Drop + EPOS - H6PRO Open

I cycle between two pairs of headphones while gaming, depending on my mood and I use either; Audeze Maxwell or Epos H6 Pro Open + Epos Gsx 300. I’d give you the following recommendations: Audeze Maxwell if you want closed back and wireless, Epos H6 Pro Open if you want open back and wired.

They're effectively the old Sennheiser Gaming One with some tweaks, which were, indeed, great headphones. No idea why Sennheiser stopped making them in favour handing most of the branding to drop and going about doing something else. I've got the GSP 600, PC38X and a H6 Pro - all these are similar and they're all great.

I’m sad to say, it looks like the PC38X have recently been discontinued. They were made in a joint-venture between Sennheiser and EPOS Audio, but the joint venture ended a few years back and I think EPOS wanted to focus on business communications gear. You might be able to find a few of EPOS’ last gaming headsets at clearance prices though.

I’ve also owned a few Gigabyte motherboards in the past. And others. And researched more. THE worst audio comes from the front audio jacks built into DIY computer cases, second worst is tied between motherboard audio and the DualShock 4/Xbox One generation controllers. To give you an idea of scale, Apple upgraded the audio from their logic boards to improve the headphone jacks on their Mac Minis, iMacs, and laptops, plus they proudly stated that they sense the impedance of headphones and change the output gain automatically… and even then, the $9 USB-C Apple dongle sounds better. Motherboard audio literally are components costing pennies. Given that, you’re hamstringing the potential of any headphones you use. Even Koss Portapro headphones or BLON BL-03 in-ears at like $35 each will be improved with an external sound card or DAC/amp. Along the same line, an “audio interface” like stuff from Scarlett are for music producers. They have decent mic 🎤 inputs, and the headphone outputs are better than motherboard audio, but really they are “recording first” priority and the headphone outs are nothing special for the price. So, back to those Koss and BLON headphones. They’re way under your budget, but if you got those, plus a decent DAC/amp dongle, I think you’d still be impressed! The BL-03 are in-ear headphones from China… they’re warm and fun to listen to, for like $35 they sound good on pretty much any setup, and with your budget you can also pick up an Apple Dongle DAC/amp or even higher end dongles. It’s much the same with the Koss PortaPro’s: not the last word in resolution, but more than enough to make good use of Spotify, they also have a warm and engaging sound that will immerse you in what you’re listening to. The PortaPro are folding, on-ear headphones, meaning they have foam discs that rest on the outside of your ear without closing you off from the world; it will sound like you just added the soundtrack of your life. If you want to step up in price and try around-ear full-size headphones (the technical term is circumaural, if that helps you with search results), people are raving about the FiiO headphones lately. I haven’t heard those, but I see them recommended enough to trust. For an upgraded OPEN BACK circumaural headphone, basically the best value for the money, at a budget close to your £200 limit, I’d recommend looking at the Sennheiser HD 560S. They’re well balanced between the highs, mids, and lows, they extend especially low for an open headphone. I will guess that you are a gamer (like me), and will probably spend as much or more time playing games as playing music, and that’s why you asked about a microphone. The HD 560S don’t have a microphone, but they are great for gaming because they sound clear, CAN create a good sense of soundstage depth, work well with Spatial Audio/headphone surround processing that is becoming more popular in games, and add a lot of immersion through audio. I… can’t exactly guess how much they cost for you, I live in America and as you might imagine the cost has recently jumped up $50-$100 here, but last year they cost like $199-$150 USD, so if your VAT hasn’t gone up they may still be in your budget. Despite not coming with a microphone, it’s pretty easy to find a compatible cable that has an in-line microphone. If you want a built-in microphone, and you’re a bit lucky, you might be able to find an EPOS H6Pro on clearance. They were made in my partnership with Sennheiser and actually use the same driver as the HD 560S, they have a flip-to-mute microphone that can also be removed, and might be a really good price value for you. A quick google search for me shows they’re on sale on Amazon and Woot for less than $100! I would recommend making sure you get an open-back version, the closed back ones are significantly worse due to how closed cups have more resonance and muddle the sound. If you get a deal like that, first of all congratulations, second I hope you’d be willing to put some money towards a nice USB DAC/amp or external sound card. I recommend finding something within your budget from Creative Labs, FiiO or Questyle. Creative is game-focused, and they have a really great headphone surround processing that I’ve been a fan of for years when I’m gaming (the kind of trick that makes FPS opponents complain that you have wall-hacks), but while their stuff is definitely an upgrade over motherboard audio I would classify them as the least of the nice sounding recommendations I mentioned (still better than an Apple Dongle, so still relatively good). Moving up a bit is FiiO… they have a number of compact but powerful USB dongles that sound impactful and fun, more powerful and less fatiguing. Only a few models support microphone… but if you have a separate microphone, or if you can just use your phone, then no worries. Another brand that I only recently got to demo for myself but I’m REALLY impressed with the audio quality is Questyle. Most of their dongles that would be within your budget don’t have a mic input, but the sound quality is really clean, punchy, and powerful, they make sound seem more “in focus” 🤓 and yet easier to discern and separate sounds than the FiiO. There’s the Questyle M12i, but really any of them within your budget have nice clean amps that will help bring out the clarity of whatever headphone you choose, even the Koss PortaPro. There’s really so many good sounding combinations of headphones and signal chain gear, definitely lots of worthwhile gear beyond what I’ve mentioned, but I’m confident the recommendations I’ve given will be a noticeable upgrade for you. Hope this helped!

