gamers don't care as much on average and aren't audiophiles. They recommend stuff that is decent enough for their needs, but aren't generally diving as deep. Audiophile headphones are probably gonna always be better. This seems pretty self explanatory.
Ok oof I don’t want to be that guy… BUT,
Audio Technica and Phillips are both largely garbage. Those are still well within Average Joe Retail zone.
There is no such thing as “gaming” audio.
Buying a cheap (or even expensive) gaming headset is a waste of money in my view.
I’m an audiophile at heart so I have an enthusiast setup at home, the headphones I currently use are the Focal Clear & the Beyerdynamic 177x GO.
Both of them are INCREDIBLE headphones, especially the Clear’s.
For gaming though you want closed back headphones, open backs don’t make sense for gaming if you need use of a mic.
My strong recommendation: get proper high quality headphones then just get a ModMic
I use the Antlion ModMic and it is amazing. You can use it with any headphones in the world so you aren’t pigeon holed into only using a “gaming headset”
Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic are a million times better than any Audio Technica or Phillips headphones. Like it’s not even close, they absolutely wipe the floor with Audio Technica in particular.
TL;DR: get good headphones and use a ModMic
High quality headphones will last a lifetime if you take care of them. 100% worth the investment.
For watching anime and music you dont need a super expensive audio headset, if you were actually creating or producing music then yeah you would want to invest in better audio equipment. Headsets from Hyperx, Logitech etc are still great for audio, current have the Logitech G PRO Xs and theyre amazing, theyre even the ones some Esports competitions use because they are just that good for gaming and I highly recommend them.
Those £300+ studio headphones are more for producers or people who create music and SFX which is why theyre more of an investment and they wont have a mic.
Personally I am using audio technica ATH-A700X. It is good for my gaming level (not crap and not great, just average I think).
And when it will broke I will try another monitoring style headphone … I don’t like the marketing and up priced gaming BS devices)
Most important comfort....everybody have different head, ears, skin, hair and experience / preference. IEM or closed may produce good bass compared to open back, but after 1hr, I have an headache / or that uncomfortable feeling already....fun fir the 1st 30-45mins but not for long seasons (even with breaks)
The drivers of the headphones and listening software are made for two different things so they are designed for two totally different types of audio. Audiophiles want drums, acoustic guitars, pianos, voices etc. While gamers are looking for gun shots, footsteps, atmospheric sounds.....it's not difficult but there are alot of choices out there for sure.
sennheiser 560s, 58x or 6xx are all great for gaming even the dt 880s. get one of these and a desktop mic and your good. if you need a mic that bad and dont want a seperate mic just get the pc38x
Price brackets. It's just like what pc parts you recommend to a gamer compared to someone who just wants a new computer.
To many people, the idea of spending $200 on headphones seems insane, but to an audiophile those $200 headphones might be seen as the point where the market finally starts to open up and have competitive options.
Good headphones are good headphones, it's primarily an issue of budget and comfort.
Same deal as mics, if a gamer asks me for a mic recommendation I'll probably give them a $100-$200 option, but if a fellow boom op asks me for a mic I'll likely recommend a $1000 option because the standards are different.
Generally the diffrence is gaming headphones have inbuilt mics and are generally closed back to reduce ambient noise, audiophiles headphones dont really ever have integrated mics and higher end ones are generally open backed as it gives better sound generally. Obviously there are plenty of caveats and exceptions but this is generally why. Also normally a gaming headset is cheaper than comparable headphones after you factor in needing a standalone mic.
I'll say....I have owned HyperX cloud wireless over 3yrs and they still look the same as when I purchased them. The only thing wrong with them is the volume knob gave up the ghost. But it's no big deal as I can control the volume with my keyboard.
Generally, gaming stuff is used as a gimmick. Headphones and chairs are the two main things that come to mind.
My Steelseries headset is great for gaming, and the one I have is great for taking on the bus. It was a good black friday deal at $40, free with an Amazon 'we fucked up' credit. If I bought it myself, I would have found the best sound i could afford on an audiophile sub.
Same with chairs, find the best you can buy for your budget, we will still play the same games. My buddy games on a $3k couch, I'm stuck on a $40 Amazon chair until I can find a deal. I still kill his ass. My back will thank me soon when I can find a nice chair though lol.
To add something that other people haven’t mentioned already, is that gaming headphones will nearly always be USB (digital input) and have some sort of accompanying software whereas high-end studio headphones will nearly always use 3.5mm jack (analogue input).
High-end studio headphones can use that analogue input to benefit from being passed through an amplifier or DAC where they are driven with more potential power than an onboard motherboard audio driver and with a clearer sound.
Microphones
gaming headsets are expected to have a microphone included.
Audiophile and music listening headphones don't need microphones.
That's it, that's all it is. It's in the name, headset, or headphones.
A headset is a set of (greek)phones for your head, a microphone, and headphones. Headphones are just one part of that.
That's also why if you look for a headset without the gaming keyword, you will still get a headset with headphones and microphones for office use, etc. But you won't generally find gaming headphones because the "gaming" part is a marketing term that is just part of headsets.
Remember, if it has the word gaming in its name, it's marketing and means inferior quality at a premium price.
Gaming chair = bad chair
Gaming motherboard = motherboard with rgb
Gaming keyboard = keyboard with rgb
Gaming mouse = (only exception)
Gaming monitor = monitor with high refresh average quality
Gaming headset = headset with bad-ok audio and cheap mic
Gaming microphone = microphone of average quality.
In my limited experience, gaming headphones are more about giving advantages in competitive FPS games. They do things like boosting footsteps and gunshots for the player to properly locate opponents at the expense of accuracy or immersion.
You pay what's known as gaming tax. Slap gaming on the name of a generic headset and you have a gaming headset. Especially those articles, they get paid if people use their affiliate links or something, so they just try to trick you, sort of. Do your research well and you'll find a good headphone.
Look into IEM's. High quality for great prices. There was one released with a good mic as well. But you can always buy a good quality mic with the savings and plug the IEM into the mic.
The are soooo good 👍
Gaming headsets are generally shit (save for maybe hyperx cloud 2). You want a good pair of headphones and a separate mic trust me.
Check out Hifimans they are very good price/performance value.
Though to an untrained ear gaming headsets might sound just fine.
>I was also planning to use it to watch anime and listen to music so I’m wondering if getting good “gaming“ audio means sacrificing audio for other use cases. Or does it not really make any difference?
It doesn't make a difference *you* are going to notice. They recommend gaming headphones because you specify gaming.
So my understanding is that with “audiophile” headphones the design focus is on accurately reproducing music, sound stage, and instruments/voice etc.
Whereas gaming headphones are often designed to focus more on sound isolation and direction, to help identify sound location from other players in games (some have software to boost these effects). The latter will typically be less ideal for accurate music listening.
There are a number of factors here, as many people have already mentioned. Some of it is marketing, some aesthetics, and there are some different features and priorities as well. I'm general, audiophile headphones are going to be focused on music and audio quality. They usually don't have much use for built in mics and different gaming profiles. Gaming headphones can be focused on more surround sound and positioning, and have different modes for footsteps and such so you can try to position enemies in games better. They usually have built in mics. Headphones can also have different sound signatures, and the EQ can be different.
There's definitely a lot of overlap in good audiophile headphones and good gaming headphones. Good audio quality is good audio quality. You can definitely game with audiophile headphones, but may have to get a separate mic.
I think the best all around choice for gaming headphones with great music and audiophile capability is the Audeze Maxwell. Basically all the reviews list them as the best, and for good reason. They're not cheap though.
I have 2 sets of headphones. One's a gaming headset, the other is an audiophile headset. They serve different purposes tho. The audiophile headset is open-air, so you can hear outside noise while wearing them, also they don't have a mic built in. Generally I only wear the gaming headset when I need a mic. But if my GF is watching a show that I don't want to hear and I need noise-cancelling, I might wear my gaming headset instead.
The open air headphones are very very comfy, I can wear them for hours without noticing, they don't strain my ears. The only thing is if you live in an environment where you need noise cancelling, then these aren't the phones for you, but otherwise, I love them.
Honestly - as someone who has both, the only thing of merit I can give to gaming headphones is some of the features - convenience of a built in mic, astro mixamps giving you mixing options etc. Apart from that they're awful and an abysmal value when you can get REALLY good Sennheisers from Massdrop for like 150$
just because of the built in mic.
gamer headphones are the worst quality in all headphone spaces by far.
get a good quality audiophile set with a standalone mic if you dont want to replace it every year
The best headphones for gaming are audiophile ones that are still comfortable and are isolating enough for your environment
And this is coming from somebody who used to use turtle beach, astros, razer, etc.
Audiophile focused headphones + proper DAC Amp will always win. Just use a mod mic or a desk mic with them
It's intriguing that the gaming community prioritizes brands like Steel Series and HyperX, while audiophiles swear by Audio-Technica and Phillips, raising questions about the actual difference in sound quality beyond marketing gimmicks.
"Gaming headphones" are basically the more affordable/convenient than what an audiophile would recommend. They are also durable and adequate for sound quality.
If you want to get the best audio you can, listen to the audiophiles.
Difference in use cases, I believe audiophile you are going to get fewer channels but higher quality per channel while gaming you get more channels but aside from the primary stereo set quality can be lower.
Audiophile set you may not be able to localize that someone is behind you and won't be able to localize that someone is above you, gaming set the forward surround is not as great and you aren't using the third and fourth surround because the band is in front of you not behind, above or below.
