Headphones for games

Although, this time it's not just one model. In fact, there is an Arctis 7X and an Arctis 7P. They're fundamentally the same, though one is designed for the new Xbox Series X and the other is targeting the new PlayStation 5. Looking past the platform specifics, the Arctis 7X features a strong wireless connection using a USB-C dongle and delivers strong audio with the 40mm drivers that we already loved in the earlier headsets.

The SteelSeries Arctis 7X still offers a comfortable design with breathable ear cushions and a "ski google" headband the distributes its pressure well. There are plenty of extras as well, such as surround sound support on Xbox and Windows, an improved hour battery life, multiple connectivity options, and a special dial dedicated ChatMix.

All this makes for a wireless gaming headset that earns its place at the front of the pack. If you're on PC, you're in luck. The Roccat Elo 7. That's a rare enough feat, but it's especially uncommon for not skimping on features and design elsewhere. It features a bigger profile on account of its use of a suspension headband to evenly spread its weight for long-term comfort and its larger earcups to accommodate 50mm speaker drivers.

With Roccat's Swam software, you'll get support for 7. The headset also has a built-in dial to adjust your mic monitoring levels, so you can fine-tune how well you hear yourself in case you want to avoid shouting at your teammates. And, hour battery life will keep you in the game longer before you need to recharge, which is thankfully facilitated by a USB-C port.

This one might catch you off guard. The best wired gaming headset doesn't come from one of the typical brands behind the best gaming headsets, though it is the brand behind many excellent gaming devices.

The Asus ROG Delta S manages to be a true standout, and a lot of its excellence is actually achieved thanks to its wired connection. It delivers an extended frequency response range from 20Hz to 40kHz, and its quad-DAC helps it deliver an exceptional signal-to-noise ratio. It's a precise enough headset for those looking to enter a premium level of music streaming with Master Quality Authenticated files. Of course, that audio quality translates into gaming for this headset.

It offers solid audio on the console, PC, and mobile alike. It also offers a software-enabled virtual surround sound for more useful positional audio cues in your games. This gaming headset is nearly identical to the aforementioned headsets, but it takes a lot of what there was to love about them and makes it a powerful wireless experience. The Audeze Penrose X still offers the mm planar magnetic drivers that power the incredible audio experience seen on those other headsets.

It doesn't come with any surround sound features or Waves NX head-tracking tech, though you can use digital surround sound sources with this. But, for that tradeoff, you get a gaming-worthy, 2. You also get support for a 3. The Penrose X is made to support the latest Xbox consoles, but Audeze also offers the Penrose for PlayStation and Mac support, though Bluetooth and wired connections make either headset capable of broad compatibility.

Why settle for just one type of surround sound? The latter is a high-quality digital surround sound that can make your game worlds and movies feel that much more engrossing. QuantumSPHERE is a bit more involved, and actually takes into account the position of your head, so you can turn your head in the real life and all the sounds around you will shift to maintain their relative position.

It's not just nifty surround sound, but also precise, as the Hi-Res certified 50mm drivers offer excellent sound and a 20HzkHz frequency response range. The JBL Quantum One even includes active noise cancelling to help you focus on only the sounds you want to hear. And, to top things off, there's customizable RGB lighting on each ear cup. The SteelSeries Arctis Prime is built to give you clear audio both going in and coming out.

Your teammates in esports will hear you loud and clear thanks to the ClearCast microphone, which has consistently delivered on SteelSeries headsets. The Arctis Prime is built with comfort and durability in mind like the other premium Arctis headsets, but it also aims to help block out external distractions by using a leather-like ear cushion instead of the AirWeave cushions on other Arctis headsets, which are more breathable but also let in more outside sound.

For a great pair of headphones that are ready for the next generation of Xbox, you'll want the Turtle Beach Stealth Gen 2. These headphones don't require any awkward solutions to set up, since they support Xbox Wireless for direct pairing with your console. On top of supporting a wireless connection to the Xbox, the Turtle Beach Stealth Gen 2 can connect to a wide variety of other devices using Bluetooth.

And, they deliver audio from both connections at the same time, letting you keep up with the news or stay in a Discord channel over Bluetooth while you get your game audio from your Xbox.

On-ear controls will let you easily manage the audio coming in from different sources, so you can crank up your teammates in case they get hard to hear over the intense firefights in your games. And, thanks to a hour battery life, you'll be able to enjoy the clean game audio these can deliver without having to recharge every day. If you're lucky enough to have picked up a PS5 , you'll want to ensure you can make the most out of the capabilities of the Tempest 3D audio engine, and the Sony Pulse 3D is the headset to do it.

It's designed to connect seamlessly with your console for latency-free, high-quality audio pumped out of 40mm drivers. Since the headphones were designed with Tempest 3D audio in mind, you can be sure you're getting the intended surround sound experience in your PS5 games. Plus, with a USB-C or 3. When it comes to streaming, having a good mic can be more important than your quality game audio.

However, if you don't want to go through the trouble of finding the best microphone for streaming , the Logitech G Pro X is a great all-in-one solution with a microphone designed for broadcasting and booming surround sound to boot.

The Logitech G Pro X incorporates some of Blue legendary microphone technology to capture clear, natural and isolated recorded voice. Additionally, you can use the Blue VO! CE software to auto-tune your voice with presets making it a great option as a microphone for streaming and podcasting.

