Nov 3, 2023 10:00 AM

The Best Gaming Headsets for Every System

Lend depth and drama to your gameplay, no matter what device you have.

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Thoughtful sound design is a touchstone of modern gaming, and one of the best ways to improve your experience is with a better pair of headphones. Plenty of headsets are designed just for this task, with mics for team chat, wired and wireless options, and comfortable designs for hours of play. We've rounded up our favorites—no matter what console, computer, or device you game on.

For the rest of your gaming accessory needs, be sure to check out our other guides, like the Best Gaming Keyboard, Best Gaming Mouse, and Best Game Controllers.

Updated November 2023: We've updated our picks, added HyperX Cloud III Wireless, Arctic Nova 7X, Rode NTH-100, and Beyerdynamic MMX 200, removed the Removed Master & Dynamic MW65 and SteelSeries Arctis 7, and updated prices throughout.

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Photograph: Logitech
Best for Most People
Logitech G Pro X
This is one of our favorite headsets, and for several good reasons. The Logitech G Pro X (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is simple and elegant—more like high-quality headphones than a gaming headset. Conveniently, it comes in both wired and wireless options.
But there's more to it than meets the eye. Not only does it produce resonant sound on an expansive soundstage with 7.1 surround, but Logitech's included software gives you granular control over the quality of your voice. The included mic and software were engineered with help from Logitech-owned Blue (of Blue Yeti fame), and together they produce crystal-clear, broadcast-quality comms. The price is also very reasonable.
$100 at Amazon (Wired)
$100 at Walmart (Wired)
$160 at Amazon (Wireless)
$230 at Logitech (Wireless)
Photograph: SteelSeries
Upgrade Pick
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wired/Wireless Headset
The Arctis Nova Pro produces immersive, expansive sound, and it packs a desktop DAC with a slick little display. This DAC can be used to adjust volume, or the mix of voice, sidetone, and voice chat. The headset itself is super comfy to wear for long periods. The ear cups are plush and soft, and they shut out almost all exterior sounds. The new adjustable head strap pays homage to the classic ski-goggle adjustment strap that made the original Arctis such a standout.
There's also a wireless version (8/10, WIRED Recommends) that blew us away. On top of all the benefits of the wired version, it comes with two batteries, each of which can provide around 25 hours on a full charge. When one is in use, the other can charge inside the GameDAC, so there's always a fresh battery when you need it.
$196 at Amazon (Wired)
$320 at Amazon (Wireless)

Photograph: SteelSeries
Best for Nintendo Switch
SteelSeries Arctis 7+
Many of the SteelSeries Arctis headsets have impressed us, and the Arctis 7+ (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is one of our favorites. It pulls off an impressive 30-hour battery life, and it's comfortable. But the best part is its handy, low-profile USB-C adapter that lets it pair with everything from Android phones to the Nintendo Switch. While the Switch supports Bluetooth audio, you'll get lower latency and better sound quality with this headset.
$140 at SteelSeries
$140 at Walmart
Photograph: SteelSeries
Best for Xbox (One and Series X/S)
SteelSeries Arctis 9X
We've used the Arctis 9X for many, many months and it's our favorite Xbox headset. It connects directly to your Xbox the same way you sync a controller—no dongle required—and it has all the benefits of other Arctis headsets. It's comfy as hell on your ears (and cranium), the mic and sound are stellar, and it has a nice retractable mic with balanced mic monitoring so you can hear your own voice when you talk, which helps you avoid yelling loudly. The battery life is about 20 hours.
$139.98 at Amazon
$140 at Walmart
Photograph: SteelSeries
Good for PlayStation 5
SteelSeries Arctis 7P+
In the past, official Sony headsets have earned our recommendation as solid options for the PlayStation, but the company’s most recent Pulse 3D headset didn't impress us. So this time around, we're going a different route.
The Arctis 7P+ (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is nearly identical to the Arctis 7+ mentioned above. The minor difference is that the 7+ has a dial to control ChatMix, a PC feature that balances team chat and game audio. But that feature isn't supported on the PlayStation, so the 7P+ repurposes this dial to control sidetone. That change aside, it still pulls off 30-hour battery life and comes with the wireless USB-C dongle that makes it compatible with most systems.
$148 at Amazon
$170 at Steelseries