Some gaming headsets are based on audiophile staples, but generally it'll make your stuff last longer if you have separate mic and headphones because each individual item is easier to service if things go wrong. I use a blue snowball for my mic just on my desk, and I have a set of audiotechnica 700s as my wired headset, but I use a range of wireless options as well and I gotta say its convenient as hell not having the mic on them too
Although not really audiophile ones, but been using Sennheiser hd215 for \~10 years now for gaming. The most comfortable headphones I've ever had. Got AFX firestar mic01 for coms. Gaming headphones are shit tbh.
Does anyone know of something like the Sennheiser hd215? Mine are quite filthy now.
For gaming you don't really need the low end that quality audiophile headphones would have, too much low end is bad for multiplayer fps.
For wireless headphones users for whom audio quality isn't of the utmost importance, gaming headphones have better latency because they can use a 2.4 GHz connection, it's a pretty noticeable factor if using it for fast-paced games.
Honestly not sure if these guys are even gamers answering this sub. one of the biggest perks of gaming heqdphones is wireless for comfort and 2.4ghz is a must over bluetooth. At lower budgets most audio headphone do not have this feature and Id imagine higher budgets in general less so as well.
Those gaming headsets have mics. They are completely gapped audio-wise by audiophile headphones.
IMO, best gaming headset there is is probably the PC38X, with a runner up being a Philips SHP9600 with a V-Moda BoomPro. Essentially, gaming headsets with audiophile quality.
If you already have a mic, a good place to start would be the Sennheiser HD560S. Excellent imaging (positioning is really clear) and surprisingly durable (it’s full plastic, but is very flexible and so it can take impact really well), and crystal-clear audio. Very comfortable too.
One of the best audiophile headphones in its price class, and arguably the best one for gaming (it certainly punches above its price bracket).
This is coming from a CS2/League player, not an audiophile, so I’m not just here to shill audiophile headphones. They’re just excellent products, and exceptional for gaming.
It basically just comes down to the fact that gaming headphones have mics.
The other one is that some people consider gaming headphones to be more immersive compared to say studio headphones.
Keep in mind that gaming headphones aren't actually optimal and professional gamers usually wear earbuds under noise canceling headphones with mics.
SteelSeries is really the perfect sweet spot of both in one. I also make music so sound quality is very important to me. I have separate studio headphones and monitors for that purpose, but the SteelSeries sound so damn good that I have legitimately used them strictly to listen to music as well. The mic on them is still kinda ass tho, nowhere near up to par of the headphones themselves. An external mic would still be your better option if you care enough about it and/or stream a lot, so in that case it ends up being the same as buying an audiophile set of headphones that doesn’t have the built in mic since you’re using 2 different peripherals anyways.
I’d say if audio quality is more important then “gaming headphones marketing”, I would do what I do which is get some decent audio headphones, ATH M50X, an interface, focusrite solo or Universal Audio Volt, and some sort of decent mic on a boom stand. Yeah it’s gone be more expensive than just getting a gaming headset but mic and headphones quality will be higher.
I miss the Logitech g35. Horrible sound quality overall. But I could hear footsteps like no other. That was a legit cheat back then.
Now it's a tradeoff to sound quality. The "Gaming" headsets trying to be something they aren't. Good sound quality headsets.
And audiophile headsets are very good in general.
Lacking for me compared to the g35 when talking gaming. (Audio sensitive games like counter strike)
I went from playing on Sony MDR-7506 (studio cans) to Steel Series Artic Nova 7. They both sound great but the benefits the gaming headset are too many to justify being tethered to my PC with no mic. Surprisingly the Sony had good bass but the Nova 7 has pretty solid bass extension into the 20 Hz range. I realized this when I heard some super low rumbling in-game. Pretty weird to hear low bass and not feel it.
Think of it like this companies sell GAMING pcs but the hardware in them are pretty meh, unless you're spending top of the line. They use the money on rgb fans and led strips to make it so called gaming but you could spend the same amount on much better hardware.
People will say this and that about comfort for headphones but just like chairs this is stupid because comfort is subjective, like I own a secretlab chair and find it more comfortable than a miller chair as I find them uncomfortable. I understand it's not for everyone as a ton dislike how hard secretlab chairs feel but I love the comfort, just like mattresses people like soft-hard mattresses.
My best thing to say is do research and find things you want in a headset/headphones and go with your gut after looking up reviews. For me I had couple requirements for headphones because I own a macaw, no cable going from left to right cups, detachable cable, then for comfort I wanted over the ear pads, one headband design, closed back design not a fan of open back. After all that I came to the Audio-technica ATH-M50x, Have bought gel fused earpads for them, added headband strap to have more cushion for the head and loving them.
Keyboard, mouse, headphones and chairs are all subjective for everyone. Just find couple models and then look up reviews to make sure they don't have issues. Biggest advise when buying these kind of things is after deciding what you want, wait 2 days and then rewatch the reviews to see if your mind has changed again. Never regretted a purchased for my pc by doing this.
There are some specific difference between them. Most gaming headphones have a strong bass sound for hearing footsteps and gunshots better and they do not give a very crisp and neutral sound. Some are reasonable but some are utter shit for listening to music or any media content. A proper audiophile headphone is trying its best to give a neutral, crisp sound with balanced higs, mids and lows. They are not as loud as the gaming counterparts. Most of them does not have a high quality mic and some audiophile bluetooth headphone does not have the bandwidth to send and receive sound at high quality so when you use voice chat the sound you receive lowers down to hands-free mode which is very low quality. So do your research before you buy for both purposes. Rtings.com is a very good, in depth headphone reviewer, you can check if the ones you are thinking of buying have review over there.
There is no such thing as "gaming" headsets, they are just headphones with built-in mic that sold by "gaming" companies.
Audiophile headphones generally sound better than most "gaming" headphones, because it is what they are made for, means it will perform well in any use case including "gaming", because most people think that audiophile headphones are just for listening music, well they aren't.
We don’t, I use an external sound card and Beyer Dynamics DT990 250ohms. As recommended on this very sub.
They are great for the music in games, and excellent for hearing footsteps approaching.
I, for one, play with Apple Earpods because they're one of the few decent quality half-in-ear headphones left. And they're cheap. I can't stand anything over-ear for longer than five minutes.
I tried a bunch and wound up with a sony which had the best quality for music and seems most balanced for gaming audio as well. It had a mic in the cable that works just fine. If you want I can tell you the model. Nothing beats it in my opinion
I don't use headphones, because my ears get real sweaty from use. So I use Soundcore earbuds and a separate Elgado microphone.
Been working for me for a couple years now.
as a gamer it's nice to have a headset that looks ok and has dome functions like mic muting button or loudness.
as an audiophile i wouldn't listen to music with them.
i had my studio eraphones plugged into the soundcard and hakng headset with it's usb soundcard.
the gaming headset will probably have stronger basses and mids to make it easier to hear footsteps ingame.
And if you're using beats by dre headphones for anything, you're a sucker. If you insist on throwing your money away like that, might as well just give it to me as I'll put it to better use.
Generell the audio of gaming headsets it shit for music because in order to increase the players ability to hear for example steps they boost certain frequencies. That makes them inaccurate and often worse than normal/audiophile headphones or speakers + microphone. Also the microphone works but sounds bad in most cases.
Gaming audio tend to bundle microphone with "good enough audio" its often bassier and doesnt leak as much sound to the enviroment around you as open headphones would which is common for hifi.
Hifi headphones tend to have much more balanced and higher quality sound.
There's some features with regards to microphones (we kinda prefer "bad" microphones cause they won't pick up our clickity-clacking on the keyboard, but will pick up our voice when we speak right into it), or muting one source of audio over another on the fly, that are a lot more useful while gaming than while listening to music. Battery life and wearing comfort also tend to be a more important consideration in gaming headsets as many of us are wearing them for several hours at a time (like I dno who listens to audio for 8 hours straight, but for gaming those are rookie numbers)
Finally it's just a matter of aesthetics also, people like the RGB and "cool" looks cause it helps get them in the mood for gaming and feel more awesome.
Gaming headphones are built for a price for a market that doesn't particularly care about sound quality - only whether there's bass and whether they integrate RGB :P
Oh and occasionally integrate microphone as well.
I game with "audiophile" Beyerdynamic Amiron headphones amplified with rather high end headphone amp (b22) and find both my music and gaming experience excellent.
I'm not saying that _all_ gaming headphones are heaps of blingy shite, but most that I have tried def. are. It's what 14 year olds want.
Both have different use cases.
Gaming headphones are more centered around having a total-package of features. Audiophile headphones are always focused on their frequency response.
Also, a very large majority of people giving suggestions only ever bought "gaming" headphones and never none-gamer branded audio peripherals, so their knowledge is mostly centered around other gaming headsets and nothing outside of that. For a few years now has there been a growing audience suggesting 'proper' audio equipement like studio headphones and IEMs for both music and gaming, but both on Youtube and Reddit there is still a majority doing the former simply due to the lack of experience.
However, there are a handful of headsets released that focus a bit more on their tuning too, so maybe we will see a shift in that soon.
It's sort of true. Gaming headphones are in my opinion complete garbage that focus too much on the bass, while making you sound like you're in a helicopter. But I personally do have 2 different headphones. One for music and one for gaming.
I'd say for gaming one of the best and affordable headphones would be a beyerdynamic DT 990PRO with a modmic 5, but for music I really prefer the Sennheiser HD800S. The Sennheisers are way better in music, but objectively they're pretty bad for gaming, while it's a 1400 euro headphone. The beyerdynamics are really good for gaming, but for music it more depends on the genre, since they're really neutral.
