Best Wireless Headset for Gaming?

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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First and foremost, I am not an audiophile. I have been playing a LOT of Hunt Showdown lately, and directional sound is incredible important in this game. I would suggest that audio queues in Hunt are as, if not more important than the visual queues. That said, I have been trying out several kinds of headsets and I wanted y'alls' opinions.

What is the best wireless headset for the suggested "binaural 3D audio" experience? And yes, I require wireless, even though I know it does give some latency and sound degradation.
 
I honestly have no answer to this.

What I expect that you're looking for is:
  1. Flawless connectivity- no drops!
  2. Great positional audio
  3. Clear microphone
  4. Great comfort
  5. Audio signature suitable for gaming, i.e., not so much treble as to kill your ears and not so much boomy bass as to drown out audio cues- not fatiguing
  6. Good battery life
  7. Good durability
More or less in that order.

Beyond that: I'm not sure what to search for in terms of good positioning in a headset. This is really done by software, and the 'Dolby' stuff you see around can be accessed through the Dolby Atmos Headphone app in the Windows store, and you can get similar functionality with Razer's headphone software. The cans themselves would need to be tuned for appropriate frequency response and sound stage, which together give you the detail and positioning you're looking for.

And I'll summon a demon: B00nie, what do you think bro?
 
I started asking the same question recently and I decided on the Logitech G933 Artemis Spectrum. My only other experience with wireless headsets is the Steelseries Wireless H. Very expensive, very nice, but never ever did I feel like I had any kind of surround sound. I concluded that wireless headsets are garbage and went back to wired cans or my HMD config.

A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted to try a newer headset to see if I could improve the audio and also have a mic without wearing my HMD. I bought the Logitech G933 Artemis Spectrum after doing a bit of poking around the net. It has so far been pretty awesome.

-Initial comfort was huge. I have a big head and putting things on it usually doesn't work out well, lol. The cloth and padding feel good to me and I don't have any pressure issues.
-The Dolby Headphone:X demo pretty much floored me. The channels are incredibly distinct. I immediately fired up Alan Wake and turned the lights off. Good times.
-Haven't tested the mic with anyone yet but I'm able to dial more than enough side tone in for me to not scream at the people I play with, ha ha.
-And by god, if you're going to RGB something, make damn sure it is something you can't see when using it! Brilliant! I'm indifferent, and they can be disabled.
-Having three programmable G-Keys on the left muff is cool. For example, good spot to bind your TrackIR re-center if you're a flight simmer.
-The boom mic totally disappears when not in use.
-The left and right outer plastic shells on the muffs pop off. On the left the USB transmitter/receiver has a slot, and on the right the battery pops out. (Only one battery, no external charging, but at least it is replaceable)

Anything else I can tell you? I am also not so much an audiophile but overall it seems very good.
 
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Sennheiser should make a wireless headset like their gsp 500. They don't. So get the Logitech. Friend of mine has had one for a few months and no complaints.

He is an engineer so he is super anal. I mean really particular. Whatever. He enjoys the occasional rusty sheriff's badge. I don't judge.
 
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I'll bet that the Logitech sets are acceptable; I've just never used one, preferring cables due to not liking the idea of batteries/charging/etc.

Also like my premium cans, amp, and DAC, and have a Blue Snowball for VOIP...
 
How much money are you looking to spend? Do you need a headset with a Microphone?

I've always been a fan of the A50s for wireless, gaming headphones. They're comfortable (Glasses wearer). And over-ear cups make long gaming sessions a breeze. If you wanted to swap to a different cup type, it's as easy as unlatching the magnet and pop in the other style of cup.

If you're looking for above $300. I've also been keen on the Sennheiser PXC 550. But requires an inline mic wire.

This might help some if you're looking for a "Gaming" Headset with attached microphone.

1:21 - price
2:10 - packaging
3:16 - connectivity
3:51 - build
6:39 - comfort
9:29 - features
10:30 - mic test (all 8 + more)
13:34 - sound quality
16:02 - signal quality
16:15 - battery life
17:28 - conclusion + recommendations

Winner: Logitech G933
Other: HyperX Cloud Flight, Corsair Void Pro, Steel Series Artis 7, Razer Thresher (Brand Loyalty Pic)
 
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I'll cast another vote for the Logitech G933 Artemis Spectrum. Mine has been amazing. They are comfortable and the sound quality has been excellent whether we are talking about listening to music or playing games.
 
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I have both G633 and G933, I think the only difference is that the 933 is wireless. I've not opened the 933 yet, but I've used the 633 and it sounds good for gaming and music but I mostly use it to make phone calls when I'm working from home and it sounds really good in Skype meetings. These Logitech headsets give you the option between Dolby or DTS headphone and Logitech is doing a good job at maintaining the software (Logitech Gaming Software) that drives their peripherals, so I'd say that support for these products is good.
 
I've been a really big fan of the Lucid Sound LS30. I have a few other systems like the Artic 7, etc...but the LS30 has been incredible. The mic feedback sounds great, and the headphones sound incredible for a bass head like me (My main set is vmoda crossfade m100's). You can get the ls30 for like $45 used on ebay, people trying to sell from Costco's massive stock when they had it on sale for $69.
 
