Headset Recommendations (Primarily for gaming)

[Terbinator]

Another old face - hey Terbinator

OK, so I am getting the impression that the surround sound angle does as I had kind of guessed, appear to be subjective at best - so I think perhaps a good quality set of audio NON gaming wireless cans plus a desktop mic is the way forward. I'm steering towards the SONY WH-1000XM4, does anyone have any personal experience of these ?

Any budget wired desktop mic or webcam/mic recommendations appreciated - in fact the latter would probably be more helpful .. for the occasion I need a desktop Mic a webcam would probably be helpful too

Everything is subjective as far as audio is concerned, right? But for sure you will see a greater push towards the Spatial API on Windows (Windows Sonic, DTS:X and Atmos) and gaming (Sony 3D Audio/Tempest, Spatial on XSX) so implementations will get better.

As I said above, if you haven't already activated them you can get a 2 week trial of both DTS:X and Atmos on the Windows 10 store - DTS:X has a lot of profiles built in to it for specific headphone models, too.

I personally don't like close backed and wouldn't go for the XM4s for that reason, although they are also one of the models that offer BT and a wired option, which is nice, and ANC of course if you're in to that.

[Syd]

I guess what am looking for is the holy grail (as always) I want a jack of all. But being experienced enough to know that the Nessie of headphones isn't going to show itself anytime soon, I'll settle for some degree of compromise.

Like you , I love an open backed set of cans, but sound leakage, both ways is as always a trade off. My vintage HD600's still sound lovely, but there is always someone else around, and they don't normally enjoy hearing (or in the case of some podcasts, I don't want the small ones listening in!!) The fact that I should be able to get a good deal on anything Sennheiser, Sony, B&W or BeyerDynamic is obviously a start. I want the option of wired to counter any BT lag issues (through not choosing a gaming set) I want decent audio quality, and the shortlist is currently looking like SH Momentum 3, Sony XM4, Beyerdynamic Amiron or B&W PX7 (although as I already have a pair of (wired) B&W P7, these are probably low on the list - nice to have a little variety after all! The Beyerdynamics, will clearly be more expensive, although I need to look into what sort of discount/availability I can achieve on these as that will clearly have a big bearing!!

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any experience with any of the aforementioned cans (subjective of course!)