The SteelSeries Arctis 1 and Arctis 1 Wireless were loose enough for me to shake off; they also had shallow, itchy, creaky earcups that sounded flat and lacked bass. We've tested hundreds of gaming laptops, keyboards, mice, and other essentials to make your PC gaming experience even more immersive and enjoyable. The Cloud Alpha struggled slightly with highs, and some dialogue in Hellblade sounded too sharp in our 2018 tests. The Best Gaming Headsets for 2020.

Budget picks: Corsair HS60 Pro and Corsair HS50 Pro, The best open-back headset: Audio-Technica ATH-PDG1, The best wireless headset: HyperX Cloud Flight S, open-back Audio-Technica ATH-PDG1 headset, our picks for 6-foot and 10-foot Micro-USB cables, Logitech G Pro X Gaming Headset with Blue Voice, HyperX Cloud Alpha Review: An Excellent Sub-$100 Gaming Headset, What’s the Difference Between Virtual and “True” Surround Sound Gaming Headsets, Corsair HS60 Pro Surround Gaming Headset Review: Mid-Priced Master, The Best AV Gear for Console and PC Gamers. (If you need a wireless headset for Xbox, we recommend the HyperX CloudX Flight.). The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 headset had itchy, creaky-sounding earpads and wasn’t comfortable for glasses wearers.

Offering audio quality and design similar to that of the Cloud Stinger, the Cloud Flight sounded harsher, failed to handle high-density audio well, and felt uncomfortable for our largest-headed tester. The right earcup has a volume wheel that’s easy to find and use, but it spins endlessly and indicates you’ve reached maximum volume only by beeping. A good gaming headset delivers rich sound to really get you into the game and an integrated microphone so you can trash talk your opponents. This is seriously the most comfortable gaming headset with memory foam in the ear pads and on the head strap. In our tests, it was effective at cancelling background noises, and it dampened the sound of typing on a mechanical keyboard a little better, but it also made my voice sound stuffy and a bit more muffled. (If you need a wireless headset for Xbox, we recommend the HyperX CloudX Flight.). The ATH-PDG1 does have shallower earcups, with only a thin layer of fabric covering the hard plastic grill and housing, which can be uncomfortable at first.

The soft leather that goes over your head makes you feel like you are wearing a very small and lightweight pillow.

The HyperX Cloud Alpha S is similar to the Cloud Alpha but has (unnecessary) extras like bass sliders and USB surround sound. And a handful of in-ear gaming headsets exist, but we found them terrible sounding and uncomfortable. Jaybird vs. And even though they’re huge and on the heavier side at 13.2 ounces with the mic attached, every tester found them comfortable enough for longer gaming sessions due to the headband design.

It’s particularly uncomfortable if you wear earrings, which act as a conductor. Most gaming headsets have a closed-back design, where a seal on the back of each earcup blocks out background noise and prevents sound from leaking out of the headphones. The open-back design also gives the ATH-PDG1 a more open and airier soundstage than that of the Cloud Alpha. The Sennheiser GSP 370 sounded great, and the company claims 100 hours of battery life (which we weren’t able to test), but two of our testers found the clamping force and split headband to be uncomfortable. Both have a 1.8-meter non-removable 3.5 mm cable, which means if the cable breaks, you have to replace the whole headset, not just the cable. The flexible aluminum frame is still sturdy, the replaceable earpads don’t show any signs of wear or degradation, the bendy mic still holds its shape, and the braided cable prevents kinking and tangling better than the plain rubber cables on other headsets. The sound and bass is not compromised to make these comfortable either, which is always a plus. Sades SA-928 Professional Gaming Headset, 5. On top of that, the Cloud Alpha S is PC compatible only. When plugged in via USB, the HS60 Pro supports the Corsair iCUE software, where you can toggle between stereo and virtual surround and tweak the equalizer to your liking. In Overwatch, footsteps frequently triggered the haptics.

The HyperX Cloud Core is less expensive than the Cloud Alpha but doesn’t sound as good. This makes it hard to tell when you’re muted.