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I am testing the Corsair HS70 right now. Had a couple of hiccups at first, but seems to a step up from the VOIDs.
 
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What i could tell you for sure Kyle is this, do not buy the Arctis 7 from steel series. The sound is far from good and has to be turned up to max to be anything near decent.


Still rockin my Sennheiser Game Zero paired with Sound Blaster Z and its incredible ( but wired ) :(
 
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I played around with my G633 headset just because I do that occasionally when a thread like this pops up, but I need to give a disclaimer first: 100% of my gaming is with a 7.1 home theater setup at my gaming PC, I can rarely differentiate front and rear positioning in headphone surround because I'm so accustomed to hearing it in discrete surround speakers. Headphone virtual surround sounds dull to me, I assume it takes time to get used to it.

With that said, if you're serious about positional audio in headphones, you might need to consider how the game of your choice handles audio in general. I'm saying this because, I've used the G633 with Dolby Headphone for virtual surround and the results seem to vary greatly. I tested with Just Cause 3 and The Witness and I could tell that sounds were front or rear, then I tested with The Solus Project and The Talos Principle and I could not tell what was front or rear; maybe this is a limitation of Dolby Headphones, I should connect the G633 to my X-Fi 3.5 mm and use CMSS-3D to see if it's better.

JC3 and The Witness do something very obvious to the audio to enhance the front/rear effect: if a sound is behind you, it is dulled as it naturally would be, if a sound is in front of you then it would be sharper because your ears would typically pick it up that way. The Solus Project and Talos Principle don't seem to do this and Dolby Headphone is apparently not adding that effect as I think it should. If using discrete surround speakers, those effects aren't exactly necessary, but they're very important for headphones.

For Hunt: Showdown, launch the game, load a map and find a static sound source like a fire or flowing water. Face the sound source and listen to it, then turn 180 degrees and listen. If the audio was somewhat attenuated or dulled when the source was behind you, that should be easy for most virtual surround software to handle, if the sound seemed to maintain the same level front and rear, you're going to need something better.

It's a long weekend, I'm going to play with the X-Fi's CMSS-3D to see if it's better than Dolby Headphone.

tl;dr: You can get nice headphones, but if the game doesn't have a proper headphone mode or the surround virtualization software isn't thorough then you're missing out on positioning.
 
I have the G533 Logitech and it's great, PC only though so if you want to use it for something else like playing from xbox or an avr you are out of luck. It's also $40 cheaper than the Artemis
 
For the ultimate in audio immersion something like this is required: https://www.waves.com/hardware/nx-head-tracker

Now I don't know if this implementation is accurate and fast enough to really fool the brain but it's in theory exactly what's required to get real 3D positional audio. I'm not a head-fi person at all but I think I must test this one personally. The previous otpion cost 10 times as much.
 
I have the G533 Logitech and it's great, PC only though so if you want to use it for something else like playing from xbox or an avr you are out of luck. It's also $40 cheaper than the Artemis

has poor frequency response, 10kHz is top end for this headset - will sound muddy at best, no highs
 
Astro A50 for me - I've got the previous gen and the battery life is only OK. But the sound and most importantly the connection is super rock solid.
Mic is clear and loud. The mix-amp feature that lets you selectively dial down other people's mic is perfect though.

They're bass heavy and the directionality is good. Terrible headphones for music though - my god they're bad.
 
Another vote for Logitech G933. Great sound for price, the surround sound that came with the software is good for FPS games that has no good headphone setting. Initially I got it because it also work with PS4 wirelessly but I'm very happy with how it sounds.

Oh also it has easy user replaceable battery.
 
Logitech G533 frequency response:
frequency-response-graph.png


Not the most linear in the world but certainly not limited to 10khz.
 
thought you would never ask.

but the battery life and range are what do it for me. Also be able to use it with more than one device is KING
I had one friend tell me that his broken easily, but that has been the only report I have seen of that.
 
I have tried the 933 Artemis units a few times and have had terrible luck. No idea what causes it, but the units seem to drop connection all the time, like on the order of 5 to 8 times an hour. When it happens you have to power them off and back online. At first I thought it was a bad batch, because I bought two sets at BB, both failed in the same manner. I took one back and got a new one which also failed with connection issues. At this point had Logitech send me a new set and they also failed. So then I figured it had to be something in my environment, like a phone or some random noise, but I could never isolate anything. All other wireless headsets do not exhibit this issue. So currently using the A50 which has treated me well.
 
The Audeze Mobius looks promising (I have an Audeze LCD-2 Classic headphone, and love it) as a really nice wireless gaming headset (advertising blurb below):
https://www.audeze.com/products/mobius-series/mobius-headphone

The respected MadLustEnvy's preview of the Audeze Mobius:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mad...mplifier-added.534479/page-2654#post-14103688
(his post in that thread is #39805 -- just a couple of posts down from the top)

MadLustEnvy has posted a pretty extensive overview of a number of headphones commonly used for gaming (both dedicated gaming headsets, and many that are not):
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mad...ng-audio-amplifier-added.534479/#post_7208658

Tyll Hertsens' (probably the single most respected headphone reviewer) takes on the Audeze Mobius:
https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/audeze-mobius-head-tracking-virtual-reality-gaming-headphone

and

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/canjam-socal-2018-audeze-mobius-3d-headphones

I'm definitely keeping a close eye on the Audeze Mobius.
 
