wireless (I think) has more compression, (I think Bluetooth ones in general do) and you have to worry about interference from other radio signals (like from microwave ovens)
but I don't know if you (or I, or anyone), is able to hear the difference due to the compression, (kind of like the number of pixels on a screen past a certain point lol)
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There is compression and interference, although it isn't audible with the low audio quality the G930 is able to reproduce. But yeah, you can hear compression with certain headphones. That said, it's not like you should only play flac, .mp3 192kb/s upwards will suffice in most cases, sometimes, but often not, even less, like 128 kb/s
I've made an extensive test, trying out different Mp3s vs different FLACs in a blind test session against one another, trying to hear the differences. Only in German though, but here: Clicky
If you can't read it but still clicked on it, I've wrote the scrote under each track. 10 Tries for every track with some of my best headphones, 9/10 or 10/10 indicating you can actually hear and distinguish a difference every time, 8/10 or below indicating there probably isn't much of a difference for the lack of ability to distinguish it every time. It was done will well produced CDs (which are rare today) so you fare well with mp3. FLAC and formats above sometimes do the trick´, but only with certain music genres. Let alone the compression of the file on your PC, no bitrate in this world will ever do better, than the (sometimes awful) things that happened before the file reached your hands - in the studio and during the mastering process (I'm talking loudness war and other poor production methods now)
If you're interested, here's another mp3 vs flac test , this time in English.
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Using the G930, telling ya that it's an insane luxury. Being able to go to the kitched for breakfast while talking on teamspeak/skype or listening to music is just awesome.
The price ofcourse is extreme and my headset at least is starting to bitch around a little, turning off or loosing connection but most of the time it's fine. I've had mine for more than a year now.
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Well, I own the Logitech G35 right now and haven't had any issues with it at all, the surround sound is great, the microphone crisp and clear, no one has ever complained about not being able to hear me at all. There's plenty of cord available to move around some by your pc and it being threaded is great, not any cheap plastic that could get ruined if caught under something. I haven't tried the wireless G930, as sweet as it looks, the chances of losing connection if I step outta range never appealed to me tbh, I also wonder how well the microphone would work on the wireless G930 as well most times. That's about all I can add myself, I'm quite impressed and pleased over the G35 and anything Logitech, always get's a thumbs up from me ;)
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How long is the cord, exactly? Haven't found anything so far that actually says.
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Don't buy headsets, that's the best advice I can give you.
Neither Logitech, nor anything else.
Buying the headphones and microphone seperately makes it a much better value, much better sound and much, much better build quality than that cheap plastic shit people try to sell you as audio products.
This one for instance sounds 5 times better than the Logitech G35/930/any other headset out there except the really expensive MMX300/QPAD 1390 (which are good in sound, but also terrible value)
If you don't trust me, I URGE you to buy one, just for fun. If you can pop 120 bucks on a cheap crappy Logitech thingy, I reckon you can spare the 36 dollars for a few days (send it back if you dont like it) and just try it out. But I guarantee you, the Logitech will sound like the outmost crap after you've heard the monoprice beating the crap out of the Gwhatever for 1/4th the price.
You can also make the monoprice headphone to a headset, detach the cable, plug a headset-gear into it, like for instance the Boom Pro or similar microphones.
ofc, thats just the beginnings of decent sound. Spending a bit more than the g930 costs (around 150dollars/euros) will buy you a headphone that probably has a sound quality unmatched to everything you've heard so far (just assuming because you don't buy headsets if you know better) and those headphones are so superbly built, they last 10+ years or more. Relate that to the graphics card or $100 headset you buy every 2 years...
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Totally agree but remember that soundcard is important too. I doubt that people asking for headset advice have something that is not realtek HD or similar.
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"If you can pop 120 bucks on a cheap crappy Logitech thingy, I reckon you can spare the 36 dollars for a few days"
I really kind of don't. This is a one time purchase. And I have separate headphones (well, had, on that part) and microphone. Just leads to way too many wires around the place and potential for yet more crap breaking individually which can lead to even more cash I don't have being spent. My hearing isn't good enough that I'll hear absolutely everything anyway, there's a reason I have subtitles, so there's no point spending more than the G930 on something that I probably won't hear anyway.
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It's not about hearing everything (which neither of the mentioned headphones will be able to display) - when we talk "hearing everything" we talk the $5000 Stax SR-009 or the $1500 Sennheiser HD800 "aka Microscope"
This is just about buying the much, much inferior product.
The microphone could also be a little stand-off-mic (which you don't move, so don't bother with wires) like the Samson GO! USB or some inferior, cheaper but sufficient product. And it's one tiny wire on the headphone.
And the G930 isn't a one time purchase. When that cheap plastic thing magically falls apart after 4 years (tops), it's not a one time purchase. A headphone that costs slightly more than that ($150 and above) will last for decades, if you don't do stupid things to it (like spilling coffee, letting your dog eat it, you get the point) - and the cheap beater headphone that comes at a fourth of the price of the G930 will probably just last the same amount of time - say 1 - 4 years.
