Looking for a $40-70 gaming headset

[deed]

First off, I have been using the Rosewill RHM-6308's for a few years and enjoyed them even though the microphone wasn't the greatest. Recently a short developed and now the right earpiece no longer works and I'm looking for a replacement.

I have done a TON of research the past few days but haven't been able to find anything really worth getting other than these two headsets Rosewill RHTS-8206 and the Plantronics GameCom 780 but both seem to have some critical flaws. The 8206 based on reviews seems to have a good bass only in vibration mode, which affects talking on the mic. Being a heavy teamspeak user this won't work. It also seems to have iffy quality control.

The 780 seems to have a good mic and sound but suffers from a design flaw that makes it break in the same spot for a large number of people or simply fragile in general.

I need something that will last ideally a few years that would work with my use which is mostly heavy gaming and using sound to locate enemy, music while I read a few hours a day using spotify, some youtube shows and a lot of teamspeak. My on board sound card is very poor to say the least so I have been looking at the USB ones that have their own form of soundcard built in. But I am willing to try 3.5mm if absolutely necessary.

Review sites seem to be more focused on the super budget or the $100+ high end ones. Looking at specific threads, all of them seem to be too pricey (Closest to 50$ is preferred)
If anyone has any suggestions or ideas I'm all ears and truly appreciate the help.

 

[ninjacore]

I had (still have, actually, just no longer use) the Plantronics Gamecon 777. I was overall satisfied with it (especially considering I got it on sale for $25 from newegg), but I ended up going with a good set of headphones and a separate mic and have never looked back.

I bought a set of Creative Aurvana Live headphones and used a desktop mic. Mic quality is the same as what you'll get with the built-in "gaming headsets", but the sound quality from the headphones is like night and day compared to what you get with the all-in-one options. Positional audio is more precise (sound stage)... it's easier to distinguish between all the different noises in game ... they're just, plain nicer.

I recently picked up a modmic, which can attach/detach from a magnetic base (the base mounts headphones). This should give me the best of both worlds.

There's a new version of the CAL (creative aurvana live), so I've seen the first gen model for as little as $50. Just have to shop around for them. Add a $20 desktop mic (or some other option) and you're set.

The nicest thing about the headphones option is that when you aren't gaming, music sounds great compared to a gaming headset.

EDIT: To comment more on the options you provided, if you were getting the Plantronics for the same price I paid for the 777 way back when ($25), then it would be much more compelling. At $70, it's just a flat out no, in my opinion.

 

[sobe]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009RXUNGM/

Problem solved, the Skullcandy SLYR for $55. Will outperform any headset up until you get to the Sennheiser PC350/360 or Beyer MMX300.
(Before someone says it, Logitech is garbage, Plantronics is garbage, Razer is garbage, SteelSeries is garbage, Turtle Beach is garbage, Tritton is garbage, Astro is trash, did I leave anyone out? lol)
But in all seriousness, the only thing remotely decent in the realm of gaming headsets would be the Astro A40/A50, but for the price of those headsets, they are far from worth, so simply not worth mentioning when you can pick up some Sennheisers or Beyerdynamic MMX300 for their price.


As ninja said though, you can get a modmic and pair with your favorite quality headphones for a truly superior experience. The modmic 4.0 I currently use on a pair of Beyer DT990 and cannot speak great enough about the new modmic.

 

[deed]

I bought a set of Creative Aurvana Live headphones and used a desktop mic. Mic quality is the same as what you'll get with the built-in "gaming headsets", but the sound quality from the headphones is like night and day compared to what you get with the all-in-one options. Positional audio is more precise (sound stage)... it's easier to distinguish between all the different noises in game ... they're just, plain nicer.

I recently picked up a modmic, which can attach/detach from a magnetic base (the base mounts headphones). This should give me the best of both worlds.

There's a new version of the CAL (creative aurvana live), so I've seen the first gen model for as little as $50. Just have to shop around for them. Add a $20 desktop mic (or some other option) and you're set.

I had considered going to headphone + external mic option. Considering I'm a complete audio novice, would the 3.5mm plug and using my onboard sound card create any sound issues or lack of surround sound support etc? It doesn't even have a model number and the pc thats getting the new audio was made for office work and really nothing else.
That CAL headset has pretty amazing reviews with really only a couple comments on durability but I have to assume that's user caused considering how few of them there are. I guess the question now if I buy these would be if my system is actually capable of using the headphones to their fullest extent.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009RXUNGM/

Problem solved, the Skullcandy SLYR for $55. Will outperform any headset up until you get to the Sennheiser PC350/360 or Beyer MMX300.
(Before someone says it, Logitech is garbage, Plantronics is garbage, Razer is garbage, SteelSeries is garbage, Tritton is garbage, Astro is trash, did I leave anyone out? lol)
But in all seriousness, the only thing remotely decent in the realm of gaming headsets would be the Astro A40/A50, but for the price of those headsets, they are far from worth, so simply not worth mentioning when you can pick up some Sennheisers or Beyerdynamic MMX300 for their price.