The combination of comfort and sound quality is rare at this price, and the removable 3.5 mm cable means the headset will work with nearly any console or device. The Cloud Flight S has a ton of buttons to control its myriad features. If you don’t play multiplayer games with voice chat, you should buy a good pair of headphones instead. Antlion Audio’s ModMics are separate microphones you can attach to a pair of headphones you already own. In our tests, the HP Omen Mindframe produced muddy, chaotic sound that made it difficult for us to distinguish between ranges, especially vocals.

Weighing just 8.8 ounces with the mic attached, the Audio-Technica ATH-PDG1 is the lightest of our picks, and its headband evenly distributes that weight. Other headsets, like the Corsair HS50 Pro and HyperX Cloud Flight S, place the controls on their earcups, and finding those controls without being able to see them can take some practice. Our testers in 2018 and 2020 consistently rated the HyperX Cloud Alpha as one of the most comfortable headsets in our test group. And the integrated mic means you’ll have to replace both the cable and mic if one or the other breaks, though the headset comes with an additional 1.2-meter cable that has a smaller in-line mic for smartphones, as well as a 2-meter extension cable with a Y-splitter. There are no angular colored outlines or edgy graphics; the HS50 Pro is plain black, and the HS60 Pro is black with minimal yellow stitching. We eliminated headsets that sounded too inaccurate or unpleasant. The headset shakes based on bass response, which feels more distracting than helpful. The most immersive soundstage: The Razer Nari Essential is a wireless headset with an impressively large soundstage that helped games feel more immersive and made it easier for me to pinpoint the direction of enemies in Overwatch. More sound escapes the open-back earcups of the ATH-PDG1 than with the Cloud Alpha, though less than on other open-back headsets like the Sennheiser Game One. And a claimed 16 hours of battery life puts it well behind the Cloud Flight S’s 30 hours. VersionTECH Gaming Over-Ear Headset Headband with Mic, 15 Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones Under $100 in 2020, 15 Best Headphones Under $200 in 2020 – An Audiophile’s Guide, 15 Best Bluetooth Headphones for Running 2020 – Buyer’s Guide, 15 Best Headphones for Airplane Travel 2020 – Complete Guide, 15 Best Earbuds for Working Out 2020 – The Definitive Guide, Most Durable Earbuds 2020: No More Broken Earbuds. Though the deep, soft leatherette earpads can get warm during a long session, they have a large opening for ears of different sizes, and they provided a great seal for us. The HS60 Pro comes with a short USB dongle that you can plug into the end of the 3.5 mm cable to add virtual surround sound when using the headset with a PC. The few reviews on Amazon for each model suggest reliability problems.

But it has a smaller soundstage than the Cloud Alpha, and it’s flimsier. The Gold is not as universally comfortable as the Cloud Alpha or Cloud Flight S, nor does it sound as good, but its deep integration with the PS4 and added features still make it a good fit. But it usually costs roughly a third more than the Cloud Alpha, and it doesn’t sound quite as good. Although both of these Corsair headsets have firmer headbands and tighter clamping force than the Cloud Alpha, they are highly adjustable and considerably more comfortable to wear for long periods than any other headset under $50. *At the time of publishing, the price was $95. We don’t recommend using the virtual surround sound feature since it adds artificial reverb and makes everything sound worse. If you prefer to hear your surroundings while gaming—maybe you’re waiting for a package—or if you run hot and need a more breathable headset, get the open-back Audio-Technica ATH-PDG1. Over the past few years, we’ve tested over 100 gaming headsets from a wide variety of companies. But the Nari Essential has a much worse microphone that picked up more background noise than the Cloud Flight S, gave me a bit of a lisp, and picked up my breathing no matter where I positioned the mic. Weighing 1 pound 2 ounces with the microphone, the Asus ROG Theta Electret was the heaviest headset we tested.

It felt extremely heavy and uncomfortable, and it lacks basic features such as audio controls and a detachable cable.