The very best gaming headsets for 2024

Enclosure: Open-back | Driver: Dynamic | Frequency response: 5 – 40,000Hz | Mic: No | Connectivity: Wired | Weight: 345g (with out cable)

The Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X ought to please most individuals keen to pay for a capital-N good pair of headphones for gaming functions. It localizes sounds precisely and delivers the type of spacious soundstage anticipated from an excellent open-back mannequin. Bass is a bit more current right here than on many open-back headphones as effectively. There nonetheless isn’t a lot in the best way of deep sub-bass, unsurprisingly, however there’s sufficient heat to provide stuff like explosions a bit extra juice with out muddying up the mids. Particulars within the midrange get probably the most emphasis general, however they’re clear, and their forwardness isn’t a foul factor while you’re making an attempt to pay attention for enemy gamers in a aggressive FPS like Counter-Strike 2 or Apex Legends. The treble isn’t pushed fairly as laborious, nevertheless it’s neither overly recessed nor harsh.

All of this helps the DT 900 Professional X sound detailed however not boring. It is the type of sound that performs good whether or not you’re making an attempt to win a multiplayer sport or absorb a extra cinematic single-player story. And while you’re not gaming, you get an gratifying profile for music.

The entire thing is constructed effectively, too. The DT 900 Professional X will clamp down barely tougher than common in case you have a big head, nevertheless it balances its weight effectively, and its splendidly comfortable velour earpads go a good distance towards conserving the pair snug over hours-long gaming periods. It comes with two removable cables, together with a three-meter possibility that’s handy in the event you sit far out of your PC. It could possibly’t fold up, although.

Like all open-back headphones, the DT 900 Professional X leak sport audio and let in a lot of noise, so it’s not nice on the go. Clearly, in the event you can afford to improve to an ultra-premium pair like Sennheiser’s HD 800 S, you’ll get more room and true-to-life element. However for a comparatively attainable $250 to $300, the DT 900 Professional X ought to fulfill.

Enclosure: Open-back | Driver: Dynamic | Frequency response: 6 – 38,000Hz | Mic: No | Connectivity: Wired | Weight: 280g

Should you’d slightly not spend as a lot, the Sennheiser HD 560S is one other wonderful open-back headphone that’s typically accessible for lower than $200. Just like the DT 900 Professional X, it has a large soundstage that makes it simpler to really feel immersed in a given sport. Its signature is barely extra impartial on the entire, so that you received’t really feel such as you’re lacking any a part of what’s occurring, and it retrieves a stunning quantity of treble and midrange element. There’s much less bass energy for explosions, although. And the treble, whereas extra current right here than on Beyerdynamic’s pair, can sound piercing at instances. Imaging isn’t fairly as nuanced both, although it’s removed from poor.

The HD560S’ design is loads snug to put on for prolonged durations. It doesn’t clamp down too laborious on these with large heads (like yours really), and its velour earpads hug the ears softly. The included cable is detachable, too. The plastic body doesn’t really feel as sturdy or premium because the DT 900 Professional X, nonetheless, so that you received’t need to chuck it round haphazardly. It will not isolate a lot noise both, nor will it stop others from listening to what you are taking part in. However, the HD 560S is a pleasure, and an incredible worth.

Enclosure: Open-back (on-ear) | Driver: Dynamic | Frequency response: 15 – 25,000Hz | Mic: No | Connectivity: Wired | Weight: 43g

Should you can’t spend greater than $50, it’s still hard to high the Koss KSC75. It prices $20, however judging purely on audio high quality, it’s higher than some headphones priced nearer to $100. This pair may be very clearly devoid of deep bass, so that you received’t get that full-bodied oomph from in-game results. You additionally will not hear all of the intricate particulars you’d choose up with the pricier headphones above. Nevertheless it locates sounds precisely, and its open design delivers an actual sense of width. It’s an outstanding worth for aggressive play.

The catch is that it’s constructed like a set of free airline headphones. The KSC75 has an odd clip-on design that’s light-weight however received’t be a snug match for everybody. It definitely appears to be like prefer it prices $20, although Koss backs it with a lifetime warranty that basically permits you to get countless replacements for $9 every. Even when the KSC75 are pushing 20 years previous, its comparatively balanced sound stays significantly well-suited for gaming.

Enclosure: Open-back | Driver: Dynamic | Frequency response: 20 – 40,000Hz | Mic: Sure, removable | Connectivity: 2.4GHz (PS5, PC, Swap), Bluetooth 5.2 (AAC, SBC), 3.5mm | Weight: 301g

Should you do need a devoted gaming headset with a built-in mic, we love the Turtle Beach Atlas Air. It’s a little bit of a rarity: a wi-fi mannequin with an open-back design. It sounds a lot wider, airier and extra pure than the overwhelming majority of its friends in consequence, creating the feeling that your sport is going on round you rather than feeling confined in your head. It’s additionally higher than most at positioning in-game results in the precise locations.

