How bad are "Gaming" Headsets/Headphones exactly?

Bashslash · Dec 31, 2017

I'm very new to this topic and I just began learning/researching more on this topic, so naturally theres a question thats been sitting on my mind.for a while.
Kind of a vague question but how bad are these types of headsets compared to actual headphones? Are they as bad as per say, something like a ipod/apple headphone/earbud, or are they even worse than that?

Sorry for the terrible/vague way I decided to ask this

MNMadman · Dec 31, 2017

I don't think they're bad at all. Gaming headphones are basically your average headphones with a microphone attached. I have Corsair VOID USB headphones and use them for gaming and listening to music and videos with no complaints. The CUE software has EQ settings that can be adjusted to sound how you like.

I've never owned audiophile-class headphones.

My car definitely has better sound, but that has tweeters, larger midrange speakers, and a subwoofer.

KaiserFrederick · Dec 31, 2017

It's usually the case that gaming headphones are overpriced for what you get, not so much that they are bad. Also, avoid gaming headphones with multiple small drivers, positional audio will be good but overall sound quality will be terrible.

umeng2002 · Dec 31, 2017

Overpriced

Don't bother with anything branded as "gamer."

Go to head-fi.org and search their forums for good cans.

They're all basically junk until you spend around $100.

$200 to $300 is the sweet spot for good quality headphones.

No Beats, Skull Candy, etc. or any model line-up that goes after "looks" and "style."

Duct tape a mic to a good set of cans if you have to.

Bashslash · Jan 1, 2018

What about things like earbuds/IEMS?

KaiserFrederick · Jan 1, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bashslash

What about things like earbuds/IEMS?

Sound quality will be pretty good with a nice pair of earbuds, but they won't be as good for gaming because they don't have nearly as wide a soundstage as a nice pair of open-backed headphones. So basically your directional audio won't be great, which is the main reason why you would want to get headphones for gaming.

maltamonk · Jan 1, 2018

Meh my Kingston hyperx clouds are really no different (maybe a little less quality lows) than my $350 Sony's in terms of sound quality and they were $60. Granted I got the sonys for the anc for flying and love that aspect of them.

To each their own, but I wouldn't pay much more than 1oo for any cans that did't have anc as that's really the only distinguishable thing I can tell after a certain point, but then again I'm not into paying for luxury for the sake of my feelings.

Derp · Jan 2, 2018

Some gaming headsets aren't as bad as people make them out to be. I highly suggest using Rtings to compare them as they have tested many popular headsets and other "audiophile" headphones. This kind of testing takes the neckbeard out of the equation when shopping for new audio gear.

Here's an example of a closed back gaming headset, the Steelseries Arctis 7 (the $70 Arctis 3 uses the same drivers)

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/steelseries/arctis-7-wireless-gaming-headset

Compared to a closed back set of regular headphones, the Sennheiser HD598c for $150.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sennheiser/hd-598-cs

Here's an example of a bad gaming headset, the Razer Kraken. People put these on and hear muddy garbage and assume all headsets are the same.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/razer/kraken-usb

umeng2002 · Jan 2, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by maltamonk

Meh my Kingston hyperx clouds are really no different (maybe a little less quality lows) than my $350 Sony's in terms of sound quality and they were $60. Granted I got the sonys for the anc for flying and love that aspect of them.

To each their own, but I wouldn't pay much more than 1oo for any cans that did't have anc as that's really the only distinguishable thing I can tell after a certain point, but then again I'm not into paying for luxury for the sake of my feelings.

What Sony's are they?

When I said $200 to $300, that's for normal, stereo, wired headphones... preferable open back... no gimmicks like wireless or noise cancellation inflating pricing... and more towards the $300 range... Like HD600s from Sennheiser. Those can be had for $280 or so. Massdrop has variations on those too.

Nothing meant for "portable" or "sport" use. That target demographic cares less about audio quality and manufacturers take advantage of that and put more money into the looks than the audio.

maltamonk · Jan 2, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by umeng2002

What Sony's are they?

When I said $200 to $300, that's for normal, stereo, wired headphones... preferable open back... no gimmicks like wireless or noise cancellation inflating pricing... and more towards the $300 range... Like HD600s from Sennheiser. Those can be had for $280 or so. Massdrop has variations on those too.

Nothing meant for "portable" or "sport" use. That target demographic cares less about audio quality and manufacturers take advantage of that and put more money into the looks than the audio.

mdr 1000xm2. The anc is no gimmick, not by a long shot. It makes a world of difference on flights. I would have to assume you've never tried any where it would matter or else you wouldn't call it a gimmick.

