The best gaming headsets for 2026
We've spent many hours getting killed in 'Counter-Strike' to find the headsets that are most worth your time.
If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
The best gaming headsets make it easier to immerse yourself in your games of choice, whether you want to listen out for your opponents in a competitive shooter or revel in a boss fight during a single-player adventure. While they aren't essential for everyone — a good set of "normal" headphones can work just as well, if not better — buying one gets you a dedicated mic for chatting with friends and party members. That said, there are still plenty of headsets that are little more than overpriced headphones with some fancy branding attached. To help you avoid the junk, we've thoroughly scanned the market and tested several buzzy options to find the pairs that are most worth your time. Here are our favorite gaming headsets across different price points right now.
In this story
Best gaming headsets: Specs comparison chart
| Headset |
Price (MSRP) |
Design |
Battery life (rated) |
Weight |
Wireless compatibility |
| Turtle Beach Atlas Air |
$180 |
Wireless, open-back |
Up to 50 hours |
0.66 pounds |
PC, PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Bluetooth |
| Audeze Maxwell 2 |
$329 or $349 |
Wireless, closed-back |
Over 80 hours |
1.23 pounds |
PC, PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2, Bluetooth |
| Turtle Beach Stealth 500 |
$90 |
Wireless, closed-back |
Up to 40 hours |
0.51 pounds |
PC, PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2, Bluetooth |
| Sony InZone H6 Air |
$200 |
Wired, open-back |
N/A |
0.48 pounds |
N/A |
| SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds |
$200 |
Wireless, in-ear |
Up to 10 hours |
0.03 pounds |
PC, PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2, Bluetooth |
Best gaming headsets for 2026
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air is one of the few wireless headsets with an open-back design, which means its earcups don't completely seal off the ear from air and outside noise. As a result, it sounds wider, more spacious and generally more natural than most of its peers.
Games feel like they're happening around you instead of feeling confined to a space in your ears; going from this to a standard closed-back pair often makes it sound like a chunk of the world has been chopped off. This kind of design also helps the Atlas Air position in-game sounds accurately, so it's a great buy for competitive shooters as well.
The Atlas Air has a mostly flat audio profile by default, with a slight jump in the treble that makes things like cymbals sound a little more crisp. Like most open-back models, it can't pump out deep sub-bass, so gunfire and explosions don't have the same muscle you might hear with a good closed-back pair. You can generally get a more dynamic and detailed sound from the better non-gaming headphones in this price range. But the bass that is here isn't blobby, and the profile as a whole is an easygoing listen.
This headset is also exceptionally comfortable. The earcups are generously filled with memory foam and give plenty of room for your ears to breathe, while the suspension-style headband is highly flexible. The design as a whole is lightweight (0.66 pounds) and gentle when clamping down on the sides of your head, and all of its controls are simple to access. Everything is made of plastic, which isn't ideal for a $180 headset, but the design doesn't feel like it's on the verge of breaking. A bigger complaint is that it's all a bit ugly, but since this kind of device is meant to live at home, that shouldn't be a dealbreaker.
The Atlas Air's detachable boom mic is fine — not exemplary, as it robs a decent amount of bass from your voice, but still clear and smooth enough to never be a problem. You mute the mic by simply flipping it up, which is always practical.
There's no Xbox wireless support, but the Atlas Air can connect to a PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 through its USB dongle. It also supports Bluetooth and can work over a 3.5mm cable. While you can't pipe through audio from the dongle and a Bluetooth connection at the same time, you can quickly cycle between the two with a button on the left earcup. Battery life is strong as well: Turtle Beach advertises 50 hours, but we've been able to squeeze out another 5-10 hours at moderate volumes.
The biggest issues with the Atlas Air are inherent to all open-back pairs: They let in and leak a ton of noise. This can be a good thing if you need to be aware of your surroundings, but if you often game in a busy environment, you'll hear that background noise while you play. Turtle Beach's Swarm II software isn't the most fully-featured app we've used either, though it's straightforward enough to get around and it lets you tweak the EQ curve if needed.
