The best and worst headset I've ever had (needs a worthy successor)

[crispy.ltt]

Hey,

I've had a bunch of different headsets through the years but my current one is special, beyond anything I've ever had before. Possibly not in the most rational way, but for me it's both the best and the worst headset I've ever had. Just like many others I've went through my handful of Steelseries Siberia V2 over the years. Some because they simply broke, some because they've worn down (I may have abused a few and exercised my free throw a bit too enthusiastically at times). But that's not the headset I wanna talk about.

I switched over to a Steelseries Sibera 800 back in 2016 and I loved having a wireless headset. It allowed me to move more freely in my apartment and just upped the game for me when it came to quality of life. The dual-battery system with the little hub on my desk made sure that I (almost) never ran out of battery which was a game-breaker. Unfortunately, as the years passed, I would find myself swapping batteries a bit more frequently. In fact, significantly more frequently. The batteries had lost a noticeable portion of their capacity which triggered the search for a replacement.

To say the least, finding a replacement for this headset was not easy. I had grown accustomed to never running out of battery, never having to grab a charging cable. For the past 3 years I've had the comfort of (almost) never having to pause what I was doing at the PC because of my headset. While I initially enjoyed the dual-battery system, It had started bothering me. The hub would many times not recognise that a battery was inserted which would lead to me swapping battery just to find out that battery was at 0% charge. What started out as this great feature for comfort had degraded into the exact opposite. This is where HyperX steps into the picture.

I finally found something that could be the replacement I was looking for. 

Spoiler

The HyperX Cloud Flight S

This headset blew my mind reading about it. I had never seen a PC headset with wireless charging. So I bought it and was beyond excited about this feature...and goddamn if it wasn't the best headset I had ever experienced. I paired it with an IKEA HEKTAR desktop lamp that had a wireless charging pad and it felt incredible. While the wireless charging pad only had 5W induction charging, it didn't really matter. The headset had a staggering 30hrs battery time which was 5-10 hours more than other competitor headsets could offer at the time. This was the best headset I had ever had and nothing I knew came nearly close. 

5 Years later. 
The wireless charging is still king. It is the only headset with this level of comfort. However, the headset has not been pain-free. A couple pointers: 

- The sound is not great. The quality is acceptable and while I only listen to music/movies/series using my SONOS multi-speaker system it wouldn't hurt to have better sound. Other headsets I've tested have noticeable better range, clarity, etc. than what these can offer.
- The sound is NOT great. The headset have had an issue with crackling noises for at least 1-2 years, and it's only gotten worse. I've tried everything to fix this and there seems to be no way around it unfortunately.
- The microphone is sub-par. The quality has degraded over the years to the point where I'm cutting to where half of what I'm saying sometimes is not being picked up. The microphone position is extremely sensitive, I have to make adjustments very frequently to make sure it's set in front of my mouth. 
- The physical comfort was great (emphasis on was). This is nothing new. Leather wears down and loses its cushioning effect eventually. The downside is that the top headrest leather piece can not be replaced and at this point I'm getting worried I'll end up like Tyler1. It's not great.
- The software is horrid (well maybe). It's not necessarily about the software, it's about the connection to the software. The headset constantly loses connection with the software which prevents me from making any changes to f.e. keybinds for the side buttons. To be honest the software UI is quite ok, it's very simple and straightforward. 
- The game/chat volume toggle does NOT exist. This headset desperately needs a toggle to control both chat and game volume channels. I have to constantly adjust volume of browser/applications/discord/games which is not great. 
- They're kind of bulky and I wish they were slimmer but I digress.

Despite all these issues, this is still the best headset I've ever had. Having wireless charging is everything and I feel that it brings incredible value to this headset. I feel it's time for a replacement but the problem is that there isn't one. HyperX has since discontinued this model and there is no way for me to purchase a brand new one (I would if I could).

Why has no other peripheral company picked up on this? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can not manage to find a single headset with QI-charging. 
There needs to be more gaming headsets with wireless charging and it saddens me that there are no other options on the market. 

Do I sacrifice the one feature that I love the most to improve on the other aspects of a headset? Or do I live through the cons until this headset eventually dies on me?
After all, it is the best (and the worst) headset I've ever had.

