[imagiopeepot]

I'd like a decent wireless headset that has low/no latency for gaming use. Investigating the wireless "gaming headset" options available it seems that none of them are very good.

The lack of good wireless gaming headsets got me thinking of using a wireless adapter with a decent pair of cans, and that's where I've run into a wall. All of these low latency "gaming headsets" use some sort of 2.4ghz analog wireless connection to avoid bluetooth latency (yes I know about apt-x ll but it's still noticeably laggy).

I can't seem to find *any* low latency 2.4ghz wireless (not bluetooth) headphone adapters! It's surprising to me that such a thing doesn't exist. Does anybody know of such a product?

 

[Monstieur]

You probably tried an aptX Low Latency device which has 70+ ms of latency. The good ones are ~30 ms which is imperceptible in gaming, and even when testing mouse click latency on the desktop. I can only tell when playing the guitar.

As for good headsets with proprietary USB transmitters, the Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless is the closest to audiophile quality you can get. The frequency response is outstanding, and the sub-bass is flat down to 20 Hz.

For low latency adapters, you have to get professional grade digital wireless systems from Shure or Sennheiser. They are very expensive, but have 2-3 ms digital latency. They are also belt clip style and you need to run a cable to the belt pack. They also may not be very good as amps for hard to drive headphones.

 

[imagiopeepot]

Thanks for the info!

The other unfortunate thing about bluetooth is no mic at the same time as audio (without switching to potato quality phone mode). There are a couple adapters that claim to be able to do it but it seems very few devices support the standard used.

I tried the Arctis Pro Wireless but had to return it because it was broken out of the box. The wheel on the control unit didn't work and the headphones beeped any time they were moved slightly like the mic mute was going on and off. They felt like $50 cheap headphones sold for $350. I highly doubt they could last any reasonable amount of time.

It's a shame there's no consumer grade generic 2.4ghz adapters available. The hardware obviously exists inside of those wireless gaming headsets. I wonder how difficult it might be to tear down a cheap wireless headset and pull out the guts for use on other headphones. In theory it would just be re-wiring the connections to each ear to a headphone jack instead.