Photograph: HyperX
Best for (Unreal) Battery Life
HP HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless
HyperX is best known for getting you the most bang for your buck, and the Cloud Alpha Wireless headset (10/10, WIRED Recommends) raised that bar by a country mile. Our previous top pick for battery life, the Cloud Flight Wireless, offered 30 hours of battery life. This one, however, is rated for 300 hours. Yes, 300. In our testing, it lasted for over 325 hours of continuous usage on a single charge. It's such a baffling achievement that our friends over at iFixit did a teardown just to figure out how they pulled it off.
Combined with shockingly comfortable cans, impressive audio, and a measly sub-$200 price tag, this is one of the few gadgets that's ever earned our perfect review score. The only downside is that it lacks a headphone jack or any non-dongle wireless options, like Bluetooth. But for wireless battery life, this headset is quite literally an order of magnitude above the rest of the competition.
$155 at Amazon
$200 at Best Buy
$200 at Target
Photograph: HyperX
Another Great Battery Life Option
HyperX Cloud III Wireless
The 300-hour battery life on the Cloud Alpha Wireless makes the Cloud III Wireless feel like its "mere" 120-hour battery life is somehow a step down. But don't let the comparison fool you. It's still several times more battery than most gaming headsets we review, and even if you use it for eight hours a day, this battery will last a couple of weeks before needing a recharge.

However, the Cloud III comes with a USB-C dongle and a USB-A adapter, making it compatible with more devices than the Alpha, so you can connect it to your desktop, laptop, phone, or even your Switch. Technically, its retail price is about $30 less than the Cloud Alpha, but we rarely see the latter at its full $200 retail price anymore. If you care more about the USB-C dongle than anything else, $170 is still solid for the Cloud III, but we recommend catching this one on a sale.
$170 at Amazon
$170 at Best Buy
$150 at Target
$170 at HyperX
Photograph: SteelSeries
For Multitasking Audio
SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X
When Starfield came out, many long-time Bethesda fans bemoaned the lack of a favorite Fallout 4 feature: the radio. With this in-game radio, you could listen to music from various local stations as you wandered the wasteland. Starfield—and plenty of other games—might lack this feature, but the Arctis Nova 7X lets you bring it back. Sort of. The headset comes with a USB-C dongle that you can use to pair with any gaming console—including the Xbox, thanks to a handy switch on the dongle—PC, Mac, or phone, plus a separate Bluetooth connection. This lets you pipe in game audio from one source while playing music, listening to a podcast, or watching a video essay from another.
$160 at Amazon
$160 at BestBuy
$180 at SteelSeries

Photograph: JBL
Best for 3D Audio
JBL Quantum One
I complain about "gamer" aesthetics pretty often, but in the case of the JBL Quantum One, the ostentatious design and lighting are well worth it. This headset is expensive, but it's for people who have full-on gaming desktop setups and want the best, most immersive sound while gaming (or listening to music while they work, like me). First and foremost, the sound is just incredible. The broad, expansive soundstage and deep rumbly bass make it perfect for consuming any kind of media.
At this price, you get a few more features on top of great audio. These headphones offer spatial audio, so when you set them up with the JBL software, they track the position of your head. If you turn away from your computer, the volume goes way down. The spatial audio makes for a killer, sometimes overstimulating, gaming experience. They also feature active noise cancelation and a super-clear boom mic. The only thing I don't like? The exterior design. If they were a bit more understated, these would be my take-everywhere, wear-everyday headphones.
$300 at Amazon
$300 at JBL
Photograph: SteelSeries
Also Good for Nintendo Switch
SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 (With Bluetooth)
If you only play Fortnite, you can connect a regular wired headset to your Switch and use the mic. Sadly, that's not the standard for most online Switch games. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Splatoon 2, and other Nintendo titles rely on Nintendo's Switch Online app on Android and iOS for microphone input. If you want to hear your friends and your game, the Arctis 3 with Bluetooth is your best option. It lets you listen to both audio sources at once.
$63 at Amazon
Photograph: SteelSeries
Best Under $100
SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1
SteelSeries shows up a lot on this list, but for good reason. At $60 (MSRP), the Arctis Nova is a budget pick, but it's surprisingly robust. It feels every bit as sturdy as SteelSeries' more expensive offerings and sounds almost as good. It's a bit less immersive and directional than the Nova Pro, but the sound is clear, detailed, and surprisingly rich. It's just really hard to beat the build quality at this price.
$58.99 at Amazon
$60 at Steelseries

