Headphones And Headsets (What’s right for YOU)

While you're thinking hard about the exact CPU-video-card-and-monitor combo to get, to make your games look exactly the way you want them to, it’s very easy to forget how they might end up sounding. But when you finally remember that you need speakers or headphones for your new rig, you might be hit with a flood of ads for gaming headsets promising detailed audio and precise directional sound to make it easier for you to tell exactly where those gunshots are coming from; but what are those headsets really offering you that a conventional set of Headphones And Headsets paired with a separate microphone wouldn't?

All-in-one Headphones And Headsets: Too Good or Too Good to be True?

Typically gaming Headphones And Headsets will be a package deal of sorts: not only do you get the headphones and the attached microphone, but often some kind of remote control for volume, different audio modes, or even some kind of virtual surround functionality. This could be 5.1 or 7.1 noise isolation to help you shut out external sound when gaming, or that all-important gamer aesthetic that some of you might be into.
Often gaming Headphones And Headsets seem like good value because they offer different functionality in one box and appeal to people who want a quick solution for all their gaming audio needs, that can just be plugged in and used. In that same vein, many gaming headsets use a USB connection, instead of two separate 3.5-millimeter analog connections, because they have their own built-in sound processing which will work even if your sound card or integrated motherboard audio is broken.

Headphones and/or Headsets? You Choose.

But if gaming headsets offer all these great features, then why do many people prefer regular headphones with a separate mic? The answer lies with the very same convenience factor. All these cool features packed into a gaming headset come at a trade-off in terms of audio quality a lot of the time. It's not that the gaming headset manufacturers don't know how to make a good sounding product, it's just that all the extra stuff they're packing in takes away from money that could have been spent on making the headphones themselves beefier. So the thing to ask yourself is: do you really even need ALL the functions of a gaming headset, most of which can easily be replicated on regular headphones?

Here’s another truth-bite: much of what's advertised about headsets is often actually done through software programming. For example, many headsets that advertise multi-channel surround actually achieve it entirely through aural trickery, because there are only actually two drivers in there. You can achieve the same result by downloading similar software for whatever headphones you're currently using. Additionally, headsets that use a USB connection cannot be used with a different DAC and amp combination, or sound card. So good luck trying to improve the sound quality with one of those. Even if you have a headset that does use a three-and-a-half millimeter jack, many are notorious for poorly constructed drivers and worse sounding than many popular headphone models, despite the fact that positional audio is a major selling point for gaming headsets. That isn't to say that all gaming headsets are all bad - some of them are actually quite well-constructed, but they won't give you the same performance in things like movies or music. Some manufacturers even admit outright that their headsets are tuned for gaming. You do, on the other hand, get the benefit of that easy all-in-one experience. So if the most film watching that you do is in cutscenes between shooting people, then a gaming Headphones And Headsets may be for you, after all.