Cloud II

hyperx cloud ii are definitely my favorite headphones, they sound great and are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn

I really like my beyerdynamic dt 990 pros. A very noticable upgrade from my Hyper X cloud II

I would honestly recommend the cloud 2 wired, it's cheaper but here's the thing. The cloud 2 sound better for story games because of more bass while the cloud 2 is for extreme clear footsteps (you won't be needing) the cloud 2 is more fun sounding due to the bass which makes the explosions moreboomya and fun. The cloud 3 are more realistic sounding but they are flat sounding but the cloud 2 are warm and fun sounding.Ci definitely choose the cloud 2 (hp or kingston doesn't matter, they are practically they same,trhey tested them and very minor changes that you wouldn't notice)

Long time audio enthusiast here who also happens to work for one of the major brands of gaming headsets and microphones (as a test engineer), as well as a former test engineer for [AEA Ribbon Mics](https://aearibbonmics.com/) (high-end studio ribbon mics) so I've got plenty of experience in all of these. Hi-Fi and professional products will almost always outperform gaming ones. And regarding separate components, that's actually a classic in audio products. The higher-end you get, the more you tend to separate out components. Amplifiers are a great example of this. Receivers by-definition are a preamp, power amp, and tuner built into a single chassis. As you move up, you start separating things out. First the tuner (leaving you with an integrated amplifier + separate tuner), then the preamp and power amp, and then you can even get into the very high-end, where you end up with separate power amplifiers per channel. Despite getting less functionality, these separates actually tend to cost considerably more because they're usually built for considerably higher-end performance. This isn't to say that decent quality gaming audio products don't exist. Gaming headsets have come a long way in the last decade. They used to pretty much be universal garbage, but there are some very decent ones now. I'd say the HyperX Cloud II is the first decent one I can think of (go figure, it was essentially Hi-Fi headphone from a major ODM with a boom mic). The Steelseries Arctis Nova products have generally been pretty good for gaming headsets from my experience. I also think you might be under-estimating what "high end" audio is. Audio gear has an insane price range, with many types of products having a range of below $100, to over $10,000, or even $100,000 (yes, that is per component, not an entire setup). Obviously that's getting into extreme/boutique gear, way past the point of diminishing returns, and not at all what I would recommend for you, but it makes the point that a lot of people don't realize just how insanely expensive high-end audio can get. So with that said, you really need to set a budget. Right now, we have no way of determining how "high-end" you can afford and what might be a good fit for you. For wired vs wireless, wired has more potential if it has a standard passive analog input (because this allows you to connect to external headphone amplifiers and DACs). Note that I said potential. You could plug wired equipment into the most garbage of integrated audio to a $1000+ headphone amp. The performance of a modern wireless gaming headset (which will use a proprietary 2.4 GHz dongle) and a wired USB-only gaming headset will be about the same (assuming that we are talking identical products otherwise). By USB-only, I mean a gaming headset that does not have a detachable USB dongle (if the dongle can be unplugged, then you can usually just use the 3.5mm connection with whatever gear you want, just like a passive Hi-Fi headphone). Surround sound doesn't come from a headphone (for the most part). It comes from DSP (though to be fair, this can be built into a gaming headset). better virtual surround sound solutions will take in multichannel data which tends to work better than just taking in 2 channels and trying to "expand" that into surround sound. Above all, I wouldn't worry too much about this in your headphone purchasing decision. You can buy solutions like Dolby Atmos with Headphones and DTS Headphone:X to gain virtual surround sound capabilities. On the microphone side, there are a number of options. "High-end" would be XLR, which also requires a [USB audio interface](https://www.sweetwater.com/c695--USB_Audio_Interfaces). I'd look into broadcast-style (more of a form factor than a performance thing) dynamic microphones for home use. Going the XLR route will age well since professional microphones don't really age-out (for the most part). Audio interfaces also tend to last a very long time. You have to deal with that initial price barrier of entry though. I'd say that you want a minimum of $200 just for your microphone setup if you want to consider XLR. If that's not an option (or worth it, especially just for something like chatting with friends), then I'd go with a decent USB microphone instead. Now, I want to point something out about microphones that a lot of people new to them don't realize: it's not just about the microphone itself but how you set it up and use it. Microphones are heavily affected by their environments and microphone technique is a thing. If you do get a standalone microphone, save some budget for a microphone arm or stand that allows you to get the microphone close to you (around 6" or so is good). From the microphone's perspective, getting closer to the mic improves the ratio of what you want to pickup (your voice) vs what you don't want to pickup (pretty much everything else). Additionally, when you get close to the mic, you can lower the sensitivity (by lowering the gain), which works in-tandem with this better ratio to help you keep your background noise down. To put this simply, if you give a professional recording engineer a cheap but good mic (like a Shure SM57) and someone who has no idea what they're doing a high-end mic (like a vintage Neumann U 47, which will often cost over $20,000), there's a good chance the recording engineer with the SM57 is going to get better results. Ultimately, I'm happy to help give you product suggestions, but there isn't enough information here yet to do so. You've got to give us some kind of budget (approximate is fine). Also, if wireless is a must, you basically have to go with a gaming headset. Bluetooth is not a good choice for gaming due to its latency. Even if you do go with a gaming headset, you can still get an external microphone if you'd like (but do note that you can only monitor your microphone in real time by connecting directly to it or your interface if you get an XLR mic, which requires an analog connection, meaning that this won't work with the majority of wireless gaming headset).

Hi, I work in gaming peripheral product development (and specialize in audio). That budget is about half of what most decent entry-level products cost (if not a bit less) so your options are going to be extremely limited. I would not expect amazing build quality at that point (you should be able to get a year, assuming you're not abusive towards the product), but I would not expect something like a 5 year purchase. You can still get (discontinued) HyperX Cloud II's on Amazon or around $60. That really is about as good as it gets for budget gaming headsets (remember that this was a $100+ product at on point; I believe it's still the all-time best selling PC gaming headset). Sound and build quality are very good for the money.

You're welcome! The non-core should be fine. The Cloud II is absolutely a better headset in every way, especially build quality, but I understand that it's above your price range.

WARNING: If you come from Cloud 2 and playing CS2 - DO NOT BUY CLOUD 3 S. Why? If you ever tried 3.5mm jack crappy headsets etc Cloud Alpha, its that sound in CS. Basically distant sound, sounding really rough and corny. With Cloud 2 you get much clearer game-sound and the actual "real" sound of CS. Cloud 3S Wireless is sadly the same... and yes after some changes in EQ it sounds a little better but if you want to keep your sound don't change to Cloud 3S Wireless. I'm so dissapointed as I really wanted the comfort of Cloud 3 S wireless along with better mic... but here I am waited a week for it just to reveal that it sounds so bad in the game. Can I just get a good wireless headset that is the same comfort as cloud 3s and sound as cloud 2?! Returning cloud 3 S and going back to my 6 year old Cloud 2 until I find a good wireless with the same or better sound for CS2.