The aim of this expert guide is to help you find the best gaming headset for whatever console or PC you're connecting to – an audio device that can seriously level up the immersive nature of your gaming experience. At T3 we've reviewed dozens and dozens over the years – it's the top 10 selections that make this list – with price points from budget through to luxury.
These top-tier gaming headsets will give you features such as surround sound, automatic noise reduction, and boosts for quieter sounds and dialogue – as well as fantastic audio in general, of course. We're not exaggerating when we say that the right gaming headset can actually improve your chances of winning. The more you pay, the more connectivity, battery, voice quality and cancellation features you can expect.
Our advice is to not just go for the cheapest option without any other considerations though – we'd say finding the right cans to clamp on top of your head can be as important as investing in the best gaming monitor and the best gaming chair too. Read our jargon explainer and how to choose sections further down page to give you a deeper dive into which gaming headset will be perfect for you.
T3's Top Picks
This is a truly great gaming headset, and well worth the outlay if you can afford it: the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro brings with it brilliant audio, a comfortable fit, and a selection of sound profiles you can pick between.
The Asus ROG Delta S headphones manage to hit the sweet spot: this is the best gaming headset for most people because of the way excellent audio is married with a luxury-style fit and a competitive price point.
If anyone ever tries to tell you that the best gaming headsets always have to break the bank, don't believe them. You can pick up the Skullcandy PLYR cans for a very reasonable price now, without compromising on quality.
To hear the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro is to fall in love with them, especially when it comes to the noise-cancelling capabilities: if you want to shut out the world and concentrate only on your gaming, then this is the headset for you.
If you need a gaming headset you can move between gaming devices, then the Logitech Astro A50 X is definitely worth a spot on your shortlist – as it comes with a base station that makes console switching very straightforward.
The Audeze Penrose headset is a great all-rounder which can perform well with music and other kinds of audio as well as gaming sounds – and which sounds fantastic no matter what device you've got it hooked up to.
Best premium gaming headset
You don't have to get very far through our Razer BlackShark V2 Pro review to realise just how much we love these headphones: we described them as "pretty much everything you need in a gaming headset", combining an "uber-comfortable" fit with sound performance that offers a "whole lot to love".
The 70 hours of battery life between charges is impressive, the wireless connectivity (either via a 2.4GHz USB dongle or Bluetooth) is simple to set up and doesn't show any signs of lag, and the companion app for mobile comes with an equaliser option you can use to get the sound exactly to your liking.
Add in features like 7.1 channel surround via THX spatial audio, and we're happy to declare this as the best premium gaming headset around. The cost of these headphones isn't going to suit everyone of course, but if they are within your budget, you're not going to be disappointed.
Best gaming headset for most people
From gaming hardware veterans Asus comes the very impressive Asus ROG Delta S headset, which works with just about every device out there – though the customisation and equaliser software is only available for Windows. It's well worth considering, unless you definitively want a wireless headset.
It works with a host of gadgets and gizmos via USB-C (or USB-A), from PCs to consoles, and it produces audio quality of the highest order – whether you're wanting to rock out to some tunes or you need to hear everything that's happening during intense gaming sessions.
The headset is comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, and is well put together too. With extras like simulated 7.1 surround sound and support for the high-resolution MQA audio format included too, it's easy to see why this made it on to our best gaming headsets list.
Best gaming headset under £100
If you've got a little less to spend on your gaming headset, then put the Skullcandy PLYR on your shortlist. It's not a recent release, so the asking price has now dropped below £100 – but the sound remains superb, and you're sure to notice the difference when it comes to getting immersed in game audio.
In our Skullcandy PLYR review, we had high praise for the versatility of these cans, and the choice of wired and wireless connection options, and the striking design choices that have been made here. Oh, and they're very comfortable to wear too, even if your gaming sessions are several hours long.
The headset is proof you can still get top levels of sound quality without paying top dollar for them, and no matter what device you're connecting up to, the sound stands out. With straightforward setup and plenty of battery life for wireless operation, there's a lot to like here.
Best gaming headset for noise-cancelling
The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro doesn't come cheap, but you'll struggle to find a better-sounding gaming headset than this one – and the immense noise-cancelling capabilities are key to the appeal, helping you fully immerse yourself in your games and play undisturbed for long periods of time.
The over-ear fit and 50 mm drivers combine to offer an audio experience that's both comfortable and clean-sounding: honestly, whatever types of games you're into, their soundscapes will be very well served by these headphones (and they work great for music and movies too).
In our time with the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro, we found they offered an abundance of features – not least the cheat code for battery life, because there are two swappable batteries here, each lasting 12 hours. You won't even have to interrupt your gaming to recharge.
Best gaming headset for multi-platform
Many of you will play on more than one gaming device, and in that scenario the Logitech Astro A50 X headset is pretty much perfect: it can move between PC, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5 and more with ease, with a touch of a button all that's needed to jump between different devices.