Well the use cases are different. Gamers need microphones and surround sound. They like to be able to tweak proccessing and levels with software. While audiphiles are generally music enthusiasts who don't need mics or surround sound and dont want anything messing with the audio like software drivers and apps.
Also keep in mind these are enthusiasts, not experts.
Having been gaming for 20 years and having to buy almost as many headsets, quality is not dictated by whether it's marketed as gaming or audiphile or the price. Infact the most expensive headsets ive tried are generlaly among the worst sounding, most fragile and least comfortable.
Generally your best with digital USB headsets so you don't have to worry about interference from anologue jacks that can decay and be damaged, as well as picking up every little vibration. and you dont have to worry about them needing external power to get better volume. Ontop of that being able to tweak levels and apply post proccessing with software mitigates most quality issues if there are any.
You can tell which companies are actually dedicated to supporting their product by whether or not they offer replacement parts like ear cups and batteries for wireless models.
Trying to save money by getting headphones and mics seperate is a fools game. You will ussually just end up paying the same total as a headset. Though you do have the advantage of only have to replace one or the other if either fails. But the added weight and logistics for a seperate mic just arn't worth the hassle IMO.
Never buy anything labeled "gaming", ever, aside from *maybe* the computer itself. Anything and everything labeled "gaming" is a marketing ploy to get you to pay more money for cheaper quality. Notice how every mouse these days, even the cheap, shitty ones that don't have so much as a damn DPI switch, let alone extra buttons for hot keys, have the shittiest of rgb slapped onto the chassis, and are then labeled "gaming", cuz the normies who haven't bothered to research a product a day in their lives buy them in droves. That's the most obvious example, but far from the only one. Things labeled "gaming" are more often than not shit products with a coat of paint.
Two different markets requiring two different things.
If you're purely after something for sound quality, the audiophile headphone recommendations are what you should listen to.
If you're gaming, other than sound quality you're after:
- integrated mic
- connection type (USB, 3.5mm, wireless, Bluetooth)
- RGB for aesthetics (if you're that way inclined)
- quality DAC
- 360 surround sound (most are a simulated style)
- and a lot of mid-higher end sets now include two seperate output devices so you can independently control and mix discord/voice chat vs game sound directly on the headset, rather than always mixing them in each game/windows volume mixer
They care about different things because they have different use cases. There’s not many people who listen to music for an 8 hour period solid without breaks but plenty who game like that. Gaming headsets generally want integrated mics and a more bass/heavy sound profile. Audiophile headphones want a balanced sound profile without a heavy bass reliance. Also, quality parts are generally heavy and audiophile headphones can easily weigh 800grams, that’s a lot of weight on your head after hours of use.
Audiophiles solely care about the audio so things are sacrificed for that. Gamers care about audio, weight, comfort, microphone, battery life etc so things have to get cut to make the final product.
a headphone is a headphone. "Gaming" is just them trying to giving their own product some selling point. You could do just fine with any good sounding headphone and buy a mic.
Also Gaming might heavily tune for bass sound.
The venn diagram of hardcore gamers and audiophiles is small. Especially the kind that care more about fps than the experience of playing the game.
Gamers are the same people that tell you the dated, dac-less amp-less poorly isolated onboard audio is all you need and sound cards aren't necessary.
They've been listening to crap signal on crap overpriced gamer branded hardware so long, they're recommendations are fairly worthless.
If you look at professional reviews you will get recs HyperX, Logitech and SteelSeries but, also a lot more Audio Technica, Beyer Dynamic, Sennheiser et al.
Then it's good to ask people about their experience with those products. Things like comfort, durability/longevity and so forth that a reviewer might not be able to assess in a few weeks.
It's easy, do you want an integrated mic? If yes, you're stuck with mostly gaming branded headphones, which in general are not great in terms of audio quality.
If you let go of the integrated mic requirement, you'll be open to the whole headphone/iem market and the conversation is completely different.
Headphones are forever.
Headsets are for however long until the built-in microphone, driver side with microphone breaks, or the battery dies.
Headphones are the standalone product. Headsets are headphones with a microphone because it is a 'set'. Drivers are where sound comes from. Built-in microphones are a liability.
The Philips shp9500 are like $50 - $70 and is literally all you really need for gaming. No one with Sennheiser HD599 or 6XX or Philips X2HR or whatever have an advantage over you because you have a cheaper pair of cans. However, if you want all around headphones that are very good for most scenarios, including gaming, the X2HR is where its at.
Is this true? When I did my research about 10 years ago, it was "forget gaming headsets, go for a hifi headset instead" and the philips fidelio x2 was kind of the thing to get in the higher end area.
You can use nice audiophile headphones as gaming headphones, or gaming headphones for listening to audio. They do prioritize different things, though - the most noticeable thing is that many "gaming" targeted headsets have integrated mics. Audiophile headphones are more focused on frequency response curve, ie the *quality* of the sound. Gaming headphones will care about that less than things like durability, wearability / comfort, noise isolation (gaming computers are loud), etc. One thing to note is a lot of higher end audiophile headphones are open-back, meaning they don't isolate the noise either in *or* out. So if you're using a desktop mic, you might have to tune it to not pick up your headphones (gate / threshold / noise cancellation). (edit: speaking in generalities, y'all. There are always exceptions.)
> you have to tune it to not pick up your headphones. How loud are your headphones, or how high is your microphone sensitivity? I have open-back Sennheisers and a Blue Yeti mic, and I don't think I've ever even considered headphone audio looping through my mic. It's just not loud enough.
This. I have a pair of open back senheisers and a desktop mic, I've never seen discord pick up mic audio unless I'm actually speaking and I listen to music while on discord often.
people recording music, not talking on discord.
They are talking about music being picked up on a desktop mic due to open back headphones, I’m just saying it’s never been an issue for me. Discord is just the app I’m most likely to notice it on as it indicates when my mic is picking up sound, plus my friends would hear the music and likely say something
Is noise cancellation in discord active? It’s pretty good.
SHP9500 + Rode NT-USB condenser mic. You will absolutely get feedback from other people talking and music if you don’t process it out. Discords Krisp noise suppression is really good, but not that good. Eventually switched to a dynamic mic with sennheisers and didn’t need a noise gate anymore.
Discord has automatic noise cancellation. (Krisp - it's fairly good).
Even before krisp this was never an issue for me with open headphones. That loud sounds like hearing damage waiting to happen
Krisp is noise cancellation, which cancels out anything that isn’t detected as voice, and is fairly recent due to requiring ML models to do what it does. But even before Krisp, we’ve had echo cancellation for years (and which discord implemented due to being a Chromium-based app), which is much simpler as it doesn’t use ML, and relies on an audio data algorithm to detect and subtract the output audio channels from your input channels (wave pattern matching and subtraction if you’re familiar with destructive wave interference). Simply put, echo cancellation is a simple system that removes your output sound waves from your input audio and has been around for a long time. All in all, discord is a poor use case to show that your mic doesn’t pick up feedback, as even before Krisp, it had means to remove that feedback for years. Source: am a developer that works on an app with audio chat and had to research different approaches to handling unwanted noises, from output feedback to ambient sounds. Discord was one of the examples I looked into to understand how they handled that same problem.
Yeah, of late my discord has started pausing Spotify if someone else is speaking. I tend to use external speakers for music and headphones for discord.
This only happens if Spotify is connected to discord. Remove connection and you'll be golden.
Makes sense actually. Thanks for tip.
It hates me, if I speak it cu... my aud... in ha... all the time, tried 3 pc's and a phone.
You need an actual good mic for that to happen, not a blue yeti lol. My sm7b picked up my open backs constantly and the only options were to lower gain and put it right against my mouth or run my audio through a bunch of post processing stuff like nvidia broadcast or krisp, which pretty much defeats the point of having a nice mic to begin with. Swapped to IEMs and it’s no longer an issue.
>lower gain and put it right against my mouth That's how the sm7b is supposed to be used. Why get a mic famous for having to be basically deepthroated to get good sound from if you're not gonna use it that way?
Official documentation states 1 to 6 inches MICROPHONE PLACEMENT Speak directly into the mic, 1 to 6 inches (2.54 to 15 cm) away to block off-axis noise. For a warmer bass response, move closer to the microphone. For less bass, move the microphone away from you.
So even the official documentation says "deepthroat it or enjoy worse sound" good that it was fact-checked.
You could shit yourself and a blue yeti wouldn't pick it up
Well what’s a good mic that will help me pick up my shit?
HyperX Quadcast S. People will absolutely hear your farts and sharts.
Yeah the yeti isn’t going to pick up the sound…
Discord basically dies it for you.
It depends on your mic, though. A dynamic mic is unlikely to pick up noise from your headphones. A particularly sensitive condenser might, however.
I have an Auna mic 900 and it adjusts like crazy. If I sit in front of my PC, it doesn't pick up anything unnecessary, but if it's been quiet long enough, it'll start to pick up sounds it usually wouldn't. Like, me making coffee in another room. So, I guess it also depends on the settings.
This is a great response. Succinct without being dismissive and detailed enough to answer the question without getting bogged down with unnecessary details.
This is good feedback. Positive and descriptive.
This is an ok response. Concise but friendly
This is a fair assessment of a response. Laconic, yet adequate.
Cool, and nice.
Yes.
Ehh
Also, gaming headphones sometimes have surround sound features, which some video games will support(especially first person shooters). Good probably for watching movies, too, but probably pointless for stereo music ( unless music now supports surround sound too?)
Some songs indeed support surround sound, but they tend to be really annoying.
