Good budget headset?

[j.vixen]

My headset recently broke and im looking for a good budget replacement.

 

Im looking for recommendations for a budget headset that i will use for mostly gaming and music. Below 100 USD (Preferably around 80) thats wired and has a usable quality microphone.

By good i mean good within the price range, Thanks for any help!

[fatangel]

3 hours ago, j.vixen said:

My headset recently broke and im looking for a good budget replacement.

 

Im looking for recommendations for a budget headset that i will use for mostly gaming and music. Below 100 USD (Preferably around 80) thats wired and has a usable quality microphone.

By good i mean good within the price range, Thanks for any help!

 

Hmmm, given the budget, the following could work for you, and you are aware that you will have to temper your expectations.  Personally, I find HyperX a bit base heavy for my liking (you can read online reviews for the details), and I am concerned about the longevity for TurtleBeach but they do look like potential options and could save you a bit of money if you don't think you can tell the difference.  At the end of the day I would go with the Audio Technica or Sennheiser options as I've used their products, but the Philips + V-Moda also sounds very viable.  Your mileage may vary and do your own homework to see what works best for you.

• Audio Technica ATH-GDL3 

• Turtle Beach Recon 70 - 

• HyperX CloudX (or any within their line that fit your budget on sale)
• Philips SHP9500 & V-Moda BoomPro Combo 
• Sennheiser GSP 301 (or similar) 

[j.vixen]

2 hours ago, fatangel said:

 

Hmmm, given the budget, the following could work for you, and you are aware that you will have to temper your expectations.  Personally, I find HyperX a bit base heavy for my liking (you can read online reviews for the details), and I am concerned about the longevity for TurtleBeach but they do look like potential options and could save you a bit of money if you don't think you can tell the difference.  At the end of the day I would go with the Audio Technica or Sennheiser options as I've used their products, but the Philips + V-Moda also sounds very viable.  Your mileage may vary and do your own homework to see what works best for you.

• Audio Technica ATH-GDL3 

• Turtle Beach Recon 70 - 

• HyperX CloudX (or any within their line that fit your budget on sale)
• Philips SHP9500 & V-Moda BoomPro Combo 
• Sennheiser GSP 301 (or similar) 

Thanks for the reply!
i am looking for something a bit better than the Turtlebeach headsets and havent been able to find the sennheiser ones anywhere, or really any sennheiser headsets in my price range for that matter. The Audio-Technica ones seem good but its a brand ive never heard of before and im not sure how trust worthy the brand is and what the longevity of them is like. The previous headset i had was the SPC Gear Viro Plus (it was around 70 USD when i bought it) and that was adequate quality for me especially because of the good build quality, would you say that the audio-techinca headsets could be of comparable quality? they also might be slight over my budget atleast from what ive been able to find

[fatangel]

1 hour ago, j.vixen said:

Thanks for the reply!
i am looking for something a bit better than the Turtlebeach headsets and havent been able to find the sennheiser ones anywhere, or really any sennheiser headsets in my price range for that matter. The Audio-Technica ones seem good but its a brand ive never heard of before and im not sure how trust worthy the brand is and what the longevity of them is like. The previous headset i had was the SPC Gear Viro Plus (it was around 70 USD when i bought it) and that was adequate quality for me especially because of the good build quality, would you say that the audio-techinca headsets could be of comparable quality? they also might be slight over my budget atleast from what ive been able to find

 

Agreed that TurtleBeach is not the best option but given your budget, your options are limited.

 

Audio-Technica is a Japanese audiophile brand since 1963 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio-Technica) , and they are breaking into the gaming space.  They are fairly well reputed in the audiophile space.  (See reviews of their ATH-M50x).  I have used their products and have not had much issues.  In contrast, SPC is a gaming gear focused company.

 

I would trust an audiophile company that has been in business for over 40 years to handle audio right and treat their customers right.  However, if you want the gamers aesthetics, Razer, Logitech, HyperX, SteelSeries, Red Dragon, etc, will give you options, but you know they are applying a "gamer tax" on the items.

 

I also came across the Logitech G335 

 

 

I understand that I am pushing your budget to your upper limit of $100 USD.  Almost all of my suggestions are older models and likely have reduced pricing online.  Even the Sennheiser model on Amazon is only $90 CAD on Amazon Canada.  If you are only able to purchase them in-person in your area, then best of luck finding them locally.

[j.vixen]

9 hours ago, fatangel said:

 

Agreed that TurtleBeach is not the best option but given your budget, your options are limited.