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, crispy.ltt said:

Hey,

I've had a bunch of different headsets through the years but my current one is special, beyond anything I've ever had before. Possibly not in the most rational way, but for me it's both the best and the worst headset I've ever had. Just like many others I've went through my handful of Steelseries Siberia V2 over the years. Some because they simply broke, some because they've worn down (I may have abused a few and exercised my free throw a bit too enthusiastically at times). But that's not the headset I wanna talk about.

I switched over to a Steelseries Sibera 800 back in 2016 and I loved having a wireless headset. It allowed me to move more freely in my apartment and just upped the game for me when it came to quality of life. The dual-battery system with the little hub on my desk made sure that I (almost) never ran out of battery which was a game-breaker. Unfortunately, as the years passed, I would find myself swapping batteries a bit more frequently. In fact, significantly more frequently. The batteries had lost a noticeable portion of their capacity which triggered the search for a replacement.

To say the least, finding a replacement for this headset was not easy. I had grown accustomed to never running out of battery, never having to grab a charging cable. For the past 3 years I've had the comfort of (almost) never having to pause what I was doing at the PC because of my headset. While I initially enjoyed the dual-battery system, It had started bothering me. The hub would many times not recognise that a battery was inserted which would lead to me swapping battery just to find out that battery was at 0% charge. What started out as this great feature for comfort had degraded into the exact opposite. This is where HyperX steps into the picture.

I finally found something that could be the replacement I was looking for. 

  Hide contents

The HyperX Cloud Flight S

This headset blew my mind reading about it. I had never seen a PC headset with wireless charging. So I bought it and was beyond excited about this feature...and goddamn if it wasn't the best headset I had ever experienced. I paired it with an IKEA HEKTAR desktop lamp that had a wireless charging pad and it felt incredible. While the wireless charging pad only had 5W induction charging, it didn't really matter. The headset had a staggering 30hrs battery time which was 5-10 hours more than other competitor headsets could offer at the time. This was the best headset I had ever had and nothing I knew came nearly close. 

5 Years later. 
The wireless charging is still king. It is the only headset with this level of comfort. However, the headset has not been pain-free. A couple pointers: 

- The sound is not great. The quality is acceptable and while I only listen to music/movies/series using my SONOS multi-speaker system it wouldn't hurt to have better sound. Other headsets I've tested have noticeable better range, clarity, etc. than what these can offer.
- The sound is NOT great. The headset have had an issue with crackling noises for at least 1-2 years, and it's only gotten worse. I've tried everything to fix this and there seems to be no way around it unfortunately.
- The microphone is sub-par. The quality has degraded over the years to the point where I'm cutting to where half of what I'm saying sometimes is not being picked up. The microphone position is extremely sensitive, I have to make adjustments very frequently to make sure it's set in front of my mouth. 
- The physical comfort was great (emphasis on was). This is nothing new. Leather wears down and loses its cushioning effect eventually. The downside is that the top headrest leather piece can not be replaced and at this point I'm getting worried I'll end up like Tyler1. It's not great.
- The software is horrid (well maybe). It's not necessarily about the software, it's about the connection to the software. The headset constantly loses connection with the software which prevents me from making any changes to f.e. keybinds for the side buttons. To be honest the software UI is quite ok, it's very simple and straightforward. 
- The game/chat volume toggle does NOT exist. This headset desperately needs a toggle to control both chat and game volume channels. I have to constantly adjust volume of browser/applications/discord/games which is not great. 
- They're kind of bulky and I wish they were slimmer but I digress.

Despite all these issues, this is still the best headset I've ever had. Having wireless charging is everything and I feel that it brings incredible value to this headset. I feel it's time for a replacement but the problem is that there isn't one. HyperX has since discontinued this model and there is no way for me to purchase a brand new one (I would if I could).

Why has no other peripheral company picked up on this? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can not manage to find a single headset with QI-charging. 
There needs to be more gaming headsets with wireless charging and it saddens me that there are no other options on the market. 

Do I sacrifice the one feature that I love the most to improve on the other aspects of a headset? Or do I live through the cons until this headset eventually dies on me?
After all, it is the best (and the worst) headset I've ever had.

