I need headphone/mic recommendations for gaming before I rip my hair out
Hi, Tildes!
I'm being pressed to pick a present for myself (around 100€) and it happens the headphones I use for gaming at home (HyperX Cloud II) are starting to fall apart after several years of use. Whenever I buy tech, I usually spend a long time researching with the goal of finding the highest price-quality ratio for my budget, something that would last me a long time without glaring issues; but I've been having trouble doing that in this case.
I often hear from audiophiles that gaming headphones are generally overpriced for their quality - something I can definitely imagine - and that you should try and go for a good headset with a separate mic. But despite my searching, I haven't seen anyone actually recommend any specific combo of headset and mic that fit my budget. If I may say, I'm also somewhat starting to doubt the advice of audiophiles: I've seen threads of people saying they didn't sense a difference in audio quality between their gaming headphones and the new audiophile headphones they were recommended, or even that they found it to be worse, and the response was that they'll get used to it or that they just have a bad ear (said a lot more aggressively than how I'm paraphrasing), which is making me think it's more of a subjective difference. Then again, I'm not very well educated about audio!
What I need is a pair with surround sound, appropriate quality for the price point, that will last me a long time and without mandatory crappy software associated. This is for gaming, enjoying music and general use (I've been meaning to pick up some music production casually but this is very much secondary). For the mic, I just need something decent that won't be a pain to listen to for my friends on call and that doesn't cut me out when I laugh or whistle as my current mic does (sometimes someone tells me a joke and then doesn't hear my reaction at all and I feel very bad about that). Preferably one that doesn't take too much space on my desk but I have no scale of that, so I won't be picky about it. (EDIT: to be clear, it can be an attached mic, desktop mic, whatever mic, so long as it works!)
Before considering the headphone + mic combo idea, I was looking at the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 or Logitech G PRO X because both were recommendations I saw, but the former has a fairly bad mic and the latter forces you to use G HUB, which pains me. What is there that's better for this usage?
Thanks in advance!
A €100 budget for two separate quality devices is a bit tight. I'd expect that to be two middling devices or one good one.
My own setup is an Audiotechnica ATH-M50x for the headset and an Audiotechnica AT2020 for the mic. Both not super expensive on their own and both being able to punch a bit above their weight. The combined price is a bit north of €200 but an idea might be to get them separately, if at all possible.
The philosophy being that an audio headset should be used for listening, and a microphone for recording. A device that combines them will not match the performance.
Thing is, how much performance do you need? You're saying your headset is falling apart but were you disappointed by its quality? If not, get something similar. Other people saying gaming headsets are mid shouldn't change your experience of the product. Does it suffice? Get another!
Great mic, and I personally use it for gaming myself as well sometimes. However, I do think depending on mic placement, that a dynamic mic sounds better for gaming like the Shure sm58 or Rode Podmic. If you are wanting a condenser though, another option that is a bit cheaper is the Samson C01. Although, with all of these options (including the AT2020), they are XLR so would require an audio interface bumping up the price
The AT2020 actually has both USB and XLR options! It's a bit more versatile that way.
The Rode podmic is another good suggestion in the same price range that punches above its weight.
I did not realize, but am not surprised there is a USB version of the AT2020, as I only have the XLR version (well technically I have the AT2020v, but the only difference is that it is silver not black). Having a USB version would make sense for most people though, which makes it probably a better fit for Trobador. Also, with Trobador showing interest in music production, the AT2020 is a great mic, I have used mine on vocals, acoustic guitar, and grand piano.
I have not personally used the Rode Podmic, but I know a friend who bought it for his gaming mic, and he knows audio really well and has a good mic collection so probably a really solid mic if he went out and bought it.
The podmic is similarly placed to the AT2020 in both price and performance and doing even a cursory search on microphones will show you the ever dominating (but expensive) Shure SM7B, or the Rode Podmic and AT2020 as suggestions. The distinguishing factor being Dynamic versus Condenser as you pointed out.
I almost sprung for the Rode but having more Audiotechnica equipment already I felt it was more satisfying to keep it the same and get the AT2020 to round it out. Quality was never the reason I didn't choose the Rode Podmic.