The Audeze Mobius looks promising (I have an Audeze LCD-2 Classic headphone, and love it) as a really nice wireless gaming headset (advertising blurb below):
https://www.audeze.com/products/mobius-series/mobius-headphone

The respected MadLustEnvy's preview of the Audeze Mobius:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mad...mplifier-added.534479/page-2654#post-14103688
(his post in that thread is #39805 -- just a couple of posts down from the top)

MadLustEnvy has posted a pretty extensive overview of a number of headphones commonly used for gaming (both dedicated gaming headsets, and many that are not):
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mad...ng-audio-amplifier-added.534479/#post_7208658

Tyll Hertsens' (probably the single most respected headphone reviewer) takes on the Audeze Mobius:
https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/audeze-mobius-head-tracking-virtual-reality-gaming-headphone

and

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/canjam-socal-2018-audeze-mobius-3d-headphones

I'm definitely keeping a close eye on the Audeze Mobius.
Yeah, $340, they better be effin awesome.
 
It's more than a headphone, it's an experience

I can think of a lot of experiences I can have with $340.....and it's preorder lol
 
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I really like my Bose qc35's, but they're not cheap...Good mic and great sound, uses BT. Noise cancelling works great when travelling or at work (damn air handlers are noisy as hell). I honestly use them way more than I thought I would when I got them. probably 20-30 hours between charges.
 
i gave up on wireless 7.1 head phones im now using a SB ae-5 and a set of byer dynamics dt 990 pro's

totally has changed what i can hear for positional audio. i use the 7.1 virtual of the SB now.

but its wired.
 
I just picked up a pair of Corsair Void Pro RGB. The sound is insane. Like, ear crushingly loud and when put into 7.1 mode. I can hear a goddamn gnat fart in game from a mile away, its insane.

Give em a try. Its my first wireless set, I break the shit out of the wired ones pulling and tripping over cords and shit, so hopefully these last longer than 12 months.
 
I just picked up a pair of Corsair Void Pro RGB. The sound is insane. Like, ear crushingly loud and when put into 7.1 mode. I can hear a goddamn gnat fart in game from a mile away, its insane.

Give em a try. Its my first wireless set, I break the shit out of the wired ones pulling and tripping over cords and shit, so hopefully these last longer than 12 months.
I still love my Void Pros. I gave the Alienware to my daughter to use for a while to get another opinion.
 
It's more than a headphone, it's an experience

I can think of a lot of experiences I can have with $340.....and it's preorder lol

Except a lot of people don't really understand how valuable having very high quality sound is to any gaming or listening experience. Generally speaking, it's also the only purchase you make in any gaming setup that actually keeps its value throughout any period of time. Graphics cards get outdated. Monitors get new technology regularly. CPU's get scrapped for the next one.

But you can have a high quality set of speakers from decades ago that still sound just as good now as they did back then. Audio is an investment, not a new GPU that you'll probably throw out in a few years (for some people on this forum that "few years" is an "at most"). There's obviously some snake oil in the field, but investing sizable sums does pay off.
 
I love the idea of the Audeze Mobius but anything with non-replaceable batteries really irks me. Especially at that price range.

The A50's had this problem where I loved loved loved the headset but once the batteries shitted out you couldn't replace them (easily yourself that is) without going through their then (I believe Logitech bought Astro out so not sure on the process now) annoying and long replacement process.

Currently back to wired with the SteelSeries Arctis Pro + GameDAC.
 
I haven't tried the Void Pros, I had issues with Corsairs 2100 headset basically coming apart after about 8 months, twice. I have had the logitech G9s for years and no issues, except for the closed ear which provides enough pressure it is slightly uncomfortable to me, I prefer open back. I have not yet tried with the G933 or the Void Pro.

Currently I went back to Wired, and just made sure I had a long cable.

For my Xbox One I use the Turtle Beach Elite. It is very comfortable for me to use and the mic and controller work well, but I have not yet tried it with my PC. The sound isn't as great as I would like, but that could just be from the Xbox One.
 
I've been rocking the G930's for what, 6 years now? I decided to upgrade to the G933's. Man, let me just say, these are without a doubt the most comfortable headset I've ever used. I wear them all day. Have them connected to my work phone to answer and make calls, listen to music otherwise or escape for a quick PUBG match. They don't feel flimsy. In that I mean my G930's always felt a bit "delicate", but they never broke in the 6 years I've been using them. And there have been some "g'dammit" moments of tossing them on my desk rather violently. The G930's creek and pop when not on my head while the G933's don't do that, yet. Mic quality on the G933 is excellent. People I talk to on the phone say it sounds great, those in game say the same. Positional audio with these headsets is good deal better than the G930's they replaced. Clarity is also markedly better. And they have decent bass response with good overall range. The 930's were kind of flat.

Would I buy them again? Yes. Worth $100 in my opinion.
 
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