Best Gaming Headset?

Sennheiser HD555's and a desk mic > any gaming headset


^ tru story. Medusas are great but they are cheap pieces of chit that break really easy.
 
No offense but this isn't exactly a specialized post and since there is a sticky at the top of this section entitled "Which Headphones?", that might be a good place to start your search ;)

Unfortunately everyone is going to tell you the same thing though: 5.1 gaming headsets sound like a good idea at first, but after you try them against a regular decent pair of headphones, there is no competition, don't buy the gimmicks.
 
If you're looking for 5.1, I'm quite happy with my Turtle Beach HPA2 headphones. I didn't think they were going to be much, but they were on sale so I thought I'd try them, and I was surprised. They're very comfortable and the 5.1 works well enough for me, I've been fooled thinking someone was saying something behind me, but it was audio from a TV show.
 
i notice that both your links point to usb headsets. do u need a usb headset or can it plug into your sound card?

regular headphones sound WAY better than 'gaming' headsets. that said- the steelsound is nice quality, great mic, durable, has the high notes of an expensive headphone, but very little bass. its little bother -the 4h- has much better bass. (i have both) the 4h is my current fave headSET. when i dont have to use a headset i use real headphones :)

the medusas have a terrible quality rep.
 
I don't have a sound card. When I was building my PC everyone was saying that its not really worth getting a sound card unless you spend 100+ on one. So right now I am rocking onboard.

So what do you think would be better for a PC running onboard?

Turtle Beach Ear Force HPA2 for $69.99 @ http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...1&cs=19&c=us&l=en&dgc=SS&cid=27530&lid=627063

or

Sennheiser HD 555 for $69.95 including rebate @ http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/322120-REG/Sennheiser_HD555_HD_555_Circumaural.html
and then getting a desktop mic.
 
you would be so much happier with the sennheiser! the usb sound card built into virtually all usb headsets is a cmedia chip-they wont sound much better than onboard but might put out more power. i have a Siig one i got for 20.00 for my laptop that will drive decent headphones ok.

great price on the senns there
 
Senn 555 with a mic for that price is GREAT!! under $80? all day man. here is my new headphone, uh speaker phone lol

DSC01434.jpg
 
I got the fever now and am searching for "the next level" after the A900. The A900Ti are mighty tempting...
 
Weemanbran, I noticed that only one person gave you advice on a gaming headphone. All the rest gave you great headphones, but, they aren't for games. I presume you are getting a headset for FPS gaming and that is why you were considering 5.1 headphones?

Well I have tried several sets of 5.1 headphones before deciding to get the Medusa Speedlink 5.1 pro gamer headset, it was the best of all the ones I tried. I tested the steel ones you have listed and the razer barracuda headset as well. the positional audio on the medusa's is amazing much better than any of the others.

The Senn 555 and the ATH A900 listed already are great for music, but, not for games. I myself have a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro and they sound amazing when I am listening to music, but when I am playing games I switch over to the Medusa's.
 
reaper12 said:
Weemanbran, I noticed that only one person gave you advice on a gaming headphone. All the rest gave you great headphones, but, they aren't for games. I presume you are getting a headset for FPS gaming and that is why you were considering 5.1 headphones?

Well I have tried several sets of 5.1 headphones before deciding to get the Medusa Speedlink 5.1 pro gamer headset, it was the best of all the ones I tried. I tested the steel ones you have listed and the razer barracuda headset as well. the positional audio on the medusa's is amazing much better than any of the others.

The Senn 555 and the ATH A900 listed already are great for music, but, not for games. I myself have a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro and they sound amazing when I am listening to music, but when I am playing games I switch over to the Medusa's.
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For positional audio sure. The sound quality of the medusas, in games and REALLY in music, still sucks. Sure you will hear direction a bit better but they lack SO much of the actual sound that it is playing the game with 40% of the audio information.

It sucks, I know, but there just is not a 5.1 headset that I would pay $$ for. The sound quality is so bad that it drives me nuts. If the medusas just sounded as good as even a 555 for instance, I would say get them over anything else for gaming. However, the $30 Koss sb40 does almost as well for direction and sounds way better than the medusas for $30! Do the math. Sorry man but I learned all this by trying them all.
 
Me too, sorry I am in complete disagreement with you. There are several versions of the medusa speedlink headsets, maybe you just got a poor version. My brother has a pair of medusa headphones with the external amplifier/attachment. They don't sound so good and I think they actually cost more, and I have read a lot of complaints about that model, the amp failing etc. If you are getting the Medusa's get the ones with no amp.