Photograph: beyerdynamic
Best for Streamers and Audio Pros
Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X
The DT 700 Pro X (8/10, WIRED Recommends) might not be your typical choice for a wired headset, unless you work in a professional environment. These studio headphones use a mini-XLR to audio jack cable, and they have no internal processing to provide the accurate sound delivery that professional sound designers need. But we've found that this often means movies and games sound clearer, since you're hearing the highly engineered sound they were designed to have. These headsets lack a lot of features you might expect from others at this price, like a microphone for gaming. But if clear, accurate sound quality is your priority, it's hard to beat this one.
$269 at Amazon
$269 at Beyerdynamic
Photograph: Røde
For Professional-Level Clarity
Røde NTH-100
The Rode NTH-100 wired headphones are designed for audio accuracy more than anything else. These are the kind of headphones you get if you're editing music or video and need to hear exactly what the audio sounds like. You won't get any EQ adjustments or artificial bass boost here. For some of you, that is precisely what you want.

The earcups have a unique, triangular-ish design that comfortably fits over my ears, and the headband has a nice amount of padding. Unlike many other professional studio headsets, the NTH-100 allows you to plug the 3.5-mm cable into either earcup. The included cable has an interlocking mechanism to keep it in place, so make sure you're plugging the correct end into the headset.
$149 at Amazon
$150 at Best Buy
$149 at Target
Photograph: Beyerdynamic
For Studio Quality With Wireless Convenience
Beyerdynamic MMX 200
Beyerdynamic is known for making highly accurate headsets for creative professionals who work in studios, but we've had a hunch that some of its headphones might be great for gaming too. Apparently the company agrees, as it recently launched its first wireless headset specifically for gaming: the MMX 200. Its reproduction of audio signals is pretty much as the studios who make your games designed it to be. This headset comes with a detachable microphone for gaming chat and a volume knob that doubles as a dial to adjust the balance between game audio and team chat. Simply click the button in to switch which one you're adjusting. The kit includes a USB-C dongle with a USB-A adapter, which means it's compatible with a wide array of consoles and gaming devices.
$249 at Amazon
$249 at Beyerdynamic

Photograph: Turtle Beach
A Cheaper PS5 Headset
Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 600 Gen 2 for PlayStation
If you're trying to save some cash, the Stealth 600 Gen 2 is a great budget pick for the PlayStation ecosystem. It's not the single greatest wireless gaming headset by any stretch, but like its predecessor it offers a good mix of features for its price: excellent sound, a decently comfortable fit, mic monitoring, extra audio modes, vocal cues, 15 hours of battery life, solid range, and a flip-to-mute mic. Unfortunately, there's no 3.5-mm wired option.
$100 at Amazon
$90 at Walmart
Photograph: Turtle Beach
A Cheaper Xbox Headset
Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 600 Gen 2 for Xbox
Thanks to the never-ending war between Sony and Microsoft, you’ll need to buy two separate pairs of the Stealth 600 Gen 2 if you game on both Xbox and PlayStation. Like the PS4/PS5 version, this is a solid all-around headset for the price, giving you a host of premium features, like mic monitoring and dongle-free wireless, at a low price. The Gen 2 iteration is an incremental update from the original Stealth 600, which you can learn more about in our review.
$100 at Walmart
Photograph: Logitech
Best for Gaming on the Go
Logitech G333 In-Ear Gaming Monitors
I'm usually of the opinion that earbuds are earbuds, unless they're wireless. They usually sound decent, but they rarely impress with rich, robust sound. That was until I tried the Logitech G333. These little buds pack big, bassy sound in a tiny body. Plus, they come with a tangle-free cable (yes, please) and an included dongle, and they support USB-C right out of the box. All of this makes them a perfect choice for Switch or mobile gamers.
$50 at Amazon

