It's gaming, and it needs some heavy pounding for it to sound realistic. Thus we take 5 very popular brands and their products made especially for video game applications. Couple of the brands mentioned here specialize in gaming products itself, while the others have impressed us in a way fit perfect for gaming audio. Not all of them are headsets, some are without mics, as in this review it’s the audible sound quality we are interested in. The prices and features vary, and this is NOT a comparison feature, just options in various budgets. So let’s get to it..
Razer Barracuda HP1
MRP- Rs. 7299
MOP-Rs. 6050
This heavy piece of work from gaming specialists Razer seems quite daunting when on; you don’t want to be on the same map as the bearer. The unit comes with an all black body, with earcups stout and firm having a mildly lustrous finish, made of hardened plastic. The head band is actually a thin 2 pronged structure with an elastic leatherette band attached to it, which looks a little out of place with the solid cans. The cans can rotate around fully, while the left one has an inlet for the included mic.
This unit has eight discrete drivers, out of which 2 are subwoofers, all integrated into the earpieces. The frequency response is 50-20,000Hz, while power is 330mW RMS. It is a 5.1 headphone unit, thus needs to be used with an appropriate soundcard with a digital out to access the full surround sound. It still works normally in stereo, and performance wise it is quite impressive due to its “forward”, in your face sound. This is the opposite of open sounding headphones, also mainly because of the closed back design that acoustically blocks out external noise. In pure stereo, the sound sucks. It’s not for music listening at all. But, when in surround sound mode in a game like COD: Modern Warfare and Crysis, the sound totally hit the spot, with the crunching mid frequencies of gunshots right in your ears. The ambience created by the surround drivers is an honest attempt, and actually quite nice.
Good: Good, tough external design, Surround sound works well
Bad: Frequency response quite uneven, mids are too forward
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Specs
Frequency response: 50-20,000Hz
Impedance: 2.2 KOhm
Total power rating: 330mW RMS
Skullcandy Skullcrusher
MRP/MOP Rs.3469
This piece of gear is not exactly straight up for gaming like the Razer, but we’re sure anyone using these headphones will surely be into gaming, and love it for that. It’s got MAD bass, to put it simply. To elaborate: the headphones come in a variety of color schemes, and these schemes are real intricate paint jobs made up of dazzling meshes, lines, patterns etc. We like the Snoop Dogg version the best. The headband has a foldable joint in the middle, it is used to fold in the two cans together for storage. The earpieces themselves are attached to the band via swivel joints, thus one can turn the earpiece outwards if someone interrupts when your skull is being crushed.
Technically speaking, the model has a built in bass driver that is amplified by an AA battery. This battery is placed in the cyan cased terminal towards the end of the cord, which also houses the amp. Also, a black slider switch and volume knob protrudes out. The knob is only bass volume, and not overall level. This is a small deterrent.
Good: superb aesthetics, Acoustic noise cancellation works a charm, very loud
Bad: Bass can get daunting, needs to be lowered and kept.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Specs
Frequency response: 50-20,000Hz
Impedance: 32 Ohm
Sensitivity: 99 dBSPL/1mW
MRP-Rs.2045
MOP-Rs.1450
Logitech has a dedicated gaming repertoire, owing to their enormous PC accessory range of products. The Precision PC gaming headphone, with the extremely creative name, weighs in very light, and fits on behind the neck rather than on the head. The ear pads are large over the ear, or cirumaural ones, with the left ear having an attached mic. The headband is a thick plastic frame, with no adjustment capabilities, but this model seems to be a one size fits all design.
Performance wise the sound is not as loud as others, but the inline volume control is good thing for adjustment. The mic works very well, and is quite conveniently placed. Bass is not strong here, its quite a laid back mild type of response, which might not impress the heavy bassheads. Highs and mids are very clear though, that is one of the positive points of this headset. In game dialogues and background music sounds quite nice and crisp, but more in a laid back manner, and not “in your face” tightness.
Good: lightweight and neat external design, good
Bad: Frequency response quite uneven, mids are too forward
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Specs
Frequency response: 20-20,000Hz
Impedance: 32 Ohm
Sensitivity: -59 dBV/µbar
SteelSeries Siberia Full –Size headphone
MRP-Rs. 5199
MOP-Rs. 4939
This slick looking piece is from SteelSeries, again specialists in gaming gear. Fresh off the boat in India, they recently sent us a product for review, thus we straight up included it in this feature after one listen. The design of this SiberiaHeadphone is an open back, circumaural type, with a very light weight but at the same time, a rigid exoskeleton. The frame of the headband is made of 2 curved prongs, with an elastic band attached that stretches to fit any head size. The finish of the product is really impressive, with clean cut edges for the earcups and its joints. We received an all black model, having a glossy black finish. The cushions around the rims of the cans is not leatherette , but rather upholstered in a soft foam.
Performance wise also we were quite impressed as this model had a very open and really large soundscape, considerably due to its open back design. This is good for those long explorer single player campaigns and RTS marathons. But then sound leaks out, and your neighbor will hear what you do, which actually is not a direct fault. Thefrequency response is theoretically quite balanced, but then bass is not as thumpy as one would want, nonetheless it’s satisfactory. Also, another very good point is the sheer loudness. These sensitive headphones can belt out clean audio at a very healthy volume.
Good: lightweight plus very neat looking, very loud, very open and balanced soundscape
Bad: Bass could be more aggressive and tighter.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Specs
Frequency response: 18 - 28.000 Hz
Impedance: 40 Ohm
Sensitivity: 99 - 104 dBSPL @1kHz, 1V
Sennheiser HD202 headphone
MRP: Rs.1590
MOP:Rs.1350
How can Sennheiser’s name not be there in any list having to do with heapdhones? We personally review a lot of their products as and when they release, and they release stuff regularly. But the HD 202 are not touted by them as gaming, in fact they have a model called “HD 201 G4ME”. I’ve heard those too, and the HD 202 definitely has better bass response, and are better headphones overall.
The closed back, circumaural design is pretty basic but also very neat looking, with huge white fonts for the Sennheiser logo print, on the headband sides. The rest is black matte- very classy. The leatherette is of good quality, and also appears on the underside of the headband as a soft patch. The weight too is quite light, thus comfortable.
Sound quality wise the output, as mentioned, has a very nice bass response, which goes down low and stays audible there. Even though the sensitivity is rated high, it’s not the loudest one in today’s group, but definitely has a sound more like the SteelSeries - its soundscape is quite open and doesn’t bog you down. This combined with the light weight makes for a chilled out listen. The highs are spacey and not jarring or edgy.
Good: Very open and quite balanced soundscape, reasonable price.
Bad: Could use a bit of thump in the lows.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Frequency response: 18 – 18,000 Hz
Impedance: 32 Ohm
Sensitivity: 115 dBSPL @1kHz, 1V
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