—— Headphones for Gamers ——

You’ll notice we don’t have a “gaming” headset listed below. We HIGHLY recommend purchasing a separate mic and headphone. You’ll gain a lot of flexibility, and if you’ll be streaming or creating content…QUALITY. This holds especially true for content creation as viewers will move on quickly if they can’t hear you. A big bonus is your gaming can improve as well with a quality set of headphones. You’ll be blown away the first time you put on a pair of cans with so much detail you can pick out enemy positions with ease.

So, what headphone should I get? Well, we’re venturing into dreaded (or not so dreaded :-) “audiophile” territory. You’ll read a lot of very subjective opinions on this topic, so just know that the following is just my opinion. In the headphone world there are 2 (3 if you include in ear) categories to consider:

Open-back or Closed-back

This refers to whether or not the “can” on the outside is exposed or enclosed. If you can see through to components inside it’s Open, and conversely if it’s covered it’s Closed. Open-backed headphones will bleed sound out when you’re playing them (ie others around you can hear what you hear), but they tend to have a bigger “soundstage” causing whatever you’re listening to to sound like you’re in a outdoor amphitheater. This has the benefit of being able to hear more detail and clarity in whatever you’re listening to. For gaming open-backs tend to have better “imaging” where you can more easily pin point things like footsteps, gunfire, voices, etc in a 3D space. This translates into being able to pinpoint where an enemy is within a building (ie upstairs and in the 3rd window) versus just that they are in that building. It’s a crazy experience the first time you put on a nice set of headphones to game with. Side Note: Give your ears some time to adjust it takes a bit to get used to, but you won’t want to go back to closed-backs.

Great! So go buy an open-back headphone? Well there are some downsides… If you’ve got to keep a low profile to keep from disturbing those around you, then open-backs might not be best for you since they will absolutely be able to hear you. And for you content creators be careful of your volume levels because what you are listening to can leak back into your mic and cause echoes in your recordings or annoy your buddies in voice chat. There are ways to overcome these drawbacks, and I’ll have a how-to soon. Until then you can use this guide for setting up a program called Reaper to tweak your audio.

Annnd last thing before I get to my favorite choices. As long as you have a recent generation of motherboards these options shouldn’t need an external dac/amp to get the best out of them, but I do recommend a Schiit Fulla 2. It’s entry level and having a volume knob is convenient as sometimes alt-tabbing while gaming to adjust volume can cause issues. For some other options head over to our Audio Recommendations page.

Ze Choices

a) Sennheiser HD 599 - Open back - I’ve switched over to this from the Philips SHP9500 as my daily driver. I’ve found it to be the sweet spot between isolation/soundstage and sound leakage.

b) Philips SHP9500 - Open-back - Incredible price for amazing quality, and they are the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever had…by a mile. Though, if you’re going to be creating content these might leak too much sound. They leak sound more than most open-backs, so I swap them out for certain scenarios.

c) Philips Fidelio X2HR - Open-back - I want these for my daily driver to replace the SHP9500s as they leak less and appear to be just as comfortable as them. These have a bit more bass/mid range to them, and some say that’s not good for gaming…

d) AKG K 240 MK II - Semi-open - I use these for content creation, and they have the best imaging and soundstage in this list. They are “semi-open” where they are only partially covering the cans, and you guessed it leak a lot less. Unfortunately, my ears aren’t fans of these for all day usage. Btw listen to ‘Sweet Emotions’ by Aerosmith and ‘The Pot’ by Tool with these. They sound amazing and pick up incredible detail I hadn’t heard before.

e) Sennheiser HD 598 Cs - Closed-back - These are great headphones and are up there in the closed-back category for gaming, but I noticed too much of a drop in imaging/soundstage whilst playing games.

f) Audio Technica ATH-MSR7NC - Closed-back - I haven’t tried these out, but I’m recommending them for if you really need to engage whisper mode. These leak little; have decent imaging/soundstage; and do a bit of noise cancelling if you need to escape the family for a bit :-)

—— Microphones ——

You’ve essentially got two routes to go for microphones. Well three, but the 3rd isn’t recommended.

USB

USB mics plug into a USB port (shocking!). They are powered via USB and require no setup other than telling your Operating System to start using it. These are a great upgrade from built-in (laptop) mics or those that plug directly into a motherboard 3.5 mm jack. This segment was generally dominated by the likes of the Blue Yeti and other ‘Condenser’ type microphones, however, there have been some strong ‘Dynamic’ mic options enter this space in recent years. ‘Dynamic’ mics are going to do a much better job at rejecting unwanted noise (keyboard mashing, AC, kids), so, they are going to be the better option for most gaming / content creation use cases. However, if you have a well treated studio and like tweaking audio settings a ‘Condenser’ mic could be an option for you, buuut I wouldn’t get a USB ‘Condenser’ mic, so see the XLR section below for some of those options.