- Natural, spacious and immersive sound quality
- Highly comfortable
- Decent flip-up mic
- Good battery life
- Leaks and lets in outside noise by design
- Lacking in deep sub-bass, like many open-back headphones
- Not the most premium design
If you've got some cash to burn on a high-end gaming headset and fancy yourself an audiophile, consider the Audeze Maxwell 2 . It's expensive — $329 for the PlayStation version or $349 for the Xbox model — but it's one of the few gaming headsets I've tested whose audio quality can stand next to the better traditional headphones on the market.
While the Maxwell 2 can't provide the immersive width and airiness of an open-back pair like the Turtle Beach Atlas Air, it sounds unusually textured, balanced and intimate compared to most wireless gaming headsets. Its planar magnetic drivers — a rarity in this space — constantly do well to reproduce intricate details without distorting or muddying things up when events get hectic in-game. Highs are crisp without feeling sharp. It could stand to have more sub-bass to give explosions and boss fights more juice, but what's here is still punchy and well-controlled. All of this might play better in competitive-minded games than cinematic single-player fare, but it's clean and accurate either way.
The Maxwell 2's detachable boom mic is a standout. It does a superb job of muting background noise, and though it causes your voice to lose a little air, it keeps you sounding full and clear. Battery life is tremendous, lasting right around Audeze's promised 80 hours per charge. You can connect the headset over Bluetooth, a 3.5mm cable or a USB-C audio cable in addition to the USB-C dongle, though disappointingly you can't listen to a second device connected via Bluetooth while using the transmitter. As noted above, there are PlayStation and Xbox versions; both also work with PCs and Nintendo's Switch consoles.
Between its steel headband, hard plastic earcups and leather suspension strap, the Maxwell 2 looks and feels substantial. It's also devoid of RGB or any other gaudy gamer flairs. The issue is that it's a tank, weighing in at a hefty 1.23 pounds. I still find it comfortable, as the wide suspension strap distributes that weight fairly evenly and the squishy earpads hug my ears without too much force. But I also have a big head, and even then this design traps enough heat to make my ears sweaty after a couple of hours. If you're on the petite side, there's a good chance you'll find it fatiguing to wear.
Still, if you prefer a closed-back headset and value sound quality above all else, the Maxwell 2 is well worth a look. Just note that there's no pressing need to grab it if you own the original Maxwell; this is more of a sidegrade than a true next-gen upgrade.
- Clean, detailed and accurate sound quality
- Superb battery life
- Strong mic performance
- Will be too bulky for some
- No simultaneous Bluetooth audio
- Not a major upgrade over original Maxwell
If you don't want to pay more than $100 for a wireless headset, check out the Turtle Beach Stealth 500 . It's available in PlayStation, Xbox and PC variants, all of which are comfortable to wear over time thanks to their light weight (0.51 pounds) and plush leatherette earpads. Its built-in mic is perfectly serviceable for the price and flips up to mute, and the whole thing lasts a solid 40 or so hours on a charge.
The overall sound signature isn't anything exceptional, but its bright highs can make it easier to hear footsteps in competitive shooters, and you can pick through various EQ presets in Turtle Beach's companion software. And while it can't play audio from two sources simultaneously, it does support Bluetooth for playing music or using Discord on a phone, and you can swap between connections with the press of a button on the earcup.
But any budget-friendly gaming headset will come with its share of compromises, and the Stealth 500 is no exception. Its plastic design is a long way from premium, for one, while the default sound profile is neither as balanced nor as spacious as an open-back pair like the Atlas Air. It doesn't support wired connections either, and although it's closed-back, it doesn't do much to block out external noise.
Nevertheless, you have to pick your battles — and in this price range, the Stealth 500 does more right than wrong. One caveat: If you see the higher-end Stealth 600 on sale for around the same price, you should get that instead, as it delivers roughly twice the battery life, a livelier sound profile with bigger bass response and a slightly more refined design.
- Solid value
- Good battery life
- Light and comfortable
- Decent mic for the price
- Plastic design
- Somewhat uneven sound profile out of the box
- No wired connectivity
The Sony InZone H6 Air offers many of the same benefits as the Turtle Beach Atlas Air. It's another open-back headset with an exceptionally lightweight (0.48 pounds) and breathable design that's even easier to wear for hours at a time. It has a spacious, natural and enveloping sound that plays well with competitive and story-based games, only the low-bass isn't as rolled off as it is on the Atlas Air and highs are a bit smoother.
