When you’re competing, you need every advantage you can get, and audio clarity is one piece of the puzzle. 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.

Compatibility: PS4, PS5, PC | Connectivity: Wireless dongle | Drivers: 50mm | Battery life: 16 hours | Weight: 256g Now while surround sound on a headset is cool, it's not exactly the same as having a real multi-speaker system, like some of the best soundbars offer. In fact, the majority of gaming headsets employ virtual surround sound—which is to say they're faking it with mathematical algorithms.

Connectivity: The best wireless gaming headsets offer a 2.4GHz dongle that’ll slot into your PC or gaming console, delivering a latency-free connection to ensure you never miss audio cues in a game. Beyond the dongle, you’ll also often get Bluetooth to listen on other devices, and many offer a wired lag-free connection, too. As for wireless headphones, you’re usually just limited to Bluetooth, and there’s always a bit of latency that comes with it, which could make or break you in a gaming setting. However, some higher-end headphones do offer a wired connection to devices, making lag less of an issue, but you’ll be tethered to the device. If you're foremost looking for high quality audio, but you're on a tighter budget than most of the audiophile headphones in this guide ask of your bank account, my recommendation is absolutely the PC38X. The Logitech G PRO X 2 LIGHTSPEED Wireless is the best gaming headset we've tested at this price point. Unlike the Audeze Maxwell Wireless, these comfortable cans don't come in console-specific variants. They have wireless support on PCs and PlayStation consoles, but you can only use them via analog on Xbox. On the upside, they support Bluetooth, so you can connect them to your Nintendo Switch. All of that flexibility doesn't matter if it feels or sounds bad, and fortunately the Barracuda X punches above its weight class in those categories. It's light and comfortable, with excellent audio performance and a clear, detachable mic. The new headset adds 7.1-channel simulated surround sound for PC use, but it isn't quite as accurate as the THX Spatial Audio found in higher-end Razer headsets. That said, it's a nice upgrade over the stereo-only first Barracuda X. Who It's For Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone:X (2.0) are two specially branded types of surround sound you'll also likely encounter. They both essentially do the same thing of adding positional audio for effects for objects like say a plane flying over or a bomb falling from the sky above you.

Compatibility: PC/Mac, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Mobile | Connectivity: 2.4 GHz wireless, Bluetooth | Drivers: 50mm Nanoclear dynamic | Battery Life: 12 hours (per battery) | Weight: 413g Audeze is best known for high-end headphones that use planar magnetic drivers, a different audio technology from the cone and dome drivers used by most headphones and headsets. Planar magnetic drivers deliver delicious sound, but they're also generally more expensive than conventional drivers, which is why you rarely see them outside of some audiophiles' collections. The Audeze Penrose is one of the few gaming headsets that uses those drivers, and it sounds fantastic. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is simply one of the most powerful and feature-filled wired gaming headsets available. It feels luxurious, sounds excellent, and its PC software has strong spatial audio and many granular adjustments for anyone who wants to dive into them. It also works with every major game console (you must choose between PlayStation and Xbox versions, though; there's no model that works with both) along with PCs, and can even connect to two devices over USB-C at once. It's also one of the few gaming headsets that supports High-Res Audio, so if you're an audiophile who uses a top-tier streaming music platform, you can fully enjoy the tunes. You'll notice something slightly different about the Nuraphones from the images below, and I'm sure you're already asking, 'what's the point of those thingson the inside?'Why settle for just one type of surround sound? The JBL Quantum One may be pricey, but it has a lot to offer in the sound department, including JBL's QuantumSPHERE 360 technology as well as DTS Headphone X: v2.0 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 360 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. The microphone sounds great, anyways, and that's what really counts here. I'm really impressed with just how clear the HS55's microphone is: the subtle tones and nuance of my voice's luscious timbre (in my opinion) come through accurately in testing, which you can listen to below. There's a surprising level of clarity in this mic, even in the lower ranges, and it's a really great solution for a budget headset. We often focus on improving our gaming experience with visuals by grabbing a better gaming TV or a beefier graphics card, but your game’s sound is just as important. So, when you're shopping for a gaming headset there are a few key specs you should look out for. But just because the surround sound you hear on a gaming headset is fake, doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy it or doubt its ability to create an immersive environment. The 50mm TriForce Titanium drivers are designed with discrete ports to separate bass, mid, tremble tones from interfering with each other. The result is a richer sound than a standard set, and keeps it on par with HyperX's 50mm dual-chamber neodymium driver headset. They're like a tribute to HyperX's own design, and no worse for it.

It's the same microphone and boom arm construction you'll find on any number of Sennheiser Gaming/Epos headsets today, but that's not such a bad thing. The flip-to-mute function is great and it keeps the mic arm comfortably away from my face during use or when stowed away. It's a little bendy too and its position is able to be ever so slightly tweaked for a better fit. The larger the driver, the more air they can move to not only to make louder sounds, but it also allows them to produce a wider, more nuanced range of frequencies—which happens to take us to our next specification. They also have poor passive noise isolation performance and will let in a lot of noise and leak a lot of game audio to those around you. Fortunately, their mic makes your voice sound bright and clear, though a little unnatural, and their nearly 20-hour battery will last you through several play sessions. While these features make this the best PC gaming headset and the best for PlayStation consoles we've tested at this price range, unfortunately, this modelisn't compatible with Xbox consoles. While they don't last as long continuously as the Logitech G PRO X 2 LIGHTSPEED Wireless, their roughly 30-hour battery life will still get you through long dungeon crawls. You can also use them wired in a pinch. They have a high noise floor while monitoring your voice, and while that's a downside if you play a lot of multiplayer games, the mic still makes your voice sound clear and natural. Whilst we will do everything we can to meet the delivery times above, there may be factors outside of our control and we cannot guarantee delivery within this time frame.Pair directly to your console with Xbox Wireless radio without the need for dongles, cables, or a base station.