Yeah, I knew the podmic was similarly priced to the AT2020 and sm58. As an aside, the Shure SM7b is a fantastic mic, but also not the perfect mic for all situations. I think it has kind of become the mic that content creators gravitate towards to signal that they have "made it." I think people have been sleeping on Electrovoice with the Variable-D on their mics, which is really nice in certain circumstances.
The SM7B has this legendary status through its radio legacy. It's really good at that specific function and the gold standard for that entire industry. You're right that creators tend to go for the clout the mic brings but admittedly it's miles better than most other microphones regardless. With an uneducated guess that microphone is probably the right choice.
Yeah, definitely it has earned its reputation, and it is a beautiful sounding mic. However, part of my gripe against it is there was a podcast I enjoyed where they were using them, but I could tell that they were moving around in their seats lots since the volume was all over the place. It is a fantastic mic when placement is good, but for people who vary their mic distance a lot, going with a condenser will probably be better.
I bought the AT2020 USB before returning it and buying the XLR version and an audio interface. The USB version didn't have a good way to adjust gain like an audio interface does and for some reason it has a blinding blue LED in the mic that is extremely annoying.
I can imagine. I have the XLR version hooked up to an Elgato WaveXLR which makes volume control very simple, so I was unaware the USB model has a different build. I looked it up and it differs rather significantly. An always-on LED could be a little annoying for sure. I still think it's a good suggestion because the microphone itself is good and the USB connection makes it easy to adopt. The additional info is helpful though, OP may also dislike those features.
Since the LED was fairly in my face, I found it super annoying. I ended up going with the Behringer UMC204HD since I had read a review that showed it had a surprisingly good quality ADC for the price and it allowed me an option for an extra input should it every come up (it hasn't heh).
This is not to excuse bad product design, but you can fix blue status LEDs with a little piece of electrical tape. (Supposedly, nail polish also works if you don't want to totally black out the indicator.)
Now to convince every dumb trend-following designer the world over that blue LEDs look cheap and ugly…
I didn't see a way to reach the blue LED without disassembling parts of the mic (it was behind the metal mesh), but as I already has issues with the gain I just returned it and bought the XLR model.
Taking note of the ATH-M50x as that's the second time it's been recommended, thank you.
That's fair, and I should clarify that I'm definitely thinking of spending less on the mic than the headphones, seeing as I'm not using it for anything else than casual voice calls. What I need is simply something bearable to listen to and isn't annoying about high frequencies. I can pay the difference and go slightly above budget if absolutely needed.
That's also a fair point! I would say I was never really happy with it. I bought the Cloud II several years ago after my Logitech G430 broke, picking it primarily because I saw everyone say it was the best price-quality ratio option for gaming (apparently one of the highest selling headsets of all time?). But even back then, I wasn't super happy with its audio quality; I had to blindly play around with Peace Equalizer for a while to make it feel a bit better and even then, I still felt like it was fine but a bit of a downgrade. And also, as I mentioned, the mic has always been an issue. I want people to hear me laugh to their jokes, ideally.
By that logic, you'll say I could go back to the G430, but that had G HUB and poor build quality and I was never super happy with it either. So I do want to keep looking. Though that's not to say the headphones I do eventually get couldn't be gaming headphones anyway! As I said, the Arctis Nova 7 is still looking pretty good. All I want to know is what's the most bang I can get for my buck.
I’ll third the ATH-M50 rec. I’ve been using my current pair for nearly 10 years and my previous pair was also 10 years. I recently replaced the ear cups (I think $20 total?) and wrapped the head band in gaffer tape. But my next set is probably also gonna be ATH-M50.
I have a pair of ath-m50s and I was disappointed by them, they creak and I can hear the cable every time it moves at all... Does no one else experience this?
I sent it to AudioTechnica as they said they believed it was repairable and paid 50 dollars and when I got them back they were in exactly the same condition as when I sent them. I was pretty put off by AT at that point.
Since then I've been using some hd550 for now but the headband is nearing the end of its life (it fits much looser than the ath did).
The (original) cable I use with mine is thick enough that I don't hear it, but mine definitely do creak in some movements. Once they're seated on my head they're fine though, so it never really bothered me. The headband (on your HD550) being looser could be a bonus though - my ATH-M50's will press the arms of my glasses a little too tight over time
I definitely hear the cable when it’s off or silent, but never when it’s on. I also have ATH-M50xBT so I use the cable less often. I have never had creaking fortunately, or if I do I haven’t heard it. Senheisser is my second choice for next set depending on brand vibes.
