headphones Headset upgrade?

johnSPA12 · May 10, 2020

I currently have the hyperx cloud alpha pros and i was looking for an upgrade overall but there are so many options i dont know what to get. Any recommendations?

asquirrel · May 10, 2020

Having played the headset game for years: your best bet is going to be getting a good pair of headphones (no mic) and a standalone mic. There are a few different solutions to each:

Headphones:

https://sites.google.com/view/headphoneadvice/home is a decent place to start.
DO NOT get ATH-M50X. They are SUPER tight and heavy. They will hurt to wear after an hour or two.
Sennheiser HD598SR are much lighter (compared to M50X) and can be worn for hours comfortably. But you will hear EVERY.SINGLE.SOUND in the background. Microwave beep? Yep. Air conditioner? As if you weren't wearing headphones at all. PC fans? As if you weren't wearing headphones at all. Open back headphones sound great, but provide 0 isolation.
Really, pick what you like. As long as you spend < $200 you can generally get away without needing an amp/DAC (check the impedance vs what your motherboard outputs to figure out if your mobo can drive them directly, but most non-crap mobos are more than powerful enough to not require an amp for modest headphones)

On the microphone front, you have a few options:

If you are in a noisy environment (50+ dB case fans/loud graphics card fans/etc) you'll want something close to your mouth. Modmics are overpriced and shitty quality, but they are easy. A cheap Lavalier or Earset mic from amazon might get you better endurance for the same cost as a modmic...or it might not.
If you are in a quieter environment, you can get away with a cheap $20 USB mic. Now that RTX voice is a thing, use that to filter your audio, assuming you have the space horsepower to do that.
If you want to sound like a radio host, get a 'professional' (XLR output) mic and go from there. Jayz2cents has a few (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kixrGWXVVW8) videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwuFLEJr5uA) on how you can waste a lot of money trying to sound 'good', but in reality, sounding good is probably user error with any mic over $100, rather than the hardware's fault.
- DO NOT GET A CONDENSER MIC! YOU DON'T NEED IT! Get a dynamic mic. You'll thank me later. The SM58 is a great starting place ($100), but there are cheaper Shure microphones for less that sound almost as good. Monoprice has cheap XLR->USB convertor cables that will work with dynamic mics (note: if you are too quiet with these cables, then you'll have to move the mic closer to your mouth to make it louder).
- Expect to spend $100-$150 on a microphone stand. Yes, I know there are $20 stands on amazon. You want something that works and lasts, not something that shits the bed after 1 year.

Edited May 10, 2020 by asquirrel
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