The Atlas Air has a largely flat audio profile by default, with a leap within the treble that lends additional crispness to issues like cymbals. Like most open-back pairs, it’s pretty weak within the low-bass area, so gunfire and EDM lack the type of muscle you’d get with good closed-backs. The DT 900 Professional X nonetheless sounds extra dynamic, with extra element within the mids and stronger bass that makes footsteps and explosions extra intimate. That stated, the Atlas Air holds its personal surprisingly effectively. It’s about as spacious, and what bass is right here doesn’t come off as blobby. It’s an easygoing pay attention, and the higher sense of spatial consciousness supplied by its design makes an actual distinction whether or not you’re listening for enemies in Counter-Strike 2 or basking in a large boss battle in Remaining Fantasy XVI. Going from a pair like this to a conventional headset typically makes it sound like a bit of the world has been lopped off.

The Atlas Air can be exceptionally snug. Its ear cups are generously padded with gentle reminiscence foam and coated in a comfortable material materials; they offer loads of room for bigger ears to breathe, with out trapping an excessive amount of warmth. The suspension-style headband doesn’t enable a lot in the best way of guide changes, nevertheless it’s extraordinarily versatile, so these with particularly giant heads can nonetheless pop the headphones on with little battle. The design as an entire is light-weight at 0.66 kilos, and it’s light about clamping down on the edges of your head. Put all of it collectively and also you get a headset that’s a breeze to put on for hours at a time.

All of its controls — together with a giant quantity dial that circles the left ear cup — are simply accessible past that. Our chief criticism is that the design is nearly fully plastic, so it doesn’t fairly really feel like a $180 gadget to the contact. It’s additionally type of… ugly, to be trustworthy. None of that could be a large deal after you have it on, nonetheless, and we haven’t observed any creaking or looseness to the body after a number of months of testing.

The Atlas Air’s removable growth mic is completely effective. You wouldn’t need to use it for podcasting, because it robs an excellent chunk of bass out of your voice, however you’ll nonetheless come by clearly in a loud room, with no harsh sibilance to “ess” sounds. The mic itself is sufficiently versatile, and also you merely flip it as much as mute it, which is all the time handy.

The headset works with PC, PS5 or a docked Nintendo Swap by its USB dongle, plus it helps Bluetooth for cell gadgets and the Swap’s handheld mode. You may’t pipe by audio from two connections on the similar time, however you possibly can not less than swap between the 2 pretty shortly utilizing a button on the left ear cup. Whereas there’s no assist for Xbox’s wi-fi protocol, you can even use the headset passively (i.e., with out counting on battery energy) with an included 3.5mm cable with its personal inline quantity dial. Should you’re an Xbox participant and don’t thoughts utilizing a cable, we’d nonetheless take into account the Atlas Air our high suggestion. With out the wire, Turtle Seashore says the gadget can last as long as 50 hours, although we’ve been in a position to squeeze one other 5 to 10 hours out at reasonable volumes. It’s removed from the longest-lasting pair we’ve examined, however this implies it will possibly probably go for per week or two earlier than it wants a cost.

The primary trade-offs with the Atlas Air are the identical ones famous above: As a result of they’re open-back, they let in and leak tons of noise. Should you don’t play in a fairly quiet atmosphere, take into account our subsequent choose. We additionally had a driver challenge that prevented us from connecting to PC upon first receiving the headset, however a software program replace shortly fastened that and we haven’t had any hiccups or stutters since. Typically, Turtle Seashore’s Swarm II app is pretty simple, providing a customized EQ device, sport/chat combine, mic settings and the like.

Enclosure: Closed-back | Driver: Planar magnetic | Frequency response: 10 – 50,000Hz | Mic: Sure, removable | Connectivity: 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 5.3 (LDAC, LE Audio, LC3, LC3plus, AAC, SBC), 3.5mm, USB-C digital audio (elective), Xbox Wi-fi (elective) | Weight: 490g

Should you’re keen to pay additional for a premium gaming headset with a extra isolating closed-back design, get the . At $299 for a PS5 mannequin or $329 for an Xbox mannequin, it’s not low cost, nevertheless it’s one of many few devoted gaming headsets we have used whose audio high quality holds up subsequent to the higher “regular” wi-fi headphones available on the market.

