Good gaming/all-round headset

[Daeruin]

Hi. I'm looking for a good headset that will serve me well for music, gaming, and VoIP, and I'm hoping y'all will have some good advice for me. I've been through two headsets so far without luck and done a fair bit of research already. I've come up with the following requirements. We'll see what you can come up with.

• Must be USB. I don't want to mess around with adapters and crap.
• Must have an around-the-ear (circumaural) design. I have a big head, sensitive ears, and I wear glasses. Over the years I've learned to just stay away from any design that touches my ears at all.
• Must be under $100, preferably under $75. I've got a budget and I don't need a high-end system.
• Must have good sound quality for music. I do some online gaming, but it's mostly for music. Like I said, I don't need high-end, just good quality.
• Must have a decent mic for simple voice recording and clear VoIPing. I don't want a desktop mic cluttering my workspace, I would prefer it built into the headset.

I work from home and listen to music pretty much all day, interspersed with Skype calls, and I do the occasional online gaming at night. My computer's built-in mic isn't cutting it, so I want some good 'phones mostly for music, but that will also get me decent voice quality. I'll be wearing them for hours at a time, so they need to be comfortable above all.

I bought a pair of Razer Carcharias and was horribly disappointed to find I needed an adapter for the mic to work (I have an iMac bought in June 2010), and the sound quality when listening to music was distorted and horrible. I got them off eBay, so maybe they are just defective. I'm returning them. Live and learn with that whole experience, eh? The headset I'm using right now is a Logitech USB 350. It's OK (music quality is mediocre) but very painful for me to wear after about 10 minutes. I'm borrowing them as a fill-in until I can find something better. I've looked at the Turtle Beach set, but I've heard they have a persistent hissing noise, and I'm worried it'll drive me crazy after a while. Alright, what have you got for me?

 

[Daeruin]

OK, so this brother had to help himself out this time. This headset really fit the bill: the Plantronics Audio 770. USB audio card (it works on my Mac without the USB, but the USB sound is much better), extremely comfortable circumaural ear cups, good music quality, good mic (although I've read that it often begins to fall down from the upright position spontaneously; I'm OK with that considering the other advantages, and the disadvantages of other headphones in this price range). And I got it for half price at $35. Yay Amazon.

 

[Daeruin]

Those Corsairs look like some great phones. I would be a little worried about the clamping effect, since the headband doesn't look very flexible. But with the memory foam pads maybe it's not as bad. All the reviews said they were comfortable. They probably have way better sound than the Plantronics headset I got. Unfortunately the Corsair is at the extreme end of my budget. I probably still wouldn't have gotten them for that reason. I'll keep these Corsairs in mind when I want to upgrade yet again. I'm sure it won't be long.

 

[ibulleti]

I am looking for a headset for myself, primarily gaming. Still liking your 770s ?

 

[Daeruin]

Yeah, the 770s are working good. They are so comfortable, I can wear them pretty much all day long with no problem, and I often do. Sometimes I get a little soreness on the top of my head, but it's really minor and only happens when I'm wearing them literally all day.

I have had two problems. One is that on my Mac, the mic freaks out about every hour or so--my voice suddenly turns all robotic or full of static. It only happens if I'm on a call for longer than an hour. This is a well documented problem with USB microphones on the Mac, however. It appears to be an operating system bug, nothing to do with the headset. I can fix it easily by unplugging the USB and then replugging it back in.

The other is that, as expected from all the reviews I read, the microphone has started falling down. Basically it won't stay in the upright position at all. The slightest tilt or nudge brings it crashing all the way down to its bottommost position. I get around it by hooking a little twisty-tie around it. Kinda lame, but it works and doesn't get in the way.

So overall, I'm satisfied, as my primary need was comfort and secondarily sound quality. If you can deal with the potential static problem (which seems to be unique to every Mac/mic combination) and the falling mic, this headset will be worth it.