You can hear every detail, every clink of a can, every tinkle of glass and know exactly where it is coming from. And the Senn 280 pro that I have sound amazing, but there isn't that much difference, the senn is better in music, the medusa is better in games and other 5.1 material. In fact, only picky people (like myself) would really notice the difference in sound quality between the senn and the medusa, but everyone notices the difference when they are hearing the 5.1 sounds coming from every direction.

I spent a long time searching for good gaming headphones and the speedlink progamer were the first set I actually bought, none of the others that I got were anyway as good.

anyway, here is a review that might help the man decide

http://techgage.com/article/speedlink_medusa_51_and_sennheiser_hd555/

the only problem with this review is that the guy used the medusa headphones that have the amp, and they really don't sound as good as the ones without the amp.
 
for positional audio an x-fi is the way to go- its headphone mode is much better than 5.1 headphones- and i've had several-and still have some!
5.1 headphones are 'fun' but thats it
 
reaper12 said:
Me too, sorry I am in complete disagreement with you. There are several versions of the medusa speedlink headsets, maybe you just got a poor version. My brother has a pair of medusa headphones with the external amplifier/attachment. They don't sound so good and I think they actually cost more, and I have read a lot of complaints about that model, the amp failing etc. If you are getting the Medusa's get the ones with no amp.

You can hear every detail, every clink of a can, every tinkle of glass and know exactly where it is coming from. And the Senn 280 pro that I have sound amazing, but there isn't that much difference, the senn is better in music, the medusa is better in games and other 5.1 material. In fact, only picky people (like myself) would really notice the difference in sound quality between the senn and the medusa, but everyone notices the difference when they are hearing the 5.1 sounds coming from every direction.

I spent a long time searching for good gaming headphones and the speedlink progamer were the first set I actually bought, none of the others that I got were anyway as good.

anyway, here is a review that might help the man decide

http://techgage.com/article/speedlink_medusa_51_and_sennheiser_hd555/

the only problem with this review is that the guy used the medusa headphones that have the amp, and they really don't sound as good as the ones without the amp.
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You have the early version of the medusa? I had one of the first and it was good. The second set I bought sucked. I think that they changed something down the road. If they returned to that first quality then yes they are a good gaming can.
 
ourfpshero said:
for positional audio an x-fi is the way to go- its headphone mode is much better than 5.1 headphones- and i've had several-and still have some!
5.1 headphones are 'fun' but thats it
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I have the x-fi and yes the positional audio (cmss3D) is good if you have only stereo headphones, but, it's much better with a good pair of 5.1 headphones. And if you come back and say that the postional audio is better with the X-fi than the 5.1 headphones I will have to say that they must have been really bad 5.1 headphones.
 
reaper12 said:
I have the x-fi and yes the positional audio (cmss3D) is good if you have only stereo headphones, but, it's much better with a good pair of 5.1 headphones. And if you come back and say that the postional audio is better with the X-fi than the 5.1 headphones I will have to say that they must have been really bad 5.1 headphones.
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I'm not sure why a quality 40mm+ headphone driver can't put a sound to the left or right or in front and behind you better than a 10mm one positioned a little more in front or behind your ear.....
 
Citizen86 said:
I'm not sure why a quality 40mm+ headphone driver can't put a sound to the left or right or in front and behind you better than a 10mm one positioned a little more in front or behind your ear.....
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Stax sure as hell do that lol. Not exactly a standard driver though.
 
reaper12 said:
I have the x-fi and yes the positional audio (cmss3D) is good if you have only stereo headphones, but, it's much better with a good pair of 5.1 headphones. And if you come back and say that the postional audio is better with the X-fi than the 5.1 headphones I will have to say that they must have been really bad 5.1 headphones.
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I currently have a Tritton axpc-its a rebranded Medusa! if you are playing a game with a weak 3d sound implementation-such as halflife2/counterstrike/crysis then a 5.1 headphone might sound better than headphone mode. a game with good 3d sound like unreal tournament 3 or battlefield 2/2142 sounds unbelievably better with x-fi's headphone mode. and as a bonus you can use use quality cans
 
reaper12 said:
Weemanbran, I noticed that only one person gave you advice on a gaming headphone. All the rest gave you great headphones, but, they aren't for games. I presume you are getting a headset for FPS gaming and that is why you were considering 5.1 headphones?

Well I have tried several sets of 5.1 headphones before deciding to get the Medusa Speedlink 5.1 pro gamer headset, it was the best of all the ones I tried. I tested the steel ones you have listed and the razer barracuda headset as well. the positional audio on the medusa's is amazing much better than any of the others.