 

Audio-Technica is a Japanese audiophile brand since 1963 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio-Technica) , and they are breaking into the gaming space.  They are fairly well reputed in the audiophile space.  (See reviews of their ATH-M50x).  I have used their products and have not had much issues.  In contrast, SPC is a gaming gear focused company.

 

I would trust an audiophile company that has been in business for over 40 years to handle audio right and treat their customers right.  However, if you want the gamers aesthetics, Razer, Logitech, HyperX, SteelSeries, Red Dragon, etc, will give you options, but you know they are applying a "gamer tax" on the items.

 

I also came across the Logitech G335 

 

 

I understand that I am pushing your budget to your upper limit of $100 USD.  Almost all of my suggestions are older models and likely have reduced pricing online.  Even the Sennheiser model on Amazon is only $90 CAD on Amazon Canada.  If you are only able to purchase them in-person in your area, then best of luck finding them locally.

theres pretty much only one Audio-Technica headset that fits my criteria, do mind that i am outside of the USA/Canada area so prices do differ for me. i might just go for the easier option and settle on the HyperX cloud III since its a newer headset from a trusted brand and every review ive seen on it has been positive and it doesnt seem like it applies much of the "gamer tax" for what it gives, atleast compared to the other large gaming brands.
Thanks for the help!

[fatangel]

@j.vixen just curious what you were able to find in your area?

[Psittac]

There are many issues with recommending audio products as it's one of the most subjective parts of the tech world.  Yeah, monitors can vary drastically but high coverage of srgb is still high coverage even if you're color blind.  With audio, everyone's hearing is different and preferential to different notes.  While producing all of the color's accurately is across the board, no sound profile is a one size fits all.  The way I have done this in the past is personally testing everything I can get my hands on whether it's an impulse purchase from a reviewer or a recommendation from someone here.  But that's a VERY limited scope.  Out of some 30 headphones a little over half of them were quality.  Of those good ones I've found that they all have different thing's to offer to some degree.  I've been able to come up with some general rules but they're just for me.  It's very difficult to clump audio into categories, rather certain headphones do this or that rather well.  The problem comes in when people want a one and done solution.  If you're making a hobby out of it you should purchase something that is reviewed by MANY others so you can understand the audio to verbal barrier.  Another problem becomes trend's made by people in forums, for a long time there was hate on gaming headsets and I got in on it.  But for someone on a good but limited budget, they're one of the best options.  For a few years I used my Sennheiser One gaming headset and was completely content with it before getting into head-fi.  In hindsight I can say that they weren't obnoxious in any capacity and that's about all I can say about them that is good.  But I have faith in Sennheiser because I know several of their other products.

 

Onto reputation, I'm currently listening to my Audio-Technica ATH-R70 refine which is a masterpiece within it's own boundaries. I can wear these for month's and even though they are a little dark compared to other offerings, they're amazing.  When you get into comfort and customer support and quality control the can of worms opens up drastically.  This is where the narratives come in, the SHP9600 and a boom mic is going to be the best choice for an "audiophile" headphone/headset in your budget.  The shp9500 is shrill with onboard audio but tamed on something else, I don't have mine anymore so I can't test them on an apple dongle dac, rather I put them on a dac/amp combo that costs more than the headphone by a bit.  This is where reviews from trusted sources come into play.  I've heard that the shp9600 fixes treble shrillness.

 

One final thought, you don't know any better and you won't care.  If you listen to the same headphones for an extended period of time it becomes normal to you.  I change it up to fight this, but even high end gear isn't immune to this.  Even a pair of Koss Kph30ci with pads and an aux extension would sasiate me if that's the budget I had.

 

In short just enjoy the music games and movies, fomo is real in this hobby but if it's not a hobby, find someone you trust to give an overall snapshot of a product.  I hear that the hyperX products are great and given their crushing of the mechanical budget keyboard market I'm inclined to believe it.