As ninja said though, you can get a modmic and pair with your favorite quality headphones for a truly superior experience. The modmic 4.0 I currently use on a pair of Beyer DT990 and cannot speak great enough about the new modmic.

Will take a look at the skullcandy's too. The lifetime warranty is actually pretty cool and does deal with 1 worry on long term use.

Really just trying to get the purchase right. Money isn't tight but it isn't at a point where I can get a new headset every year.

 

[sobe]

I perfectly understand, and if you want something GREAT and something that you can keep down the road and still be "on top" of things so to speak, take ninja's advice and just grab some quality headphones!

I would love to point you in the direction of the Sennheiser HD600 they have on sale over at MassDrop right now for $275, but obviously that is far beyond your intended budget, but at the same time, these headphones have been some of the most respected and sought after for 15+ years, so obviously they are doing something right.

In the realm of realistic headphones not going greatly over budget, the Creative Aurvana Live that ninja mentioned is a great set, and I thank darknecron for having me look further into those. I would mention darknecron's recent favorite the, NVX XPT100, however, at the pricing mark of $100+, I don't feel they warrant the premium over the CAL!'s.


If you want to go headphone + mic, I say Antlion Modmic 4.0 100% without question for the mic (Unless you just want a mic that sits on your desktop or something for the $100 range for a decent one), and then let's open up the possibilities here for you. Give us a REALISTIC budget that you want to stay in for quality headphones. If you want to stay near where you are now, I wholeheartedly recommend the Creative Aurvana Live!($70~) paired with the Antlion Modmic 4.0 ($42.95).



Forgot to add, if you are willing to push your spending, the Sennheiser G4ME One can be had for $200,
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GWU8FTK

That headset uses drivers found in the Sennheiser HD598 that sells right now for $180~, but, the microphone on it will beat absolutely ANY headset on the market and also quite a few standalone desk mics until you get into the higher quality range. Sennheiser microphones are absurdly clear, especially those on their headsets which is amazing considering the price of the headsets.

I only bring this up as an alternative, we still want to keep your budget of course

 

[NeonCancerCandy]

i have a pair of turtle beach earforce x12's and honestly they are the best headphones i've ever used and they are in your price range.

just my $0.02

 

[ninjacore]

Don't worry about a sound card. Just grab a good pair of headphones and a mic within your budget. I could see durability being a concern with the CALs. They're pretty lightweight. Blessing and a curse as it makes them much more comfortable, but if they got sat on hard, I could see them breaking. They are still what I would go for in that price range.

 

[deed]

I only bring this up as an alternative, we still want to keep your budget of course

I'm willing to extend my budget to $100 if needed. But with my old rosewill sounding amazing to me I'm not quite sure I would miss out on anything better since I don't have the subjective experience to compare high end to sub $100 ones. The resale value of my current computer is about $100 too so paying more for my headset than my pc goes for is a little to much for me at the moment.

Don't worry about a sound card. Just grab a good pair of headphones and a mic within your budget. I could see durability being a concern with the CALs. They're pretty lightweight. Blessing and a curse as it makes them much more comfortable, but if they got sat on hard, I could see them breaking. They are still what I would go for in that price range.

Yeah I would never sit on my headset or anything, I do see a ton of issues on headphones and headsets breaking at hinges or shorts in the wires due to the weight of the little volume control and such.

i have a pair of turtle beach earforce x12's and honestly they are the best headphones i've ever used and they are in your price range.

just my $0.02

Turtle beaches were originally off my list but from what I've heard that specific model is also a great one for the budget.


I'd love to go into a store and demo a bunch of units myself but there really aren't any places around here to test. Mostly its just beats by dre and overpriced brand type stuff. My gut says the newer rosewills I listed, I will enjoy, but their durability will probably get them killed in about a year or less. But the CAL seems to be an awesome choice now, the only concern with those is I am unable to find ANY warranty information. If anyone could find and link the warranty information for them that would be awesome. The only other thing I could nitpick on is I was unable to find a picture of the volume control slider anywhere so I don't even know if the headset has one. Could you verify? I know v2 does at minimum.

As far as mics go, I've done some research and am aware the one suggested is a very nice mic. But for the price to quality, this seems to be more my idea of one to use http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00029MTMQ something in-between the two sounds better though.

 

[sobe]

http://support.creative.com/warranty/warranty.aspx?pid=17088&cid=437&h=14

Looks like a standard 1year warranty. I don't know much about Creative's warranty/RMA support, so can't comment there.

