Best Gaming headset for $200?

[I Am The Table]

Hi all,

Currently looking for a new gaming headset in the $200 range. I don't have the money at the time of writing this, but my birthday is in a few of weeks and I am speculating that I'll be getting some cash. I like to listen to music a lot at loud volumes, as well as playing games online where voice chat is pretty much mandatory. I'm currently leaning towards the Sennheiser PC 363D, but it's humungous price of $250 is making me hesitant. Drop your opinions here, but I do have a few requests if someone is going to offer their suggestion:

-Nothing from Turtlebeach. Please. I currently have a Turtle Beach Atlas whose subwoofer drive has loosened up to the point where the right subwoofer rattles audibly when I play music at loud volumes. I got it to replace an X11 because it made an audible hissing noise that I got sick and tired of (according to their support page, it seems that's an obvious defect with that series of headsets). Their support is also kind of sub-par in my opinion. You can't return headsets unless if you have the receipt, you can only get support if it becomes defective in it's very limited one-year warranty, there's no live chat, and no customer support line, which leaves people with nothing but troubleshooting FAQs, and email. Since I lost my receipt for my Atlas headset, I'm pretty much S.O.L. So, Turtlebeach is blacklisted.

-Tritton is just as bad from what I've heard, so nothing from them either.

-The Kingston HyperX Cloud headsets look like they fit my budget as of right now, but I've heard through the grapevine that it doesn't provide the surround sound capabilities that I'm looking for, and the microphone quality isn't quite on par with what I currently have. I don't mind if someone recommends them, but I'm probably not going to get something from Kingston in the end.



So.... what's your suggestions?

 

[ssddx]

the pc363d is based on the hd555/595 headphones sennheiser used to have. i'd consider it rather overpriced for what you get compared with headphone options but as far as sound quality is concerned it does well. be mindful that there is not much bass response and they are a bit more cool sounding than warm.

the hxc is good in its price class (under $100) but is not as good as headphones in the $200 bracket. avoid the hxc2 if you want the soundcard as the soundcard is bugged and doesnt work right.

are you looking for virtual surround capabilities? (do you have a soundcard or motherboard which already supports this?)

i'm thinking you may be better off getting a hd598 $150 paired up with a modmic add on microphone $50 and if need be using a cheap soundcard like a xonar DG $27 if you wanted virtual surround but did not have it already built in (or if you had issues with your onboard sound like static/crackling and wanted to fix that).

the hd598 is a very neutral sounding headphone. clean, crisp sound without being overly sharp or sibilant. fair mid bass, no sub level bass. wide soundstage and good positional audio (even without virtual surround). no need for an amplifier. this may not please bassheads, but most others it will. to compare it to the pc363d, slightly better audio capabilities and a bit more bass presence. the hd558 is cheaper, almost as good but has slightly less soundstaging and a bit more bass.

the modmic is the most popular add-on boom microphone used with headphones. while a bit pricey for a small mic, it has good quality. there are tests on youtube you can listen to for recordings.

 

[TheBigRedTank]

I would recommend the Astro A40's i've heard nothing but good about them and they support freq. up to 21000 hz

 

[I Am The Table]

-snip-

I agree, the Sennheiser option does seem a little bit pricey, but from what I've heard they (correct me if I'm wrong) offer quality products and not some cheap, plastic "fashonista" type of product like Skullcandy or Beats.

I'm feeling conflicted about the HyperX because, again, it's said that it doesn't provide the surround sound capabilities as the other options, but if one can simply perceive where sound is coming from while wearing them, and if the microphone quality sounds acceptable in my opinion, I might purchase it soon and try it out and if I don't like 'em, I'll return them.

As far as virtual surround sound is concerned, I have an Asus Z97-A mobo, which has Crystal Sound 2. I do believe it supports Virtual Sound.

At this point, the HD598 has a more reasonable price for the quality from what it looks like, I might end up going for that and grabbing the modmic. I particularly listen to Metallica, Megadeth, and other thrash metal bands (where in my opinion bass doesn't quite matter that much, but if you listen to songs like Orion and Dawn Patrol, you might hear otherwise) but I do want to be able to perceive the bass guitar. I'm not much into the whole "basshead" thing though (my ears would probably explode from that stuff xD)

Question about the modmic though - Does it secure well with the HD598 so that I won't have to worry about it falling off any time in the future?

 

[ssddx]

just about anything is better than skullcandy and beats so that doesnt say much. sennheiser quality might not be the best in class for the price but it is not bad and as far as audio quality is concerned is comparable to other options for the money. i will say that the gaming headsets they offer are overpriced (but this is true with the mmx300 and adg1 which are other headphone-company headsets. all of them are certainly good products, but for the cash its possible to do better.

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no set of headphones provides a surround experience. all headphones are 2.0 stereo only and must use virtual surround if they are to provide a semblance of surround. keep in mind that over 90% of all surround sound "gaming headsets" also use virtual surround which is created from a soundcard inside them. only the multi-driver units such as the trittons have true headphone surround and even this is really quite different from true speaker surround plus because they have smaller drivers sound quality may be less than units with bigger higher quality drivers.

if you want surround, i would just keep virtual as an option though chances are you wont need to use it.

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what makes the hd598 so popular is that it has performance right down the middle and doesnt need an amp.

the modmic base attaches to headphones using a stick on pad with nubs for angle adjustment. the microphone itself attaches to this pad with a magnet so is removeable if need be (the pad stays on the headphones but is removable if you decide you no longer want to use the mic on them)

 

[ssddx]

@gamepicer

if you had read the original op's post:

-Nothing from Turtlebeach. Please........So, Turtlebeach is blacklisted.