The best wireless gaming headsets

Three obstacles have long stood in the way of wireless headsets: price, latency, and batteries. They’re more expensive than wired headsets, without better sound quality. Latency over a bad wireless connection is annoying. And batteries giving out mid-match is always a game-ruiner. But wireless headsets have come a long way over the years, and if you can get over the price premium, you can buy a wireless gaming headset that solves the battery problem and exhibits not a hint of latency. Zero-hassle gaming audio equipment awaits at three price points.

Looking for a cheaper pair of cans? Check out our guide to the best (wired) gaming headsets.

The best wireless gaming headset

• Great virtual surround sound
• Memory foam pads keep it comfortable for prolonged use
• Elegant transmitter/charging station makes swapping between the two included batteries extremely convenient

Well, here it is: our pick for the absolute best wireless gaming headset available, the Steelseries Siberia 800. And hoo boy, it isn’t a cheap one, weighing in just below $300. We know that’s a lot of cash, but there are two major considerations at play here.

First is that wireless headsets tend to be pricier than their wired counterparts in the first place, so if you’re browsing this side of the market you’ve probably set aside a reasonable chunk of money in the first place. Secondly, scrimping on wireless tech is like seeking out bargain bin dentistry—a lot more can go wrong than right. The $300 in question buys not just incredible sound, comfort and convenience, but a free pass through any potential latency and battery issues.

Specs

Price: $299 (£220)
Headphone
Frequency Response: 20Hz—20KHz
Weight: 297g (without battery)
Max Volume: 100dB* SPL @ 1kHz
Ports: Wired Mode / Share Port, Chat port, mini USB FW update port
Transmitter
Wireless Range: 12m (40ft) straight line
Latency: <16ms, fixed
Ports: Analog In, Analog Out, mini USB, Optical In, Optical Out, Power
Battery Type: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion, 1000mAh
Battery Life: 20 hours per pack, typical usage
Microphone
Frequency Response: 100Hz—10KHz
Mic Pattern: Unidirectional
Indication: Red LED on mute

SteelSeries strikes gold with its Siberia 800 (formerly known as the H Wireless) by combining top-end virtual surround sound, fantastic frequency response, and comfort with a ton of extra functionality and versatility. Despite the serious financial investment, it’s a genuine one-stop shop for PC, Mac, consoles and mobile devices.

Added bonus: its manufacturer also restrained itself from overdesigning the headset like a Pimp My Ride producer’s fever dream, naming it after a Roman or Greek god, or having an e-sports gamer sheepishly endorsing it on the packaging.

The basics: the H wireless is a closed-cup, circumaural headset, which mean it totally covers your ears and seals the sound around you, using memory foam padding in this case. That’s crucial; so many manufacturers bleat about the size of their drivers, but unless the low-end frequencies those drivers generate find an enclosed space in which to resonate, that ‘thumping’ bass effect is lost. Suffice to say, these earcups have plenty of ‘thump.’

There’s also plenty of power and clarity in the mid range and precise highs. If you go in with a sound snob mindset, you will hear that the overall mix doesn’t sound as organic as high-end stereo headphones aimed at the music market, because the audio’s running through a 7.1 virtual surround sound engine. The loss in overall tonality is unnoticeable to all but those who find themselves damned to live out life on this earth as the store employees from High Fidelity, though, and those people are too busy taping Japanese import albums by the Liqorice Comfits to care.

The surround itself is excellent, in both games and movies. It’ll genuinely have you hunting down Blu-Rays with 7.1 mixes just to enjoy the flyover effects, panned ambient noises and sound cues from high above. Unlike many top-end surround cans like Creative’s Sound Blaster Recon 3D Omega, the H Wireless doesn’t come with a ‘footstep’ or ‘sniper’ mode that dulls all but the sound sources in your vicinity, but honestly we don’t feel the loss. Maybe we’re just not good enough at shooters to exploit that feature, but we find a good surround mix like this is ample assistance in locating our would-be killers by footsteps or gunshots alone.

This isn’t a particularly light headset, weighing well over 300g (more than half a pound) with one of its two rechargeable batteries fitted (more on those later). However, memory foam pads at every contact point—around both earcups and the headband—make it an exceptionally comfortable one over a long duration. There’s enough pivot and extension in the frame to accommodate any head shape and very little sound produced when doing so, which is a good indicator of build quality. The orange stitching around each cup does fray easily though, messing up an otherwise impeccable and understated aesthetic.

As with all SteelSeries models, the mic here is retractable, so you can push it back inside the left cup and out of the way when it isn’t needed, and a quick tap of the power on button on the bottom of the right cup mutes it. There’s also a volume wheel at the top of the right cup, and a rubber cover on the bottom next to the power button which conceals an aux cable connection so you can connect up your Xbox One or PS4 controller and chat if you want to use this with a console, and another connection allowing you to connect a second headset. Two-person silent gaming sessions and really low-key silent discos are go.

As odd as it sounds, it’s actually the transmitter that elevates the H Wireless above its peers. Firstly, it doubles as a battery charger. While one of its lithium ion batteries is powering the headset, another occupies a charge slot within the transmitter so you genuinely never have to stop using it, or even connect it to a charge cable. Considering what a hassle that can be, that dual battery design gives it a massive advantage over its peers. Astro’s A50 and Turtle Beach’s i60 both offer similar luxury to the H Wireless in sound and comfort, but simply can’t compete with the way it elegantly sidesteps the charging problem.

Its batteries cling to life for up to 20 hours, too. That’s the stated figure in SteelSeries’ own documentation, and it holds true in the real world too. Even extended max volume sessions have little effect on it. Speaking of the spec sheet, the proposed signal range is an enormous 12 meters (40 feet). In reality, that means the signal remains clean literally anywhere in this tester’s apartment.

There’s a plethora of connection options at the back of the transmitter (optical in/out in addition to USB) which means it’s fair game for just about any device you can throw at it, and includes a handy voice chat/game audio mixing feature called ChatMix. With this you can either manually adjust both levels, or let the transmitter boost the voice audio only when someone’s talking—essentially it’s working like a sidechain compressor, pushing the game audio down when someone talks and pushing it up again afterward.

There simply isn’t another wireless headset on the market that does everything SteelSeries’ Siberia 800 can do—and with some considerable style, too. It’s certainly not cheap, but the variety of applications it can handle mitigates that to an extent. Above all, it lets you forget about all the drawbacks traditionally associated with going wireless. A class act.

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