Are these a good buy?

[a0a0a0a0a0]

Looking to buy a pair of headphones that:

• Sounds Good
• Is wireless (for walking around and being able to do stuff while in class)
• Has a detachable mic
• Closed back
• Stereo (for music) and 7.1 (for games)

So far the only headphones I could find that meet all of these requirements are the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (170 US), Amazon.com: Audio-Technica ATH-G1WL Premium Wireless Gaming Headset for Laptops, PCs, & Macs, 2.4GHz, 7.1 Surround Sound Mode, USB Type-A, Black, Adjustable: Electronics (250 US), and the Bose QuietComfort 35 Series II (330 US).

 

As far as I can tell the Audio Technica is the best value out of the three. Are there any other pairs of headphones which compete with these and am I making the right decision? Thanks.

[Bombastinator]

Headphones are too subjective to make a sound quality judgement about “worth it” for. 

[rice guru]

How about the Audeze penrose? To me is the only good wireless gaming headset. And I believe meets all your requirements.

 

[OrdinaryPhil]

Totally subjective.

If what you want is a wireless way to hear simple game audio and communicate - and the quality of the audio and mic is of zero concern, than basically any wireless headset will do.

Spending $250 on a headset so that you can loose all of the fidelity to Bluetooth compression is just silly IMO. Wireless audio is not for fidelity but for convenience. There is no such thing as quality wireless audio. Once that is established, you can better decide how much the wireless experience is worth to you.

In my experience, I don't pace around the room or go for a jog while I'm playing games, so being tethered to my PC or consoles really doesn't impact me at all, and since it allows for better, clearer audio, I'd make that trade 100% of the time.

For the same $250 you could get a Bose CQ35 gen1, and a quality boom mic. Or a Crossfade by V-Moda and their own boom mic - which will sound infinitely better when physically connected.

 

Mind you, I am an audio-snob so my perspective is clearly going to carry that bias. For $250 you are entering into a decent market of starter headphones that can really sound great if you choose wisely. I think it would be wasteful for spend that kind of money on a headset knowing that it's not going to deliver any real fidelity. But then, being wireless just isn't all that enticing to me.

[Psittac]

18 hours ago, OrdinaryPhil said:

Totally subjective.

If what you want is a wireless way to hear simple game audio and communicate - and the quality of the audio and mic is of zero concern, than basically any wireless headset will do.

Spending $250 on a headset so that you can loose all of the fidelity to Bluetooth compression is just silly IMO. Wireless audio is not for fidelity but for convenience. There is no such thing as quality wireless audio. Once that is established, you can better decide how much the wireless experience is worth to you.

In my experience, I don't pace around the room or go for a jog while I'm playing games, so being tethered to my PC or consoles really doesn't impact me at all, and since it allows for better, clearer audio, I'd make that trade 100% of the time.

For the same $250 you could get a Bose CQ35 gen1, and a quality boom mic. Or a Crossfade by V-Moda and their own boom mic - which will sound infinitely better when physically connected.

 

Mind you, I am an audio-snob so my perspective is clearly going to carry that bias. For $250 you are entering into a decent market of starter headphones that can really sound great if you choose wisely. I think it would be wasteful for spend that kind of money on a headset knowing that it's not going to deliver any real fidelity. But then, being wireless just isn't all that enticing to me.

I am not a fan of wireless anything really, other than my phone.  But I wouldn't go so far as to say that wireless audio is not for fidelity, it certainly is not a feature that adds fidelity but your wording makes it sound like fidelity and wireless are mutually exclusive.  There are plenty of good sounding wireless headphones, none of which I've heard, but I've seen reviewers talk about the drop panda and the apple airpod max, both of which are towards the fidelity spectrum.

 

Unfortunately when people start looking at wireless solutions their requirements are skewed towards convenience which is the same thing I could say about headset's.  I have 6 pairs of wired headphones and only one of them makes for a decent "headset" with my mod mic.  Why? Because there are thing's to consider beyond sound quality when you start looking into all in one solutions.  Example, I have mounting points on all of my headphones but on all but one of them I find myself yelling on comms because I can't hear myself speak (listen to recording device doesn't sound natural to me).  The hifiman he400i ~2017 edition is so open that I can hear myself speak clearly.  My Sennheiser Game One get's that right off the batt.  Thing's like a mic that mutes in the up position or volume adjust right on the ear cup are compromises that have to be made that take it away from audiophile territory and into those creature comfort's.