Not directly the G430 exactly. The logic dictates that similar is an option, perhaps there are options without the software requirements. I'm not well versed enough in headset/mic combo's to give you an honest suggestion. At least not one that fits your use case.
For something out of the box you could consider Jabra. I'm aware that they do not fit your use case but they're worth mentioning either way. They're made for office work and have superb microphone quality at every price point, decent to good material and build quality, meant to comfortably stay on your head for hours in a row, but they compromise on audio quality. They're squarely aimed at voice and work related calls, not music or other audio so while the audio quality isn't terrible, it's also not great. I own a Jabra Evolve 65 through my previous work (I could keep it after I left) and I'm very happy with the unit.
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The ATH-M50x has been the go-to suggestion for entry level "audiophile" cans for years at this point. They're truly battle tested by plenty of people and will not disappoint. Audio quality is good, build quality holds up, no software requirements, replacement parts are plenty. The only downside I can find is that they're a bit heavy and I start to feel pressure on my head and ears after prolonged sessions, having glasses makes that worse. That said, they have been my main set for years and I just replaced the headband, so I intend to use them for another couple of years.
I was personally never satisfied with any gaming headsets and I don't think you're going to have a good time finding a pair of headphones and mic for that price. I tried basically every cheap headset style mic I could find and the only one that I felt was good enough was the Modmic from Antlion. That along with probably be $70+ and at that point you're approaching the price of some full on dynamic or condenser mics.
I have since moved on to using an AudioTechnica AT2020 mic that I use for both gaming and work VoIP calls, but the Modmic was solid and it was able to attach to basically every full sized over ear headphone I owned.
One of the best headphones that I've ever owned is the DT 770 Pro by Beyerdynamic. I did buy it "almost brand new"/secondhand, it came with zero issues whatsoever and has been going on strong for a good time now.
I paid around £79 for it, if I recall right. I did buy the 250 Ohm version though, but I'm sure the 80 Ohm version is equally great.
If you do end up getting it, I hope you enjoy yours as much as I still do with mine.
I can definitely agree regarding the DT 770 Pro (250Ω). I've had plenty of headphones by now, and those are absolutely the best I've had yet. The difference between my "second best" pair is somewhat astronomical, but they're definitely not perfect in terms of sound; their frequency response is a little bit "off" around the extremes compared to some slightly pricier beyerdynamic models, e.g. whatever @creesch is using right now. But, yes, they are genuinely really good.
The main negative point for OP, however, is that this particular model lacks a microphone.
DT 700 pro x are the ones I got. Slightly better cushions and less hars treble which I find more pleasant. The cable is also replaceable and they even offer one with usb c and built in microphone. No clue how good that microphone is though.
They have one downside, the head band cushion has an issue with letting go very soon.
I use mine with an audio interface and seperate microphone. But all that does fall outside OPs budget. Figured I do info drop this for other people that are curious.
I have the DT 900 Pro X models and same deal there. It's because the strip of leather glued to the band is too thin or the adhesive is too weak (or some combination of the two) and it starts stripping. It's an easy enough fix with just some off-the-shelf superglue luckily, but still annoying for a premium product.
I can work without a built-in mic, so long as I know what mic to get alongside it!
You can honestly get any mic you want. For communication purposes, you don't need anything fancy. Antlion ModMic is a great, but pricey, option because it's a boom mic you can stick onto whatever headphones you want and you won't have to worry about background noise too much. Alternatively, you can get whatever cheap microphone you want (like a Zalman clip-on or a separate condenser mic) and use software tools like EqualizerAPO or Nvidia Broadcast to make sure it's picking up what you want it to.
I heard some good things about the DT 990, so I'm taking note of the rec ; but how did you get it for £79? The listings I see for it new put it at 150€.
By the way... ohms? What does this resistance refer to? Why does it matter?
So going with higher ohms makes it harder to drive, and needs a stronger signal to get the same amount of volume. Normally, studio grade headphones tend to gravitate towards higher ohms, so that you get less electrical noise. If your headphone jack has some electrical noise, odds are that the noise is being outputted as a weak signal. The logic with higher ohms is that the electrical background noise is too weak of a signal for headphones with high ohms, so it cannot be heard
Easy, generalised answer is that higher resistances need external amplifiers, but both the 80Ω and 250Ω version won't need that (although the latter is gonna be less loud).
