Playing the latest and greatest games on one of the world’s best gaming headsets is a sure fire way to improve your gaming sessions. It gives you better audio for a more immersive game, a more comfortable fit for less distractions over longer sessions, and a clearer microphone so teammates can hear you better, giving you a greater chance of winning overall.
The Epos H3Pro emerges as a solid player among the best of the best gaming headsets.
Comfortable ear cup and headband padding means you’re never pulled out of the game, too, and with a decent microphone, you’ll not only eliminate the background noise around you, but your voice will come through clearer too, helping your teammates understand you better and giving your team a better chance of winning.
Whether you prefer a wireless headset or don’t mind wires, need something affordable, or don’t mind splashing the cash for something more premium, picking from this selection of top gaming headsets will guarantee you a great sound. PC plays can pair it up with one of the best gaming mice and best gaming keyboards to really complete their gaming experience.
Best Buy
Who it’s for: Console, PC, and mobile gamers, who want a quality wireless headset with a comfortable fit.
SteelSeries has long been one of the top players in the gaming accessories world, and for good reason. The SteelSeries Arctis 7 is a well-balanced headset that offers a sleek design, extremely comfortable fit and wireless connectivity (only on PS4, PS5 and PC; cable required elsewhere) that should retain a good connection for the length of your gaming session. The headset has a hefty 24-hour battery life too.
The SteelSeries iconic sound is widely lauded, and the Arctis 7+ is a great example of that. It builds on the original Arctis 7 legacy with improved audio, a great microphone and lengthy battery life. It maintains SteelSeries’ classic comfort too, with the ski-goggle style headband fitting a wide variety of head sizes snugly. It’s a little bass heavy, but that can be tweaked in SteelSeries settings application, with a range of EQ options to suit every taste.
The underlying metal frame means there’s no creaking when you turn your head. If you want a different style of earcup or a replacement after yours start to wear out, SteelSeries has a few aftermarket options you can choose from to increase the life or personalization of your Arctis 7 headset.
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Best Buy
Who it’s for: Console and PC gamers who want a quality wired gaming headset at an affordable price.
Razer’s BlackShark V2 gaming headset upgrades the original design in a number of important ways, making it one of the best gaming headsets you can buy today, and easily the best wired headset under $100. It packs powerful triforce titanium 50mm drivers in each earcup, allowing for individual tuning of the highs, mids and lows for better sound. It also has a super comfortable design with gel-cushioned earcups and virtual 7.1 surround sound for immersive movies and gaming.
You can tweak the sound through Razer’s Synapse 3 cloud based software, which makes it easy to customize your headset’s sound, as well as carry that profile with you. Just plug in, download, and off you go.
It’s also available in a variety of colors, so if you don’t like the classic Razer black and green, you can opt for bright yellow and blue, or even white versions too. If you’re happy to spend a little more, there’s also a wireless version well worth considering.
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Best Buy
Who it’s for: Those who want a premium audio experience, but don’t mind having a wired tether.
The DAC-less, far more affordable alternative to the SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless, the standard Arctis Pro is still the best wired headset you can buy and it’s now at a much more competitive price. It enjoys high-quality, hi-res speaker drivers which deliver a rich sound for music, games and movies, with twice the frequency range of most gaming headsets.
The comfort of the Arctis Pro is not to be sniffed at, either. It incorporates a ski-goggle-style headband that is both form-fitting, and supportive—great for a wide range of head shapes and sizes. The earcups too are heavily padded, and with the lightweight steel and aluminum frame, it fits comfortably on your head and doesn’t creak when you turn.
The ClearCast microphone is Discord Certified and provides incredibly clear audio for your teammates, so they’ll never miss a call from you again. That goes hand-in-hand with the SteelSeries ChatMix dial which lets you tune the mix of game audio and voice communications with friends and foes alike. That way, you can turn up your game audio when playing alone and focus more on your teammates when that’s more important.
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Best Buy
Compatibility: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Mobile, and PC
Who it’s for: Gamers on a tight budget who don’t want to sacrifice on sound quality.
The second generation of Astro A10 gaming headset builds on its predecessor’s successes and introduces a few of its own, making it easily one of the best budget gaming headsets you can buy in 2022.
The Astro A10 Gen 2 headset is extremely lightweight and flexible, with a twistable headband that you won’t find on almost any other headset. That makes it durable and incredibly portable—perfect for throwing in your bag to take to LAN parties and the like. Despite this extremely lightweight design, though, it doesn’t feel flimsy. It’s very much so plastic, and you’ll get a little creaking as you turn after heavy use, but this feels much higher quality than its price tag would suggest.
