Wireless headset

Hi guys

I’m looking to buy a cheap, wireless usb gaming headset for my reforger nights so i can use in game radio and discord at the same time.

Any recommendations, noise cancelling mike would be useful

1 Like

In short: Wireless and gaming are not friends because of latency.

My experience:
Bought an expensive Creative USB dongle with all features, but it did not work with the Creative headset. Both claim to be compatible to aptX Low Latency. Meh.

So I got a cheap dongle from Amazon instead and it actually works. The occasional sound artifact can be heard, which is basically packet drop and sounds like a scratchy short noise. Works best with sender and receiver being very close and within clear line of sight. Like 1 meter or less. (That’s a yard and 3/4 of an elbow)

My purchase:
Dongle: YMOO B10Q Bluetooth 5.3 Adapter
Headset (cheap, no mike boom): Creative Sound Blaster JAM V2

It sucks, I don’t use it for gaming. But hey, no big loss. The headset speakers sound great for the money. Also it’s light and good for kids. The dongle is collecting dust under my monitor.

Alternative: Some expensive set from Sennheiser or similar brands with a big base station. Not bluetooth but a proprietary wireless protocol. Never tested these though.

3 Likes

I have a JBL Quantum wireless headset (I think it’s the 300?) which works well - they use their own 2.4GHz proprietary signalling so there isn’t noticeable latency (for me at least, even in fast-paced shooters).

I didn’t pay for it (got it through a work rewards program) so I can’t complain - but if I were paying money for it I’d be very disappointed in the mic quality. No top-end (sounds like you’re on an old analog mobile phone) and I mean literally no top end: spectralissme shows nothing over about 10kHz!

I also had to update the headset’s firmware to get rid of an annoying “popping” sound the microphone would occasionally make, and install the control software to set the side-tone volume to 1 (why the heck does that stop the microphone popping JBL? :tired_face:)

On the bright side it’s comfortable on my head.

JBL Quantum wireless: nice headset, awful microphone.

2 Likes

I have this one,

https://www.amazon.com/Razer-Barracuda-Wireless-Headset-Playstation/dp/B09XZZQK6Q?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1

Mic is detachable, Its bluetooth or 2.4ghz wireless. Works good for what I needed it for.

1 Like

I’ve been using Soundcore Q35 for about five years now and it works mostly well, but one thing I dislike—which may be universal to bluetooth from what I’ve found while trying to solve this issue—is that when using the microphone for discord I’m locked into really poor quality game/system audio. To get full audio quality from the game/system I have to disable the mic.

2 Likes

Speech doesn’t produce spectral components in the range above ~8k so that seems pretty irrelevant.

The older BT codecs switch to a much worse compression quality to make bandwidth available for duplex operation. Supposedly newer generations do better in this regard, but I havent seen it in operation.

3 Likes

It produces understandable audio, yes.

With the same qualities as sticking your head in a wood box and recording it from outside :wink:

Community Note: Torc is very picky about sound :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1 Like

I have a degree in electrical and audio engineering specializing in dsp and speech communication, trust me.

Above 8k there is nothing. I’ll send you some literature notes if you want.

Besides, what signal did you use to test the mic?

2 Likes

Apologies for the thumping between headset changes. I’m too lazy to edit them out for a short video.

Mic positioning identical between the JBL Quantum and the HyperX Cloud, but the Cloud is going in through an audio interface using a Rode VXLR+ adapter to provide the 3V power. And I probably have the compressor in the interface set a bit aggresively.

Edit: so yes - perfectly usable … but I’d be a tad disappointed in it if I’d spent $179 Australian Dollars on it! That’s all I was trying to communicate :+1:

2 Likes

Interestingly, on reviewing that video I see that the JBL does indeed have some response above 10KHz. But it has a weird notch between 7KHz and 10KHz with very little or no signal.

Perhaps that’s what I’m hearing that I don’t like?

1 Like

I’d say the problem is a mismatch in the requirements listed.
Cheap, noise cancelling, wireless, and good for gaming will not exist in any headset. Prepare to surrender at least one of those.

I’ve been using SteelSeries Arctis, first a wireless 7 and now a Nova Pro Wireless. The 7 covered the last 2, the Nova Pro covers the last 3. Neither of them were cheap but both are great.

3 Likes

Just one more note and then I’ll shut up.

You are getting -30 to -40dB at the high end, if you’re not using pro-level gear (or using BT as a transmission channel, yuck) you are very comfortably inside the noise floor there.

You are right in that the wireless mics sound noticeably more muffled than the wired one, but that is caused by spectral flatness (or lack thereof) well below 10kHz.

2 Likes

I’m definitely not using pro-level gear :wink:

2 Likes

And thanks for your notes - I’m going to have another crack with the EQ based on what you’ve told me to see if I can make it more usable :+1:

Edit: usable for a picky ■■■■■■■ like me :joy::innocent:

1 Like