In the case of DT 770 specifically, IIRC the "low" and "high" resistance version are tuned differently to the 250Ω one, though. IIRC the first two have stronger bass/treble and weaker medium frequencies whereas the 250Ω version was more level across the spectrum, but I may also be remembering wrong.
But I never tried the other two versions, so idk. I only got the 250Ω version because it was the only one in my country with velvet ear thingamajiggies instead of fake leather ear thingarinos.
I bought the DT 770 Pro used - like new, that's why it was cheaper, could also just be the pricing in my region. It was last year though, so no doubt prices went up, too.
See this link for better answers as to what 250 vs 80 Ohm does. Your mileage may vary though as to what you'd enjoy. I got mine as 250 Ohm because I have an audio interface to go along with it.
Honestly I've been using the 250Ω version exclusively on laptops, phones, and tablets, without an amplifier or otherwise "dedicated" interface, and I really have no complaints anyway. Sure it's a little less loud, but configuring the system audio levels to be between 80-100% on those devices has been more than sufficient!
Hmm, my headphone's cable came with the thicker jack, not the usual 3.5mm, this is why I use the interface. Can't plug and play in most places haha.
Huh, interesting. Mine came with a 3.5mm jack that had the thicker jack screwed on top. I've unscrewed it in day 1 because I'll never need it, and I even have absolutely 0 clue where I even placed it.
To echo what @TaylorSwiftsPickles said, you should be able to unscrew it and get a smaller jack.
Can't give any headset recommendations, but in my experience separate headphones and mic setups are less likely to need software and provide better value.
It sounds like your use-case is a desk setup, which means cabled stuff could be an option.
Might be slightly out of budget, but something like Grado SR60X and a Samson Meteor could be good.
Look out for used stuff too, microphones are a solved problem (Shure SM58 have been the industry standard for over 50 years) and they don't really go wrong.
Can get some used deals on headphones too, old Beyerdynamic DT770 (industry standard since the 90s) and replacement ear cushions and it'll feels like new. I've had a pair for almost 15 years and they still sound great.
It is slightly over your budget at $169, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Drop EPOS PC38X. I'd consider those the gold standard for gaming headphones with a mic. Made by Sennheiser. They work super well, and I've had them for years.
Thanks for the link. I have never heard of this headset but it looks great, and it's open-back which is one of the main features I am looking for in a headset.
I have a cheap steelseries that I bought for a teams headset primarliy. The Arctis 3. Other attendees sometimes comment on how clear my audio is. I think a lot of that is due to a boom mic, as over ear or earbud mics are by necessity nowhere near your head mounted audio output.
I use a combination of Airpods Max, and Senn HD 600 for my music listening, and it's clearly inferior to that class of headphone for listening.
My son has one of the Steelseries XBox specific ones, the Arctis Nova 7X and it's pretty good too, we chat online sometimes using them. Audio quality is better with that.
Both Steelseries have a custom cable for the 3.5mm audio jack at the headphone end, and that's something I don't like.
Can't comment on your surround sound requirement. Not something I've dabbled in at all.
I've only heard good things about the Arctis Nova 7, which is good. I did find the mic quality to be lacking when I watched a review of it, though; how do you think the mic quality compares between your son's model and your Arctis 3?
Not OP, but I own and use an Arctis Nova 7. My DnD party made a comment about how remarkably better my audio sounded when I got it. I haven't had any issues with random disconnects, it's a pretty stable connection. That said, my range that I can walk away from my PC with my headset on and still have it work isn't nearly as good as my previous headset (Logitech G930). Don't get me wrong, I'm fine in the same room. But if I go downstairs to grab a beer, it drops off about 10 ft outside the room. My G930 had no problem with that. I'm using the included USB-C adapter, I'm unsure if connecting via bluetooth would be better or worse. But about a year into it, I've been happy with the headset. I cannot comment on the steelseries software, as I don't use it.
I think mine is better actually. It could be because mine is wired, and the 7X we have is wireless. I know wireless mics can be good - I have a few pro vocal wireless systems, but in terms of gaming headsets, I think the 3 has a better one. The listening quality isn't nearly as good though.