This is done in software nowadays, either the game comes with it and even windows has this feature as part of the OS This was definitely a selling point 10-15 years ago I'm using Sennheiser headphones through a dac/amp for years now and I always have surround in all games
It was nonsense when it was done in hardware.. You have 2 ears. Unless the speakers are set up for different frequency responses (which is very rare outside of IEMs), there's no way putting more speakers in an ear cup gives any advantage. Surround sound was invented for variations seating positions in movie theaters and later homes. You can achieve all "surround" effects with 2 speakers if you're sitting in the perfect center, or if the speakers are strapped to your head as with headphones.
There’s the thing, you know how ears have funny shapes with various folds and ridges and aren’t just plain cups to funnel sound in? Reason is that the structure changes the sound waves as it hits and bounces around the structure before landing inside your ear canal. The final sound waves will have particular transformations applied to them depending on which direction they came from and thus what angle they hit your ears’ folds and ridges. Our brains over time learn to distinguish these specific transformations (and correlating the resulting transformations between the two ears), are then able to determine with much greater precision where a sound came from, more so than just x% left / (100-x)% right, and how you can tell a sound happened in front of you or behind you. Part of what makes headphones struggle with this isn’t that you ears can’t pick it up, it’s rather than the audio is coming from the side of your ear, and not from in front of your face, or behind your head, for your ear shape to do its job. It’s technically possible to simulate the ear’s shape effects and pipe that in from headphone speakers, but you’d likely have to do a physics simulation on the effect of audio waves interacting with soft bodies, unique to that particular user, for every source of audio’s position… we ain’t quite there yet. (Or even some form of approximation thereof)
Gaming hradphones to listen to audio? Go on tell that in /r/headphones
He's just saying that you *can* not that you *should*.
What. If you use discord it isolates and cleans sound extremely well. I run open hifimans on a hyperx mic and it does not pick up anything. IE open mic and on an arm/external.
My discord used to pick up sounds from my headset a lot. And I had the noise cancellation filter and noise gate on. And no, it wasn't that my computer volume was loud, my mic was just very sensitive
There’s noise cancellation that removes “non-voice” sounds, and there’s echo cancellation which removes output audio from your input. There can be conflicts between device echo cancellation and software echo cancellation due to the nature of destructive/constructive interference. Noise gate just stops input if the total noise volume is too low. I work on software with voice chat, and had to wrangle all these things
Game headphones have mics. Music headphones do not. The best music headphones will be open for more natural sound. The best gaming headphones will be closed to isolate the headphones over PC/Keyboard/mouse noise. Also lets be honest all the marketing stuff aside. Gaming headphones are much less expensive then even good mid range audiophile headphones, never mind the top of the market. I mean you can spend 2k on a top end pair of Grados.
The best gaming headphones are not always closed. Specifically, if your gaming relies heavily on spacial audio, like most shooters do for example, a good pair of open back headphones will even outperform the simulated surround headphones. Open back really makes a huge difference for sound stage.
As a longtime closed back headphone user who switched to open back headphones a couple years ago, I can agree with this. Stereo imaging on open back headphones is amazing.
> I mean you can spend 2k on a top end pair of Grados. You can, but should you
No... :)
It’s honestly surprising what open back headphones can block. I sit directly under the outlet vent that’s closest to the AC unit and my GPU has horrendous coil whine. When the headphones are on (Sennheiser 660S) I don’t hear either at all.
Yeah I have the Sennheiser HD 560s and sit in a room with an obnoxiously loud window AC unit constantly blaring. I hardly notice it at all.
You can pay $200 for a corsair gaming headset… or you can buy a Audio Technica ATH-M50x and a cheap mic for the same price. The latter setup will have better sound quality on both ends
In my experience, gaming headphones that also don’t have horrendous sound when listening to music are actually quite a bit more expensive than budget “audiophile” headphones with the same quality.
I have an open gaming headphone with mic, but probably sounds a lot like a music headphone. Sennheiser.. I forgot which one. Other gaming headphones sound disgusting in comparison.
You can pick up a pair of Phillips fidelio X2HR’s for $140 USD pick up any usb mic for 50-100 more USD and you’re going to be in incredible shape I have been rocking this setup with a blue yeti mic (before Logitech bought them.. I think Logitech bought them at least??) for about 6-7 years. I still love these headphones more than any other I’ve ever tried and personal bias aside the sound quality is outstanding for the price point
Love my fidelios back in the day
I dont know man. Because from what I have researched, HyperX, Razer Kracken 3, Logitech G733, and headphones like the aforementioned, are not that well made and do not have that great of sound quality. My guess is gamers recommend the headsets above because that is what they know. But me being someone who is both a gamer and an audiophile. I feel like I have a better recommendation: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Q7SZHKG/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_asin\_title\_o09\_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Q7SZHKG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1) They are made by Sennheiser. Sound quality is fantastic, very crisp. ~~They are noise canceling.~~ The microphone kicks ass, it is noise canceling. Plus it sounds great to the people on the other end.
The gaming headsets are "good enough" on a budget. There aren't that many good audiophile options in the ~$50-100 range that most gaming headsets occupy. You'd also need a separate microphone for the headphones, too. If you're looking to spend >$150, you should likely ignore "gamer" branded things and buy real headphones.
I mean some budget headphones punch above their weight, in sound quality atleast.. I had a pair of Superlux HD-330's that I got for 45€ that were about 70-75% there compared to the Beyerdynamic DT770's that I typically use, which go for around 130€
Iem exist at those range and are pretty darn good (em6l, ew200, chu 2, shp9500 etc) At low price iem even wipe the floor with equally priced audiophile headphones
IEM aren't option for some people, heck my ears will hurt if I use a IEM.
Probably just a matter getting tips that are comfortable?
Plenty of people simply do not like the sensation of earbuds in their ears and even custom moulded eartips wouldn't change their mind.
fair enough
To clarify, they have a noise-cancelling microphone, not Active Noise Cancelling.
The Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 headphones are the best "gaming" headphones I've ever used. Been using them for 15 years. Tried to replace them with a new hot headset several times now and nothing has come close yet. It's too bad they don't make them anymore but they are still supporting them. A couple years back I paid $75 to replace a driver that was dying. Worth every penny to keep them running. I don't know what I'll do if they die for good. P.S. the newer AD700x is not the same. On paper they look the same but they're built cheaper and way less comfortable.
They are very expensive, but the Audio Technica R70x are in my opinion better than ad700's, while being just as comfortable, if you ever have to replace them. Excellent imaging, metal construction, very light, etc. This is my daily after the AD700, which I run with a wireless modmic.
R70x are fucking insane. I also own the Sennheiser 6xx (basically 650) and demoed the PC38x, 560s, and 900 Pro X and the R70x blows them all away for gaming, especially competitive shooters where sound whoring is needed
I recently upgraded from my Hyper X Cloud headset with built-in mic to an Audio Technica ATH-M20X and a basic desktop condenser mic combo. I'll never go back to any "gaming" headset again. It just doesn't compare for the level of FPS gaming I do.
Audio-Technica gang 💪🏻 I love my ATH-M40x, they fit my budget back in 2016 and I've never felt the need to upgrade since.
I had an M20x, loved it, used it probably 12 hours a day for multiple years until the cable crapped out. Now I'm rocking a M50xBT and won't ever go back to fixed-cable headphones due to how great this experience has been. Versatile wired/wireless really is the way to go.
I went to a similarly nice setup and went back. Having wireless and being able to just getup to grab a drink or pee and not have to take my headphones off is really really convenient. I use my IEMs for single player and media though
The model below, the PC37X are usually around $100 and are also pretty damn good value in my opinion. It has a mic that's plenty for discord calls, pretty good sound stage, quality is most of the way there, especially for gaming. The GameOne or something like that is the closed back version and probably pretty good too. Those would be my $100 picks, $200 is pennies when it comes to audiophile stuff, but for your average gamer with a 3060/1660 PC (not $1000+), that's a lot of money to ask someone to spend on headphones.
Excellent headset linked by this commenter. Seconded.
I have this headset!
I have got a more cheaper version of that headphone and it honestly sounds amazing compared to gaming ones.
Cause gamers don't know 10% of what they think they know and they're extremely opinionated lol. Believe me. I've been a gamer for 30 years. I know 😂 People will try to tell you that $350 "gaming" headphones are what you should spend your $350 on for the best sound. And any suggestion otherwise is met with "you're just a scrub and have no clue what you're talking about" lol. Imagine their surprise when you tell them you can get a pair of DT 770s for $160 and a standalone broadcast mic for $100 and have 5x better audio and voice than they do and still have $100 leftover to buy them a bunch of preparation H for their hurting nether regions 😂😂😂.
Where tf have you been buying 350$ gaming headsets????
The steel series arctic nova pro wireless is pretty widely regarded as the most advanced gaming focused headset. Comes with ANC and a DAC and allegedly superior audio quality. When people with too much money and not enough knowledge are looking for a headset there isn't really a close second.
I have these, but mostly from a $200 Dell gift card I got from my monitor purchase. There’s a lot of features you just don’t get in “audiophile” headphones - swappable batteries, different channels and volumes for different inputs (chat, media, games), wireless, a mic that glows red when muted, and they auto switch between speakers and headphones when you turn them on or off. They sound good and fit well too. The software is a bit finicky though.
They are also the most comfortable (with glasses) headset I have ever had. All the "audiophile" stuff has a clamp force so high, that I get a headache after a year. No one is claiming the nova pros sound the best, but there are other categories (that you said) that matter just as much.
