The Best Designed Gaming Headsets
Gaming headsets usually fall into one of two categories. Some are flashy, angular, garish, and scream “gamer.” Others are more austere, with designs that look just like standard consumer headphones and don’t stick out in any real way.
My favorite designs are the ones that really go for it, and don’t fall easily into either of those groups. The four gaming headsets highlighted below have aesthetics that stick out in a crowded market, and along with that visual ingenuity they bring lightweight comfort that’s largely unrivaled. If you want your gaming headset backed up with exceptional industrial design, these are my favorite picks right now.
I wasn’t asked to write this by any of the companies featured. None of the links below are affiliate links, as I don’t believe in the practice.
Roccat Syn Pro Air
Light, sleek designs are the most popular thing in gaming mice right now, but the $149 Roccat Syn Pro Air (official site here) is the first headset to make use of the same materials and techniques. The ear cups are built out of Roccat’s “Bionic Shell” coated plastic, a special material with a hex grid underneath that’s one of the lightest in the gaming market. It makes their mice so comfortable to use, and it makes this headset exceptionally comfy to wear over long sessions.
The rest of the design lives up to the aspects inherited from modern mice, with soft cloth ear pads, a smooth headband, and Turtle Beach’s time-tested Nanoclear 50mm speaker drivers. It also uses Waves NX 3D audio processing, one of the best virtual surround systems available today.
Roccat’s new Neon software recently got some updates that make this headset even better and easier to configure than it was when I reviewed it. No one else can currently claim that they used mice design concepts to make their gaming headset better, but now that Roccat has done it, I’ll be shocked if others don’t follow.
Sony Pulse 3D Headset
This is the third time I’ve gushed about the design of Sony’s official PS5 headset, and with good reason. The $99 Pulse 3D Headset (site right here) is so far removed from the company’s usual aesthetic. Sony is known for their workhorse studio audio gear, and their respectable consumer headphones, and this headset doesn’t look remotely like any of their other products.
Instead, it has a curvy, stylish look that would fit just as naturally in a fashion show as in a gaming room. The subtle rounded edges and carefully balanced headband frame make this an exceptionally comfy headset, and the sound builds on the excellent work they’ve done in years of building speakers and headphones.
If you want the absolute most un-gaming-headset-looking thing on the market right now, this is it. The universal USB dongle also means you can use it with the Switch and PC platforms in spite of its Playstation-centric marketing focus.
Logitech G335/G733
Logitech’s lightweight, colorful gaming headsets have a better build quality than I was expecting. The newer cheaper G335 (official site here) took the light weight and build of the wireless G733 and pushed it even further, but it still feels a lot stronger in the hands than most headsets at the $69 price point.
These headsets have an excellent balance of long-term comfort, a smooth profile on the head, and high quality materials to make them durable in spite of their gentle weight. The visual design takes the concepts started by the SteelSeries Arctis series and runs with them, producing a shape that looks like it fell out of the future.
I also love that these headsets actually come in colors. So many gaming manufacturers eschew anything other than black or white, and Logitech’s bold color choices and exciting headband strap designs fly in the face of that logic. It’s wonderful. Everything should come in more colors.
Razer BlackShark V2 Family
Razer’s BlackShark V2 is their best headset in my opinion, and the entire lineup is a perfect blend of a modern esports-focused design and powerful audio. The aviation-style isn’t the newest thing in the world, but it is a look that catches the eye and feels durable without huge metal support forks.
The look of the BlackShark series (official site here) reminds me a little of the famous Plantronics GameCom Commander, a big beefy headset that’s popular in pro gaming tournaments but which has only ever had limited consumer availability. The BlackShark retains the impressive isolation and overall visual concept of that headset, but it’s much sleeker and better-suited to a mainstream environment.
A lot of folks have expressed concern about the thin support arms used on these headsets, but I think they’re brilliant and I haven’t had one break yet. They’re super flexible and light, and since they’re made of metal they provide a good stable platform while also helping the headset fit on more people.
These headsets also stray from the usual RGB look that Razer is famous for, with a bit of color pop as their only visual excess. You can look like a fun pilot/pro gamer wearing this, and you’ll be shocked at how comfy it is.