I had the Arctis 7, and I was not happy with them. They would sometimes reboot seemingly at random, and my voice would go robotic during CPU-intensive moments. Updating the firmware didn't help for either problem.
Most Steelseries users seem to be very happy, so maybe mine were built on a Monday.
Something my wife and I have used for online gaming is a bit odd, but works really well: standalone lapel mics, standalone headphones (IEMs in our case), and a mic-and-headphones-to-headset adapter. No special software needed, standard connectors, you can use any headphones or mics you want, and when you upgrade one part you can keep the other. And for the record, that cheap mic I listed sounds pretty dang good, especially if you compare it to anything Bluetooth.
It doesn't fit your description - you want surround sound - but the studio headphones being recommended don't either, so I will add my own take..
I have Asus TUF Gaming H3 headset. It may not be great but it does the job and the price of around 60-70€ is nice.
It is simple stereo headset with mic that has volume wheel for output and mechanical switch for input (both on left earcup).
It has likely-fake leather cushions that still keeps up after a few years of not everyday use, it has metal thingies between the head bridge and earcups (durability) and the same likely-fake leather on the bridge so it sits nice on your head.
It sounds ok for me, the mic works (people can hear me and they know what I say), both output and input are via 3.5mm jack with bundled extension cable 1-to-2 jack (headphones have 4-pole jack, this extension makes it two jacks). This means no mandatory software needed and no cutting-out of your microphone as there is no software to do it (apart of maybe your OS or your program that you use for communication).
There is only one downside for me - in summer, you sweat where the cushions touch your skin.
For the given price I would buy them again.
I feel kind of bad for suggesting this since you mentioned you don't want to rip your hair out and probably don't want more variables to consider... but have you looked into "open-back" vs. "closed-back" headphones? :-)
I have an open-back Audio Technica ATH-ADG1X (headphone + mic) and couldn't be happier! It's very light and comfortable. Open-back means I can still hear what else is going on at home, and it generally feel less confined than wearing a closed back headphone. There are not a lot of open-back gaming headsets, probably because "gaming" branded headset used by professionals in tournament settings should cancel out noise from outside... but as mentioned, for me I think it's the perfect thing to wear at home. Obviously, this is a preference thing and I can relate to people specifically wanting a closed-back headphone instead.
Anyways, the ATH-ADG1X is discontinued - plus its price was ~250 EUR - but I bought the ATH-GDL3 open-back headset for my son for around ~120 EUR, and I would say for the price point it's a very good headset as well. The ATH-GDL3 has detachable cables and microphone. It's even more lightweight, and also comfortable to wear... at least for me, obviously "comfortness" is a personal thing. I used to have a HyperX Cloud and after ~2 hours of use, my ears started to hurt and it felt like my head was being clamped in a vise.
Just throwing it out there... maybe it's something for, maybe not :-)
Ah, and regarding the topic of dedicated heaphones + dedicated microphone vs. a combined headset...
In my experience, having a combined headset is just too damn practical not to use it. Some of my gaming friends have dedicated microphones, and while I am sure they sound great, there seems to be way more problems associated with dedicated microphones. I would say at least once a month, one person is suddenly much louder or much quieter than usual until they figure out which dial, setting or position they need to change to make it "normal" again. Louder or quieter is usually not a big issue if using Discord, because there you can adjust the volumes for individual persons. But it also often happens that they are cutoff mid-sentence in which case there is another issue... On the other hand, in around 5 years of use, nobody ever mentioned anything wrong with my mic or volume (in Discord I use input mode "Voice Activity" with a manual threshold set to "-75dB" or about 20% of the slider).
Again, I am speaking from my personal experience only, I am not saying headsets are better - quality-wise they are certainly not- they are just more practical for me. And I am also sure that there are many people who have no issues at all with dedicated separate microphones once their initial settings are dialed in.
I'm aware of the difference between open-back and closed-back! I'm okay with open-back if the audio quality is better as a result, and in fact, I do like the idea of being able to hear what's around me. But I have no specific requirement on that front, so I didn't specify!
I'm taking note of the GDL3, it seems promising! It's close to my budget and fits a lot of what I need. I would want to know how the quality actually compares to some of the 'non-gaming' headphones that have been recommended, to know if it's a big difference and I'd be missing out, but this is one of the most promising options I've seen for my wishes so far. Thank you!
