There are many different groups of interest and have an interest in audio. Those who focus on music experience in stereo, for example. And another party that mainly experiences audio as part of films and series. A group to which little attention is paid at HIFI.NL is the gaming community. However, the audio / video profile and the gamers have a lot in common. So grab a cup of coffee or an energy drink for the gamers and read along.

As there are stigmatizing images about audio and video profiles, so are there about gamers â ???? a sentence ago we talked about energy drinks. Audiophiles are old guys who listen to overpriced equipment in their robes. And always classical or jazz. Videophiles fill the whole room with speakers. Gamers are pimple boys who throw back too much energy drink and just play games all night long. But if we throw that overboard and read between the lines, we see something remarkable. An audiophile or music lover knows that his hi-fi set is sounds good as the weakest link. A film buff knows that enjoying his favorite video entertainment depends on the components in his setup. And for gamers, that is  exactly the same. After all, a PC plays as good as the combination of parts in that PC.

The following applies: Â they all strive to an optimized system, for the best experience. Where a music lover invests in a new DAC, a videophile invests in a new TV and a gamer in a better video card. The tweaks that bother an audiophile â ???? a new DAC, different cables, better power supply â ???? are also not strange to a gamer. B enclosure, motherboard, processor, video card, power supply, ram, storage, the similarities are indispensable. Collecting behavior is also very similar: collections of music and games are evenly matched, especially in terms of amounts. But under the line it is all about the experience, formed by image and sound. And then we arrive at HIFI.NL.

We therefore took the plunge and once asked for some gaming headsets. This resulted in five models that we will discuss one by one on the next few pages. First, we will briefly explain the associated process. Because you can of course test e and gaming headset with games. But also with films. Many headsets also have support for (virtual) surround. And how does the headset feel? Is it comfortable, even after wearing it longer? It should come as no surprise that a headset for gaming must meet comfort. Gaming sessions can go on for many hours in a row.

Almost all headsets have buttons on the outside for operation. How functional are they? And let’s not forget that there is a microphone available. What is the quality of that? Build quality is a very important aspect. Then weighs heavily in a test.

We would also like to keep the elements or the variables the same. A few fixed numbers are standard with a multi-test. It is important here that a list of music does not become too large. Maximum 3 to 5 numbers. The same goes for the games we play and the movies and series we watch. Should the question now arise, “Have you watched the same piece of film every time?”, The answer is, “Yes, we watched the same piece of film every time.” )

In terms of hardware, we used a game pc. A pretty average system with an Nvidia GTX 1660 Super, an Intel i5 6500 and 16 GB ram. The iPhone 11 Pro has also been used. If possible we did this together with the AudioQuest Cobalt.

The Games

The Witcher 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

GTA 5

Movies & series

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Music

Miles Davis â ???? Stella by Starlight

John Mayer â ???? Battle Studies

The Weeknd â ???? After Hours

AC / DC â ???? Back in Black

Michael Jackson â ???? Thriller

Lavinia Meijer – Passagio

Finally: something that is essential for the audio reproduction, also from headphones, headphones or in-ears, it is anticipating. How such a model sounds when it comes new out of the box is different after 20 to 50 hours of play. This also applies to a gaming headset. That’s why we let each unit play in for 20 hours before we actually judge it for audio playback.

In the end, we close each headset with a final verdict. We only wrote that after we tested all headsets, in order to arrive at an unambiguous price-quality ratio. We have also assumed the current recommended retail price. The price can (meanwhile) be lower at various stores, and in any case it pays to do some comparative research. Finally, we would like to lost that we are not going to put down all specifications in the review. We will highlight some of it of course, but further information can be found on the pages of the manufacturer.

Directly to your preferred review? Then use these links:



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