The removable mic makes your voice sound clear, though it can pick up a fair amount of background noise. It also has a classier, more adult look than the Atlas Air. However, it suffers just as much from poor noise isolation and sound leakage, so it's still best if you use it in a quieter room. Sony's companion software is somewhat basic as well, though it lets you save custom EQ directly to an included USB-C adapter.
The main catch is that this is a wired-only headset that costs $200. I can't recommend it over the Atlas Air when that set works wirelessly and gets close enough from a comfort and audio quality perspective for $20 less. But if you don't need to go wireless — the seven-foot cable included here is fairly long anyway — this pair sounds slightly more refined and might be the most purely comfortable headset I've tested. It's the first wired model I'd reach for.
- Tremendously comfortable
- Spacious, natural sound quality
- Mature design
- Wired only
- Mic picks up background noise
- A bit pricey for what it is
If you'd rather use a pair of in-ear headphones designed for gaming than a bulkier full-size headset, get the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds .
For the most part, this is just a quality set of true wireless earbuds that happen to use a USB-C dongle for a steadier connection with gaming consoles and PCs. (Though they also support Bluetooth and can connect to two devices at once.) The earpieces sit fairly deep, but they're not oversized, and their light weight and soft silicone tips keep them from creating undue pressure. They're also water-resistant with an IP55 rating, plus they have physical control buttons built in, though getting used to the many commands you can activate will probably take some time. The charging case isn't majorly bulky either.
The GameBuds have a mostly balanced sound profile by default. They slightly emphasize the bass and upper mids, which gives explosions some extra boom, though a dip in the treble means some finer details can feel boxed out. However, SteelSeries' companion software includes hundreds of custom EQ presets that are tailored specifically for popular games, so you're invited to mess with the sound as needed. You can manually tinker with the EQ curve as well, but only on PC, not in the otherwise useful mobile app.
The built-in microphone gets the job done, but unsurprisingly it doesn't sound as clean as the dedicated mics that come with our over-ear picks above. Your voice is more likely to be overwhelmed here if you're playing in a noisy room.
The GameBuds also support active noise cancellation (ANC). It's not class-leading by any means — the system on Apple's AirPods Pro 3 is clearly more robust — but it's useful enough for dampening noise at home. The ambient sound mode fares better, making it easier to hear the outside world while you play. Battery life is also decent: We got about 8.5 hours with the ANC active, and the included case can supply about three full charges on top of that. That case also supports Qi wireless charging. Helpfully, SteelSeries also sells a few different versions of the earbuds, including one that supports Xbox's wireless protocol.
- Secure yet comfortable fit
- Balanced sound with tons of game-specific EQ presets
- Decent battery life
- Supports simultaneous Bluetooth audio
- Mic quality isn't as robust as better over-ear headsets
- ANC is merely serviceable
- No custom EQ on mobile app
Other gaming headsets worth noting
The Astro A50 X gaming headset.
(Jeff Dunn/Yahoo)PlayStation Pulse Elite
The PlayStation Pulse Elite is a worthy alternative to the Turtle Beach Atlas Air if you're a PS5 owner and prefer a closed-back headset. Notably, this pair lets you adjust volume, swap through EQ presets, adjust the game-chat mix and mute the mic right from the PS5's home screen. It's comfortable on top of that, plus it does a decent job of reproducing smaller details. But its swooping plastic design feels a bit flimsy, and its control buttons are awkward to reach. It also sounds less even in bass and treble than the Atlas Air, with a narrower soundstage.
PlayStation Pulse Explore
The PlayStation Pulse Explore are the in-ear version of the Pulse Elite, but I found them uncomfortable to wear over extended periods, and their five-hour battery life is weak.
Astro A50 X
The Astro A50 X is a great alternative to the Audeze Maxwell 2 at the premium end of the market. The big hook is its charging dock, which doubles as an HDMI switcher for a PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. This lets you connect the headset to each of those devices at the same time and quickly swap between them with the press of a button on the right earcup. Setting everything up takes some time and a bunch of cables, but it makes the A50 X especially practical if you play across multiple platforms. The headset itself is lighter than the Maxwell 2 with an excellent mic and rich bass, though it sounds darker and more boxed-in when compared to Audeze's pair. Battery life is also worse at roughly 25 hours per charge. Still, it's worth considering if you have a multi-console setup.