What I can comment on though is that Zalman mic as I've had 2, and the experience varied between sound cards at that. On one card it would pick up things great, and the other it refused to pick up much at all, which was a nuisance. Alongside that, the quality of voice input is sub-par. I will say though if you want to try it and see if it does work for you, it's a $7 loss, so it's not much really to see if it will work for you.

 

[deed]

Found my sound card model http://www.impactcomputers.com/f7710.html http://www.amazon.com/F7710-Creative-Labs-SoundBlaster-Extreme/dp/B007C838RK or a similiar variation.

http://support.creative.com/warranty/warranty.aspx?pid=17088&cid=437&h=14

Looks like a standard 1year warranty. I don't know much about Creative's warranty/RMA support, so can't comment there.

What I can comment on though is that Zalman mic as I've had 2, and the experience varied between sound cards at that. On one card it would pick up things great, and the other it refused to pick up much at all, which was a nuisance. Alongside that, the quality of voice input is sub-par. I will say though if you want to try it and see if it does work for you, it's a $7 loss, so it's not much really to see if it will work for you.

Yeah, I don't mind upping the price on headhones, but $40 on a mic is a bit too much for me. But the $7 isn't exactly perfect either. The rest are either way higher priced or large mic stand setups :/

 

[ninjacore]

If you have a dedicated sound card, that's already more than me

The CALs do not have an inline volume control toggle. Would definitely be nice, but you can always use keyboard shortcuts or create some through software if your keyboard lacks function keys.

The Zalman mic will not be an option if you go with the CALs. I tried the same thing and the clip where it attaches to the headphone cable is too big for the Aurvana Live's wire.

That is an issue with mics. Either you spend $40 on the modmic or you spend $10 several times on ebay clip-on or desktop mics that will undoubtedly break. Having done both now )), I wish I had just saved myself some heartache and gone with the modmic to begin with.

Not sure if you'll be able to find it, but if you could find one of the older versions of the modmic, they are still good. The 4.0 just added some features. Not all (any?) are absolutely necessary.

If you'd rather just go with an all-in-one, I'm sure the Rosewill you linked earlier is fine for the price as well. At $25, you aren't really out anything and you'll buy yourself some time to shop around for an acceptable mic and a good pair of headphones.

 

[bamato]

It was mentioned above that Logitech is bad, but the G930 went on sale on newegg yesterday (the promo code may still be valid) for $79. That's a great price for what you get honestly. I bought a pair to see how they fare. Lots of good reviews, some bad reviews. The bad reviews mostly focus on durability, which I feel is more of a "YMMV" thing. I am also an audiophile, so I'm skeptical of their sound quality, but honestly it matters little in my case because I'll use these 10% of the time compared to my home theater system.

 

[ninjacore]

If you're gonna spend that much, I think it's a no-brainer to just go for the "good" headphones and modmic option. (Unless the wireless capability of the G930 is a factor)

 

[sobe]

At the price point he might as well have just bought the Skullcandy SLYR as far as SQ goes for $55, unless as ninja mentioned, the wireless was something he wanted/needed.

 

[deed]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I decided to go with the CAL along with an extended warranty.

I'm going to be without a mic for a bit until I decide what route I want to take. If I can find a 2.0 or 3.0 modmic for under $20 im going that route.

Later on when I get my new pc the CAL's will be transferred to it and the old pc will get one of the other options here and I will do a sound comparison out of curiosity.

 

[sobe]

Try to stick with the 2.0 or 4.0 if possible, the 2.3 and 3.0 are kinda meh for that design they went to.

 

[ninjacore]

I'd go w the middle designs provided the price was sufficiently low. The 4.0s are definitely better, but the others aren't bad.

 

[deed]

Oh one more thing in the area of mics. I found this http://www.amazon.com/Labtec-LVA7330-ClearVoice-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B00000JBRV and noticed a few forums where people modded them to be exactly like the modmic with the 3m tape. Does anyone have experience with this? I didn't want to link the forum specifically and advertise another site. But if you type in Labtec LVA7330 into google images you can see what a lot of people have done. Considering it was originally 30-50$ and now $14 since it's discontinued, it seemed like a pretty good deal even though these mics are rather old.

Otherwise I'm going to be contacting modmic themselves and see if they would have any 2.0's available for sale. Or do some digging and test the quality on an older mic meant for some of the voice to text programs.

 

[ninjacore]

Never seen it done with that particular model, but I do remember seeing several threads where it was done with others. I was kinda looking into finding a compact Bluetooth mic I could mod onto my headphones for one less wire, but in the end just went w the modmic to save time.

Anything's possible if you have the time for it.

 

[sobe]

I assume you mean similar to this,


With modding near anything can be done. If you are decent enough you can do it very nicely too, ala Head-Fi