In our detailed Logitech Astro A50 X review, we highlighted "top-quality chat audio and game sound", as well as an "easy on the eye" design and well thought-out integrated controls – including a volume rocker. Being able to make quick, in-game adjustments is really helpful.
The headset connects to a futuristic-looking base station, which is how a lot of the magic happens here: it's through this piece of hardware that you can connect up multiple gaming devices and switch between them easily. It's a powerful setup that justifies the rather expensive price.
Best gaming headset for audio quality
As you'll gather from our Audeze Penrose review, this is a headset that excels in several areas – not least audio quality, where it's just about the best around. If you want a pair of headphones that are going to treat the sounds from your games like a classical symphony, then these certainly fit the bill.
In addition to sounding great, the headset is very versatile too. It can be used with a 3.5 mm wired connection, over Bluetooth, or via the bundled 2.4GHz USB dongle, and you can connect it up to Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, the Nintendo Switch, PlayStations and Xbox consoles (via the Audeze Penrose X model).
The price is reasonable for what you get in return – the headphones feature top-tier 100mm planar magnetic drivers, which results in an excellent, rich sound whether you're watching movies on your laptop or gaming on your console. Throw in a quality fit and finish as well, and you can see why we like this so much.
Best under £30
You know what you're getting with the Trust brand: solid, affordable hardware that you can rely on. That's certainly the case when it comes to the Trust Thian gaming headset, which gives you great audio quality in return for not much money at all compared to many of the other options on this list.
Okay it's not the most stylish or well-built pair of headphones out there – and you don't get a detachable mic or any customisation software – but there's no faulting the audio performance, and there are both wired and wireless options to choose from when it comes to getting connected.
Setup is an absolute breeze no matter what device you're using, and these are headphones that are comfortable to wear for an extended period of time too: see our full Trust Thian review for more details. Think of what else you could buy with all the money you're saving...
Best for headphones lovers
Check out our Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal review and you'll see just how impressed this headset is: this is a set of gaming cans that demands attention. Bang & Olufsen is one of the world's finest and most storied audio masters, and here it has poured its expertise into gate-crashing the gaming headset market.
The audio quality is absolutely top-tier, with 40 mm electro-dynamic drivers with neodymium magnets, Dolby Atmos for Headphones, active noise-cancellation tech and the aptXTM Adaptive codec all combining to deliver incredibly precise and immersive in-game audio.
You're not limited in terms of connectivity, with wired and wireless options enabling these headphones to be used with basically any piece of hardware you can think of. You can go from gaming on an Xbox, to listening to music streamed from your phone, to watching an epic movie on your tablet in a blink of an eye.
Best under £200
We like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro wireless gaming headset for lots of reasons, lot least the excellent sound quality and the superior comfort that these cans offer. They're great for games of course, but they also work really well when you're kicking back and listening to music.
Connections are achieved via a wireless base station and two USB ports, so you can hook these headphones up to two devices simultaneously. The stylish base station also handles equaliser settings as well, so you don't have to fiddle separately with software or controls on the cans themselves.
Battery life is listed as 18-22 hours without noise-cancelling – that noise-cancelling is very good, by the way – and we're pleased to report that SteelSeries has included a second hot-swappable battery in this package too. Even better, the price has now fallen below £200, so they're great value too.
Best surround sound
We've labelled this as the best gaming headset for surround sound, but besides that particular feature, there's a lot more to like here as well: read through our Corsair HS65 Wireless review for the full story of these headphones, which also happen to represent very good value for money.
Despite the low price, they don't feel in any way cheap, and these are headphones that you can wear on your head for extended periods of time without getting tired of them. With Bluetooth connectivity you can hook the headset up to most devices, and there's the option of a 2.4GHz USB dongle too (but no wired alternative).
Assuming your game and your device supports it from the output side, there's full Dolby 7.1 surround sound support here for a more immersive experience, as well as a Windows and macOS app that lets you tweak the audio further – it's a real levelling up for your game soundscapes.
How to choose the best gaming headset for you
Why you can trust T3 Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
There are a huge number of headsets and headphones out there for the keen gamer, with most manufacturers offering multiple products that only vary a small amount. While it might be easy to just go with a certain model because of a recognisable brand, before you spend any of your hard-earned cash, it's worth weighing up exactly what you need from your next headset.
Do you want a great-sounding headset for gaming that can also do double duty as a regular pair of headphones, for example? If so, you need to go for a pair of on-ears and, for style and portability issues, one with a built-in or detachable mic.
Equally, if you are looking for a dedicated, heavy duty headset for streaming and super-long gaming sessions, you'll need a set with excellent battery life, a good boom mic, and an over-ear comfortable fit. Everyone's needs vary to some extent, and the best gaming headset of 2024 is going to be different for everyone.
