The best gaming headsets

Whether you're chatting with your buddies or listening intently for the footsteps of your enemies, your ears deserve the best gaming headset around. A great headset doesn't just produce clear, balanced sound. It also needs a good microphone for chatting, and to be comfortable for long periods of wear.These are the ones worth your money: an all-around great headset, a great budget option, and a high-end winner if you have some extra cash.

The best gaming headset

KINGSTON HYPERX CLOUD

Kingston’s HyperX Cloud is priced at well under $100, and the manufacturer doesn’t have the same reputation for quality cans as Creative, or recent debutant to the audio market Corsair, so we were as shocked as any to find such a killer overall package.

In such a crowded marketplace, many big-name manufacturers attempt to stand out from the crowd by offering virtual 7.1 surround setups, making meaningless boasts about ‘4D sound’ or inventing absurd technologies like Mad Catz’ ViviTouch (essentially force feedback for your ears, which is exactly as useful and welcome as it sounds).

The best budget PC gaming headset

CM STORM SONUZ

The story of the $50 CM Storm Sonuz begins in 2012 when CM Storm (an offshoot of PC case and cooling specialist Coolermaster) releases it around the $100 mark to general disinterest—rival offerings from Creative and Corsair for the same money or less made it irrelevant. Stick with it though, and cut to two years later: their popularity has meant the Creative and Corsair headsets—or revisions thereof—have remained at that price point, while the Sonuz plummets under 50 bucks.

Which is great news, because although its rigid headband design makes it less appealing than Corsair’s Vengeance range, there’s hardly a chasm of quality between the two. If you can put up with its faintly slug-like aesthetic, the Sonuz offers good quality audio with powerful low end, a clear and robust mic and tank-like overall build quality.

The best high-end gaming headset

CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER RECON3D OMEGA

So you’re feeling flush, and you don’t want to make any compromises—you want the best gaming headset, no matter the cost. Look no further than Creative’s Sound Blaster Recon 3D Omega, a headset that would reign supreme in a world that judges earphones purely by number of baffling buzzwords in their name and, more relevantly, also offers the best overall package above the $200 mark.

These are wireless cans, with the mobility benefits that come with it but without the range and battery dramas. We’re able to take the headset anywhere in our house and stay within range (though admittedly we’re not talking mansion-level floor space) and once fully charged the battery gives you roughly ten hours of faithful service before it needs to be hooked up to the juice again via mico USB cable.