New headset for gaming

Gregry254 · 18 Jul 2023 at 14:48

Looking for a new gaming headset and don't know where to start!

Currently using a pair of Sony XM3's which have become spare since I don't fly much anymore plugged into my B550 Aorus Pro with the 3.5mm jack.

I see a lot of headsets are now wireless, is latency an issue with wireless?

Are sound cards still a thing? Would you recommend it for primarily gaming? I remember buying a PCI soundblaster card back in the day.

Budget up to £200 and only real requirement is a mic that is detachable/folds away when not in use.

Gregry254 · 18 Jul 2023 at 16:16

I use the XM3's with ambient sound mode (turns off ANC) so open back will be more what I am used to at the moment. If closed back would give a better experience/sound quality I am open to that too.

Gregry254 · 18 Jul 2023 at 19:54

Thanks for the detailed reply. Seems I have quite a few reviews to read!

Gregry254 · 19 Jul 2023 at 11:35

Thanks everyone for all the input.

I found a pair of H6Pro Open for £67 so have taken a punt on them. Having that bit of extra bass and detachable mic appealed to me over the PC38X. Will see how I get on with an open back set.

Next up will potentially be a soundcard. Any recommendations on what would pair nicely with the H6Pro?

Gregry254 · 21 Jul 2023 at 10:15

Apologies if I am using the wrong terminology.

So I took the H6Pro's out of the box and connected them to my laptop, they sounded muffled/muddy and there was a lack of clarity. I then plugged them into my PC and had the same result. The best comparison I have is if I plug my Sony XM3's into my PC and listen to something without turning them on first, you get that quiet/muffled/muddy sound but after you turn them on the audio comes to life.

I did get the H6Pro's from that websites warehouse section, are they possibly faulty? Most of the reviews speak highly of the wide range and clarity. Or do you think it might need an amp/dac to "bring it to life" ?

I usually have the XM3's around 18% volume on the PC but had to turn the H6Pro's up to around 30% for the same level of volume.

Gregry254 · 21 Jul 2023 at 11:25

Gray2233 said:
If they were open box there's a chance they were a returned item, there's a chance you got a dud unfortunately.

Judging by the price you paid I'm going to guess they were a rainforest warehouse special?

They were indeed, which makes me question if they were returned for this very reason.

Timber said:
A DAC/AMP won't affect things too much.

I have seen a similar thread on reddit before where someone complained of awful audio and it turned out the connection wasn't plugged in correctly in the audio jack on the headset. I'll try and find that thread.

It certainly doesn't sound right. Even on the Xbox controller the H6Pro (and PC38X) sound great. There is that 'bloated' bass with the H6Pro as previously mentioned but that should be it. Unless as mentioned by the others there your preference is strongly leaning towards the Sony XM3's or there is a fault.

I did see that thread yesterday when I was trying to find a solution and did try pressing them in further, there is an initial click and then it goes in further up to the ring further down the 3.5 jack, I will try giving them an even harder push tonight.

Gregry254 · 22 Jul 2023 at 20:19

So to update this, turns out I had issues with the Realtek drivers on my PC, but I'm not sure how much difference it made after being fixed.

I had my wife (no interest in decent audio) and daughter (who was more interested in the microphone sticking out) test both headsets without telling them which was my favourite and they both picked the H6pro over the XM3s ...

I spotted the g6 in b stock so have ordered one to see if I can mess with the audio a bit and get it where I want it to be.

Gregry254 · 2 Aug 2023 at 21:10

Final update!

While waiting for the G6 to arrive I was using the H6pro's on my tablet which had a sound setting for different ages and picking my age set it to "boost highs" which made it sound better. I then plugged it into the PC again and messed with the settings in the Realtek software to boost the highs a little and it sounds so much better now.

I didn't get on with the G6 at all, it was so powerful that I had to have the volume set to something like 6 or 8 to be at a reasonable level and I plugged in the headphones a few times after using speakers which were set to 80-90 volume and almost blew my head off! Why would they not have individual settings for speakers and headphones?! Also had issues with restarting and not having any audio at all until power cycling the G6 and then a random issue where my PC couldn't record any sound from any device until I factory reset the G6 so it has gone back for a refund and I will be using the H6pro's with the onboard sound for now.

Anyway ... thanks everyone for the input and I can reccomend the H6pro to anyone that reads this very long and confusing thread!