How we've curated our best gaming headset guide
So how have we made our choices? We've picked headphones from across the very best manufacturers in business today, so you're able to see what all the biggest brands offer and – crucially – how they differ. It's a fast-moving market, but we'll help you stay on top of the latest developments and products.
Every gaming headset might appear to offer the same functions and features at first glance, but in fact every device is unique: the build quality and the fit of it, the comfort of the ear cups and the connection method, the features you get as part of the package... the list goes on.
Whether you're looking for a top-of-the-range model or something just to dip your toes into the gaming audio market, we've got all the bases covered with this new and improved guide to the best gaming headsets for 2024 and beyond. We update this guide on a regular basis too, so check back often.
Gaming headset jargon explained
If you're new to the gaming headset market, or wearable audio products in general, then there's a fair bit of jargon that needs to be processed and understood. Right here T3 provides a small guide to some of the most important terms and phrases, in the aim to make it easier for each gamer to determine which headset will work for them, and which will not.
Type – There are multiple types of gaming headphone styles, but the two most common are over-ear and on-ear. Over-ear headphones have cups that fully encompass each year, and tend to be used on headphones with noise-cancelling technology and/or surround sound built in. On-ear headphones on the other hand have cups that sit on top the ears, and tend to be more compact and direct in terms of their audio delivery.
Drivers – The most important part of each gaming headset, drivers turn electrical signals into hearable sound pressure. In the simplest terms, the better and bigger the driver the better the sound quality will be. Drivers come in magnet, coil and diaphragm types, which determine how they work. Here at T3 we think, as a general rule, a good gaming headset should feature a 40mm or larger drivers.
Frequency response – This is important as it determines the entire range of audible sounds the gaming headset can produce. A wider range on paper indicates that the headset is probably more capable than one that has a smaller one, but it is not an indication of sound quality, just the potential of the headphones. Our top-rated gaming headset for PlayStation gamers, the SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless, has a frequency range of 10–40,000 Hz.
Noise cancellation – Noise cancelling technology has developed rapidly over the past five years and is now offered on a fair few gaming headsets. There is both active and passive noise cancelling tech, with active the more desirable. In basic terms, active noise cancelling works by recording environmental sounds around the gamer and then creating an inverse sound wave to cancel them out within the headset. The result is exterior environmental noise is cut out making in-game audio clearer. Passive systems, on the other hand, just look to block out noise and don't actively try to cancel it out.
Sound pressure level – Finally, sound pressure level (SPL) is, in simple terms, a way of determining just how quite or loud a set of gaming headphones can go. SPL is often linked to decibels, so simply look for 'dB SPL' in gaming headphone spec sheets. Most gaming headphones will offer between 90 and 105 max dB SPL.
How we test gaming headsets
T3's testing procedure for gaming headsets is detailed and authoritative. Firstly, we examine the package contents and build quality of the headset itself from a fit and finish point of view. We look at this stage for deficiencies in the product and overall package, or things of particular note.
Next up we test out the headset purely from an ergonomic point of view. So we wear the headset and examine its ability to be adjusted for different head shapes and sizes. We wear the headset for a prolonged period to ensure we know how it feels during long gaming sessions.
Thirdly, we then move onto testing the headset's audio reproduction and mic quality. This is done by using the headset in a variety of game types, such as FPS, RPG and RTS, as well as out of game for applications such as Amazon Music Unlimited, Disney Plus, YouTube and Microsoft Teams.
Lastly, we consider the gaming headset in terms of everyday usability from an experiential point of view. This stage is particularly important for headsets that advertise themselves as general purpose headphones as well as a gaming headset, so we wear them while commuting or on trips out.
When these four stages are complete, we then judge the headset compared to its contemporaries on the market, both in terms of its quality and its price point. It is then here that we finally bestow a star score on a gaming headset, with five stars being the best score a product can achieve.
Reviewer panel
As T3's former Staff Writer, Tech, Andy knows his way around all kinds of kit – and that includes gaming headsets. His writing duties for the site involved reviewing headsets across all the major platforms. Even when he's not actually writing about headsets, he's often still listening to music through them.
Dave has been contributing to T3 and writing about gadgets for more decades than he'd really like to admit: and that means he's a reliable and trustworthy authority on all manner of tech, including gaming headsets. You'll find he's personally and thoroughly reviewed several entries on the list that we've put together above.
Once the Deputy Editor of T3 and now the Editor of PC Gamer, Rob has spent many an hour with a gaming headset wrapped around his ears. Audio quality while gaming is one of Rob's top priorities, and he knows top-tier sound when he hears it – so you can rely on the reviews that he's posted across the T3 site.
Carrie has been writing professionally for more than 25 years at this point, which means she knows what she's talking about when it comes to tech – and headphones in particular. She's passionate about audio quality across any source, from music to games, and brings an expert's level of knowledge to all of her detailed reviews.