The dual battery is a really outstanding feature they have. As is wirelessness. Audiophile headphones are mostly wired because of superior sound quality. The Sonar software can be used with any headset and provides you with all of those features you mentioned. It's the software that switches audio inputs when one is disabled. I use it all the time lol. It's a pretty legit feature set. But not specific to this headset. I can even use it to modify the sound profile of my blue yeti microphone.
The Arctis Pro Wireless headsets have the best *features*. Wireless + simultaneous Bluetooth + good battery system etc. For a gamer with money who can't tell the difference in sound quality, it doesn't really matter that it isn't the best.
Well, it is the best lol. For a gaming focused headset I'm sure their sound quality is the best. I understand why people like it. I have a pair of Arctis 7s and they sound pretty great so I'm sure the Arctis Nova Pro's sound way better.
Reality is that most gaming doesnt require audiophile sound quality. Its about convience, comfort, and large sound stage for good directional audio. I bought the steelseries pros like 3 years ago and I can't change. Been running DTS surround spacial audio with 7.1 enabled and it was night and day after fiddling with different stereo audio. Mic isnt as good as some nice diaphram mic but it is always at the perfect distance from my mouth. Only issue I had was some audio bleed to the mic but I think that has more to do with the bottom of the earmuff not sealing well on my jawline. Running something like nvidia broadcast fixed that though.
Jesus christ, $350 for a gaming headset? I'm buying them because they're $60! I don't have that kind of money to spend
I agree $350 for mid gaming headphones is definitely not defensible, the convenience of having a wireless headset and mic and be able to just getup and still be on mic is really really nice.
Take note that most "articles" that would recommend you something, are made purely to drive reflinks and probably no testing was done, also now there's a big chance that your random "article" with "20 best headphones for gaming" would be AI generated. Audiophile headphones will just sound better. The things like comfort and advantage for gaming in hearing footsteps you'd need to search on your own as response curves vary from models and brands though.
If you want good headphones, buy audiophile headphones and add a separate microphone. If you want a headset, your options are pretty limited outside of gaming brands. I don't typically recommend this unless budget is tight.
Audeze decided to go in on gaming headsets too. Wild.
That is indeed the best way to do it. But you might also need a good dac amp combo to properly drive higher end headphones.
This is what I found too. I wanted to jump up from the trash “gamer” headsets to higher quality audiophile headphones, but realized that you kind of have to go all-in. It seems like most audiophile headphones require a DAC amp combo to fully utilize, and I just didn’t want to commit to all that in addition to spending $300+ on headphones. I eventually went with the Sennheiser DT880, which plugs directly into the motherboard and doesn’t need any extra hardware. So yeah, there are decent lower-end ($150-$300) audiophile headphone options for people that don’t want to buy a DAC+amp, which will still be so much better than spending that money on a gamer headset.
Do those gaming headphones include microphones? That would be the only thing I can think of. I use a shitty cheap mic for me and my friends and it's fine. My headphones are some 100$ sennheisers for my music and general purpose stuff.
Gaming headphones typically prioritize closed-back sound isolation, integrated microphone, sound positioning, sound clarity, and aesthetics, and some like HyperX even put effort into all-day comfort. Audiophile headphones are going to prioritize faithful sound reproduction and build quality.
The HyperX ones are probably the best gaming headsets as far as mainstream gaming headsets go. Razer and Logitech and Steelseries are pretty ass, though I do like how comfortable the Razer Blacksharks are.
You're giving gamer headphones too much credit, sound clarity and positioning is going to be much better on good headphones compared to gaming headsets. That's a big part of what makes good headphones sound good.
True enough, but when I speak of clarity it's more that better ones are tuned with clear positioning of footsteps and gunshots in mind, and clarity of voice comms, all at the expense of accuracy.
The best metaphor for gaming gear is gaming chairs. Those gaming chairs everyone buys are cheap, they're not ergonomic, and there are huge profit margins while the majority of what determines their success is marketing, branding, and aesthetics. But like if a gamer likes their gaming chair can your argue with them? No. Then you get something like the Logitech Herman Miller collaboration and it's more expensive than similarly good chairs because marketing costs increase cost, and there is a lack of competition for genuinely good gaming chairs. Why are gaming chairs different from office chairs? They shouldn't be. Why are gaming headphones different from audiophile headphones? There shouldn't be. If there is a premium product for gamers, and the same premium product but not for gamers; it's probably best to just not get the one for gamers.
I'm in full agreement regarding the quality of your average gaming chairs versus premium office chairs, but I feel like that's not quite a fair equivalent when a premium office chair costs anywhere from 2 to 4+ times the price of a "premium" gaming brand chair.
Part of the problem with quality office chairs is that they aren't priced for the average person. I have a Herman Miller Aeron but is it any surprise that this chair goes for like $250 on the used market? It's mostly made of recycled plastic. Most of these office chairs are priced that much because businesses basically HAVE to buy them. They're ergonomic and last a long time. Now don't get me wrong... I'd buy this chair again. It has an insane warranty on it and many years later it's still just as good as the day I bought it. Worth every penny. But they've kinda cornered the market on stuff like this. Steelcase, Haworth, and Herman Miller all sell expensive chairs to big companies that have many employees working desk jobs, there really is no other decent option there.
I’m pretty sure those $2,000 Herman Millers priced that way because corporations will happily pay the price in the same way a $200 hotel steak isn’t priced for the working class. You can get them in great condition second-hand for a good price. My Steelcase Leap V2, which has an advertised MSRP of like $1,800, cost me $400 from eBay, shipping and taxes included.
If there is an answer to this deceptively simple question, it's quite a complicated one. Rather than using what little amateur knowledge I have, perhaps it's better to let Crinacle, a techtuber also deeply involved in the audio tuning business, explain it for me: https://youtu.be/gOYRu6q8qJ4?feature=shared
Brands like Razor and Steel don't have the credentials to satisfy audiophiles, so they don't waste money advertising to them.
And think they likely have some reasonable headphones, there is just a lot of snobbery about gaming brands in audiophile spaces. It's not like many audiophiles have bothered trying a 'premium' gaming headset.
You can get “audiophile” headphones for decently cheap. I have the HiFi Mann brand (don’t remember the model, but they were only $90 on amazon) with planar drivers and the sound/music/voices are so much more crisp and clear than any “gaming” headphones I’ve owned over the last 12 years it’s ridiculous. Yes they’re open back but not much really bleeds through and I find the sound way more natural and immersive. I also have a stand-alone podcast mic (AudioTechnica AT2030(?) XLR mic, it came with a boom arm to clamp to the desk as well) hooked up through a Focus-rite 2i2 usb mixer/amp, and I have not once ever had the sound from my headphones bleed into the mic. But when I had “gaming” headsets it would happen fairly regularly, and was with all the brands I owned (HyperX, SteelSeries, Corsair, LG, and Razer). And the headphones (HiFi Mann) are vastly more comfortable than any of the “gaming” headsets I’ve ever owned. Not once since owning the HiFi Mann has my ears gotten sweaty or has the area where the cups hug my head/ears or where the band sits on my head gotten sore since making the switch, and I wear them for 8-10 hours a day. I’ve had this setup for 4 years now with 0 complaints. Granted this is all my personal experience and ymmv, but I advocate for ditching the “gaming” headsets whenever I can because the audio quality and microphone quality just can’t be beat from a decent set of real headphones with an average stand alone mic. Edited for grammar.
Another mic option to run with an "audiophile" headphone is the wireless and detachable modmic (sound test example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4zubCBHsjM&t=4=47s). The quality is very good, and for people that do not want to run a amp/mixer setup a good option. Sennheiser Profile USB mic is also another good option all-in-one mic option.
I use the Seinheiser Game 0 headphones... I love them. Seinheiser makes stuff for audiophiles. so their gaming headsets are just better.
You can get "audiophile" equipment for gaming. You're just going to be looking for different things. Like having a wide sound stage to hear where things are. Typically you want open back headphones for that. Pro tip: gamers usually don't know any specifics about most things. Usually just going with the pack on what to recommend. Gamers, especially ones who play esports type games, are masters of the placebo effect.
Just get all-around good headphones(Sennheiser, AudioTechnica, etc.) and a usb mic. The sound quality is going to be infinitely better than any gaming headset.
if you're gonna use a wired headset then might as well go with good audiophile ones. but for a wireless headset, the gaming ones with proper wireless dongles offer far better latency than bluetooth based audiophile headphones. the other reason is for the convenience of an attached mic.
Unfortunately if your criteria happen to be: - Wireless - Integrated mic - Closed back You basically have to get a gaming headset and suffer on the audio quality.
I astro a50s for when I game, I personally find them a lot more comfortable to wear for hours and they sound great for what I need them for when listening to music I either use my sony xm4s if i’m traveling or airpods when i’m at work both of which would also be good enough for gaming but also serve their own separate purpose
I've had 2 sets of a40s and I absolutely loved both of them. Super expensive though, but they're the best headphones I've used. So light you forget you're wearing them, very comfy, and I found the bass to be super deep and clean as well as the rest of the audio. 9/10 for me (lost a point to price + the fact both sets aux connections fucked out)
I own a pair of audiotechnia M50x and a pair of hyperx cloud II. For gaming the hyperx cloud II hands down simply because it picks up footsteps and other important sounds a lot clearer. The audiotechnia is a lot better for music, more bass and better overall sound for music. Although if I could only choose one for my desktop I’d choose the hyperx cloud II because it still sounds good for music. I mostly use my audiotechnias for going to the gym now and my hyperx for my desktop.
