When you go out there to buy new headphones, be it in a store or on the internet, there are tons of features and specifications listed, but which of them really count? Well for any PC enthusiast who likes high-performance and gaming, there are two main elements to look out for and use for comparison purposes. Quite ironically, these elements can’t really be seen on paper by looking at the specification sheet. They are sound-isolation and durability.
Sound-isolation (the capacity of the headphones to eliminate outside noise)
Yes… I did say that these two elements couldn’t be seen on paper, and sound-isolation can indeed be compared with the dB count, but it still doesn’t really represent the overall experience of a pair of headphones in general. You really have to try them on to find out what the sound-isolation is really made of, and while you can’t try them on like when you’re shopping for clothes, here’s some advice to find some sound-isolated headphones to play your PC games with.
When you start shopping for headphones, you will immediately see that just about every company claim that their headphones have sound-isolation. What is ironic, is that just about every gaming headphones out there DON’T have any real or truly efficient sound-isolation. Their so-called sound-isolation is usually either some simple electronic filtering, which is a very subtle and over-hyped feature or the ear cups are simply non-hermetic despite a good dB count.
It’s still an amazing fact that most professional gamers use non-gaming headsets when playing on stages of the loudest tournaments. Headphones such as the HME 100 from Sennheiser are one of the rare products that can live up to the noise of a big stage or large venue such as a gaming festival. The HME is in fact a headset designed for helicopter use, not gaming. Still, a lot of gamers do play in loud venues for tournaments with them. The regular headphones arsenal we get advertised to us isn’t cutting it on the big stage, so they resort to aviation products.
Next time you see a big blue headset on a professional gamer’s head, you’ll know why.
Tagging the HME headset as a real gamer product would be false, but it is still beating the hell out of the competition as far as what gamers are looking for. Despite being hard to wear for extended hours (they are heavy and they hold very tight on your head for maximum sound-isolation) and being in a quite absurd price range for gamers (250$), we still have plenty of players going for the HME. Why? The difference is quite worth it when you think about it. Why pay 80$ for a regular gaming headset, only for it to be useless when the big match in that loud venue comes around? It’s quite sad how hardware companies advertise their gaming headsets as performance-enhancing, despite them giving no advantage in the big LAN matches. That’s where it counts!
My advice is that anyone serious about attending professional tournaments should own a highly isolated pair of headphones like the HME, as well as a regular gaming headset for regular use at home so that they don’t get the headache from wearing them all day.
Durability
Headphones are by definition a piece of equipment that can be broken pretty easily, be it by a false move, dropping them on the floor or even through normal use in some cases. Gaming headsets have also had their own share (a big share rather) of problems as far as durability go. You might remember the insanely popular, but also insanely breakable Icemat Siberia Headset (now produced by Steelseries).
The fact is that even if you plan on taking really good care of your headphones, you can’t rely on the fact that they won’t ever undergo any shock. Accidents happen. The Icemat Siberia Headset has its two ears attached by very fragile silver metal strings, and even with the obvious fragile look of the headset and its reputation of breaking easily, gamers still bought it thinking “I’ll just take good care of it”, but they ended up buying a ring of duct tape to fix it up a month later.
Even a non-gamer wouldn’t believe you if you said these were durable.
My own recommendation as far as durability goes is the Everglide s-500 Gaming Headphones headset. I think this pair has fallen a bit under the radar compared to the 5H and the Siberia. Compared to most headsets, they are pretty though. They have sides made of robust plastic and topped by a strong but still smooth overhead bar. I’ve had these headset fall over number of times without any damage, and plenty of players have stated the same thing: they’ve owned the s-500 for years, with no problem whatsoever. What’s even better is how the s-500 play music with great bass and you also get great sound isolation for the price. Comfort is also on point, as you can wear them literally for hours without discomfort. A highly underrated product right here.
The Everglide S-500 look tough, and they are.
So next time you start shopping for headphones, try taking a step back from that specification sheet and try to focus on sound-isolation and durability so you can really get something that’s worth your money.