The Senn 555 and the ATH A900 listed already are great for music, but, not for games. I myself have a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro and they sound amazing when I am listening to music, but when I am playing games I switch over to the Medusa's.
Click to expand...

Ok, let me make this clear: I have both the medusas and the ATH-A900 (and more), and the A900s wipe the floor. Not to mention the medusas broke rather easily.

Simply put, you don't need a "This headphone is for gaming" tag to make your headphones "gaming headphones".

The A900s have great bass and great soundstage, not to mention that they are closed, which makes for a richer immersion factor. That is what gaming needs. My best recent gaming moments was playing FEAR with the A900s.
 
Weemanbran, go out and try a few headphones and listen to them in games. See what you like. Read some external reviews etc. And let us know how you get on!! Good luck.
 
Well, such "gaming products" are usually $20 for anything. That is where their profit is.

I am taking a patient look at the A40s but am suspicious as usual. I won't try them so I am trying to find out how they compare to standard headphones in the $150-250 range.
 
spaceman said:
compared to what else? any headphones you have tried? I am interested, not flaming.
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I've tried almost all the turtle beach headphones , the ones sold at microcenter , creative series fatality , Razor brand ones , all kinds of 5.1 multidriver based headphones. I've probably tried about 24 different pairs and have in the end not found one of the gaming branding headphones to produce a true and warm type sound . Some had been pre-amp'd as well and still sounded very muddy.

Most of us in this forum want a A900 type sound from our headsets (thats just an example , to each his own though) and we all want mic's built into them since desk mics just down right suck most of the time and balancing the sound between your headphones and a secondary mic just ends up creating more backround noise.

So far the Astro series have just really impressed me , its expensive yes but the overall setup really works pretty well , a true pre-amp can cost tons and for 129 bucks its a really good deal. For the money I think these are great headphones.
 
Godmachine said:
I've tried almost all the turtle beach headphones , the ones sold at microcenter , creative series fatality , Razor brand ones , all kinds of 5.1 multidriver based headphones. I've probably tried about 24 different pairs and have in the end not found one of the gaming branding headphones to produce a true and warm type sound . Some had been pre-amp'd as well and still sounded very muddy.

Most of us in this forum want a A900 type sound from our headsets (thats just an example , to each his own though) and we all want mic's built into them since desk mics just down right suck most of the time and balancing the sound between your headphones and a secondary mic just ends up creating more backround noise.

So far the Astro series have just really impressed me , its expensive yes but the overall setup really works pretty well , a true pre-amp can cost tons and for 129 bucks its a really good deal. For the money I think these are great headphones.
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So you have tried tons of gaming headsets but nothing like the A900s? Ok. Well that is good and bad I suppose lol. These are better than any gaming headset but we still don't know how they fair compared to headphones. Thanks for the reply. It is helpful and good news.
 
spaceman said:
So you have tried tons of gaming headsets but nothing like the A900s? Ok. Well that is good and bad I suppose lol. These are better than any gaming headset but we still don't know how they fair compared to headphones. Thanks for the reply. It is helpful and good news.
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To be honest I never wanted to get anything like the A900's without some kind of pre-amp cause of the huge difference it makes in the sound. I also normally dont buy items like headphones online , cause I prefer to be able to return them quickly (since i'm pretty picky) but ya glad to be of help to you guys here.
 
Godmachine said:
To be honest I never wanted to get anything like the A900's without some kind of pre-amp cause of the huge difference it makes in the sound. I also normally dont buy items like headphones online , cause I prefer to be able to return them quickly (since i'm pretty picky) but ya glad to be of help to you guys here.
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Sure thanks. Most of the stores that I deal with have a no bs return policy if you are ever curious. I know some excellent dudes for used gear too.
 
The Astro marketing looks pretty damn good....for 250 dollars I might consider it. I'm currently using a pair of steelsound 5hv2s and I like it alot but the cords have gotten all tangled and messed up. Though I currently don't wear my headphones that much anymore, usually have my z-2300's on and my steelsound acting like a desktop mic :X
 
soulesschild said:
The Astro marketing looks pretty damn good....for 250 dollars I might consider it. I'm currently using a pair of steelsound 5hv2s and I like it alot but the cords have gotten all tangled and messed up. Though I currently don't wear my headphones that much anymore, usually have my z-2300's on and my steelsound acting like a desktop mic :X
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There are some really cool little monitor setups from $100 on up nowadays. If you want more detail in your sound.
 
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