While it's not that great sounding compared to even other wireless options like the Maxwell the Astro a50 wireless + base station come with  some sort of charging base when your not using it.  I do wonder if there is some sort of issues presented with wireless charging. Maybe some sort of issue generated by the wireless energy transfer as to why we don't see it more often. But wireless headsets have only started sounding decent pretty recently so stuffing more and more features is expensive. Im just surprised we don't see more of the base station solutions. But personally my favorite solutions is howsteel series artist does it by providing removable rechargeable batteries allowing for better continuous gameplay and ensuring device longevity to an extent vs non removable batteries that will just die eventually 

[crispy.ltt]

13 minutes ago, rice guru said:

While it's not that great sounding compared to even other wireless options like the Maxwell the Astro a50 wireless + base station come with  some sort of charging base when your not using it.  I do wonder if there is some sort of issues presented with wireless charging. Maybe some sort of issue generated by the wireless energy transfer as to why we don't see it more often. But wireless headsets have only started sounding decent pretty recently so stuffing more and more features is expensive. 

I'm sure that there are some better headsets with the "base station" option. However, relieving myself from that is just different and it's hard to grasp unless you use the product for a long time. For me it really removes the management from the headset. I've got enough stuff at home that requires charging cables, it's nice to eliminate some of those "chores" if you can call it that. Not to mention cables having to be taken in/out of use constantly.

As for the energy transmitted by the induction charging, as far as I've read about it. The energy from induction chargers is so low that it generally doesn't reach outside the charging device itself. Regardless, the fact that it's located near your head shouldn't make a difference since you never charge it in that location anyway. Without any opposing magnetic field the spool in the headset itself shouldn't really pose any risk as it's "inactive". 

I wear induction capable earbuds for 3-5 hours a day at work so It can't possibly be that bad given the size of the QI-charging market. 
But what do I know, I'm not an electrical engineer.

[DoctorNick]

54 minutes ago, rice guru said:

While it's not that great sounding compared to even other wireless options like the Maxwell the Astro a50 wireless + base station come with  some sort of charging base when your not using it.  I do wonder if there is some sort of issues presented with wireless charging. Maybe some sort of issue generated by the wireless energy transfer as to why we don't see it more often. But wireless headsets have only started sounding decent pretty recently so stuffing more and more features is expensive. Im just surprised we don't see more of the base station solutions. But personally my favorite solutions is howsteel series artist does it by providing removable rechargeable batteries allowing for better continuous gameplay and ensuring device longevity to an extent vs non removable batteries that will just die eventually 

The only issue with DC wireless charging is that its very inefficient. Uses up to around 50% more power than using a cord

[Kisai]

3 hours ago, crispy.ltt said:

- The sound is not great. The quality is acceptable and while I only listen to music/movies/series using my SONOS multi-speaker system it wouldn't hurt to have better sound. Other headsets I've tested have noticeable better range, clarity, etc. than what these can offer.
- The sound is NOT great. The headset have had an issue with crackling noises for at least 1-2 years, and it's only gotten worse. I've tried everything to fix this and there seems to be no way around it unfortunately.
- The microphone is sub-par. The quality has degraded over the years to the point where I'm cutting to where half of what I'm saying sometimes is not being picked up. The microphone position is extremely sensitive, I have to make adjustments very frequently to make sure it's set in front of my mouth. 
 

You've just described every wireless headset and every gamer headset ever.

 

There are no gamer class headsets that both sound good and have good microphones. If you want both to be true, you spend $500 on a separate wired microphone on it's own DAC and learn good microphone technique.  This is often overkill, but people don't like to do research and substitute expensive instead of learning how to use it. Good technique can save spending a lot of money on an expensive microphone.

 

I bought wireless headphones exactly once, and I used them wirelessly twice and then just used them wired until I broke the second cable. When I moved recently I threw them out, along with an expensive wired headphones and a half dozen desktop speakers I had kicking around since the 90's. If there's something that has remained true for the last 30 years it's that wired 3.5mm (or even 1/8") headphones regardless of style will always beat the quality of wireless simply because it sends the entire signal. Wireless has to losslessly compress , and that's why you hear crackling noises, as it the audio compression can't deal with the dynamic range of the audio, or you have actual EM interference causing the error correction in the signal to generate latency errors.

 

But if you want to stick to wireless stuff, always buy something that can operate wired as well, because you won't know how good or bad it is really unless you can check. Just make sure the cable detaches to a 3.5mm cable and not some wacky thing.

 

I always end up going back to ear buds because having something on my head just gives me a headache after a while, and wireless stuff is unnecessarily heavy. If you have the freedom to do so, you're actually better off setting up a 7.1 system, but of course this makes using a microphone impossible. Hence why people use gaming headsets for this.

 

The other problem that shows up, is that leatherette material is made of plastic and disintegrates, that one wireless headset I had, not only did the ear pieces shed plastic bits all over the place, but also the headband part. I regret buying them.

