When choosing the perfect graphics card, RAM, processor, and monitor in pursuit of graphics, it’s easy to forget about sound. As a result, such important things as speakers and headphones are chosen according to the residual principle.headphones price in pakistan At the same time, progress does not stand still, and even headphones today have become a specialized device for gamers, allowing them to almost blindly determine where the shooting is coming from. What are these devices and what other bonuses can they provide to the player?
What Do Gamers Need From Headphones?
So, in games, sounds are just as important as videos. They allow you to understand where the sound is coming from and roughly determine the distance to it, hear the slightest rustles, creaks and footsteps so that the enemy does not sneak up unnoticed.
Top CS:GO Players’ Top Headphones
For gaming, the ability of headphones to create a soundstage is important. In audiophilia, this refers to the accuracy with which they can reproduce the acoustic environment formed by the sound engineer. For music, it is usually a stage in a concert hall (hence the term), for a game it is a room or space in which the action takes place. How accurately the headphones will be able to position sound sources in this space is, without exaggeration, vital for the player. Hence the popularity of a novelty in recent years – gaming headphones with surround sound.
Equipment:
Usually, gaming headphones are not only equipped with a microphone for communicating with other players, but also provide additional features such as presets, Bluetooth controls, active noise cancellation, etc. Some models not only have an aggressive appearance, but are also equipped with ubiquitous LED lighting.
In addition,
Gaming headphones should be comfortable. They often have a lightweight composite body, soft memory foam ear pads, and anatomical inserts. Most gaming headphones have an overarching form factor, or to put it simply, they are “burdocks”. This is due to convenience – in-ear “plugs” are difficult to use for 10 hours in a row, they significantly put pressure on the ears, and the hearing will not thank you, and the location of the microphone on the cable is not always convenient.
Cable:
The long cable included is another feature of gaming headphones. Manufacturers try to supply their devices with a cable that is at least 2-3 meters long, or even a set of cables of different lengths. It is not uncommon for the cord to be disconnected from the earbuds and replaced in the event of a breakage. Wireless earbuds are also gaining popularity among gamers.
Demand:
The demand for gaming headphones is so high that recently even well-known companies that produce studio equipment are adding copies for gamers to their product lines. For example, professional audio guru Sennheiser makes a number of excellent headphones for gamers that are well-deservedly popular. And HyperX Cloud Orbit, which is in demand by players, is a somewhat stripped-down copy of the audiophile Audeze Mobius.
HyperX Cloud Alpha S Wired Headset Black
There’s a lot to think about when choosing gaming headphones today. Analog or digital input? Wired or wireless? Virtual Surround Sound or Real? There are even models with ear cooling, and this is not a joke!
Surround Sound
Today, the main trend in gaming headphones is surround sound. Most often, these are 5.1 and 7.1 formats – most modern games can play multi-channel audio, so this feature is very useful. This helps to determine the location of the enemy very accurately even before visual contact. The player will not be able to sneak up on the player from around the corner or from behind. Some even manage to type frags with their eyes closed.
There are two main ways to implement surround sound in gaming headphones:
- Virtual multi-channel audio received in software. Its quality in such headphones is a kind of compromise, but there are also advantages:
- There is no need to be clever with the design of the headphones, it is quite standard, so their cost does not differ much from ordinary “ears”.
- It’s easy to turn off this feature when you don’t need it, and listen to music or watch movies with your usual stereo sound.
- Since the sound in games has mainly informational rather than artistic value, even virtual surround audio is enough to determine the location of the enemy.
- Headphones with true multi-channel sound. They are structurally different from the standard ones. In each of their “ears” there are several speakers, the same principle as the 5.1, 7.1 and higher systems in home theaters. This gives the player an even clearer idea of the location of sounds in space and allows them to accurately identify where the enemy is sneaking from. But this solution, with all its advantages, is not without disadvantages:
- Headphones with a dozen speakers turn out to be quite heavy, playing in them for several hours in a row is not very comfortable.
Calibrating and configuring such a device is a whole adventure.
The quality of the effect itself is indeed better than that of headphones with virtual surround sound, but it does not always justify the inflated price, which sometimes bites very painfully.
Some models also have a unique feature — 3D sound from Waves NX. The headphones take into account the rotation of the head. For example, if you turn your left ear toward the source of the sound, only the left earbud will play, just as if the sound were actually in front of the listener. The result is a very realistic effect.
Connection type
Many gamer headphones connect via USB instead of the standard analog port (3.5mm). They have their own built-in sound card, which allows you to process audio, bypassing the limitations of the motherboard’s built-in audio card. And some models can connect in both
ways, which is very convenient.
High Quality External Audio:
If a player already has a high-quality external audio card or headphone amplifier in their arsenal, then there is no point in buying gaming headphones with a USB input. However, for those who don’t want to understand sound cards and calculate the appropriate impedance, such headphones will be the perfect all-in-one solution. Their characteristics are quite enough to get high-quality and detailed sound without noise and hiss – both during playback and when talking into the microphone.
The Logitech G PRO X comes with a whole set of cords
Digital login also has its drawbacks — it’s not always console-friendly. Even Xbox often refuses to recognize such headphones, let alone things like the Nintendo Switch.
There are also devices with a wireless Bluetooth connection, but you will need an adapter to connect to a PC. Wireless models allow you to sit away from the screen with the game, and they are also a little more convenient – there are no forever tangled wires.
However, due to the built-in battery and electronic stuffing in the wireless headphones, they weigh more than wired models, which means that it will be more difficult to sit in them for 12 hours in a row. In addition, they require regular recharging, can lose signal due to nearby routers and smartphones, and are more expensive than wired ones. On the other hand, it all depends on the player’s preference.
Microphone
Communication is an important part of gameplay in team games. Therefore, gaming headphone models are most often equipped with a higher quality microphone than standard headsets. Some models are even equipped with noise cancellation systems, which cut off quiet unnecessary sounds, such as the creaking of the chair or the breathing of the streamer himself.
The main thing to pay attention to here is the sensitivity of the microphone. The higher it is, the better: the louder the voice of the speaker will sound. Parameters such as the amplitude-frequency response are of secondary importance. At the end of the day, when playing online, it’s all about understanding the speech itself.