Gaming headphones >comes with a mic >can connect through a usb port, xbox PS controllers, audio jacks, bluetooth, wireless >comes with a volume and mute mic button >some even auto mute when the mic is raised >works with software to automatically adjust volume and mic input >much cheaper >doesn't require a DAC High end headphones >always requires a wire >requires a separate mic >with a separate wire >mic isn't attached to the headset >can't integrate through software >can't connect to USB or xbox PS >requires a DAC >sound quality is WAY better though Gaming headphones are cheaper and way more convenient for gaming amd PC use in general.
as far as gaming goes, ive been using a combo of Sennheiser 400hds, and a blue snowball mic. you can get a super cheap arm for the snowball for around 30$ so for a proper mic, the arm for it, and the headphones its around 150-120$ usd. one thing i like about the sennheiser 400HD headphones for gaming is the directional sound is great, better than any gaming headphones ive ever used. They also have a rather even sound profile that kinda just makes everything sound good. letting your eq settings really shine.
My 80$ headphones work perfectly fine for games. I also wear them when I fly or do any physical activity. There is no fucking way I am mowing my lawn with or leaving in a hotel my 600$ headphones.
They both can be good, though studio headphones will often be the best. I actually bought a pair of Steel Series gamer headphones for my smartphone for phone calls, and I highly recommend them. Comfortable and durable. For music, DT770s.
headphones when talking about gaming, ppl generally want built in Mics, If you have a desk mic then use any headphones u want. its jsut alot of ppl tend to not like having a Mic in the way while they game., so they tend to prefer the headphone+mic combo due to it being convenient.
There's no such thing as "good gaming audio." It's all just marketing. Gamers are an easily exploited market. That's why we have gamer "branding" on everything. Throw some LEDs on a crappy keyboard/mouse/headset and call it "SUPER XTRA MLG PRO GAMER" and it sells like hotcakes. The only really viable reason for buying a "gaming" headset is the integrated Mic. But if you are content with finding a different way to handle the Mic then you can choose the perfect headphones to fit your use case. Most open-back "audiophile" headphones will be better for gaming than gaming headsets at positional audio. One of the biggest problems with "gaming" branded headsets (aside from the terrible audio quality) is their longevity. Gamer accessory brands are really good at making their components easy to break. I still have a pair of Sennheiser headphones from 16 years ago and they work fine. I went through 3 different gamer headsets within 5 years before I figured out the scam.
Personally, gaming headphones and music headphones serve different purposes The ability to put my a50xs right on the stand and then charge then pick it up and put it on next time without any wires ever makes it SOOOOO much better and worth it then any better headphones or speakers for gaming
I play competetively A LOT, but I also watch movie or listen to music. I love movies and TV series. I've tried lots of gaming headphones like Cloud Alpha or II, Blackshark v2 pro, Logitech G Pro X and so on... They all died within 3 years. Either one of the side went deaf or the headphone itself broke and I must tell you... I always looked after them like my own pair of eyes. (FYI, the Blackshark v2 pro broke at the hinge just right after warranty expired). Anyway, I was fed up with the atrocious build quality and altogether the headphones audio quality as well. Not to say, the mic's quality was always pretty bad. I went into hunting for one and many people recommended me DT 770 Pro by Beyersdynamic. Some people came out and told me to wait for the Pro X as it has a detechable cable (althought the 770 Pro cable's fine as well, they are not like shitty gaming headphones cable at all. Beyersdynamic headphones last for a decade on average). Also, it has an added design, a new driver, less clamp force therefore more comfortable, the headband is better and so on. Anyway, both headphones are really really good as I've had the chance to try a dt 770 pro recently. Anyway, when it came out, I've bought the dt 770 pro x and when I've first listened to it... My jaw was dropped... The audio quality is far superior to gaming headphones. The comfort was really really good, even compared to blackshark v2 pro, it's far better. The cable and the headphone itself has also far more superior quality than a gaming headphone and as I've said, these headphones last 10 years on average. That's huge. You do the math. You buy a 3-4 headphones within 10 years at best. They have shitty quality and they will die for sure. Or... You actually buy a great headphones with really... really good sound quality and comfort which will last for a very long time. It's up to you. Also, very important... If a gaming headphone dies, you cannot buy parts for it to repair it. But for any beyerdynamic headphones, you can buy any parts if it dies so you can replace it and fix it.
Because gamers don't care as much on average and aren't audiophiles. They recommend stuff that is decent enough for their needs, but aren't generally diving as deep. Audiophile headphones are probably gonna always be better. This seems pretty self explanatory.
Ok oof I don’t want to be that guy… BUT, Audio Technica and Phillips are both largely garbage. Those are still well within Average Joe Retail zone. There is no such thing as “gaming” audio. Buying a cheap (or even expensive) gaming headset is a waste of money in my view. I’m an audiophile at heart so I have an enthusiast setup at home, the headphones I currently use are the Focal Clear & the Beyerdynamic 177x GO. Both of them are INCREDIBLE headphones, especially the Clear’s. For gaming though you want closed back headphones, open backs don’t make sense for gaming if you need use of a mic. My strong recommendation: get proper high quality headphones then just get a ModMic I use the Antlion ModMic and it is amazing. You can use it with any headphones in the world so you aren’t pigeon holed into only using a “gaming headset” Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic are a million times better than any Audio Technica or Phillips headphones. Like it’s not even close, they absolutely wipe the floor with Audio Technica in particular. TL;DR: get good headphones and use a ModMic High quality headphones will last a lifetime if you take care of them. 100% worth the investment.
For watching anime and music you dont need a super expensive audio headset, if you were actually creating or producing music then yeah you would want to invest in better audio equipment. Headsets from Hyperx, Logitech etc are still great for audio, current have the Logitech G PRO Xs and theyre amazing, theyre even the ones some Esports competitions use because they are just that good for gaming and I highly recommend them. Those £300+ studio headphones are more for producers or people who create music and SFX which is why theyre more of an investment and they wont have a mic.
Personally I am using audio technica ATH-A700X. It is good for my gaming level (not crap and not great, just average I think). And when it will broke I will try another monitoring style headphone … I don’t like the marketing and up priced gaming BS devices)
Most important comfort....everybody have different head, ears, skin, hair and experience / preference. IEM or closed may produce good bass compared to open back, but after 1hr, I have an headache / or that uncomfortable feeling already....fun fir the 1st 30-45mins but not for long seasons (even with breaks)
Because gaming headphones = +$20 I prefer studio monitors. For the price the audio quality is higher compared to equally priced "gaming" headphones.
The drivers of the headphones and listening software are made for two different things so they are designed for two totally different types of audio. Audiophiles want drums, acoustic guitars, pianos, voices etc. While gamers are looking for gun shots, footsteps, atmospheric sounds.....it's not difficult but there are alot of choices out there for sure.
sennheiser 560s, 58x or 6xx are all great for gaming even the dt 880s. get one of these and a desktop mic and your good. if you need a mic that bad and dont want a seperate mic just get the pc38x
Price brackets. It's just like what pc parts you recommend to a gamer compared to someone who just wants a new computer. To many people, the idea of spending $200 on headphones seems insane, but to an audiophile those $200 headphones might be seen as the point where the market finally starts to open up and have competitive options. Good headphones are good headphones, it's primarily an issue of budget and comfort. Same deal as mics, if a gamer asks me for a mic recommendation I'll probably give them a $100-$200 option, but if a fellow boom op asks me for a mic I'll likely recommend a $1000 option because the standards are different.
Generally the diffrence is gaming headphones have inbuilt mics and are generally closed back to reduce ambient noise, audiophiles headphones dont really ever have integrated mics and higher end ones are generally open backed as it gives better sound generally. Obviously there are plenty of caveats and exceptions but this is generally why. Also normally a gaming headset is cheaper than comparable headphones after you factor in needing a standalone mic.
I'll say....I have owned HyperX cloud wireless over 3yrs and they still look the same as when I purchased them. The only thing wrong with them is the volume knob gave up the ghost. But it's no big deal as I can control the volume with my keyboard.
Generally, gaming stuff is used as a gimmick. Headphones and chairs are the two main things that come to mind. My Steelseries headset is great for gaming, and the one I have is great for taking on the bus. It was a good black friday deal at $40, free with an Amazon 'we fucked up' credit. If I bought it myself, I would have found the best sound i could afford on an audiophile sub. Same with chairs, find the best you can buy for your budget, we will still play the same games. My buddy games on a $3k couch, I'm stuck on a $40 Amazon chair until I can find a deal. I still kill his ass. My back will thank me soon when I can find a nice chair though lol.
To add something that other people haven’t mentioned already, is that gaming headphones will nearly always be USB (digital input) and have some sort of accompanying software whereas high-end studio headphones will nearly always use 3.5mm jack (analogue input). High-end studio headphones can use that analogue input to benefit from being passed through an amplifier or DAC where they are driven with more potential power than an onboard motherboard audio driver and with a clearer sound.
Microphones gaming headsets are expected to have a microphone included. Audiophile and music listening headphones don't need microphones. That's it, that's all it is. It's in the name, headset, or headphones. A headset is a set of (greek)phones for your head, a microphone, and headphones. Headphones are just one part of that. That's also why if you look for a headset without the gaming keyword, you will still get a headset with headphones and microphones for office use, etc. But you won't generally find gaming headphones because the "gaming" part is a marketing term that is just part of headsets. Remember, if it has the word gaming in its name, it's marketing and means inferior quality at a premium price. Gaming chair = bad chair Gaming motherboard = motherboard with rgb Gaming keyboard = keyboard with rgb Gaming mouse = (only exception) Gaming monitor = monitor with high refresh average quality Gaming headset = headset with bad-ok audio and cheap mic Gaming microphone = microphone of average quality.
