VZR - Model One

I've been down this road myself; trying to find a gaming headset as a hobbyist, which has led to a lot of frustration. 99% of gaming headsets are terrible, as you've learned yourself, but there *are* a few good headsets on the market. The Audeze Maxwell, Master & Dynamic MG20, and VZR Model One. The latter is wired, the former two are wireless. The Maxwell is the best option from a pure sound quality perspective, but side tone and mic quality are subpar and average, respectively, and the size/weight can be problematic for some. Beyond gaming, the Maxwell is one of (if not) the best entry-level planar headphone on the market -- that just so happens to be wireless. It's closer to reference out of the box than many of Audeze's more expensive sets, like the LCD-X, LCD-2, and MM-500, which makes it an unironically great critical-listening headphone. There's also a fairly robust multi-band EQ, with the ability to save those EQs on the headset. If you go for the Maxwell, highly recommend the CapraAudio comfort strap, and the upgraded Dekoni pads. The MG20 is one of the sets I ran before the Maxwell released; it's wireless, more comfortable and lighter, with an excellent detachable mic. It does not include side tone, but comes close to the Maxwell in tuning and is a great headphone outside of its gaming features. It looks like many of M&D's headphones, which means you can wear it in public without a second glance. While it sounds great for a gaming headset, however, it is still not going to perform as well as some typical dedicated headphones. The VZR Model One is the other headset I ran before the Maxwell; it's an excellent sounding wired set that does some interesting things, specifically with how the driver and chassis were engineered to increase soundstage. It works quite well and performs more closely to an open back headphone. More importantly, it can be driven from any source -- including attaching to a controller's headphone output. I ran the Model One through a Schiit Hel and Fulla, and it competed with many of my lower midfi sets for sound quality. The mic is stellar for a gaming headset. The caveat here is there have been a few revisions -- the first release, which I also own, has less refined and more muddy sub/mid bass. So you'd want to buy this one new from a reputable seller/storefront. Now, for the wrench. I rarely use any of the above for gaming, most of the time. The Maxwell has become more of a "wireless headphone" that I run for casual listening, since it performs as well as many of my much pricier headphones. What I typically recommend, if you don't need gaming features or don't mind adding a mic/mic upgrade cable yourself: On the budget side: the FiiO FT1 w/ the Meze Boom Mic cable. The FT1 is exceptionally good value for money. I run it alongside sets that are 10x its price. On the midfi side: the Sennheiser HD490 Pro w/ Modmic (this is my personal pick). On the high-end side: the ZMF Bokeh Closed w/ the ZMF or Meze Boom Mic cable (this requires some EQ). The Bokeh is great for immersive/single-player titles, but needs some EQ for competitive gaming. For a closed back set, it has very good soundstage and exceptional imaging. TL;DR: If you're playing competitively, the HD 490 Pro is the best option; you can run the mixing pads for competitive titles, and the producing pads for immersive/single-player games. This tends to be what I use (and recommend) most. The other go-to is a pair of IEMs with the Kinera Ruyi/Gramr, or Modmic Kimura. I lean toward the former as it has a removable mic and a better cable. For the IEMs, I'm still running the Simgot EM6L or Meze Alba. Two sets that perform well above their price range, but all you really need for a gaming IEM -- as upper mids and treble are where the majority of your gaming cues will fall, an area of the frequency range both these sets do well. Why the IEMs? Because I play on both console and PC, and I don't always want to drag out a DAC/Amp with a mic input or mic passthrough. The IEMs are an easy pick for something I can just plug into whatever device I'm using.

My vote goes to VZR model one. Awesome headphones. Great positional sound and great bass. Very immersive feeling. I have compared them to audeze Maxwell and like the VZR more for above reasons. In my opinion maxwells and Vzr model ones are the top of the gaming headphones list.