Help finding Gaming Headset/phones for under $100

I was looking to get a new headset / headphone to use with my pc. I currently have a cheap plantronics headset, which after an hour of use starts to make my ears hurt and sweat. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations as to a good solution. I have been researching the topic, and was wodering if games really took advantage of having a good set of headphones, or am I better off just getting a headset.

My main use would be for gaming, and to a lesser extent music/movies. I was looking at the razer carcharias for a gaming headset; however, I was thinking maybe a headphone/mic combo would be better. My friend has the razer carcharias, and I find them very comfortable.

I want an overear headset like the carcharias, I am open to either a headphone/mic combo or a headset, for under $100 perferably sub 80, with preferebly velour(sp?) like earpads, as opposed to the plastic on my current plantronics that cause my ears to sweat.

Also, if it matters I am using onboard audio.

From my experience you need at least a dedicated soundcard (not MB/onboard) to drive some headphones, if you have that, I highly recommend the JVC HA-RX700's, they're cheap, comfy, and do pretty damn good for games and music, I ordered a mic from Turtle Beach (a replacement part for the HPA2 headset), and got some 3.5mm cable, ziptied it to the left cup, voila, gaming headset. If that doesn't work for ya (they are sealed so some heat may build up, though it takes about 3 hours for me to notice this), I would recommend the Turtle Beach HPA2's as they're a quite decent gaming headset, and still within your pricerange. The newer razer sets are supposed to be pretty good, I've heard some good about the newer Plantronics Gamecon 367/377/777 series, the Cyber Snipa Sonar 5.1 seems to fare decently and at a good price.

Unless you plan to get an amp to drive a decent set of headphones, an amplified gaming headset might be the best route, which are the 777, Turtle Beach HPA2's and Cyber Snipa Sonar 5.1's I have listed. The Cyber Snipa's and Plantronics 777 use USB as the connection and have built in sound cards, along with some neat support. That or you could find yourself a used X-Fi Xtreme Music and grab a set of those JVC's and be rockin, I love my set thus far. Last I checked X-Fi Xtreme Music cards were found around the $50 range, while the JVC's are around the $35 range, which is below budget and about the same price as the HPA2's. You have some options, I'm sure the razers will treat you well too though. The HPA2's have some nice around-ear cusioning that was great for many hours of use and gaming, they have tons of bass if you want and are a damn fine set overall, now I personally prefer headphones though...but I tried these JVC's on my onboard sound to see how it'd work out...I was not very impressed, and they are on the lower end of the headphone spectrum...so most any headphone better will need more oomph to drive them and make them sound decent...which can get spendy very fast.

Just some food for though. Cheers.

onboard sound isn't always the end of the world, especially with an easy to drive pair of headphones like the HA-RX700's or 900's, I'd suggest trying them out for ~$30-$40, and if you still feel the need to buy more equipment (i.e: you aren't impressed by the sound, they don't get loud enough, etc), then go ahead and look at a discrete soundcard (basically, you don't need to buy everything at once)

Another vote for the JVC HA-RX700 headphones here... I've only had 'em for a little while but so far I'm very impressed. They sound much more expensive than they are, heh, at 'least if you get 'em for the bargain price of $30-35 (Buy.com still has them in that range last I saw, but they were up to $60 at Newegg recently), very comfy too. Just add a $10 lapel mic (like the Zalman one everyone and their mom seems to have) and you'll come out with a much better investment than the vast majority of dedicated headsets imo.

There's plenty of good quality audio (both musical and sound effects) in games to take advantage of a good pair of headphones imo.

My only reservation about the JVC-RX700 is the plastic ear cups. My current headset has those and after 10 mins of use my ears start to sweat, and after an hour or two of gaming, my ears start to hurt. Is this just an inherent headphone problem that I'll just have to learn to deal with, or will a headphone with velour like ear cups help. Also does anyone have experience using an open earphone design, does the sound leakage cause feedback while using a mic. I guess what I was really looking at is the ATH-AD700, I just am having trouble justifying spending $90 on just a pair of headphones.

Is this just an inherent headphone problem that I'll just have to learn to deal with, or will a headphone with velour like ear cups help.

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Quality, soft and squishy velor pads help tons. Even then I still find headphones hard to wear for much longer than 2 hours, eventually the constant pressure makes me feel like my head is trapped, and taking them off is a relief.

If you're limit is $100, you could stretch it a tiny bit and grab some Sennheiser HD 555. Currently available for $94 from the linked site. Worth more than that price, and the ear pad design is very comfy and can be driven from on-board audio. As others have stated, a simple clip on mic is a good choice

The RX700 are back down to $33 at Newegg btw, they were up to $60 for a while there... With free shipping to boot, just a heads up for anyone that wanted an alternative to Buy.com.

As far as the pads, some people have commented that the pads of the RX900 are softer and more comfortable (they certainly look different if you've seen comparison shots), but I dunno if the sound characteristics of the RX900 would be up your alley or if you'd rather spend another $30 at that point for something else entirely (as the RX900 tend to go for about $60-70).

You can always get replacement pads for the RX700 too...

I vote for the Audio-Technica ATH-AD700s

they are really some of the best headphones are heard for the money
with superb soundstage and sound quality, i really improved in my counter strike sessions.

i highly reconmend it.
and for the mic, the zalman clip on is a great choice.

To make my RX700's a tad more comfortable, I suffed some small strips of foam underneath the ear cusion, this created a better gap and made them quite nice. I didn't have a huge issue with them before...but after about 3 hours I had to take them off for a little bit. But check this out:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/jvc-ha-rx700-mods-435809/

Though the AD700's are a solid set, will have a better soundstage and crisper sound, if you like bass...don't expect much with them from what I've read, but there are fixes for that too. It depends on what you're after though, I use a little bit of bass for gaming, not much, though I change that for movies and music mostly to even things out, though the jvc's can produce much more bass than I use...I can't handle that much. Some have also tried the HARX900 pads on the 700's and been happier, I would say get some strips of foam if you do go the JVC route, it'll make a nice difference. You have a lot of good options under $100.

pwnrhasta said:

I vote for the Audio-Technica ATH-AD700s

they are really some of the best headphones are heard for the money
with superb soundstage and sound quality, i really improved in my counter strike sessions.

i highly reconmend it.
and for the mic, the zalman clip on is a great choice.

Click to expand...

+1 for the AD700s

I got mine for $80 and they image noticeably better than the HD555s. People will think you're cheating in cod4.