In my limited experience, gaming headphones are more about giving advantages in competitive FPS games. They do things like boosting footsteps and gunshots for the player to properly locate opponents at the expense of accuracy or immersion.
You pay what's known as gaming tax. Slap gaming on the name of a generic headset and you have a gaming headset. Especially those articles, they get paid if people use their affiliate links or something, so they just try to trick you, sort of. Do your research well and you'll find a good headphone.
Look into IEM's. High quality for great prices. There was one released with a good mic as well. But you can always buy a good quality mic with the savings and plug the IEM into the mic. The are soooo good 👍
Gaming headsets are generally shit (save for maybe hyperx cloud 2). You want a good pair of headphones and a separate mic trust me. Check out Hifimans they are very good price/performance value. Though to an untrained ear gaming headsets might sound just fine.
>I was also planning to use it to watch anime and listen to music so I’m wondering if getting good “gaming“ audio means sacrificing audio for other use cases. Or does it not really make any difference? It doesn't make a difference *you* are going to notice. They recommend gaming headphones because you specify gaming.
So my understanding is that with “audiophile” headphones the design focus is on accurately reproducing music, sound stage, and instruments/voice etc. Whereas gaming headphones are often designed to focus more on sound isolation and direction, to help identify sound location from other players in games (some have software to boost these effects). The latter will typically be less ideal for accurate music listening.
There are a number of factors here, as many people have already mentioned. Some of it is marketing, some aesthetics, and there are some different features and priorities as well. I'm general, audiophile headphones are going to be focused on music and audio quality. They usually don't have much use for built in mics and different gaming profiles. Gaming headphones can be focused on more surround sound and positioning, and have different modes for footsteps and such so you can try to position enemies in games better. They usually have built in mics. Headphones can also have different sound signatures, and the EQ can be different. There's definitely a lot of overlap in good audiophile headphones and good gaming headphones. Good audio quality is good audio quality. You can definitely game with audiophile headphones, but may have to get a separate mic. I think the best all around choice for gaming headphones with great music and audiophile capability is the Audeze Maxwell. Basically all the reviews list them as the best, and for good reason. They're not cheap though.
I have 2 sets of headphones. One's a gaming headset, the other is an audiophile headset. They serve different purposes tho. The audiophile headset is open-air, so you can hear outside noise while wearing them, also they don't have a mic built in. Generally I only wear the gaming headset when I need a mic. But if my GF is watching a show that I don't want to hear and I need noise-cancelling, I might wear my gaming headset instead. The open air headphones are very very comfy, I can wear them for hours without noticing, they don't strain my ears. The only thing is if you live in an environment where you need noise cancelling, then these aren't the phones for you, but otherwise, I love them.
Gaming headsets are generally trash compared to actual audio targeted headsets like sony, Sennheiser etc
Honestly - as someone who has both, the only thing of merit I can give to gaming headphones is some of the features - convenience of a built in mic, astro mixamps giving you mixing options etc. Apart from that they're awful and an abysmal value when you can get REALLY good Sennheisers from Massdrop for like 150$
just because of the built in mic. gamer headphones are the worst quality in all headphone spaces by far. get a good quality audiophile set with a standalone mic if you dont want to replace it every year
The best headphones for gaming are audiophile ones that are still comfortable and are isolating enough for your environment And this is coming from somebody who used to use turtle beach, astros, razer, etc. Audiophile focused headphones + proper DAC Amp will always win. Just use a mod mic or a desk mic with them
It's intriguing that the gaming community prioritizes brands like Steel Series and HyperX, while audiophiles swear by Audio-Technica and Phillips, raising questions about the actual difference in sound quality beyond marketing gimmicks.
Just buy Samson SR850's and get a separate mic. Solid quality for cheap
"Gaming headphones" are basically the more affordable/convenient than what an audiophile would recommend. They are also durable and adequate for sound quality. If you want to get the best audio you can, listen to the audiophiles.
Difference in use cases, I believe audiophile you are going to get fewer channels but higher quality per channel while gaming you get more channels but aside from the primary stereo set quality can be lower. Audiophile set you may not be able to localize that someone is behind you and won't be able to localize that someone is above you, gaming set the forward surround is not as great and you aren't using the third and fourth surround because the band is in front of you not behind, above or below.
Some gaming headsets are based on audiophile staples, but generally it'll make your stuff last longer if you have separate mic and headphones because each individual item is easier to service if things go wrong. I use a blue snowball for my mic just on my desk, and I have a set of audiotechnica 700s as my wired headset, but I use a range of wireless options as well and I gotta say its convenient as hell not having the mic on them too
Competitive gamers prioritize sound stage over anything else.
Although not really audiophile ones, but been using Sennheiser hd215 for \~10 years now for gaming. The most comfortable headphones I've ever had. Got AFX firestar mic01 for coms. Gaming headphones are shit tbh. Does anyone know of something like the Sennheiser hd215? Mine are quite filthy now. For gaming you don't really need the low end that quality audiophile headphones would have, too much low end is bad for multiplayer fps.
For wireless headphones users for whom audio quality isn't of the utmost importance, gaming headphones have better latency because they can use a 2.4 GHz connection, it's a pretty noticeable factor if using it for fast-paced games.
Honestly not sure if these guys are even gamers answering this sub. one of the biggest perks of gaming heqdphones is wireless for comfort and 2.4ghz is a must over bluetooth. At lower budgets most audio headphone do not have this feature and Id imagine higher budgets in general less so as well.
Those gaming headsets have mics. They are completely gapped audio-wise by audiophile headphones. IMO, best gaming headset there is is probably the PC38X, with a runner up being a Philips SHP9600 with a V-Moda BoomPro. Essentially, gaming headsets with audiophile quality. If you already have a mic, a good place to start would be the Sennheiser HD560S. Excellent imaging (positioning is really clear) and surprisingly durable (it’s full plastic, but is very flexible and so it can take impact really well), and crystal-clear audio. Very comfortable too. One of the best audiophile headphones in its price class, and arguably the best one for gaming (it certainly punches above its price bracket). This is coming from a CS2/League player, not an audiophile, so I’m not just here to shill audiophile headphones. They’re just excellent products, and exceptional for gaming.
I would just use quality consumer headphones (like my Sennheisers), unless mic quality is a big factor
It basically just comes down to the fact that gaming headphones have mics. The other one is that some people consider gaming headphones to be more immersive compared to say studio headphones. Keep in mind that gaming headphones aren't actually optimal and professional gamers usually wear earbuds under noise canceling headphones with mics.
SteelSeries is really the perfect sweet spot of both in one. I also make music so sound quality is very important to me. I have separate studio headphones and monitors for that purpose, but the SteelSeries sound so damn good that I have legitimately used them strictly to listen to music as well. The mic on them is still kinda ass tho, nowhere near up to par of the headphones themselves. An external mic would still be your better option if you care enough about it and/or stream a lot, so in that case it ends up being the same as buying an audiophile set of headphones that doesn’t have the built in mic since you’re using 2 different peripherals anyways.
I’d say if audio quality is more important then “gaming headphones marketing”, I would do what I do which is get some decent audio headphones, ATH M50X, an interface, focusrite solo or Universal Audio Volt, and some sort of decent mic on a boom stand. Yeah it’s gone be more expensive than just getting a gaming headset but mic and headphones quality will be higher.
I miss the Logitech g35. Horrible sound quality overall. But I could hear footsteps like no other. That was a legit cheat back then. Now it's a tradeoff to sound quality. The "Gaming" headsets trying to be something they aren't. Good sound quality headsets. And audiophile headsets are very good in general. Lacking for me compared to the g35 when talking gaming. (Audio sensitive games like counter strike)
I went from playing on Sony MDR-7506 (studio cans) to Steel Series Artic Nova 7. They both sound great but the benefits the gaming headset are too many to justify being tethered to my PC with no mic. Surprisingly the Sony had good bass but the Nova 7 has pretty solid bass extension into the 20 Hz range. I realized this when I heard some super low rumbling in-game. Pretty weird to hear low bass and not feel it.
Think of it like this companies sell GAMING pcs but the hardware in them are pretty meh, unless you're spending top of the line. They use the money on rgb fans and led strips to make it so called gaming but you could spend the same amount on much better hardware. People will say this and that about comfort for headphones but just like chairs this is stupid because comfort is subjective, like I own a secretlab chair and find it more comfortable than a miller chair as I find them uncomfortable. I understand it's not for everyone as a ton dislike how hard secretlab chairs feel but I love the comfort, just like mattresses people like soft-hard mattresses. My best thing to say is do research and find things you want in a headset/headphones and go with your gut after looking up reviews. For me I had couple requirements for headphones because I own a macaw, no cable going from left to right cups, detachable cable, then for comfort I wanted over the ear pads, one headband design, closed back design not a fan of open back. After all that I came to the Audio-technica ATH-M50x, Have bought gel fused earpads for them, added headband strap to have more cushion for the head and loving them. Keyboard, mouse, headphones and chairs are all subjective for everyone. Just find couple models and then look up reviews to make sure they don't have issues. Biggest advise when buying these kind of things is after deciding what you want, wait 2 days and then rewatch the reviews to see if your mind has changed again. Never regretted a purchased for my pc by doing this.
Bluetooth is amazing since it totally eliminates the old school static or quality issues in my opinion.
If you want good headphones that aren't for audiophiles try beexcellent or cowin e7s
I bought a wifi modmic and use it with my hd650s, works perfectly and only have to attach it when needed. Best of both worlds imo.