Astro A50 (Gen 5)
The Astro A50 (Gen 5) is more or less the same as the A50 X, only it doesn't have any HDMI ports on its base station. It's cheaper, so it's still an alright substitute for the Audeze Maxwell 2 if you want something less weighty. But the ability to automatically switch between consoles is the main reason to buy the A50 X at all; without it, the pitch isn't as appealing.
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite have a classy design, ANC and hi-res audio support, a hot-swappable battery and a versatile dock that lets you quickly change sound settings and connect to multiple sources at once. But they cost $600. Yes, with a six. I can't recommend anyone spend that much on a gaming headset, especially when the Audeze Maxwell 2 has a more balanced sound profile and significantly longer battery life for almost half the price.
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless
The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is an older wireless headset from SteelSeries that now sits below the Arctis Nova Elite. It, too, comes with a useful base station that lets you easily adjust the headset's EQ and game-chat mix on the fly. It's decently comfortable and can connect to two devices at a time on top of that, plus it supports ANC and hot-swappable battery packs. But at $380 it's still pricier than the Audeze Maxwell 2, which offers longer battery life, a superior mic and a more balanced sound profile out of the box.
Corsair Virtuoso Pro
The Corsair Virtuoso Pro is another wired headset with an open-back design, but it has a darker sound and less comfy design than the Sony Inzone H6 Air. Its headband adjustment mechanism feels cheap, while the included mic is just OK. You also can't detach the mic without completely swapping out cables. It still delivers a wider soundstage than most gaming headsets, but Sony's pair is simply better at the fundamentals.
Beyerdynamic MMX 300 Pro
The closed-back Beyerdynamic MMX 300 Pro doesn't do anything egregiously wrong: Its mic isn't detachable, but the whole thing sounds nice, the velour earpads are pleasing to wear and the mic works well. I just can't recommend you spend $380 on a wired headset when the Audeze Maxwell 2 gets you a wireless design and similarly excellent sound — with slightly less spiky highs and more even bass response — at a lower price.
How I test gaming headsets
The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds.
(Jeff Dunn/Yahoo)I wear every gaming headset I test for at least a couple hours at a time to gauge its overall comfort, build quality, wireless connection stability and the like. During this time I play a variety of games to determine each pair's sound profile, imaging performance (i.e., how accurately it places sounds in the 3D space), soundstage (the perception of width and spaciousness it creates) and so on; these titles include Counter-Strike 2 , Overwatch 2 , Halo Infinite , Final Fantasy XVI and Rocket League , among others. I mostly play on a PC, but if a headset is advertised for a particular console, I'll use it there as well. I also run each pair through a custom music playlist to get a better sense of its sound signature.
To judge microphone performance, I record a few vocal samples with each headset and compare how those sound against other competitors around the same price. I take these samples in a quiet room, but I also record a few with artificial noise in the background to better gauge how they'll perform in a crowded environment.
If a headset includes active noise cancellation, I'll take it for a spin in the New York City subway system to see how well it masks sound in the real world.
Whenever possible, I try to A/B test a given headset against its closest rival in this guide. With a high-end wireless set like the Astro A50 X, for example, my main point of comparison would be another premium model like the Audeze Maxwell 2, since most people aren't deciding between a pair that costs $400 and one that's less than $100.
One thing I can't do is "objective" testing using artificial head and ear simulators . I'd love to, but sadly that kind of equipment is highly expensive. (If you'd like to lobby Yahoo to buy me the necessary gear, though, please do!) I look to sites like Rtings and SoundGuys that do perform this kind of measurement-based testing to help confirm my suspicions in certain cases. That said, I've used hundreds of headphones over the last decade and believe my subjective testing is still more than enough to help you make an informed purchase.
What to look for in a gaming headset
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air gaming headset.
(Jeff Dunn/Yahoo)The main pillars of any gaming headset are comfort, audio quality and microphone quality. Comfort is probably the most important thing: If you can't wear a headset for hours at a time without getting annoyed, everything else falls apart. If a pair isn't lightweight, it needs to at least distribute its heft evenly and avoid clamping down on your ears too hard. Ultimately, I can only tell you what a headset feels like on my head, but I've done my best to consider other head shapes and sizes when making my recommendations.