 

Rule of thumb for "is this a good headset" / "is this a good microphone" is to look at the frequency response and look for something outside of 20-20000 for the headset and microphone.

eg:

Sennheiser HD 600 Open Dynamic Hi-Fi Professional Stereo Headphones

Now compare that to something like a gamer headset you'd pick up from best buy:

RAZER KRAKEN V3

 

Now given those are wired headsets, and the razer one is about 1/3rd of the price. But you see what I mean when a cheaper headset just barely passes the minimum. This is why "gaming" headsets tend to all sound pretty awful and the  microphones on them are just the worst trash.

 

By comparison, and actual real microphone streamers use:

That Microphone has double the frequency response of the crappy gamer headset microphone. You don't need this microphone in particular, but it shows you how wide the gulf is between gamer headset with a built in microphone and two separate devices are.

 

That headset you have, shares more in common with the Razer headset than the Sennheiser audiphone headset I referenced earlier.

 

Chances are you won't find "better sounding" headphones without going outside the gaming category. Heck you can find cheaper wireless bluetooth 5.0 headphones with the exact same specs, which tells me that many of these headsets speakers and microphones are being sourced from the same chinese suppliers.

 

And before someone one-guy's the frequency response. That's not the issue here. The issue is that cheap junk always sounds like cheap junk. So if the microphone doesn't have a 20-20000 range, it will always sound terrible, where as a headset that might have a 15-24000 might not sound that different from a 20-20000 to people over the age of 30. If you can't personally tell, then it's not really a selling point is it?

 

But the OP seemed to be more concerned with wireless function, and that's really going to come down to trading of quality for convenience, when a headset has a battery, it adds weight, and if you want more than an hour out of it, then it's going to add a lot of weight. If you're not going to be more than 6m away from your computer or game console, you should just use it wired, and leave the wireless for when you need to run to the kitchen or need to be otherwise handsfree. If you're in a heavy 2.4ghz signal congested area, then no amount of futzing around with the headset will improve the signal, especially when people often buy wireless gamepads, mice and keyboards. All of these devices step on each other.

 

[rice guru]

3 hours ago, crispy.ltt said:

I'm sure that there are some better headsets with the "base station" option. However, relieving myself from that is just different and it's hard to grasp unless you use the product for a long time. For me it really removes the management from the headset. I've got enough stuff at home that requires charging cables, it's nice to eliminate some of those "chores" if you can call it that. Not to mention cables having to be taken in/out of use constantly.

As for the energy transmitted by the induction charging, as far as I've read about it. The energy from induction chargers is so low that it generally doesn't reach outside the charging device itself. Regardless, the fact that it's located near your head shouldn't make a difference since you never charge it in that location anyway. Without any opposing magnetic field the spool in the headset itself shouldn't really pose any risk as it's "inactive". 

I wear induction capable earbuds for 3-5 hours a day at work so It can't possibly be that bad given the size of the QI-charging market. 
But what do I know, I'm not an electrical engineer.

Lol neither am I . I use  galaxy buds pro 2 for 8 hours a day at work. Most wireless charging earbuds don't wirelessly charge in the case though. It's the case itself that is wireless charging capable. The earbuds tend to charge through contact points on on them works the same way as airpods as well as xm5s and I'm pretty  sure all wireless earbuds. Cause .asking contact to charge us the most efficient way to charge them allowing use to stretch the battery life in the case. I mean I dot. See much of an issue as to why Qi charging couldn't work aside from shit just being expensive to implement and it's not something a lot of people are begging for. The hardcore gamers out here are all converting to really good wired solutions anyway cause it's better for performance.blockquote widget

[Cocococo]

 Audeze Maxwell demolishes every closed back headphone, headset and wireless headphone out there. if you can stretch your budget to fit one then they're the best option bar none. Frequency range I.E. 10hz-30khz) is entirely irrelevant information, human hearing ranges between 20hz and 20khz and most can't hear above 18khz. Since you're looking for wireless there's less misinformation to cut through, but if you have pets or need to go into other rooms often while doing whatever you plan to do then wireless is probably worth it, just be careful with having lots of wireless peripherals, they can overlap.  

[crispy.ltt]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

You've just described every wireless headset and every gamer headset ever.

 

There are no gamer class headsets that both sound good and have good microphones. If you want both to be true, you spend $500 on a separate wired microphone on it's own DAC and learn good microphone technique.  This is often overkill, but people don't like to do research and substitute expensive instead of learning how to use it. Good technique can save spending a lot of money on an expensive microphone.

