New Headset HELP!

DaroFreeman · April 22, 2018

I'm looking to buy a new headset for about $170-220 (150-200 € in the Netherlands).

I'm currently doubting between these two.

The Steelseries Arctis 7 (https://steelseries.com/gaming-headsets/arctis-7) and the Sennheiser GAME ZERO's (https://en-us.sennheiser.com/game-zero)

The Arctis costs about $180 here (144 euros) and the Sennheiser's costs about $210 (170 euros).

Can anyone recommend me what to buy or give me an alternative?

Thanks in advance!

ShredBird · April 22, 2018

You would likely get better audio and mic quality out of the Sennheiser here, but the Arctis 7 is extremely well rounded. I have the Arctis 7 and I enjoy that it's wireless, the chat/game mix feature and they're very comfortable. Mic quality is good with good background noise cancelling and there is a line in on the receiver that I can use with other sources. I use them to play electric guitar and the latency is non-existent which is great.

I would go with Sennheiser if you're just after audio quality alone. I would go Arctis 7 if you'd like more features and the convenience of wireless. Either way, I don't think either one is a bad choice.

Dackzy · April 22, 2018

You could also get a headphone and a seperate microphone. If you want to look used then you can afford a set of HD 580 or HD 650 and then you can buy some cheap lavalir microphone. New you can get K550, K612, DT 880, creative aurvana live (don't get the creative aurvana live 2, it is bad) and then some seperate mic.

all of the headphones I mentioned sound very different, so if you know a sound signature then I could narrow it down even more. I also recommend that you go to audio meets or audio stores and just try headphones.

The K612 and DT 880 somewhat share the same signature, I would personally prefer K612 over DT 880 for the wider soundstage and faster bass. Both of these have a clean and somewhat analytical sound, so for some they can be a bit boring. The HD 650 have a warm sound, with a laid back treble, good bass extention and a lot of detail for their price, the HD 580 are fairly similar, but they aren't as warm sounding and they have a bit more treble. The K550 have a balanced signature with bass that extends very well and is fast, but you need a good seal or else the bass suffers a lot. The creative also called CAL are kinda like mini TH-X00 in how they sound, not as detailed as TH-X00, but man they are good for their price, but the cups are small, so they might be on ear for you.