Sound quality is solid too, and the microphone is clear whether you’re screaming at your enemies or politely cajoling your teammates.
It connects to your devices with a 3.5mm connection, so you can quickly jump between consoles, your PC or your phone, and it comes with a splitter cable for PCs, so you can split into headphone/microphone jacks if you need.
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Best Buy
Who it’s for: Gamers who want the best of the best and are willing to pay for it.
Gamers with a little more money to burn won’t find much better than the Epsos H3PRO Hybrid Wireless gaming headset. It combines amazing audio quality with supreme comfort, in a wireless package sporting all of the latest connection standards. It can connect over 2.4GHz wireless using the included dongle, or Bluetooth 5.2, or both at the same time, letting you mix and match simultaneous audio streams, or have one for chat and one for gaming.
The battery life lasts just under 20 hours from a full charge, but that can be stretched to almost 30 hours if you use the 3.5mm connection. The impressive active noise cancelling on this headset makes it great for noisier environments like LAN parties, but know that that will knock a few hours off of the battery life.
There are dual microphones on this headset, on a detachable boom arm, giving you both the ANC and excellent pickup for your own voice. The magnetic connection on the boom arm is quick and easy for swapping the headset around, too.
The backend software is detailed and comprehensive as well, giving you plenty of options for different audio profiles, and the special Smart Button makes it quick and easy to select between them.
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Best Buy
Who it’s for: Primarily PlayStation gamers, be they on PS4 or PS5, though it works fantastically well on other systems too.
If the Arctis Pro Wireless is too much for you, the SteelSeries Arctis 7P is less than half the price, but still delivers solid wireless sound. Designed to work with both PS4 and PS5, the Arctis 7P features the same steel frame (decked out in a slick blue-on-white colorway) and high-quality retractable microphone. You’ll also get better battery on a single charge at 24 hours, but you’ll need to recharge it with a cable.
With standard 40mm SteelSeries drivers, you won’t get the same level of sound the much more expensive option provides, but they get close enough. Besides, if you’re on PS5, you’re still getting a headset compatible with Sony’s Tempest 3D Audio, which heightens the realism of spatial audio in supported games. SteelSeries includes a USB-C dongle in the box that makes it compatible with Android devices, PC and Nintendo Switch, too.
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Walmart
Who’s it for: Xbox gamers who want a super comfortable headset to take their gaming to the next level.
SteelSeries’ Artis 9X wireless is one of its high-end gaming headsets and it’s targeted directly at Xbox gamers. It combines stellar wireless reception and range with a powerful battery life and excellent audio quality for an absolute dream of a gaming headset. It’s comfortable, looks great and even has a decent microphone. There’s very little not to like about this gaming headset.
Whether you have a cutting edge Xbox Series X, a last-generation Xbox One, or want to switch between console and PC, the Artis 9X headset is a great fit as it has full support for multiple generations of Xbox console, as well as mobile and PC. The combination of 2.4Ghz wireless and Bluetooth support makes it quick and easy to switch between different systems and devices, too.
Battery life is around 20 hours, so more than enough for a long gaming session, and it quickly recharges over USB, so you’ll likely have a range of compatible chargers in your home already. Like other SteelSeries headsets, this one also features the supremely comfortable ski-goggle-style headband, which fits to all sorts of head shapes and is replaceable if you want a different look or it wears after some time.
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Amazon
Who it’s for: Xbox and PC gamers who want the best sound-quality possible for playing games and listening to pumping soundtracks.
Bang and Olufsen is a premium speaker and headphone manufacturer, so it’s perhaps no surprise that its first foray into Xbox gaming headsets is the most expensive one on this list. At $500, you would expect a premium audio experience, and the Beoplay Portal certainly delivers—though there are more affordable headsets which get pretty close.
Where they can’t compete, however, is in the overall fit, look and feel of the Portal headset, which has a fantastic build quality and a supremely comfortable fit. It supports the latest AAC and aptX audio codecs when operating over Bluetooth, and enjoys full support for Microsoft’s Xbox Wireless system. Dolby Atmos adds depth to all supporting games and movies, and battery life can last all day under the right circumstances. Active noise cancelling is a nice touch too, making this a good headset for those trying to game in noisy households.
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Logitech
Who it’s for: PC gamers who want a super comfortable, quality headset, with the added convenience of wireless.
