What is the best gaming headset in your opinion? The article I linked to argues that gaming headsets are not that good and it is better to get a decent pair of headphones and a separate microphone. What do you think?


The following is a review of a gaming headset:
Today we are going to take a look at gaming headsets. Some brands of headsets like Astros for example can cost almost as much as a console. So the question is are they actually worth it? The reason that I bring this topic up is because as well as making YouTube videos I work as an audio engineer. And all-in-one headsets aren't really good for either of these things. For some people though a gaming headset is perfectly fine. So hopefully this video will give you a good idea of why you would want to choose one or the other. So to kick off like I said gaming headsets are generally an all-in-one approach giving you a microphone as well as a set of headphones. Most good headsets connect multiple sources by USB, Bluetooth or Analog. And some also give you the option to mix these sources individually. Basically, if you break it down what you are getting when you buy a good headset is a set of headphones, a microphone, a mixer and an audio interface.

The problem is though is that they kind of like a Swiss Army knife in the sense that sure they are convenient but none of the components really compared to the individual tools. Now as far as the headphones go, the best gaming headsets usually boast surround sound capability, which is all good and fine if you are after this feature. Stereo headphones don't give you the space of a surround sound headset. But they will still give you a good sense of direction because after all we only have two ears. The problem with surround sound though is that generally speaking to achieve this effect you need multiple drivers which have to be smaller to fit into a set of headphones. What this means is that a good set of stereo headphones will almost always give you a better bass response than a surround sound headset, which most people would say makes them sound a lot better. The other main component of a gaming headset is the microphone which suffers from the same problem as the drivers by having to squeeze into the body of the headset. The fact is, a standalone microphone like a Blue Snowball is going to have a much larger diaphragm than a headset mic, which once again gives it a much better bass response.

The other problem with a headset is that you probably going to look like a bit of a dick if you want to use it out and about to listen to music. On the other hand you can use headphones in a lot more situations and mics like the Snowball that I mentioned before are also commonly used on PC by Youtubers and streamers. Now bearing all of these in mind, both options obviously have their pros and cons. But the most common thing that people tend to forget is the inputs, outputs and the mixing. The reason this is important is because most people just buy a headset designed for their particular platform which may or may not work with other platforms. What do I and a lot of Youtubers do to get around this is use a separate mixer to route all of our sources which in my case includes a TV output, the chat output from my PS4 and my PC. This is obviously a lot more complicated to set up than a headset. But it allows you to mix and record all of the different sources independently which is really important if you want to make videos or live stream. The other thing that I should probably mention here is that there is a big difference between consumer level and professional level equipment. Gaming accessories in general look and feel pretty plasticky, and on the other hand, even a cheap mixer or a cheap set of studio headphones is going to be a lot more rugged. Studio headphones are also going to give you a flat response which means that you are going to keep close to what the sound engineer intended the mix to sound like.

On the other hand, consumer level headphones like Beats or gaming headsets usually hype up certain frequencies which basically is like a preset EQ setting that you can’t change even if you hide it. Now to finish up to give you a quick idea of how much the two options cost in comparison. Well, in Australian dollars a high-end gaming headset like the Astro A50s will set you back around 400 bucks. Admittedly, the A50s are pretty good though with multiple digital and analog inputs and a built-in mic. But they of course suffer from all the cons I have already mentioned in this video. On the other hand, the studio headphones that I use are a set of Sennheiser HD 280s worth about 180 bucks. The mixer is a Behringer Xenyx Q502 worth about 90 bucks, and a mic like the Blue Snowball will set you back about 100 bucks. Altogether that is only A$370 which is cheaper than the Astros and will give you a much better sound and a lot more versatility. If you already own a PS4 Camera or a Kinect, well you could probably even knock off the cost of the mic. And there is also plenty of other headphones out there that cost a lot less money. You don't even have to buy a mixer if you don't want to plug in multiple sources. But if you set up does change a lot a day well you are not going to have to go and spend a lot of money for a whole new headset. If you are someone who still prefers the all-in-one approach though then I can understand why you decide not to bother with a complicated set up like this. At the end of the day it comes down to what you need as a gamer and what you think you will need in the future. But hopefully now you can see that there is an alternative out there if you want a few more options.

The all in one approach is a no - no!


Heck that's shitty for gaming m8!

We ain't crew pilots