Can someone suggest a pair of headphones for gaming and casual use?

[eyesoffiction]

I'm looking to purchase a pair of headphones for gaming and casual use for the PC.

Not well informed as to what brands are durable and trustworthy, think you can help me out?

Prefer them to be over the ear and not overly expensive.

[rayne315]

it entirely depends on your price point and what you want it to do. if you want something cheap and durable without any bells and whistles and no communication ability I would highly recommend Skull Candy. they come in ear buds for like $10-15 on ear headphones for like $30-35 and over the ear headphones for $40-50. as far as durability I have never had any break one me (I take good care of my ear buds) but they do wear out over time (every 1.5-2 years I get a new pair of Ear buds). I don't care about sound quality and can not tell the difference between the tv sound and the ear bud sound so its good enough for me.

If you want something that is chat capable with great sound quality and possible sound customization I would recommend pretty much any over the ear headset from the Turtle Beach Ear Force series (there is a bunch of different ones that you can pick from for your personal use). they run anywhere from $50 to $300 with more bells and whistles the more you spend. I have a Pair of Earfoce Delta's from COD MW3 and I love them. they are an absolute pain in the ass to set up properly and you need additional cables to hook it to the ps4 but you can set up specific channels to improve things like background noise (I set them up to be able to increase the sound of things like footsteps and reloading and reduce the sound of bullets and grenades from back when I was competitive in shooters) generally though anymore I have the sound of my game running through my Delta's and my skullcandys in my ears to listen to music while I play games.

I have never owned any specifically for pc but turtle beach will have something for what you want.

If you plan on having hour plus long gaming session though I would highly discourage any on ear head phones. I owned a pair of Turtle Beach Earforce PLa's so me and my fiancé could both chat to others whie I was playing online but they will give you a headache after 10-15minutes of use. the more padding and less pressure on your head the better for longer times playing. I can wear my Delta's for 6-8 hour play sessions with no issue.

Also if you plan on getting an expensive set I highly recommend going to a gaming store and seeing if they have any used. you can save 40-70% off the price by buying used.

just a quick check seems like a Turtle Beach EarForce Stealth 600 would be a good one for $90, mic capable and gives surround sound quality.

[eyesoffiction]

Thanks for responding, I've not had any experience with Turtle Beach but I'd be willing to give them a try.

I'll see what my local gamestop has to offer, I've seen a few there but haven't paid any mind to what brand they are.

[badATchaos]

I use Logitech's G430 headphones at work. I liked them enough to buy a pair for myself at home.  If you bother to download Logitech's drivers they can emulate 7.1 surround. It's not the best but its the thought that counts.

[marvelvscapcom2]

It mostly depends on your price range and your main usages for the headset.    

 Although some people say gaming headsets are good for music and casual usage. A real audiophile or even a casual listener will notice that music sounds pretty high end heavy on a pair of gaming headsets and little echo heavy as gaming headsets are more for surround audio and hearing the patter of footsteps and the very slight nuances of the games enviroment to help people playing competitive shooters.  While a music headset will have more low end and better bass, drums and be better for most forms of music. 

To find a happy medium i'd go with a durable, tried and true pair of Sony or JBL which have pretty good high end for the price range but also have a mic dongle included in the wire (usually)  even though those mics aren't nearly as good as a gaming sets mic. They get the job done and of course will make your casual YouTube and especially music endeavors for gaming soundtracks (even 16 bit masterpieces) sound gorgeous and orchestral.

So it depends a lot of what you are looking for.  If you think you will be listening to music more and only playing games casually with them and for basic chat features with your friends.  You'd want a music orientated pair of headphones like JBL, Monster or Sony.   Which are amazing for music due to their spectrum of low and high end.  But if you want more of a surrounded virtual reality feel for competitive gaming and see yourself playing a lot of competive games and mostly chatting in lobbies and parties.  I'd say get a gaming headset which while not amazing for music or casual stuff will do the job and also be amazing for gaming.   

Here are some options that I love and have owned.