 

I bought wireless headphones exactly once, and I used them wirelessly twice and then just used them wired until I broke the second cable. When I moved recently I threw them out, along with an expensive wired headphones and a half dozen desktop speakers I had kicking around since the 90's. If there's something that has remained true for the last 30 years it's that wired 3.5mm (or even 1/8") headphones regardless of style will always beat the quality of wireless simply because it sends the entire signal. Wireless has to losslessly compress , and that's why you hear crackling noises, as it the audio compression can't deal with the dynamic range of the audio, or you have actual EM interference causing the error correction in the signal to generate latency errors.

 

But if you want to stick to wireless stuff, always buy something that can operate wired as well, because you won't know how good or bad it is really unless you can check. Just make sure the cable detaches to a 3.5mm cable and not some wacky thing.

 

I always end up going back to ear buds because having something on my head just gives me a headache after a while, and wireless stuff is unnecessarily heavy. If you have the freedom to do so, you're actually better off setting up a 7.1 system, but of course this makes using a microphone impossible. Hence why people use gaming headsets for this.

 

The other problem that shows up, is that leatherette material is made of plastic and disintegrates, that one wireless headset I had, not only did the ear pieces shed plastic bits all over the place, but also the headband part. I regret buying them.

 

Rule of thumb for "is this a good headset" / "is this a good microphone" is to look at the frequency response and look for something outside of 20-20000 for the headset and microphone.

eg:

Sennheiser HD 600 Open Dynamic Hi-Fi Professional Stereo Headphones

Now compare that to something like a gamer headset you'd pick up from best buy:

RAZER KRAKEN V3

 

Now given those are wired headsets, and the razer one is about 1/3rd of the price. But you see what I mean when a cheaper headset just barely passes the minimum. This is why "gaming" headsets tend to all sound pretty awful and the  microphones on them are just the worst trash.

 

By comparison, and actual real microphone streamers use:

That Microphone has double the frequency response of the crappy gamer headset microphone. You don't need this microphone in particular, but it shows you how wide the gulf is between gamer headset with a built in microphone and two separate devices are.

 

That headset you have, shares more in common with the Razer headset than the Sennheiser audiphone headset I referenced earlier.

 

Chances are you won't find "better sounding" headphones without going outside the gaming category. Heck you can find cheaper wireless bluetooth 5.0 headphones with the exact same specs, which tells me that many of these headsets speakers and microphones are being sourced from the same chinese suppliers.

 

And before someone one-guy's the frequency response. That's not the issue here. The issue is that cheap junk always sounds like cheap junk. So if the microphone doesn't have a 20-20000 range, it will always sound terrible, where as a headset that might have a 15-24000 might not sound that different from a 20-20000 to people over the age of 30. If you can't personally tell, then it's not really a selling point is it?

 

But the OP seemed to be more concerned with wireless function, and that's really going to come down to trading of quality for convenience, when a headset has a battery, it adds weight, and if you want more than an hour out of it, then it's going to add a lot of weight. If you're not going to be more than 6m away from your computer or game console, you should just use it wired, and leave the wireless for when you need to run to the kitchen or need to be otherwise handsfree. If you're in a heavy 2.4ghz signal congested area, then no amount of futzing around with the headset will improve the signal, especially when people often buy wireless gamepads, mice and keyboards. All of these devices step on each other.

 

As for the sound, of course it's going to worse off than a wired headset. That's the sacrifice I chose to make first time around. Getting rid of the wire is far more valuable to me than the sound (within a reasonable margin). I have listened to many other wireless headsets where the sound is good. Wireless headsets don't have terrible sound quality. They're just worse off than a wired one.

As for the microphone I feel as if the quality has degraded over time. The issues with cutting out is bothersome and it's a constant hassle trying to figure if my friends heard me or not. However the microphone output is good enough on a lot of other headsets. It just so happens to be that the HyperX doesn't really cut it which is unfortunate. Besides that, I am not considering a static microphone that sits on my desk because it defeats the purpose of being wireless. 