I tried several non anc cans on when I bought the sonys and tbh I couldn't really tell the difference in sound quality. I felt like I was getting my eyes checks and they were asking which lens looks better and I really couldn't tell. It was more of me forcing a difference in my mind vs actually hearing one.

edit: need to clarify I paid too much for the sonys as I bought them in england on my last trip due to having a loud flight there and not wanting to repeat it on the way back.

killeraxemannic · Jan 2, 2018

Gaming headsets really just aren't very good. In fact I haven't found one that was really even in the realm of what I would call decent and I have tried quite a few. A lot more goes into building and tuning headphones than most people realize. Any company can buy parts, drivers etc and throw a headset together but without vast experience in headphone design and creation you get weird sound that they have trouble overcoming. For example the HyperX Cloud revolver sound pretty good except that there is a certain spot in the upper mids that resonates through the earcups and makes a strange and highly displeasing harshness and echo. It's things like that that show that the gaming companies really have no idea what they are doing when it comes to audio.

To answer your question though most likely the straight sound quality of a gaming headset is going to be somewhere in the realm of the apple ear pods. They might sound completely different but would probably rate close in sound quality on a scale from 1-10. You might get a better gaming experience from gaming headsets than the apple ear pods though because of all of the virtual surround stuff that is built in to a lot of gaming headsets. That is good for gaming but horrible for most music.

The best of both worlds is always getting a pair of decent headphones and adding a mic. Most people choose the Antlion modmic or the Vmoda Boom pro depending on the headphones they buy. If you need a recommendation for what headphone and mic to buy let me know your budget, use scenereo and if you want any specific features and I can try to help you out. There are also quite a few inexpensive USB devices that do the virtual surround sound so if you want that there are ways to get that with a regular pair of headphones as well.

moRReus · Jan 2, 2018

I was looking for a set lately that could work as both a great set of phones for music, but I also gaming with a mic... As umeng2002 & killeraxemannic alluded to, seems a lot of people go for a great set of phones and add on a mic like a v-moda or modmic.

I ended up getting a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-WS1100iS for $130 which has a removable cable with an in-line mic that I'll most likely replace with the v-moda boom pro.
Massdrop does have a couple deals on I think the Sennheiser HD6XX or AKG K7XX which are the $200 range too.

@killeraxemannic Just curious... think I should bother with an external dac/amp for my phones? They are not hard to drive at all & my X370 Taichi board has pretty solid audio, but there's definitely still feedback noise as you'd expect. I wouldn't bother buying anything crazy expensive for them of course, but I was considering the E10K or similar.

blodflekk · Jan 2, 2018

I'll start off by saying I have never owned high end audiophile headphones, but I have had a few gaming headsets and what I have noticed is that when it comes to gaming, particularly online FPS like BF1 where positional audio really helps, the gaming headset does an excellent job of giving that feedback and a quality audio experience. I have had stereo headsets with a virtual surround usb soundcard or done purely through software and I have had one with individual drivers to make a true 5.1/7.1 setup. I found that the stereo set with virtual surround was far better in every aspect and definitely what I would recommend. Outside of games it's a whole other story. Obviously in music and movies a stereo setup is going to provide a far superior sound over a surround set. However neither of these can really touch some high quality headphones. I guess it boils down to what you use the most. I am currently using the hyper x cloud II as gaming is my main priority. I do some music listening and movie watching with them as well but the majority of that is done without the headset. I am very happy with my choice.

luisxd · Jan 2, 2018

Technically there are no "gaming" headsets, just regular headsets with shinny colors and the tag "gaming" so they sell better. Most of them are mediocre if price tag is under $100, however it doesn't mean they're bad, if your not an audiophile at all, anything is good in terms of sound.

killeraxemannic · Jan 2, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by moRReus

I was looking for a set lately that could work as both a great set of phones for music, but I also gaming with a mic... As umeng2002 & killeraxemannic alluded to, seems a lot of people go for a great set of phones and add on a mic like a v-moda or modmic.

I ended up getting a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-WS1100iS for $130 which has a removable cable with an in-line mic that I'll most likely replace with the v-moda boom pro.
Massdrop does have a couple deals on I think the Sennheiser HD6XX or AKG K7XX which are the $200 range too.

@killeraxemannic Just curious... think I should bother with an external dac/amp for my phones? They are not hard to drive at all & my X370 Taichi board has pretty solid audio, but there's definitely still feedback noise as you'd expect. I wouldn't bother buying anything crazy expensive for them of course, but I was considering the E10K or similar.

Those headphones based on the specs seem relatively easy to drive so you are probably ok. I don't know much about them so I don't know how well they scale with amplification. Some headphones get way better and some just moderately. You will almost always get more detail and cleaner sound from a good external dac and amp though. A Schiit stack would probably be quite an upgrade. If you wanted to use virtual surround with the amp/dac though you would have to figure something out. I have a creative sounblaster Z outputting the stereo mix of SBX to my dac via optical. If you are just gaming though and not in search of the absolute best sound motherboard audio is usually ok. When I go to lan events I usually just use my SBZ to power my headphones and don't bring the amp and dac along.

umeng2002 · Jan 2, 2018

Perhaps not a gimmick, but when a $250 set of cans has nothing but drivers, all that money went into the drivers and enclosure.

Wireless, noise cancelling cans that cost $250 has a lot of that money in those features instead of the drivers.

But it all depends on your use case.

For a desktop computer, I always use open back cans with no wireless and no noise cancellation. But they do leak noise a lot.