For gaming you can't go wrong with the Razer Kraken.  Loved by tons of let's play gamers, streamers, the twitch community and everyone in between.  They are colorful, bold, and very affordable and act as an amazing entry level gaming headset for the casual gamer and also have decent low end and trebel.  Ive owned mine for years and would never word against them.  Very comfortable for long play sessions as well.  Razer has many headsets for a great price and I swear by them in most accesories for gaming related usage including keyboards.  .

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/razer-kraken-7-1-v2-wired-gaming-headset-black/6136302.p?skuId=6136302&cmp=RMX&extStoreId=343&ref=212&loc=1&ksid=82778e0c-f87c-4cf2-a6d5-7fc91348129c&ksprof_id=8&ksaffcode=pg199095&ksdevice=c&lsft=ref:212,loc:2




For Music and more multi media purposes i'd say JBL is one of the best headphones ive owend. I have tried from the JVC to skull candy and sony and monster, beats ect.. but none have quite given me the ambiance of a JBL set. Not exactly cheap like a 20 dollar JVC or such and would certainly be a investment but definitely a more premium and great headset for run and to have as your daily driver.  JBL's seem to not mud down too much on Low end like a monster but also seem to capture perfect low end and high end distribution. I have used them for gaming and find them to capture the perfect high end balance for competitive gaming enough to hear your enviroment well but of course the mic isn't as good as it's typically not a filtered large forward facing mic like a gaming headset would have.   Sony is a great alternative for a cheaper price.  A good sony set can be around 60-100 at most retailers for great quality (usually over ear).  I'd say shop around and test them if friends own them or at the store testing areas

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/jbl-everest-710-wireless-over-the-ear-headphones-mountain-silver/5840127.p?skuId=5840127



In fairness we are talking a decent chunk of change with JBL, sony will be slightly cheaper but of course JBL is a premium audiphile quality headphone set that will be amazing for your audio and gaming enjoyment equally. A headset is something you use almost every day for media purposes so sometimes the investment is worth it.  Truly an amazing company in the world of audio.   


Beats are ebola.


I hope this helps. I'm sure amazon or other places will have much cheaper on the same headphones but of course maybe without the same warranty and leisure. .     

[hawk767]

If you just want a headset with a mic I'd imagine anything with decent reviews should be fine, most of those sets all have similar sound quality. I haven't used anything with the "surround sound" features since one of the early Razer headsets that had virtual surround and they were terrible. Anything else that lands in the headset range around the $100 mark is going to be similar sound quality wise, just check reviews for decent mics.

I've used plain stereo headphones for a while now and would never go back to "gaming" branded headsets. If you are listening to music these are definitely the way to go and plenty are more than affordable if you check out different audiophile lists based on price. I've personally owned Audiotechnica M50s and they were great, paired with a soundcard or just straight into your mobo they provide great sound a good bass, they aren't the best set you can get and have competition at the price point but I enjoyed them. Getting into anything pricier and you'll be looking at wanting/needing some sort of desktop amp to power them so if money is a worry as you mentioned then sticking to that $100 range should work fine. If you went the stereo headphone route as well you'd want to get a mic which would either mean a modmic clip, or getting a desktop mic, I've had a Blue Snowball for a few years and its also worked great, though I have the space on my desk for it.

[justin8301]

The Arctics 7 from Steelseries is on sale for $99 right now.. Great price for a pretty decent headset.


https://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-Lag-Free-Wireless-Headset-Headphone/dp/B01LYNEIEI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513657096&sr=8-1&keywords=arctis+7

[saijinspooker]

I've mainly used Turtle Beach headphones and have been very happy with them. I never get the top of the range expensive ones and usually stick to the cheaper / mid-range ones, yet the sound is great for what I wan't and my friends say the sound quality from the mic is pretty good too.

The ones I have at the moment are the X12 which I picked up in a second hand shop for a tenner. I think a new pair aren't that much more though.

[davifus]

Preferred
- Get a Modmic 4/5
- Get any decent audiophile headphone [Audio-Technica ATH-M50x a good choice]

Budget
- Buy a gaming headphone [Turtle Beach, Steel Series, Etc Etc]