Answer this before you look at a single headset
Which console is it plugging into? That one question eliminates most of the market, and it is the reason the top pick here is the cheapest one.
Xbox. Microsoft’s own guidance is to connect a headset either through the 3.5mm jack on the controller or via its own Xbox Wireless protocol. A generic USB dongle or a Bluetooth headset will not work. In practice that means: for an Xbox, buy wired, or buy a headset explicitly sold in an Xbox version. Two of the four picks here are not Xbox-compatible and we say so on their cards.
PlayStation 5. The friendliest of the three. A 3.5mm headset plugs into the DualSense pad and a USB dongle plugs into the console. Both routes work.
Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. Here is the one that catches people. Both consoles support Bluetooth audio — but Nintendo’s own support pages say Bluetooth microphones are not supported. So a Bluetooth headset on a Switch gives you sound and no voice chat, which is the wrong half for a game night. Wired works perfectly, and a USB dongle works in docked mode.
PC. Everything works. Wired, dongle, Bluetooth, all of it.
Our headset compatibility guide lays this out console by console, and wired versus wireless is the longer version of the format decision.
What $50 buys, and what the next $50 adds
At around $50you get a wired headset with full-size drivers, a boom microphone and padded earcups. HyperX publishes the Cloud Stinger 2 at $49.99 with 50mm drivers, a weight of 0.60lb, a 6.56ft cable, a swivel-to-mute mic — “simply flip the mic up and out of the way to know that you are on mute” — and a two-year warranty. Nothing about that list is a compromise for somebody playing games in a bedroom.
At around $80 to $100you get wireless. Logitech’s G321 Lightspeed is wireless two ways — a USB dongle for games and Bluetooth for a phone — with a 16 kHz flip-to-mute boom mic and 20 hours of battery from a two-hour charge, at 210g. Razer’s Barracuda X does the same job across PC, PlayStation, Switch and mobile and doubles as everyday headphones. Neither works on an Xbox.
Above $100 you are buying battery life, comfort over very long sessions and better materials. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 is the one worth knowing about if the budget stretches, with the same Xbox caveat: the standard model is not wireless on Xbox, and an Xbox player needs the separate 7X version. Our Nova 7 versus Nova Pro comparison covers what the tier above that adds, which for most people is nothing they will notice.
The microphone matters more than the sound
If the person you are buying for plays with friends, the microphone is the part they and their friends will judge. Three things are worth looking for, and all three are published specs rather than opinions.
- A boom mic rather than an in-line one. An arm that reaches toward the mouth is clearer than a pinhole in a cable. All four picks here have one.
- A physical mute. Flipping the mic up to mute is better than a button nobody can find mid-game. HyperX’s swivel-to-mute and Logitech’s flip-to-mute both do it this way.
- A detachable mic, if they also want normal headphones. A headset with a removable boom doubles as something a teenager will wear outside the house, which doubles the value of the gift.
Sizing it for a child
Weight and clamp matter much more on a smaller head, and a lot of headsets marketed at children are flimsy toys with a cartoon on the side. The honest answer for a child is usually a light adult headset rather than a kids’ one — and a wired one, so there is no charging to forget and no dongle to lose.
Volume is the other consideration, and it is the one a parent will raise. Our headset guide for kids goes through the four models worth considering for a child specifically, and gifts for 8-year-old gamers puts a headset in the context of the rest of the present.
When not to buy a headset at all
Two situations, and both are worth checking before you spend.
They already have one they like. Headsets are the single most duplicated gaming gift, because everyone assumes nobody has one. A quick question to whoever lives with them saves the whole purchase. If you cannot ask, a gift card for their store cannot be a duplicate.
They play alone, with no voice chat. A single-player gamer on a television has no use for a headset and will use the TV speakers. In that house, the same money is better spent on a game, a controller, or lighting for the room — our gaming room lights roundup covers the last of those, and gifts under $100 covers the rest of that budget.
Buying specifically for a PlayStation owner? The filter changes, because three of the best wireless headsets at this price are from makers whose own compatibility lists include PlayStation and leave Xbox off entirely. Our pick of the best gaming headset for a PS5 starts from that list rather than from the price.
