An age old debate: is stereo or surround sound better for gaming? The answer is very subjective and totally dependent on personal preference.<\/p>\n
Personally, I am a firm believer in a high quality set of stereo of headphones and feel they provide an extremely natural, detailed audio image of games. I have never had trouble identifying where an enemy is, and find that there isn’t enough space in the cones of a headset to correctly reproduce surround sound.<\/p>\n
Inversely, one of my gaming friends extols the virtues of surround sound headsets until he is blue in the face. He argues the more subtle sounds are irrelevant; that while gaming you need absolute audio accuracy; and a 7.1 channel surround sound headset is infinitely more capable of this than even the highest quality stereo piece.<\/p>\n
Rather than listening to subjective opinions, see if you can demo stereo and surround sound technology for yourself to determine which one you prefer. Either way, choosing the technology you prefer is vital when considering headphones.<\/p>\n
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SteelSeries Siberia v2<\/em><\/p>\n Comfort<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n How long are your average gaming sessions? An hour? Two? Four? If so, it’s important to buy a pair of headphones that fit comfortably on your head. Too tight, hot enough to make your ears sweat and cones that are too small are just a few issues that may present themselves, so be sure to do some reading on potential purchases.<\/p>\n Another comfort factor to consider is open or closed headphones? Closed units don’t let ambient noise in while you’re gaming and make sure others can’t hear what you’re listening too, at the cost of more ‘boomy’ bass and more heat build-up.<\/p>\n Open headphones don’t ‘seal’ over your ears, and often let ambient noise in (as well as the audio you’re listening to, out). The benefit of these is more natural sounding bass, and cooler ears while gaming.<\/p>\n Sennheiser HD800<\/em><\/p>\n Mic versus no mic<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n As a gamer, do you need a microphone for your gaming needs? The answer is probably a resounding yes, and this would often result in potential customers bypassing some very good headsets due to their lack of a mic. External Microphones are cheap as chips, and work just as well as their built in counterparts.<\/p>\n Cabled versus wireless<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Cables are annoying for any gamer who already has to deal with the mouse and keyboard cable. Wireless may be the way to go, but with wireless headphones costing so much, is it really worth the investment? That question is up to your budget and needs – a premium set of wireless headphones costs nearly enough to buy two pairs of good cabled headphones.<\/p>\n Logitech G35<\/em><\/p>\n USB versus 3.5mm jack<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The last thing to consider is how your headphones connect to a PC. Do they make use of a USB connection, or do they plug in using a 3.5mm jack? Without going into a debate about which is better (that’s a whole new article), getting a nice pair of headphones that plug in via USB is a bit pointless if you’ve just invested in a high end sound card.<\/p>\n There is no ultra-expensive set of ultimate headphones that does everything you need them to do perfectly, but the nice the about audio is that being so subjective, gamers will often enjoy two totally different headsets.<\/p>\n The variety available in the headphones market is quite extensive, and gamers aren’t limited to just those designed for gaming, which means there are a wide variety of devices to choose from. Consider what you want out of a set of headphones and shop accordingly.<\/p>\n![](\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/Sennheiser_hd_800_316544898.jpg\")
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