Arctis nova pro is garbage in my opinion it just doesn't have any bass even when you EQ it remains very weak and thin sounding in this area however treble comes across very clear and detailled and the imaging is pretty good if you only play competitive gaming it's a solid option. Though if you like to play story games i recommand something like the maxwell it sounds absolutly amazing but the comfort is as bad as it can be if you are really big person with strong neck and very little ears it might be comfy to you but if not the weight of the headphones will kill the back of your neck in less than 2 hours and the shallow pads will hurt your ears and don't even think about changing pads yeah it fixes the depth issue of the pads but it adds even more weight. So as a all rounder headphones i recommand the alienware pro wireless it sounds almost as good as the maxwell and it's way more comfortable however you ears gets very spicy in about a hour because the space inside the ear cups is not really there but it really never bothers me even now with the very hot weather. Edit: Ah yeah and if you are ever interested by wired headphones you have two others headphones that are worth it the pc38x and the epos H6 pro i don't know how the first sound but it gets a lot of praise around the gaming audio community and if you take the h6 pro make sure to take the open back i've tried the closed back and it's not really good sounding headphones compared to the open back which has more bass more detailled sound and it doesn't have this echoing boomy sound that the closed back have

I don't know if they are the best, but I recommend the EPOS H6pro, open back.

I got a basically new pair of Game Ones as “used” last year because they didn’t have a cable. Grabbed a cable and gave them to my kid who uses them for Fortnite and loves them. I’ve tried them, and love them as well. Also have tried the PC38X, and they’re fantastic as well, but I ended up going with the EPOS H6Pro Open. They’re so comfy, and sound so good. Either those or my HD6XX with a Modmic. If you love your Game Ones, treat yourself to a new set of the Dekoni Audio pads for them. They’re comfy and maintain the sound signature.

The EPOS H6Pro Open have been floating around for $60ish since EPOS exited gaming, and are essentially on-par with the PC38X. Both have their particular strengths, but they’re pretty close overall.

If your want wireless, I prefer Razer but the bass is deep and they are comfortable. Wired Epos h6 pro. Best headset I’ve used for gaming

If I may, all of the above is solid advice but... also consider the Sennheiser PC38x from DROP (in all black). Very lightweight and a good mix. I use these as my travel pair, and have taken them to compete in several LANs. https://drop.com/buy/drop-pc38x-gaming-headset Or the EPOS H6Pro's in Open or Closed, as it originated from Sennheiser. These are my current daily drivers at home. Same headset more or less, but fancy & has a removable mic. https://a.co/d/2Pr3HyI As for me, I prefer to not use a headset mic. So I utilize a Elgato Wave 3 mic, with a low profile arm on my desk. It's a little pricey, but Elgato have a whole line of accessories like shock mounts and pop filters too, but ymmv. https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/wave-3-black

Using either Sennheiser Game Zeros or EPOS H6 Pro