But they age like a fine wine, and once you've bedded in the LCD-1 cans the audio becomes beautifully warm and rich, though still just as detailed and accurate. And if you want to experience genuine aural immersion in your favourite game worlds the combination of an expansive open back design and such great-sounding drivers becomes unbeatable.

The only downside is the open back principle means your game sound can be heard by anyone sitting near you, and they don't have any form of passive noise cancelling. These are headphones to be used on your own, in perfect gaming isolation.

Sennheiser has made a mighty name for itself in the audio equipment game. That's primarily built on headphones like these: the Sennheiser HD This quality pair of cans sets the standard for high-end home audio thanks to highly detailed drivers and a gorgeous open sound.

The HD is a prime advocate of the so-called 'Sennheiser sound'. That means it excels at the high-end and delivers superb clarity and definition right the way through the frequency range. It's definitely lighter on the bass response compared to most gaming headsets and planar magnetics, though. But you could say that's because this pair of headphones isn't augmenting your audio—only delivering to you something close to the real digital deal.

For that reason, this is a great headset if you want to chase spotless audio delivered impeccably through a wide soundstage. That's also why it's a shoo-in for every aural experience, be that gaming or listening to music.

Its a great fit for pretty much everything. And if you balk at the price, the Sennheiser HD are very well built and the second-hand market is a great place to find a slightly cheaper pair. Just don't expect any massive discounts unless you're lucky ; these headphones really hold their value. One thing to note: Sennheiser recently sold off its audiophile headphone business to hearing aid company, Sonova. We don't suspect much to change in the short-term as a result of the acquisition, but it wouldn't be surprising to see prices spike for second-hand Sennheiser pairs once the deal is signed off, which is meant to happen before the year's up.

The Nuraphone is a one-of-a-kind pair of headphones that offers parallel drivers for each ear. The in-ear drivers handle the upper-frequency, and the over-ear drivers handle the low-tones and bass. In essence, it's like having a pair of speakers for each ear. The Nuraphones have already gone through a handful of significant updates since their successful Kickstarter launch three years ago. The Nuraphone is an excellent set of wireless headphones, and the gaming microphone attachment makes it a decent gaming headset.

It's one of the best looking pair of cans you find right now, and custom sound profiles offer rich and detailed soundscape like no other thing out there. These pro-grade cans feature large 50mm drivers and have a wide frequency response of 5Hz to 40kHz.

They are excellent for music and, more importantly, gaming. Our favorite thing about the M is the light, compact design. If you want the best sound in your games, then picking a pair of headphones designed to deliver perfect aural clarity and defined, accurate audio is going to deliver a great gaming experience. Throw in an open back pair design, and you'll hear the most natural reproduction of your chosen gameworld that you can possibly achieve.

The downside is that audiophile headphones are expensive, benefit from good sound hardware inside your PC—yes, there are still soundcards out there, people—and the open operating principle means there can be a fair bit of sound leakage and no passive noise cancelling.

You also don't get a microphone on most audiophile headphones, but such is the wealth of great budget gaming mics, that's not an issue. An open back headphone design will give you the most natural soundscape for your games, which is especially immersive in large, open world games. It's also less fatiguing on the ears for a long gaming session, too, because the sound waves don't just bounce around your lugholes. Closed back headphones, however, are good for noise cancelling and if you game in a room where other people might be affected by the sounds leaking from your cans.

But the closed design can affect the sound itself, as it interacts with the ear cups. Chances are, you're not always playing games. For most of us, gaming is a hobby rather than a lifestyle. The rest of our time is devoted to commuting, working, going to the gym, cooking, cleaning—activities that are undeniably enhanced while wearing the best in-ear headphones for gaming, the Jabra Elite Active 75t. Instead of doubling down on audio engineering and extraneous features, the Jabra Elite Active 75t prioritizes two things: longevity and comfort.

The sound quality is fine too—these buds brandish a frequency response range of 20—20kHz, rivaling the best wireless gaming headsets. Exclusive Bluetooth connectivity makes them a tough sell for gaming, although, with proper adapters in tow, you won't have a problem setting them up. The main reason we fell in love with the Powerbeats Pro is that they easily pair with just about anything. These fitness earbuds work well with a gaming laptop, cell phone, tablet, basically anything.

The transition from commute or workout to gameplay is nearly seamless, which isn't always the case when setting up Bluetooth headphones. The audio is well-balanced and not as bass-heavy as other Beats headphones. Though they lack the oomph in the explosions department in games like Call of Duty: Warzone, it helps make out little things like character dialogue without messing with any EQ settings. The only downside is the charging case is bulky and doesn't fit comfortably in any pocket, so it ends up living in a bag or as a permanent fixture on your desk.

Most people's experience with in-ear headphones is frantically looking for the pair that came with your smartphone inside some junk drawer in an awful tangled mess when the battery on your wireless headset dies. We've all been there. A great alternative for folks who find the typical gaming headset too heavy and uncomfortable for long stretches of time.

We also dig the lay flat tangle-resistant cabling because in-ear headphones are notorious for tying themselves into inexplicable knots in your pockets. The only real downside is that the mic doesn't work on PC. He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later. When he dropped it out of the window. Now he's back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.

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