I have been a lifelong gamer. From arcade stand-up/sit-down cabinets, home consoles, and PC, I have played almost everything out there when it comes to formats. With these new consoles, Dolby Atmos, and surround sound systems, game audio is ever immersive.
I have always loved first-person shooter (FPS) games going back to Doom, Duke Nuke’em, and Golden Eye. In those days, sound wasn’t as important. Today is a different story. Sound can determine who survives the gun fight. This is where headsets become important.
I am not a fan of spending an exorbitant amount of money on headphones if I can get away with less for pretty decent quality. Notice I didn’t say high quality.
I went through a lot of headsets before I settled on the steelseries Arctis 1 Wired (Retail 49.99). You can do your own research, but I want to put my two cents in.
I have a slightly large noggin and these headsets are comfortable. I’ve worn them for up to 8 hours. The foam earcups don’t place a lot of pressure around my ears and do a fairly decent job of keeping outside noise in its place. Sound reproduction works well when the game I am playing doesn’t screw it up.
The only drawback is the microphone. They made it detachable should you just want to rock the headset. The unit I initially purchased had a bad mic. People had a difficult time hearing me. Instead of returning and buying another headset, I just bought a compatible mic. Since then, all is golden. Remember this, you have a 50/50 shot at a good/bad mic.
I use a third generation Astro Mixamp that I purchased on eBay for the Xbox/PC. This is the reason I chose a wired setup. The company does make a wireless version.
So, just to recap.
- Comfortable, even for big-headed people.
- Good sound reproduction for the non-audiophile.
- 50/50 on whether your mic sucks.