Audio quality is particularly subjective. It's true that some headsets sound better than others, but you might want a pair with big bass response or one that focuses on positional accuracy depending on your tastes and the types of games you play. If you want something for competitive multiplayer games, for example, you may prefer a flatter sound signature that doesn't boost a game's mix in one direction and is less likely to mask the finer details of what's happening around you. But different games emphasize effects like footsteps in different ways. Most modern headsets also let you customize their EQ curve and sound signature, though this can't totally cover up a pair made with shoddy materials.
The greater width and precision you can get with good open-back headphones makes them especially well-suited to games most of the time. But again, they're often light on bass, which can be a negative if you mainly play story-based games, and their lack of noise isolation makes them impractical if you usually play in a noisy environment.
Some headsets advertise built-in virtual surround sound, but you shouldn't fret over that. These features often don't sound great, for one, plus any headset can utilize similar tech through the spatial sound tools built into Windows PCs and the major consoles . Even then, stuff like this usually only works well if a game is specifically mixed for it in the first place.
A good mic is important since it's the main feature that separates a "gaming headset" from normal headphones. You'll want one that keeps your voice clear and suppresses background noise. Otherwise, you might be better off buying a regular pair of headphones, which often sound better for less money. If you've got some cash to burn and care deeply about vocal quality, you could also pair those with a standalone mic, the best of which still sound clearer than the boom mics included with dedicated headsets.
You also need to make sure your headset is compatible with the devices you use to play games. Xbox consoles can be particularly finicky with wireless headsets since they rely on a proprietary wireless protocol. PC and PlayStation 5 support is usually more widespread. You can typically use a wireless headset's USB dongle with a docked Nintendo Switch or Switch 2, meanwhile, but in handheld mode you may be forced to connect over Bluetooth. Certain headsets with USB-C adapters can work with an undocked Switch 2 since that console includes a second port, but compatibility can be spotty. Broadly speaking, using a wireless adapter provides a more consistent, reliable and lower-latency connection than Bluetooth. Many wireless pairs also include the option to connect over a cable.
How much you should spend really depends on your budget. It's more than possible to find normal headphones that sound and feel superior to a comparable gaming headset for less cash. They usually won't look as "gamer-y" either. I believe the best premium headsets are worth the extra money, but this is a market known for inflated prices — so you shouldn't assume that one pair is better just because it's more expensive. Budget headsets also tend to be hit or miss, with build and sound quality often taking a nosedive at the very low-end, particularly with wireless models. As a result, somewhere between $100 and $200 is probably the sweet spot between quality and value for a wireless headset these days. For wired pairs, you can often find something decent for a bit cheaper.
FAQs
Can I buy a regular pair of headphones instead of a gaming headset?
Absolutely. As noted above, a good set of traditional headphones will often get you better audio and build quality than a gaming headset around the same price. This is especially true if you don't mind using a wired pair, since you won't have to rely on the spottiness of Bluetooth. Still, if you want the convenience of an included boom mic or the reliability of a direct wireless connection, it's worth getting a dedicated headset.
Should I buy a wireless or wired gaming headset?
You won't have to worry about any latency issues with a wired gaming headset, and broadly speaking, some wired models can provide a more refined sound for less money. But wireless headsets have improved by leaps and bounds in recent years when it comes to connection quality and battery life, and the best options — like the ones I recommend above — can now equal or surpass comparable wired pairs in terms of audio quality. (I'd put the Audeze Maxwell 2 up there with anything, for example.) Plus, it's always great to reduce cable clutter. At the end of the day, it's your call, but I've mainly prioritized wireless headsets that also give the option to connect over a wire with this guide.
What's better: a full-size gaming headset or earbuds?
For the most part, "gaming earbuds" are just traditional wireless earbuds with a few tweaks that help them play nicer with gaming devices. The main thing is that most connect via their own wireless dongle rather than Bluetooth, which makes them much less susceptible to audio lag in games. Our pick above is great if you want one pair that you can also use with your phone when you're out and about. That said, one of the big reasons to even buy a gaming headset is to get a dedicated mic, and it's hard to fit one of those in a tiny set of earbuds. A good over-ear headset will almost always sound bigger and more spacious too. So while "better" is subjective, we suspect most people will prefer a full-size headset.