In short a USB ‘dynamic’ mic is a good budget or convenience option for you. They aren’t my #1 options, but they will be a good upgrade for you. Here’s a few to look at:

a) Audio Technica AT2005USB - Yes, it looks like you should be singing into it, but it’ll be more focused on your voice than background noise. Added bonus is that it has an XLR output, so you can upgrade to an audio interface mentioned in scenario 2 below at a later date. Side Note Some of these options have a desk stand. A boom arm is generally going to be best as you’ll need to get the mic within 6” of your mouth for optimal results. Get a NEEWER Mic Boom to go along with it.

b) Samson Q2U USB/XLR - Similar to the Audio Technica at a lower price point.

c) Shure MV7 USB/XLR Podcast - USB mics in this price point have cropped up recently too. Shure makes the legendary broadcast mic the SM7B, so they are marketing this as the little cousin to it. This will be an improvement in quality compared to the 2 above, and if you later decide to go XLR you can use this one too.

d) Samson Q29 USB/XLR - Similar to the MV7 at a lower price point. There are some great YouTube channels that test mics out, so you might want to compare the Samson to others before purchasing on price alone. Some of my favorites are Curtis Judd, Booth Junkie, and Podcastage.

z) Boom arms, shock mount, and pop filters - Pick these up as needed for your chosen path. A boom arm can help you get the mic in an ideal position (6 inches from your mouth). I have been able to mount my boom arm on walls or furniture next to my desk, so that it doesn’t pick up me knocking on my desk/keyboard. If you don’t have that option, then you should pick up a shock mount for your mic that attaches to the boom arm. Note that some of these mics are HEAVY, so if you go with a cheaper boom arm it will have a hard time with a shock mount attached. I have skimped on the Neewer arms, but if I’d do it over again I would just go with the Rode PSA.

XLR

So, XLR mics are where you really start to hear the quality, and if you can’t tell is what we’re really recommending you go for. It can be a little overwhelming when you look at all the options, but there are some great quality entry level options for you. XLR is actually the type of cable you’ll need, and the secret sauce here is that you’ll need a separate ‘Audio Interface’. Your mic plugs into the ‘Audio Interface’ with an XLR cable, and then you plug the ‘Audio Interface’ into your PC with a USB cable. The ‘Audio Interface’ is powered via the USB or separately (battery/wall plug) depending upon the model.

The ‘Audio Interface’ being a separate device gives better processing power than an all-in-one USB unit and combined with the XLR cable itself better noise suppression. It’s simply not going to pick up any other electronic interference that you might notice as static noise. This is very common if you’re plugging in a mic to your motherboard directly with a 3.5mm audio jack.

So, yes you’ll have a couple more cables to hide on your desk, but it’ll be worth it. Here’s a few of our XLR microphone suggestions, but be sure to go to our Audio Processing page below to pick out one of the ‘Audio Interfaces’ too.

a) Rode Podmic - This is a fantastic entry level mic at a respectable price. If you need more than one mic for a podcast type setup, then this is perfect for that use case. Remember to grab a Neewer or Rode PSA boom arm for your mic.

b) Remember the 2 USB/XLR combos from above. Shure MV7 USB/XLR Podcast or Shure MV7 USB/XLR Podcast . You can switch over to XLR and get a nice boost in sound quality.

c) Audio-Technica BP40 Dynamic - This is the mic I use most of the time. I got it for the ‘hyper cardioid’ pattern that helps reject room noise, and it fits my voice well. Plus, it has an integrated pop filter. If your voice is more in the mid range, there are some that don’t like the way it sounds. If that’s a concern, then find a Youtuber that does reviews and has a similar voice to yours. Listen to their recordings (with headphones on :-) to see if ya like it. But I love the build quality and the looks of this. I’m not sure I’ll ever NEED to get another one.

d) Audio-Technica AT875R Short Shotgun Condenser - This is a bit different option for you. If you’re prefer to not have a mic visible on screen at all, then this is a great entry level shotgun/boom microphone. Just set it up behind your computer monitor w/ a boom arm and point it towards your mouth. These are the kinds of microphones you see on movie sets with boom operators hold mics over the heads of the actors. They are great at sound rejection off axis, so you can use them in your home studio or even out in the field somewhere.