 

47 minutes ago, rice guru said:

Lol neither am I . I use  galaxy buds pro 2 for 8 hours a day at work. Most wireless charging earbuds don't wirelessly charge in the case though. It's the case itself that is wireless charging capable. The earbuds tend to charge through contact points on on them works the same way as airpods as well as xm5s and I'm pretty  sure all wireless earbuds. Cause .asking contact to charge us the most efficient way to charge them allowing use to stretch the battery life in the case. I mean I dot. See much of an issue as to why Qi charging couldn't work aside from shit just being expensive to implement and it's not something a lot of people are begging for. The hardcore gamers out here are all converting to really good wired solutions anyway cause it's better for performance.blockquote widget

Maybe it's just me then. I personally love having wireless charging and I weigh that feature very heavily.
 

46 minutes ago, Cocococo said:

 Audeze Maxwell demolishes every closed back headphone, headset and wireless headphone out there. if you can stretch your budget to fit one then they're the best option bar none. Frequency range I.E. 10hz-30khz) is entirely irrelevant information, human hearing ranges between 20hz and 20khz and most can't hear above 18khz. Since you're looking for wireless there's less misinformation to cut through, but if you have pets or need to go into other rooms often while doing whatever you plan to do then wireless is probably worth it, just be careful with having lots of wireless peripherals, they can overlap.  

Interference sure is a factor. I did not have any issues with crackling noises on my Steelseries Siberia 800, ever.
I am using a Logitech G Pro Wireless, Logitech G915 TKL and have a SONOS sound system. The risk of products sharing the same frequency sure exists and I've gathered that HyperX headsets do have issues with interference. If I turn on my microwave, it will interfere heavily with the headset which is something I never experienced before or have heard from anyone else I know. This also a very common problem with HyperX Cloud Flight S based on what I read which is unfortunate.

[Kisai]

4 hours ago, Cocococo said:

 Audeze Maxwell demolishes every closed back headphone, headset and wireless headphone out there. if you can stretch your budget to fit one then they're the best option bar none. Frequency range I.E. 10hz-30khz) is entirely irrelevant information, human hearing ranges between 20hz and 20khz and most can't hear above 18khz

You look at it to see if the build quality is garbage, because a headset that just pastes 20-20000 on it's specs, hasn't actually tested those specs. Your "hearing range" is irrelevant. This goes down the nyquist frequency rabbit hole. Suffice it to say, everyone's hearing is different and not every frequency is about "hearing" it, some of it is feel.

 

That's why I said "a frequency response outside of 20-20000" because all the cheap crappy headsets will quote 20-20000 and have no charts to indicate they actually do.

 

So by all accounts the Audeze Maxwell is at least twice as capable as a typical gamer headset.

 

But no mention of the microphone frequency response:

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-6/graph/21651/microphone-frequency-response/audeze-maxwell-wireless/37448

 

Well that's disappointing. It's gonna sound like the "child on a microphone meme"

 

The headset itself is pretty good though:

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-6/graph/21550/frequency-response/audeze-maxwell-wireless/37448

 

 

The next thing I'd look at is what is their flagship product... wow a $4500 headphones. Maybe that's a good brand since their principle product is studio headphones.  Y'know, compared to what some other brands you might find in best buy are.

 

A good headset will have a nearly flat graph between 20 and 10K with nearly identical lines between R and L, and likewise for a microphone. But crappy microphones will have 100-8K response and then nosedive on both the low and high end. If a headset has really wide valleys and gaps, it's not going to sound even. Same with the microphone.

 

At any rate, headsets are going to be very user-preference at the end of the day. But if your concern is how you sound, forget the headset microphone entirely. The highest rated headsets all tend to have pretty poor "wireless gaming" scores, and the headsets with the best microphones will only be good for people with deep voices, but have some of the worst headset scores. The Audeze has a pretty high overall score https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/audeze/maxwell-wireless

 

 

[Cocococo]

14 minutes ago, Kisai said:

You look at it to see if the build quality is garbage, because a headset that just pastes 20-20000 on it's specs, hasn't actually tested those specs. Your "hearing range" is irrelevant. This goes down the nyquist frequency rabbit hole. Suffice it to say, everyone's hearing is different and not every frequency is about "hearing" it, some of it is feel.

Sony XM4 headphones claim a frequency range of 4hz to 40khz, the incredible "quality" that sony headphones are known for has hinges so insanely cheap that the constant breaking forced the entire company to revamp the chassis and somehow make the XM5 even worse. Sennheiser HD600 claim a frequency range of 12hz-40.5khz and i think it would be safe to say that the HD600's are built much better (which is why you rarely see any broken pairs for sale on any aftermarkets) and the chassis has been in perpetual use since 1993 (first were the HD580)

 

35 minutes ago, Kisai said:

The next thing I'd look at is what is their flagship product... wow a $4500 headphones. Maybe that's a good brand since their principle product is studio headphones.  Y'know, compared to what some other brands you might find in best buy are.

