"gaming" (yuck.) headset recommendations

[Gorgon]

So I'm obsessing about The Hunt showdown. It's a big stakes shooter a la Tarkov. My current bluetooth headphones ,WH-1000XM3, that I've had forever are just great and I've nearly worn off the ear pads, but they don't play well with VIOP and voce quality is kida crap. 

 A bit part of the hunt is sneaking around in bushes while using directional audio to locate your enemy. So, I'm going to need a proper "gaming" headphone + mike combo

This is a tough segment, it's hard to recognize quality and value over branding. Any suggestions ?

[Sarex]

I think you would be better off getting a separate/standalone mic. This is coming from me watching streamers and what they use, I don't have much personal experience, so take it with a grain of salt.

You will always pay for the brand when getting any gaming headset.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Sarex

[Gorgon]

ohh yeah, it occurs to me that i could just look into one of those TV mikes you clip on yout collar

[Gorgon]

argh.. rabbit hole. 

Apparently the standard for professional audio recording is still IOS (hello 1990s ?)

and they use tttrs conectors (4 bands) , your basic PC motherboard has a trs connectors (3 bands)  and they don't bother telling you that the mike you bought won't work on a PC without a splitter or a DAC. 

I wanted to get wired for price and better connectivity.  

 

 

[Gorgon]

I suppose i'll go USB, not quite as good and I'm running out of connectors. 

[Bartimaeus]

Samson Q2U is pretty much the go-to "great and affordable standalone dynamic microphone for general purposes". But it's not a clip-on, I have no experience with those.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[LadyCrimson]

Most starter streamers use USB mics, like at one time things like Blue Yeti or cheaper/smaller (Yeti is not a very small mic, I have an older one and it's heavy) alternatives. They're fine/good for voice. But then you usually need mic stands or over-the-head swing bars or whatever or they get in the way of, or pick up too much noise from, your keyboard. Which isn't a problem if you're a stream-reactor/chatter, but gamer with a mechanical KB say...haha.

I'm not sure about headphones and directional sound tho. I very rarely use headphones cause I don't need to + I hate wearing them, and when I do I just use these cheap Koss hook behind the ear things that sound pretty decent but are probably only a slight step above earbuds.

Edit: to be honest, half the game streamers I see are just using earbuds + USB mic - maybe they're expensive/fancy earbuds dunno. Most of the other half use those headphones+mouth mic attached combos. It's usually only the ones with huge audience/pro set ups that have anything more fancy.

Edited March 18, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

Most starter streamers use USB mics, like at one time things like Blue Yeti or cheaper/smaller (Yeti is not a very small mic, I have an older one and it's heavy) alternatives. They're fine/good for voice. But then you usually need mic stands or over-the-head swing bars or whatever or they get in the way of, or pick up too much noise from, your keyboard. Which isn't a problem if you're a stream-reactor/chatter, but gamer with a mechanical KB say...haha.

Blue Yeti is a condenser mic, and it has several directionality modes which also affect how much other sound it picks up - for simple voice-chatting, an omnidirectional condenser microphone is practically the opposite of what one should use. Blue Yetis do have a pleasant and fairly natural-seeming sound signature for voices though, which probably played into how popular they got. Just takes a lot of active filtering to fix its issues, which most non-professionals just ain't gonna set up, so it's not going to sound as nice when used by casuals. A cardioid (single direction) dynamic microphone makes way more sense for this purpose. Amusingly, if one does searches on the Blue Yeti nowadays, the search results seems to be mostly dominated by thoughts such as "why is the blue yeti bad", "is the blue yeti bad", and "blue yeti alternatives". Well, it's definitely the name that everyone still knows, .

Edited March 18, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[LadyCrimson]

Oh yeah, I totally get such wouldn't be for music artists/professional mixers etc. But we're talking game streaming/playing. I think for just talking to other players, even a decent clip on would work as long as one is mindful re: arm/hand movement around it. One doesn't have to go even close to semi-audiophile for that purpose.

The thing about the Yeti specifically even for that purpose tho, imo, is it is far too large/heavy  (or plain not compatible) for most cheap mic stands/arms and didn't have much support of its own. So it's not very flexible in that regard, which streamers are likely to want because of myraids of desktop setups and room/couch configurations. I would not have bought it if I'd realized/noticed it was that large/heavy.  >.>

[Gorgon]

I ordered a cheapo wireless clip on mike. I don't think I have room on my desk for a bulky better quality one.  If I don't like it I can still use it for my phone. 

Only 6 hrs on a full battery though, that's gonna annoy me at some point.