[fatangel]

On 12/28/2025 at 11:36 PM, Psittac said:

There are many issues with recommending audio products as it's one of the most subjective parts of the tech world.  Yeah, monitors can vary drastically but high coverage of srgb is still high coverage even if you're color blind.  With audio, everyone's hearing is different and preferential to different notes.  While producing all of the color's accurately is across the board, no sound profile is a one size fits all.  The way I have done this in the past is personally testing everything I can get my hands on whether it's an impulse purchase from a reviewer or a recommendation from someone here.  But that's a VERY limited scope.  Out of some 30 headphones a little over half of them were quality.  Of those good ones I've found that they all have different thing's to offer to some degree.  I've been able to come up with some general rules but they're just for me.  It's very difficult to clump audio into categories, rather certain headphones do this or that rather well.  The problem comes in when people want a one and done solution.  If you're making a hobby out of it you should purchase something that is reviewed by MANY others so you can understand the audio to verbal barrier.  Another problem becomes trend's made by people in forums, for a long time there was hate on gaming headsets and I got in on it.  But for someone on a good but limited budget, they're one of the best options.  For a few years I used my Sennheiser One gaming headset and was completely content with it before getting into head-fi.  In hindsight I can say that they weren't obnoxious in any capacity and that's about all I can say about them that is good.  But I have faith in Sennheiser because I know several of their other products.

 

Onto reputation, I'm currently listening to my Audio-Technica ATH-R70 refine which is a masterpiece within it's own boundaries. I can wear these for month's and even though they are a little dark compared to other offerings, they're amazing.  When you get into comfort and customer support and quality control the can of worms opens up drastically.  This is where the narratives come in, the SHP9600 and a boom mic is going to be the best choice for an "audiophile" headphone/headset in your budget.  The shp9500 is shrill with onboard audio but tamed on something else, I don't have mine anymore so I can't test them on an apple dongle dac, rather I put them on a dac/amp combo that costs more than the headphone by a bit.  This is where reviews from trusted sources come into play.  I've heard that the shp9600 fixes treble shrillness.

 

One final thought, you don't know any better and you won't care.  If you listen to the same headphones for an extended period of time it becomes normal to you.  I change it up to fight this, but even high end gear isn't immune to this.  Even a pair of Koss Kph30ci with pads and an aux extension would sasiate me if that's the budget I had.

 

In short just enjoy the music games and movies, fomo is real in this hobby but if it's not a hobby, find someone you trust to give an overall snapshot of a product.  I hear that the hyperX products are great and given their crushing of the mechanical budget keyboard market I'm inclined to believe it.

Agreed, the audiophile hobby is very subjective.  Even if the reviews are bad, just try them and see where it takes you - what most people hate might exactly be what you are looking for.  You also never know if something will go bad - I have had a pair of wireless earbuds from Sennheiser that I've returned twice.  I find my 8-10 years old HyperX base heavy and not very bright, but reviews of the recent models are fairly positive.

headphones dot com, and many more reputable review sites will generally try to be more objective with their review and point out both good and bad aspects of the product.  Head-fi dot org can have more products and more perspectives, but can be more biased.  YouTube reviews might be overly short and not very comprehensive.  Take them all with a grain of salt and find ones that align more with your preferences.

I approach a new pair of headphones this way and hope it helps you decide if they are the right pair for you:

1. budget - they should sit within your budget
2. your preferences - multiple reviews should discuss if they handle the aspects you like and don't like well
3. form factor - (in-ear, ear-buds, on-ear, over-ear, closed back, open back) all these aspects contribute to your comfort and the sound
4. equipment - (thanks @Psittac for the reminder) the equipment that you are plugging into also contributes to how the audio will sound in the end.  If this overwhelms you, you can ignore this for now and come back to it once you have figured it out more.  If your budget is limited, this becomes a premium option - so don't worry about this!

At the end of the day, do you enjoy using them?  As long as they are comfy for you and you enjoy them for the money you spent, forget what everyone else says and keep listening to them, try other pairs within your budget until you are happy.

[j.vixen]

On 12/29/2025 at 8:36 AM, Psittac said:

There are many issues with recommending audio products as it's one of the most subjective parts of the tech world.  Yeah, monitors can vary drastically but high coverage of srgb is still high coverage even if you're color blind.  With audio, everyone's hearing is different and preferential to different notes.  While producing all of the color's accurately is across the board, no sound profile is a one size fits all.  The way I have done this in the past is personally testing everything I can get my hands on whether it's an impulse purchase from a reviewer or a recommendation from someone here.  But that's a VERY limited scope.  Out of some 30 headphones a little over half of them were quality.  Of those good ones I've found that they all have different thing's to offer to some degree.  I've been able to come up with some general rules but they're just for me.  It's very difficult to clump audio into categories, rather certain headphones do this or that rather well.  The problem comes in when people want a one and done solution.  If you're making a hobby out of it you should purchase something that is reviewed by MANY others so you can understand the audio to verbal barrier.  Another problem becomes trend's made by people in forums, for a long time there was hate on gaming headsets and I got in on it.  But for someone on a good but limited budget, they're one of the best options.  For a few years I used my Sennheiser One gaming headset and was completely content with it before getting into head-fi.  In hindsight I can say that they weren't obnoxious in any capacity and that's about all I can say about them that is good.  But I have faith in Sennheiser because I know several of their other products.