Hmm, this I cannot really tell because I have never tried a Beyerdynamic headphone for instance. I have a friend who works in product testing for a big computer magazine, and he consitently recommends Beyerdynamic DT-770 and DT-990 models. I think you cannot go wrong with these... only thing is that they won't fit in your budget plus you will also need to buy a microphone making them even more out of budget. Unless of course, you are willing to extend your budget :-)
As mentioned, ATH-GDL3 are super light-weight... When you pick them up first, they might feel cheap because often times weight is associated with quality. For me, being light-weight is a huge plus. And yeah, I am sure that in direct comparison to high-end dedicated headphones, the high-end model will win sound-quality wise, but for the price I think it's a good product.
If your budget is €100 and you need both headphones and mic then I think you already have the best options there with the HyperX Cloud III, Arctis Nova 7 and Logitech Pro X. If you've had one hooked up to your PC before then a headset is probably the most straightforward option for your use case.
However, if you would like to explore the option of separate mic and headphones then the first caveat is that you already have an audio interface for connecting a mic via an XLR cable plus a decent headphone preamp. With that sorted, the best headphones you could likely grab (new) for €100 would IMO be the Sony MDR-7506 which is a studio standard with a very reliable reputation. Then look to grab a used Shure SM58 on your own dime, those things are rock solid and will survive being dropped off a building (*not covered by warranty). The Beyerdynamic DT770 and Audio Technica ATH-M50x already mentioned are both great value headphones but will run you closer to €150. The thing to bear in mind though is that these are all studio headphones which are tuned to give a neutral response ideal for mixing and critical listening. Conversely, you'll find that HiFi headphones are tuned towards 'enhancing' the source, e.g., with bass boost and the likes, which may sound subjectively 'better.'
Ultimately, the best advice I can give is to just go to an electronics shop and start listening to different headphones, see what sounds sweet to your own ears. Ideally, go equipped with two or three songs you really like and know well that are sonically different from each other to get a fair representation. And make sure one of those songs is Kiss From a Rose by Seal.
Taking note of all this, thank you very much.
Can you elaborate on why this is necessary? My motherboard has two jack ports, one for output and one for mic input, can I not just use a jack cable for the mic? Also, what's a headphone preamp and why do I need that too?
Very welcome, hope my two cents are worth something ha.
Most microphones use a standard three-pin XLR connector. While it's possible to get an XLR to 3.5mm TRS adapter cheap enough the problem would actually lie in that most (dynamic) mics would output a microphone level electrical signal which is much weaker than the line level signal a typical motherboard line-in socket would expect. A mic level signal needs to be boosted to line level and that's where a pre-amplifier comes into play, which an audio interface would come equipped with. There's also another class of common microphone, the condenser mic, which expects a +48V DC 'phantom power' which, again, an audio interface is equipped with.
For most headphones, the amp isn't strictly necessary, mainly for high impedance (>250 Ohm) sets but a good one will offer a better signal-to-noise ratio (cleaner signal). Practically, I'd say a lot of modern mobos have a good enough audio circuit to not make a noticeable difference.
A lot of this stuff is spec-dependent so hard to offer any specific advice without knowing your system but just some things to be aware of.
Surround headphones are usually marketing gimmicks. The only "surround" for headphones should be head tracking, but if you're playing games it's kind of useless because you'll either be playing on a fixed screen or a HMD which should have it's own head tracking. You have only two ears, so surround effects basically a function of how well the drivers can reproduce sounds and how good the audio mixing is before it gets to them. The head tracking is only a big deal if you want the ability to move your head while listening to music and hear the changes in the mix as if you had real speakers, which is more gimmick than an actual useful feature - though there's no shame if that's something you actually want.
I haven't bought "quality" headphones in probably a decade (excepting Airpods Pro), so I can't recommend you anything specific. Kz KZN Pros are pretty good and well in your budget but I don't think they include a microphone, and if they have a version that has one I don't know if you'd be happy with it (let alone that they're wired buds/IEMs). Back in the day Reddit's /r/headphones had a pretty good buying guide with frequency graphs of their recommended sets; maybe you can take a look if they still have it?
I am a bit confused about the whole "surround is a gimmick" thing. My Cloud II has it and it works; I can tell where things are more accurately in shooters thanks to it. What makes it a gimmick? I don't think I get your explanation.