Logitech is one of the best makers of wireless PC tech, and that reputation has only strengthened with the G Pro X Wireless. With its proprietary Lightspeed wireless protocol, the headset delivers audio with near-zero latency up to 43 feet. Logitech packs its best 50mm Pro-G drivers, which support DTS Headphone:X 2.0 surround sound positional audio. The microphone is of high quality as well, and it’s detachable. Both are customizable to find the perfect balance for your specific needs in Logitech G Hub.
The G Pro X is certainly the most stylish headset we’re featuring here. A steel headband holds a pair of matte oval cans with a brushed silver Logitech G cherry on top. The memory foam padding is generous and looks the part as well, with reviewers swearing by this headset’s comfort. The Logitech G Pro X works on PC, PS4 and PS5; not the longest list, but it’s one of the best headsets you’ll find in this range if that’s all you’re gaming on.
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Even picking from among some of the best gaming headsets can be tricky as there’s a lot of personal preference tied up in a headset. It needs to be comfortable for your head and ear shape, sound right for your type of audio preferences, and offer the kind of features that benefit you as a gamer. Whatever your personal tastes, though, here are some things to look out for when buying a new headset.
This is a difficult one as it really can depend on your ears and your personal tastes, but in general, more expensive headsets with bigger drivers usually leads to better sound quality. It’s not a pure dollar consideration though, as there are some diamonds in the rough at more affordable prices. Double check a few reviews before buying, as there are some headsets which are extremely bassy, and if that’s not a sound you like, you’ll want to look elsewhere.
Wired and wireless headsets each have their own strengths, with wired ones typically sounding that little bit better, and wireless headsets offering much more freedom for roaming around while listening to music or gaming. However, the gap in sound quality has closed significantly in recent years, making wireless headsets much more attractive.
You do still have to factor in battery life, though. While a wired headset will let you game for tens of hours without a hiccup, only some wireless headsets have battery life that will go much beyond 20 hours. Although a session of that length is rare for most, it’s still a hard wall you’ll hit if you don’t want to game with any wires attached.
If you own just one gaming device, you can get away with highly specialized options like the Logitech G Pro X, which is one of the best available but only works with PC and PlayStation. As a general rule of thumb, wireless headsets tend to work on either Xbox or PlayStation, but not both. Planning to play on multiple consoles and mobile? Make sure the one you’re getting can easily move between everything you own.
Microphone quality is super important for multiplayer games, and making sure it has good noise cancelling can be paramount if you game in noisy environments. You’ll also want to look out for whether it’s retractable or removable and whether it can be replaced in the case of damage.
Some headsets even come with dual microphones for their onboard active noise cancelling, so look out for that if a focused gaming experience is something you prioritize.
A headset can make you feel like you’ve traveled through time and space to the very setting of whichever content you’re consuming, but that doesn’t mean much if you can’t stand to wear it more than an hour. As a general rule, over the ear headphones can make your ears and head hot compared to in ear or on-ear alternatives.
For most gaming headsets, you’ll get better sound quality if you spend more, but there are diminishing returns. A $50 headset won’t sound as good as most $100 ones, but if that latter option is wireless, sound quality might be closer than you expect.
Likewise once you get over $200 you’re paying for brands of specialist audiophile features, although if you have a particularly discerning ear, they may be worth paying for. Most gaming headsets from reputable manufacturers sound great no matter the cost, especially with many using the very same drivers as the costlier upgrades, just dropping a few quality of life features to cut costs. Much of the difference in cost for gaming headsets is attributed to material and build quality, extra features and wireless connectivity.
This can vary quite widely. Some pro gamers wear headsets that are their favorite, whereas others wear a headset because it’s part of a sponsorship deal. Some pro gamers who primarily stream by themselves or compete in solo games actually wear headphones instead of headsets.
For the most part though, pro gamers wear the same mix of mid-tier to high-end gaming headsets that are available to the general public. These include the likes of the Steelseries Arctis Pro, Sennheiser HD 650 and HyperX Cloud Alpha.
It depends on which Razer headset you’re interested in. The Razer brand is synonymous with gamer gear and that includes headsets, with some of its most popular options offering excellent sound quality and a comfortable fit.
Razer’s most popular gaming headset in 2022 is the Razer BlackShark V2, which offers strong sound quality and excellent comfort. Whether you have a limited budget and need a more affordable headset or want to spend hundreds of dollars on a high-end set, Razer’s range of gaming headsets offers something for everyone.