The only thing that makes a gaming set of headphones gaming is the mic and Mountain Dew paint job.

xxicrimsonixx · Jan 2, 2018

Pick up an HD 58X or HD6XX or K7XX on Massdrop for ~200 or less, buy a modmic from Amazon, and call it a day.

jonny27 · Jan 3, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by maltamonk

Meh my Kingston hyperx clouds are really no different (maybe a little less quality lows) than my $350 Sony's in terms of sound quality and they were $60. Granted I got the sonys for the anc for flying and love that aspect of them.

To each their own, but I wouldn't pay much more than 1oo for any cans that did't have anc as that's really the only distinguishable thing I can tell after a certain point, but then again I'm not into paying for luxury for the sake of my feelings.

Not surprised you find them good. The Clouds are literally a pair of very decent <$100 cans (Takstar Pro 80) with a mic attached. However be aware that on what gaming headphones are concerned, they are the exception rather than the norm.

Also, did I seriously had an ocn account all time without posting even once?

Shroomalistic · Jan 5, 2018

So would the sennheiser game zero fall into the gimmic category? I plan on purchasig a sound blasterx ae-5 and would like to match up a good set cans to go with it.

xxicrimsonixx · Jan 5, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shroomalistic

So would the sennheiser game zero fall into the gimmic category? I plan on purchasig a sound blasterx ae-5 and would like to match up a good set cans to go with it.

The game zero is a good set of cans, but remember, a standalone headphone for the same price will be better. For the price they are offering, you get slightly lower quality headphones in exchange for a built in mic. A separat headphones and an antlion mod mic would be better overall.

killeraxemannic · Jan 5, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shroomalistic

So would the sennheiser game zero fall into the gimmic category? I plan on purchasig a sound blasterx ae-5 and would like to match up a good set cans to go with it.

I would highly recommend avoiding the game zeros. They sound pretty awful. They are extremely bass light and very mid forward. They are basically like a gaming competition only headset and are made to make voices and footsteps pop out but sacrifice everything else. If you want a decently normal sounding headset go for the game one. They sound like a normal headphone. The game ones are open back though and the game zeros are closed so it depends on what you need. For the price of the Game Zero if you want closed back I would highly recommend my latest setup which is an Audio Technica MSR7 and a Vmoda boom pro.

killeraxemannic · Jan 5, 2018

Here's the MSR7 with the boom mic pro. One cable for everything and the mic sounds great! I would say it's the best headphone with add on mic setup I have found if you are looking for a pair of closed back headphones.

Shroomalistic · Jan 5, 2018

Did some reading, that looks like an amazing combo. Those headphone are in par or better then the hd600? I was almost tempted to get the hd600 with an antlion mod mic but i like that setup a little better, 1 cord is also a huge pkus. Thanks

lb_felipe · Jan 5, 2018

Is beyerdynamic MMX 300 2ND GEN. good?

https://north-america.beyerdynamic.com/mmx-300-2nd-gen.html

killeraxemannic · Jan 5, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shroomalistic

Did some reading, that looks like an amazing combo. Those headphone are in par or better then the hd600? I was almost tempted to get the hd600 with an antlion mod mic but i like that setup a little better, 1 cord is also a huge pkus. Thanks

In some ways the MSR7 are better than the HD600 yes. You are kind of comparing apples to oranges though... HD600 are open back and need a good amp and have a very different sound signature than the MSR7. The MSR7 are closed and can be ran by just about any source. If gaming is your purpose then yes the MSR7 are better because the HD600 are actually pretty bad for gaming. They don't have a huge soundstage and their thick and warm sound just tends to muddy up small details and directional queues in games. I had a pair of HD600 and I ended up selling them because I didn't really like them all that much. They are good for what they are and for the sound signature they are designed to achieve but I feel like there are much more practical and usable headphones out there for the price especially if you do any gaming. I honestly think for an open headphone for gaming in that price range the K701, K702, K7XX and a modmic are probably your best choice.

vf- · Jan 5, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by xxicrimsonixx

Pick up an HD 58X or HD6XX or K7XX on Massdrop for ~200 or less, buy a modmic from Amazon, and call it a day.

I finally went down that route. My first headset over a year ago was a Turtle Beach 520p Stealth. Hadn't a clue about headphones/headsets but needed something for the PS4. They sounded great because it was all I had heard. Over time things I started to question. One being too much god damn bass!

Then went for a Steelseries Siberia 840, while nice for the console (PS4) no delay and no interference also the bass doesn't drown things out as I had to lower it some from its base station. I needed wired for the PC. That was when I had to hook up the Turtle Beach via wired. Everything about it was awful though.

So went down the route of the AKG K702 and Modmic 5.0 used with an Auzentech X-Fi Prelude. After owning the Prelude for 10 years I've officially heard how nice it is with these headphones.

Now I'm interested in tube AMPs.

I still cannot get over the music quality and vocal sounds. Let alone all the subtle details in games that I had never heard before.

How bad are "Gaming" Headsets/Headphones exactly?

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