I think I heard that there's ways to simulate it on the software, is that why? If so, how?
Well with headphones, you can get stereo imaging, so you can discern if something is on your left/right or in the middle pretty easily, but all headphones do that. Some surround system headphones try to recreate being able to tell if something is behind you, but there is a limitation of physical space between your ear and the speaker to create that convincingly, whereas with a surround speaker system there is the physical space where that works.
@IsildursBane hit the nail on the head. Headphones have multiple drivers in them not to simulate spacial positioning, but to produce a full range of audio frequencies. Surround sound with headphones is almost always a software simulation. I actually looked up the description for the Cloud II and if you look at how they describe surround, they qualify it with "virtual" in front of it; it's actually software simulation. These are techniques that became popular in the mid 90s with implementations such as Qsound. Pretty much every video game these days has this kind of audio processing built into it these days; it's a standard feature in Unity and Unreal, for instance.
Adding head tracking to this means that if you move your head, the software adjusts the virtual position of the audio to match your new position. Personally, it's not a feature I enjoy.
I did not realize that games were commonly doing processing to create a surround sound like effect, unless you are meaning just using good stereo imaging. My comment was more meant to stress that some of the positional feeling that Trobador experiences is not due to the virtual surround of their headphones, but instead just stereo imaging which all headphones have.
One area that stereo imaging fails is as I alluded to, but did not fully flesh out is that this stereo effect really only has 180 degree coverage. You can tell when a sound comes from the side or in front of you, and with volume can figure out how far away it is. However, there is no solution to differentiate sound from right in front and right behind you. Also, this 180 degree coverage does not cover height, and it can not differentiate if someone is 20ft in front of you and at the same height, or 20ft in front of you and 20ft below. Headphones just do not have the physical space to add speakers to emulate a 5 point (or higher) surround system, but any pair of headphones can get pretty far on positional data with just stereo imaging.
Modern games are increasingly doing processing for positional audio (aka 3D audio) including object-based sound sources, not just the traditionally "flat screen" virtual surround sound. Of course, it all depends on implementation so many basically make it end up like virtual surround sound. But others will go the full distance and do full 3D positional audio with height modulation and all. There's also a dependency on how good the imaging and soundstage are of the headphones as well, some headphones are better about it than others. This is a big reason why I went for the open-backed headphones models instead of the closed-back ones recommended above, as I find the wider soundstage helps for picking up on distance along with position.
One game that is heads and shoulders above the rest for this sort of thing is Returnal, which offers multiple different kinds of audio options including two kinds of 3D audio, raytraced audio, and Dolby Atmos.
When everything is working just right between source and destination, you actually can tell the difference of something behind or in front of you, and above or below you, with just a set of good stereo headphones. It's quite something when it all comes together.
I'm a big fan of my Arctis Nova 7x. I'd recommend that one.
These probably aren't the best (I'm not an audiophile / expert) but I'm currently using these and I'm good with them:
~50 EUR - Razer Seiren X (there seems to be a newer model, which I haven't tried) - USB mic so just plug into your computer, no other connections or setup
~40 EUR - Soundmagic E11C wired earbuds - regular audio jack, just plug into computer, no other connections or setup (these actually have a mic included but I prefer using the Razer Seiren X; E11 model has no mic)
I've been using them for about 5 years now with no issues. I recently recorded a youtube video with this mic so you can get an idea of the mic quality, but I did remove the background noise from the mic audio. Not that there was a lot of background noise. I think I still have the raw mic recording for this so just DM me if you want to listen.
These days I actually just use 2nd gen pro Airpods when gaming. But back in the day I used an ATH-M50S with an Antlion modmic.
What's your budget?
Thanks. I think that budget is too low for new "audiophile" headphones and a mic. But if OP is open to a used pair of headphones the budget can probably work.
Unfortunately, the context is that my mother really wants to gift me something, and she would refuse it if it were used.
To be noted that I don't really care about them being "audiophile": I just want the best I can get for the money I have and I seem to understand I won't find that in the 'gaming headphones' space.
Would you also consider a desktop microphone? That would expand your options.
I would very much consider a desktop microphone. I edited the post to make that a bit more clear.
rig 400 headset is reasonably priced, very light, and very comfortable. hasnt broke on me yet (like 4 years or more)