[Skippman]

After about a year of working with 5.1 speakers being driven by a Creative Labs Z card I find I really need a mic to do multiplayer gaming the way I want. This leads me to just getting a headset rather than having a stand alone mic in the way of everything. I'm trying to keep my budget modest as I'm also planning on getting a 1080GTX later this summer and have to maintain WAF.
 
Reading MLE's thread I the Skull Candy PLYR1 and SLYR get excellent reviews. I was also considering the Logitech G930 but I see those seem to get less than fantastic reviews. Are there any other recommendations you all would make. I'd ideally like to stay below $150 but could push the limit for the right gear.

 

[NA Blur]

I use Razer's BlackShark for console gaming and have not tried it with my PC yet. I went through several Turtle Beach headphones and wanted some more durable.

 

[Skippman]

As some backstory, I wear a pair of Logitech H800's daily at work. They're not the greatest sounding headphones ever made but they do a good job. I have the USB dongle hooked to my work laptop for training classes and VoIP calls, and the Bluetooth sync'd to my iPad for music throughout the day. I like them because they're wireless and very light weight. When I'm out and about I use a pair of NuForce  NE-600X earbuds. They're probably the best sounding earbud you can get for less than $100. The rest of the time I pretty much use loudspeakers. I'm a huge KEF fan. I also own some Mirage speakers which are fantastic. In my home office I have a set of Creative Labs G500 Gigaworks speakers and they've performed excellently.
 
 
So last night on the way home I figured I'd stop by Best Buy and see what they had in stock, and if they had anything hooked up to audition. The ended up having the HyperX Cloud Revolvers in stock for $120 and the Razer Kraken Pro's on sale for $40. I bought both hoping the Razers would sound decent enough to save myself $80.
 
 
I took them home and hooked up the Revolvers first. I'd heard they were extremely comfortable so I wanted to give them a try. They exceeded their description. The were so comfortable I almost forgot that I had them on. The ear cups were generous and I was able to wear them with my ears almost not touching the cups themselves. The headband was able to be adjusted to perfectly fit my head. These truly are some of the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn. The build quality was also excellent with metal used where necessary to ensure these will last a long time. I also appreciated the removable mic. Audio wise I needed to adjust the EQ on my sound card slightly. Once that was done I was pretty much blown away. Base is punchy without being boomy. Female vocals are reproduced excellently and they seemed to do well throughout the entire vocal range. Using them during gaming (MWO, BF4) they did the job perfectly. I can't say that the positional audio was superior to what I get from my 5.1 setup but I was hearing things in the game I'd never heard before. 
 
Then I switched to the Krakens.
 
 
I'd been wearing the Revolvers for over an hour and a half and almost didn't want to take them off. As soon as I put on the Krakens I was disappointed. About 10 min into wearing them I was already getting head fatigue and found them to be extremely uncomfortable. I'd read reviews saying they could be "vice like" and that's a very accurate statement. I found it difficult to situate my ears in the cups comfortably. The build material felt very average at best, better than my Logitech's for sure, but no where near on par with the Clouds. The audio I found to be very muddy and semi muffled. To the point where I actually took them off to make sure I didn't miss any packaging. To my ears it sounded like I was listening through a pillow. I tried adjusting my EQ to compensate but the inherent nature of the drivers made that almost impossible to overcome. At least now I know why they were on such a super sale. 
 
So I'll be taking the Krakens back this weekend. I'm VERY happy with the Cloud Revolvers. I'd also like to say that HyperX's chat staff was very helpful when comparing and contrasting their product line and comparing theirs to their competitors. Very honest as well. All in all a good learning experience.

 

[BeyondMaxPower]

Look into a mod mic. You can attach it to any headphone, and it uses a small, magnetic holder so you can remove it anytime you need. This also opens you up to ANY headphone, so you can change your headphone and still have the mic for your next headphone. It's truly the best money I've ever spent. I've used my mod mic on several headphones, because I enjoy trying new headphones. Go through Mad Lust Envy's thread and select a headphone you think might work for your preferences. If you decide to upgrade, it's easier. IMO, headsets just aren't worth the money they charge for them. Most of them are terrible, and the few that are good cost way too much.

 

[NamelessPFG]

If you have to have a neatly integrated headset, go look at the Sennheiser PC360/GAME ONE (same thing, just that the PC360 doesn't have a detachable cable) or Beyerdynamic MMX 300. They shouldn't be too difficult to find under $150; I just checked.
 
Otherwise, there's the ModMic route as mentioned earlier, which gives you total headphone flexibility. If you'd rather not deal with an extra cable and your headphones of choice have a 3.5mm TRS jack for a detachable cable, you could also look into the V-moda BoomPro mic.

 

[VRacer-111]

Philips SHP9500 headphones + V-Moda Boom PRO mic should run you ~ $100 total...that's the budget setup right there.

 

[mauricejohnson]

I have the PLYR2's and quite like them. The main reason for the poor reviews are the ear cup screws breaking easily. Due to the design of the headphones, the area that the headphones are fastened gets pressure anytime you take off or put on the headphones. Even if you're careful, this area will likely fail at some point. I simply super-glued mine back together, wrapped tape around the area for a more secure fit and was fine. Battery life has been great, and I've had several 4-5 hour sessions without needing a recharge.
 
That said, I'd probably not buy them again if they died. On my radar are three different tiers of headset.
 
August EP650 $50
Plantronics BackBeat Pro $160
V-Moda Crossfade Wireless $300
 
If I were you I'd get one of those, since I prefer wireless. If you don't need that, definitely try the headphone+V-moda mic suggestions.