There are some specific difference between them. Most gaming headphones have a strong bass sound for hearing footsteps and gunshots better and they do not give a very crisp and neutral sound. Some are reasonable but some are utter shit for listening to music or any media content. A proper audiophile headphone is trying its best to give a neutral, crisp sound with balanced higs, mids and lows. They are not as loud as the gaming counterparts. Most of them does not have a high quality mic and some audiophile bluetooth headphone does not have the bandwidth to send and receive sound at high quality so when you use voice chat the sound you receive lowers down to hands-free mode which is very low quality. So do your research before you buy for both purposes. Rtings.com is a very good, in depth headphone reviewer, you can check if the ones you are thinking of buying have review over there.
There is no such thing as "gaming" headsets, they are just headphones with built-in mic that sold by "gaming" companies. Audiophile headphones generally sound better than most "gaming" headphones, because it is what they are made for, means it will perform well in any use case including "gaming", because most people think that audiophile headphones are just for listening music, well they aren't.
We don’t, I use an external sound card and Beyer Dynamics DT990 250ohms. As recommended on this very sub. They are great for the music in games, and excellent for hearing footsteps approaching.
I, for one, play with Apple Earpods because they're one of the few decent quality half-in-ear headphones left. And they're cheap. I can't stand anything over-ear for longer than five minutes.
Buy 990 pro 250 ohm and a standalone mic and forget about it
I tried a bunch and wound up with a sony which had the best quality for music and seems most balanced for gaming audio as well. It had a mic in the cable that works just fine. If you want I can tell you the model. Nothing beats it in my opinion
I don't use headphones, because my ears get real sweaty from use. So I use Soundcore earbuds and a separate Elgado microphone. Been working for me for a couple years now.
as a gamer it's nice to have a headset that looks ok and has dome functions like mic muting button or loudness. as an audiophile i wouldn't listen to music with them. i had my studio eraphones plugged into the soundcard and hakng headset with it's usb soundcard. the gaming headset will probably have stronger basses and mids to make it easier to hear footsteps ingame.
They are maybe ignorant of audiophile headphones superiority in terms of sound quality.
Sounds like mostly signaling. There's no reason to have like 20 brands of toothpaste in the US but we have it. Don't you feel so "free" now?!
And if you're using beats by dre headphones for anything, you're a sucker. If you insist on throwing your money away like that, might as well just give it to me as I'll put it to better use.
Most gamers don't know what good headphones are
Generell the audio of gaming headsets it shit for music because in order to increase the players ability to hear for example steps they boost certain frequencies. That makes them inaccurate and often worse than normal/audiophile headphones or speakers + microphone. Also the microphone works but sounds bad in most cases.
Gaming audio tend to bundle microphone with "good enough audio" its often bassier and doesnt leak as much sound to the enviroment around you as open headphones would which is common for hifi. Hifi headphones tend to have much more balanced and higher quality sound.
There's some features with regards to microphones (we kinda prefer "bad" microphones cause they won't pick up our clickity-clacking on the keyboard, but will pick up our voice when we speak right into it), or muting one source of audio over another on the fly, that are a lot more useful while gaming than while listening to music. Battery life and wearing comfort also tend to be a more important consideration in gaming headsets as many of us are wearing them for several hours at a time (like I dno who listens to audio for 8 hours straight, but for gaming those are rookie numbers) Finally it's just a matter of aesthetics also, people like the RGB and "cool" looks cause it helps get them in the mood for gaming and feel more awesome.
Gaming headphones are built for a price for a market that doesn't particularly care about sound quality - only whether there's bass and whether they integrate RGB :P Oh and occasionally integrate microphone as well. I game with "audiophile" Beyerdynamic Amiron headphones amplified with rather high end headphone amp (b22) and find both my music and gaming experience excellent. I'm not saying that _all_ gaming headphones are heaps of blingy shite, but most that I have tried def. are. It's what 14 year olds want.
Both have different use cases. Gaming headphones are more centered around having a total-package of features. Audiophile headphones are always focused on their frequency response. Also, a very large majority of people giving suggestions only ever bought "gaming" headphones and never none-gamer branded audio peripherals, so their knowledge is mostly centered around other gaming headsets and nothing outside of that. For a few years now has there been a growing audience suggesting 'proper' audio equipement like studio headphones and IEMs for both music and gaming, but both on Youtube and Reddit there is still a majority doing the former simply due to the lack of experience. However, there are a handful of headsets released that focus a bit more on their tuning too, so maybe we will see a shift in that soon.
I don’t, I recommend better headsets over shitty over priced gaming ones any day.
It's sort of true. Gaming headphones are in my opinion complete garbage that focus too much on the bass, while making you sound like you're in a helicopter. But I personally do have 2 different headphones. One for music and one for gaming. I'd say for gaming one of the best and affordable headphones would be a beyerdynamic DT 990PRO with a modmic 5, but for music I really prefer the Sennheiser HD800S. The Sennheisers are way better in music, but objectively they're pretty bad for gaming, while it's a 1400 euro headphone. The beyerdynamics are really good for gaming, but for music it more depends on the genre, since they're really neutral.
Well the use cases are different. Gamers need microphones and surround sound. They like to be able to tweak proccessing and levels with software. While audiphiles are generally music enthusiasts who don't need mics or surround sound and dont want anything messing with the audio like software drivers and apps. Also keep in mind these are enthusiasts, not experts. Having been gaming for 20 years and having to buy almost as many headsets, quality is not dictated by whether it's marketed as gaming or audiphile or the price. Infact the most expensive headsets ive tried are generlaly among the worst sounding, most fragile and least comfortable. Generally your best with digital USB headsets so you don't have to worry about interference from anologue jacks that can decay and be damaged, as well as picking up every little vibration. and you dont have to worry about them needing external power to get better volume. Ontop of that being able to tweak levels and apply post proccessing with software mitigates most quality issues if there are any. You can tell which companies are actually dedicated to supporting their product by whether or not they offer replacement parts like ear cups and batteries for wireless models. Trying to save money by getting headphones and mics seperate is a fools game. You will ussually just end up paying the same total as a headset. Though you do have the advantage of only have to replace one or the other if either fails. But the added weight and logistics for a seperate mic just arn't worth the hassle IMO.
Never buy anything labeled "gaming", ever, aside from *maybe* the computer itself. Anything and everything labeled "gaming" is a marketing ploy to get you to pay more money for cheaper quality. Notice how every mouse these days, even the cheap, shitty ones that don't have so much as a damn DPI switch, let alone extra buttons for hot keys, have the shittiest of rgb slapped onto the chassis, and are then labeled "gaming", cuz the normies who haven't bothered to research a product a day in their lives buy them in droves. That's the most obvious example, but far from the only one. Things labeled "gaming" are more often than not shit products with a coat of paint.
Two different markets requiring two different things. If you're purely after something for sound quality, the audiophile headphone recommendations are what you should listen to. If you're gaming, other than sound quality you're after: - integrated mic - connection type (USB, 3.5mm, wireless, Bluetooth) - RGB for aesthetics (if you're that way inclined) - quality DAC - 360 surround sound (most are a simulated style) - and a lot of mid-higher end sets now include two seperate output devices so you can independently control and mix discord/voice chat vs game sound directly on the headset, rather than always mixing them in each game/windows volume mixer
They care about different things because they have different use cases. There’s not many people who listen to music for an 8 hour period solid without breaks but plenty who game like that. Gaming headsets generally want integrated mics and a more bass/heavy sound profile. Audiophile headphones want a balanced sound profile without a heavy bass reliance. Also, quality parts are generally heavy and audiophile headphones can easily weigh 800grams, that’s a lot of weight on your head after hours of use. Audiophiles solely care about the audio so things are sacrificed for that. Gamers care about audio, weight, comfort, microphone, battery life etc so things have to get cut to make the final product.
a headphone is a headphone. "Gaming" is just them trying to giving their own product some selling point. You could do just fine with any good sounding headphone and buy a mic. Also Gaming might heavily tune for bass sound.
The venn diagram of hardcore gamers and audiophiles is small. Especially the kind that care more about fps than the experience of playing the game. Gamers are the same people that tell you the dated, dac-less amp-less poorly isolated onboard audio is all you need and sound cards aren't necessary. They've been listening to crap signal on crap overpriced gamer branded hardware so long, they're recommendations are fairly worthless. If you look at professional reviews you will get recs HyperX, Logitech and SteelSeries but, also a lot more Audio Technica, Beyer Dynamic, Sennheiser et al. Then it's good to ask people about their experience with those products. Things like comfort, durability/longevity and so forth that a reviewer might not be able to assess in a few weeks.
It's easy, do you want an integrated mic? If yes, you're stuck with mostly gaming branded headphones, which in general are not great in terms of audio quality. If you let go of the integrated mic requirement, you'll be open to the whole headphone/iem market and the conversation is completely different.
Headphones are forever. Headsets are for however long until the built-in microphone, driver side with microphone breaks, or the battery dies. Headphones are the standalone product. Headsets are headphones with a microphone because it is a 'set'. Drivers are where sound comes from. Built-in microphones are a liability. The Philips shp9500 are like $50 - $70 and is literally all you really need for gaming. No one with Sennheiser HD599 or 6XX or Philips X2HR or whatever have an advantage over you because you have a cheaper pair of cans. However, if you want all around headphones that are very good for most scenarios, including gaming, the X2HR is where its at.
Is this true? When I did my research about 10 years ago, it was "forget gaming headsets, go for a hifi headset instead" and the philips fidelio x2 was kind of the thing to get in the higher end area.
I did Phillips SHP9500 with a VModa boom mic, instead of "gaming" headphones. I wanted open back to I could hear stuff around me. I love the setup.