Photograph: SteelSeries
Honorable Mentions
Wireless Gaming Headset Honorable Mentions
There are so many good headsets on the market that we have a hard time picking out only our favorites. Here are a few other headsets that we like, but that didn't find a distinct place on our list above.
Corsair Virtuoso for $130: This headset is great for PC players. It's lightweight, features 7.1 surround sound, and is comfortable to wear all day long.
Apple AirPods Max Wireless for $500: These headphones are among the best we've tested, but they're also incredibly expensive. They can be finicky when connecting to Windows, or when connecting to multiplayer games. If money's no object and you care more about audio quality than anything else, this is a great option, but there are cheaper, simpler picks on our list.
Photograph: Turtle Beach
Will It Work With Your Setup?
Headset Compatibility
The most important question to ask yourself when looking for a gaming headset is, will it work with my [insert device here]? Here are some tips to make sure your new headset will work with your setup.
USB headsets may have trouble with consoles: If it's a wired headset that uses USB, it'll work perfectly with a PC but might be finicky when it comes to consoles. Most console headsets plug in via a 3.5-mm port on the controller itself.
3.5-mm works everywhere. Mic audio, not always: Any 3.5-mm headphone jack can take any 3.5-mm plug, but you might not get the audio and microphone support. Count the bands around the plug. If there are two bands, you'll get audio output with no mic, or you'll get mono audio plus microphone input. Two-banded plugs are called three-pole plugs because the bands separate three sections of metal. If there are three bands, this is called a four-pole plug, and you'll get stereo audio and your microphone. This is what you want out of a corded gaming headset.
Wireless is a bonus, sometimes: Most wireless headsets now come with a 3.5-mm cable so you can use them wired or wireless. Those cables aren't always the three-band version we want, so be sure to double-check before you buy. Many of them do still require a battery charge to work.
Photograph: Getty Images
How to Pick a Great Wireless Headset
How to Pick a Great Wireless Headset
Audio quality: It seems like it would go without saying, but we're saying it anyway: You can't always tell from a spec sheet how a headset will sound. A well-made stereo headset can sound better than a poorly made 7.1 Dolby Atmos surround sound set. Check reviews to get a sense of how a headset performs in real life.
Surround sound options: Modern headsets have gotten very good at recreating or simulating surround sound in headsets with systems like Dolby Atmos for Headphones or DTS:X. These systems are particularly impactful in games where you want to be able to hear exactly where an enemy is firing at you from. Be sure you can turn the surround sound on or off.
Comfort: This is another subjective category, but if you're going to wear a headset for hours while you're gaming, it's important that it doesn't hurt. A heavy headset pressing against your temples can give you a headache after a while. Look for headsets that have adjustable, ergonomic designs, plenty of cushioning, and are generally lightweight.
An adjustable boom microphone: If you plan to use your headset for online gaming, a good microphone is important. Many headsets come with boom mics that can be positioned in front of your mouth. Some are removable, while others can simply be rotated or bent away from your mouth when they're not in use. Make sure you get the kind that's right for your needs.
Visible mic muting and indicator LEDs: It's important to know when you're broadcasting audio so you don't accidentally share your private conversations with your teammates. Some mics mute automatically when you flip them upward, while others use a dedicated mute button. We particularly like headsets that include red LEDs that indicate when you're muted, which can be helpful.
Mic monitoring so you can hear your voice: If you want to keep tabs on how you sound to your teammates, and not sound like you're yelling while playing, mic monitoring is a feature that lets you hear your own audio through your headphones. Optimally, you can adjust its volume. When you listen to a podcast or radio talk show, chances are those folks are using some form of mic monitoring so they can hear themselves, as well as others.
Equalizer (EQ) and customization tools: Games, movies, and TV shows are mixed differently, and when you're listening, you might want to emphasize different aspects of the audio signal. Custom EQ presets let you set different balances for watching a movie versus playing a game, or even have different balances on a per-game basis.

Eric Ravenscraft is a product writer and reviewer at WIRED, based in Austin, Texas. He's guided readers on how to use technology for nearly a decade for publications including Lifehacker, OneZero, and The New York Times. He also streams on Twitch for WIRED occasionally and can be found on YouTube... Read more

Product Writer and Reviewer

Jaina Rodriguez Grey is a product writer and reviewer at WIRED covering coffee, sex tech, and gaming. Previously, she was a legal researcher for Thomson Reuters and a tech reporter for Digital Trends. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon, with her partner and a pet rabbit named Lola.

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