The Maxwell’s default signature is sort of a extra refined model of the widespread “gaming headset” sound. Bass is impactful however well-controlled, whereas highs are crisp however not sharp. There is a bit of additional power within the upper-mids, nevertheless it’s not overwhelming, and the headset’s planar-magnetic drivers do effectively to breed smaller intricacies all through. It nonetheless cannot present the immersive width and exact imaging of our open-back picks, the Atlas Air included, however the Maxwell sounds unusually textured, balanced and intimate in comparison with different wi-fi gaming headsets. Whereas it lacks the airiness of the Turtle Seashore headset, the punchier low-end makes issues like footsteps extra simply identifiable in video games. Should you don’t just like the out-of-the-box profile, Audeze’s app additionally consists of a lot of tasteful EQ presets.

Alongside these strains, the Maxwell’s removable growth mic is a standout. It does an outstanding job of muting background noise, and whereas your voice will lose some air, it will sound clearer and fuller right here than on most wi-fi headsets we’ve examined.

The Maxwell may be very a lot on the cumbersome facet, it leaks sound at increased volumes, and its metal headband makes use of an odd suspension mechanism that is successfully inconceivable to regulate with out taking the headset off. Typically, although, its design feels substantial. The squishy, closely padded ear cups could make your ears really feel heat, however they maintain the headset snug and isolate a good quantity of outdoor noise. The important controls are constructed into the left earcup, and the gadget can join over Bluetooth or a 3.5mm cable along with a USB-C wi-fi dongle. You may even join to 2 gadgets without delay, one over the dongle and one other over Bluetooth, although you possibly can’t stream audio from each sources concurrently. The headset additionally must be powered on so as to play music over a cable.

Audeze charges the Maxwell’s battery life at roughly 80 hours, which is nice and has typically held true in our testing. You will get a bit much less in the event you play at excessive volumes or use options like Bluetooth or sidetone closely, although.

Enclosure: Open-back | Driver: Dynamic | Frequency response: 20 – 20,000Hz | Mic: Sure, not removable | Connectivity: Wired | Weight: 369g (with out cable)

Should you’d want to avoid wasting money and purchase a good wired gaming headset, take into account the . It’s one other open-back pair that sounds extra spacious than most conventional gaming headsets and customarily locates in-game results precisely. Its sound signature emphasizes the bass, which supplies explosions a clean and satisfying thump, nevertheless it doesn’t overdo the low-end the best way a lot of its friends do.

The A40’s audio high quality remains to be a step behind the DT 900 Professional X, HD 560S and Atlas Air, particularly for on-line shooters. Subsequent to these headphones, its veiled treble and pushed upper-bass/low-mids can blunt footsteps and different effective particulars. Its soundstage is narrower by comparability as effectively. Nevertheless it’s higher balanced than most gaming headsets, particularly these in its value vary. It does effectively to envelop you in no matter’s occurring onscreen.

Consolation shouldn’t be a problem, both. The A40 is on the bulkier facet, however its weight is evenly distributed, and it doesn’t clamp down overly laborious. The fuzzy earpads are comfortable and breathable, whereas the ear cups are roomy sufficient to suit bigger ears. The headset has the standard open-back shortcomings, although, because it leaks a bunch of sound and blocks virtually zero outdoors noise. The mostly-plastic design appears to be like “gamer-y” and lacks built-in quantity controls, too. No one would name it “premium.” Nonetheless, it is not flimsy.

The A40’s mic, in the meantime, is simply OK. It picks up background noises whilst you chat and makes voices sound considerably muffled. It’s serviceable, however you’d purchase the A40 for its sound high quality (and relative worth) first. The mic isn’t removable both, however you possibly can simply flip it up and out of the best way.

The A40 has been round for a number of years now, however its value has come down from $150 to a extra affordable $130 in that point. Astro sells an elective with additional controls for $130, however at that value we’d strongly advise shopping for one in all our different picks as an alternative.

Enclosure: Closed-back | Driver: Dynamic | Frequency response: 10 – 28,000Hz | Mic: Sure, not removable | Connectivity: Wired | Weight: 275g

You received’t discover a good open-back gaming headset for lower than $50, so in the event you’re on a decent funds and want a built-in mic, you’ll must compromise on sound high quality. With that in thoughts, the HyperX Cloud Stinger 2 is a good purchase for $40 or so. It will get the consolation half proper, as its pleather ear cups don’t clamp down laborious and have sufficient comfortable padding the place it counts. Its mic makes voices sound comparatively clear and correct as effectively. In reality, the mic is a transparent step up over the Astro A40’s, although it is not removable.