 

Onto reputation, I'm currently listening to my Audio-Technica ATH-R70 refine which is a masterpiece within it's own boundaries. I can wear these for month's and even though they are a little dark compared to other offerings, they're amazing.  When you get into comfort and customer support and quality control the can of worms opens up drastically.  This is where the narratives come in, the SHP9600 and a boom mic is going to be the best choice for an "audiophile" headphone/headset in your budget.  The shp9500 is shrill with onboard audio but tamed on something else, I don't have mine anymore so I can't test them on an apple dongle dac, rather I put them on a dac/amp combo that costs more than the headphone by a bit.  This is where reviews from trusted sources come into play.  I've heard that the shp9600 fixes treble shrillness.

 

One final thought, you don't know any better and you won't care.  If you listen to the same headphones for an extended period of time it becomes normal to you.  I change it up to fight this, but even high end gear isn't immune to this.  Even a pair of Koss Kph30ci with pads and an aux extension would sasiate me if that's the budget I had.

 

In short just enjoy the music games and movies, fomo is real in this hobby but if it's not a hobby, find someone you trust to give an overall snapshot of a product.  I hear that the hyperX products are great and given their crushing of the mechanical budget keyboard market I'm inclined to believe it.

Sorry for the rather late response, i dont check the forum often.
Thanks for the long and detailed response, ive already bought a headset but ill keep this thread for future use if i ever need it. 
i really dont have much opinion on anything audiophile related as i dont have much knowledge about it outside of some surface level things and ive never experienced truly high quality audio, wether its headphones, speakers or another sound system. ive only ever used cheap headsets and earphones as thats what my budget allowed me to. i also prefer headsets as a headphone + external mic combo is expensive but i also dont have the room on my desk for a microphone and i dont like having one standing in front of my monitor and keyboard.
The only real preference that i have that ive noticed is that i like to have a good amount of bass, which sadly the headset that i chose doesnt have as much as id like, but in other aspects like audio, build and mic quality is good enough for me, atleast compared to the last headset i had.

[Psittac]

2 hours ago, j.vixen said:

Sorry for the rather late response, i dont check the forum often.
Thanks for the long and detailed response, ive already bought a headset but ill keep this thread for future use if i ever need it. 
i really dont have much opinion on anything audiophile related as i dont have much knowledge about it outside of some surface level things and ive never experienced truly high quality audio, wether its headphones, speakers or another sound system. ive only ever used cheap headsets and earphones as thats what my budget allowed me to. i also prefer headsets as a headphone + external mic combo is expensive but i also dont have the room on my desk for a microphone and i dont like having one standing in front of my monitor and keyboard.
The only real preference that i have that ive noticed is that i like to have a good amount of bass, which sadly the headset that i chose doesnt have as much as id like, but in other aspects like audio, build and mic quality is good enough for me, atleast compared to the last headset i had.

Which headset did you end up going with?

 

The problem with headphones in general is they aren't prone to good bass, getting a headphone with it doesn't look like what most people would think of.  In general headphones with a lot of it are rather lacking in other categories.  Beat's headphones are notorious for bloating bass well outside of what it should be.  The problem is people think of sub-bass, like car's shaking their windows or a home theater shaking the walls.  The very nature of headphones doesn't allow for this.  Something that reproduces bass and mimic's sub bass is rather difficult to do properly.  With a budget of under $100 you will be very constrained on what you can get.  I know that the Rode NTH-100m is one of the few headphones that does the "consumer" profile, IE: bass heavy correctly.  The problem with those being that the pad's aren't universal and replacing them can be costly.  Plus these are 50% over your initial budget.  But if it's not to late to return the headset you got, these are what I would recommend out of my own personal experience.  That or the Fiio FT1.

 

*Also there is the ability to add a boom mic to your headphones, the NTH-100m over the non m add's a boom mic to the headphones turning it into a headset.  The phillips shp9600 often comes bundled with a boom mic that can be attached.  And lastly there is the modmic uni which is a $50usd add on.  Of these options the only one within budget would be the 9600 and I don't remember the 9500 producing a lot of bass.