 

A good headset will have a nearly flat graph between 20 and 10K with nearly identical lines between R and L, and likewise for a microphone. But crappy microphones will have 100-8K response and then nosedive on both the low and high end. If a headset has really wide valleys and gaps, it's not going to sound even. Same with the microphone.

Two words, Final Sonorous, some of the worst tuned, uncomfortable and undetailed headphones i've ever had the displeasure of using. The msrp is 5k usd and i wouldn't pay $50 for the kind of sound they offer. Sennheiser HD820 are also really expensive and are also terrible, same for the Beyerdynamic T1 (3rd gen in particular) but those brands are popular for making good headphones (or at least people claim Beyer to be good)

 

A flat frequency response usually sounds boring, AKG K612 have one of the flattest frequency responses in any headphone and a super common complaint is how boring they sound. Nowadays most decent (basically not KZ) $20 IEM's don't have any issues with channel imbalance, channel imbalance is so rare because even the crappiest binaural recording system (or hell even a mic shoved into a yoga block) can easily pick up channel imbalance, such a standard is laughably low (but granted some bad headset makers put 0 effort into their products) 

I'm not much a microphone guy, frankly for a gaming headset so long as your idiot teammates can hear you curse their stupidity in voice chat it's fine, not ideal but fine enough.

 

51 minutes ago, Kisai said:

At any rate, headsets are going to be very user-preference at the end of the day. But if your concern is how you sound, forget the headset microphone entirely. The highest rated headsets all tend to have pretty poor "wireless gaming" scores, and the headsets with the best microphones will only be good for people with deep voices, but have some of the worst headset scores. The Audeze has a pretty high overall score https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/audeze/maxwell-wireless

RTings is a terrible audio review site, genuinely some of the stupidest reviews and scoring out there. Their scoring system defies it's own rules (and shows INCREDIBLE bias in favour of products with affiliate links, i wonder why?) the scores seem very much IGN-flated, lots of 7's and 8's but completely unwilling to give any 9's or 10's, side note, for "neutral sound" they gave a Philips SHP9500, a headphone known for it's piercing treble and somewhat messy bass an 8.3, but then give an Audio Technica R70X, a headphone that is tuned much closer to true neutral than the Philips got an 8.2, then the AKG K712 pro was generously given an 8.0, despite them having massively bloated mid-bass and some recessed lower mids with peaky treble. 

 

RTings can't even keep things close to reality with the same brand, Beyerdynamic DT880 (the best tuned headphones Beyer has ever made) got an 8.0 on the neutral sound score, fair enough the treble is kinda peaky but the midrange is surprisingly balanced and the bass isn't early beats levels of overblown like usual, but the DT770's got an 8.3, DT770 are loved by bassheads for their huge amounts of all bass frequencies (especially upper bass that totally screws the lower midrange of music) and very not neutral midrange (very recessed and thin sounding) couple that in with some INSANELY piercing treble (seriously people like to bully Grado for piercing treble but Beyerdynamic is every bit as bad) and you have a headphone that absolutely doesn't deserve anywhere near such a score for neutrality. Why so incompetent? They're one of the biggest review sites on the internet and they have a goddamn B&K5128, they should get much better data than this, well there is one answer, the DT770's have nearly 22,000 reviews on Amazon and sell at least 200 pairs every month at minimum, filter by best scores and they're right up there and for so much less money than the crazy stuff they've reviewed. 

 

Nothing against Beyerdynamic but they were just the easiest and most egregious example, RTings is full of these "subjective" ratings that almost always place products they make affiliate sales from close to the top, it's fine if you believe in the reviews but to try and pretend that they aren't undisclosed ads is just delusional (hell the more expensive Bose ANC headphones literally cancels noise WORSE ((isolation is weaker than cheaper models, only idea i have as to why is to make the ANC seem more impactful than it truly is) than the "cheap" QC45's, and yet tech reviewers gave them glowing reviews because they're terrible reviewers) 

[rice guru]

8 hours ago, crispy.ltt said:

Maybe it's just me then. I personally love having wireless charging and I weigh that feature very heavily.

Absolutely fair we all have preferences and what we have on our desks is highly personal.