The Cloud Stinger 2 has a V-shaped sound signature, which is to say it exaggerates the bass and treble whereas recessing the mids. It’s not unhealthy for what it’s, and it’ll undoubtedly give motion scenes a heavy dose of growth. However the upper-bass is bumped to the purpose the place it could get tiring over time, and also you lose a few of the effective particulars you’d hear on our different picks. Since this can be a low cost closed-back headset, the Cloud Stinger 2 doesn’t sound almost as large because the pairs above, neither is it as nuanced about positioning sounds precisely. All of that makes it lower than superb for aggressive video games, although it will possibly nonetheless sound “enjoyable” with many different titles.

Past that, the plastic design feels cheapish. Its cable isn’t detachable, and it doesn’t block a lot outdoors noise regardless of having a closed-back design. However, it’s a must to choose your battles on this value vary. The Cloud Stinger 2 is flawed, nevertheless it does sufficient effectively to be an excellent headset for sure budget-conscious consumers.

The Astro A50 X prices an eye-watering $380, so we are able to’t fairly advocate it to most individuals. Nonetheless, in the event you can abdomen the value, this can be a uniquely handy wi-fi headset for hardcore players who personal a PS5, Xbox Collection X/S and gaming PC. That’s primarily as a consequence of its included charging dock, which serves as a unified A/V station for these three platforms. By chaining HDMI and USB cables from a PS5, Xbox and/or PC to the A50 X’s base station, you possibly can join the headset to all three gadgets concurrently. From there, you possibly can swap to your lively machine simply by urgent a button on the precise earcup.

It is a ache to arrange: As proven in Logitech’s 12-minute (!) video tutorial, connecting each consoles and a PC requires seven completely different cables, a couple of of which aren’t within the field, plus some futzing round in every system’s menus. It’s not completely seamless as soon as all the pieces’s up and operating, both: We needed to manually change video alerts when switching from a PC to a console (although not when doing the inverse) and manually change our PC’s audio output once we needed to pay attention by desktop audio system. All of this requires you to maintain your gaming {hardware} in the identical space, too.

However for probably the most half, the A50 X is probably the most sensible wi-fi headset we’ve examined for multi-console setups. As an alternative of needing two headsets for Xbox and PS5/PC, or having to reconnect one headset every time you modify consoles, all it’s a must to do is take the A50 X off its dock, flip it on and choose the platform you need to use. A small LED show on the dock will present the lively connection, and the headset will robotically play the proper audio supply. With a PS5 and Xbox, it’ll robotically swap video. As long as you utilize HDMI 2.1 cables, the bottom station can pass-through 4K 120Hz HDR video to the 2 consoles, with assist for VRR and ALLM. You too can join the A50 X to a Swap or cell gadget through Bluetooth — although it’s essential be inside vary of the bottom station for that to work, and also you don’t get the identical fast-switching performance.

All these connectivity tips wouldn’t imply a lot if the A50 X was a shoddy headset, however fortunately, it’s not. It’s among the many better-sounding wi-fi headsets we’ve used; it’s not “$380 good,” nevertheless it’s dynamic, with wealthy, comparatively nuanced bass and a clear midrange. Explosions and gunshots have an excellent crunch with out sounding overly thick, and it’s typically correct at finding footsteps and close by results. The Audeze Maxwell remains to be a degree above, nonetheless; the A50 X has a darker tilt by comparability, so it captures much less element within the treble vary and feels extra boxed-in. It can also’t match the broader, extra enveloping soundstage of our open-back picks. Nonetheless, most individuals will likely be proud of it, and you may customise its EQ curve to an extent by Logitech’s G Hub software program.

The A50 X’s design is sort of a nicer model of the A40. It’s largely plastic, nevertheless it feels sturdy. The fuzzy, fabric-covered foam on its earpads and headband is comfortable and breathable, and whereas the headset isn’t tremendous gentle at 0.8 kilos, it distributes its weight in a means that feels snug but safe. You too can alter your game-to-chat audio combine proper from an earcup. It doesn’t isolate outdoors noise very effectively, although, and its growth mic is completely hooked up. Its battery life is mediocre as effectively — Astro charges it at as much as 24 hours at reasonable volumes — however because the headset is designed to take a seat on its dock when it’s not in use, that is not a severe challenge. The mic, in the meantime, is likely one of the best possible we’ve used any gaming headset, wired or wi-fi. Voices sound cleaner and extra pure than they do with the Maxwell, and background noise is essentially saved in verify.

Enclosure: Closed-back | Driver: Dynamic | Frequency response: 60 – 20,000Hz | Mic: Sure, not removable | Connectivity: HDMI audio, USB audio, Bluetooth | Weight: 363g