And you don't need an absolute hearing to distinguish better sound quality - wires aside, that's your problem, I don't have one with wires, neither do I stumble upon them (cable ties have been invented long ago) - this is low-fi we're talking about. Actually the mono would be low-fi, the G930/G35 is pretty much no-fi.
Gaming, or worse, listening to music with such things is like gaming on a screen with a resolution of 640 * 480 and lowest details - it's just awful and there are so many, many beautiful things to hear even for the untrained ear.
Putting that aside, I, personally, will or would never ever buy or recommend the inferior product when there are better solutions for the same price. Like the monoprice + a mic that you plug into the headphone (seems like a headset for me) beats pretty much everything sold to you as "superior gaming equipment" or buying a GTX Titan when I can get the faster GTX780TI or R9-290X for half the cost.
As for wireless -> The Corsair Vengeance 2000 costs the same as the G930 (at least in m y region) and beats it in comfort, sound and build quality. But I wouldn't recommend that either, if it has to be wireless in that price range, I'd go with the Philips SHB8000 or maybe the noontec Zoro HD Wireless, both of them are wireless, both of them outmatch the G930/Vengeance 2000 in sound quality, while costing about half of what Logitech, Corsair, Turtle Beach and so on are asking for those atrocities they call audio products.
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"When that cheap plastic thing magically falls apart after 4 years (tops), it's not a one time purchase."
That'll be the right time to upgrade to 14.2 sound anyway.
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14.2 headsets - dude, seriously, do you even know what the hell you are talking about? 14.2 audio will never be something. The next steps from 7.1 are 9.2/1, 10.1/2, 11.2/1 and, currently only implemented in a few cinemas across the world, 22.2 audio. The whole world wide web doesn't even mention 14.2 audio, apart from your ignorant comment.
14.2 would mean 14 loudspeakers for mid/highs from different directions and .2 meaning there's two subwoofers, stricly for bass. Well guess what, .2 is redundant, since that would mean, in a "true" (hypothetical) 14.2 headset, that there are two bass drivers per side - which, guess what, is the case in every headphone. While the 7.1 setups may have 4 drivers per side, it technically still makes them 6.2 (or more correctly 8.0 ) rather than 7.1 (Even when nobody cares about the fact that there isn't a really dedicated bass driver in headsets (in-ear-monitors are a whole different story) - it doesn't really make them a factual 7.1 - because making them 7.1 - so 7 drivers for mid/highs from directions and bass -> .1 -> on one side would mean the bass would always be incoming from either the left or the right side. And bass is not supposed to be audible from a direction, at least under the frequency of 80hz) - but nobody knows about 6.2, while 5.1 and 7.1 are well established. But having loads of drivers in one headphone just makes the sound worse - smaller diameters in the cup equals less sound (doesn't mean bigger is always better, but implementing multiple drivers is just pointless in headphones)
Surround-sound is much more commonly (like in the Vengeance 2000 for instance) implemented in a way, everyone can actually do it: Headphone with two drivers and a software, that upsamples the audio to 5.1/7.1 surround sound - here's the kicker, this actually sounds kind of good in cheap headphones, because those don't have the detail depth and the soundstage to give a surround-like feel. But the better the headphones, the worse the "surround sound" sounds - you actually rape the audio while upscaling it to 5.1/7.1 - and it's not that it's impossible to hear from directions in stereo. I mean, music is pointable from directions - listen to orchestras or some rock band, you have the guitarrist there, the bassist there, you can pinpoint which crash the drummer hits here and there, and so on...
Ever wondered why there aren't any surround headphones above the price range of $150? It sure isn't because $1000 headphones aren't worth the money.
But anyways, loads of dedicated soundcards (ASUS, Creative, Auzentech) also implement virtual (the more common version) of surround sound - CMSS3D, Dolby Headphone, you name it.
And there's free software for it too, like this one - the point being, you neither need surround sound in headphones, nor will 14.2 become a thing, especially not in headphones.
Further proof you don't need surround sound in headphones (mind multiple drivers, ew) would be AMDs true audio technology clicky and click me too
Surround sound works well with actual loudspeakers (IF you can positiong them right -> no positioning right, no surround sound), but that's a different story again.
But whatever. I recommend you to try on different headphones and headsets, just compare a bit, go to your local hi-fi dealer maybe and listen to your favorite music on good headphones in the price range of the logitechs and whatnot. And by hi-fi dealer I don't mean the next best market that kind of sells headphones like beats audio (atrocious), I mean some real, specialized hi-fi dealer who knows a bit about audio and exclusively sells audio products.
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I'm just amazed you posted such a wall of text over an obvious joke about 14.2 being the advance from 7.1. I mean, really. That's like Microsoft actually calling it the Xbox 720.
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The joke wasn't that obvious to me (an emote like ";)" would've helped though ;) ). I've seen/read a lot of stupid things (no offense now) being done/said with and about audio, users believing whatever they felt like believing.
Since I take audio seriously, posting a wall of text with decent information before reassuring you were actually joking was the option to go for me.
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You are right that I'm pretty ignorant about what everything means, which is why I opened this thread to begin with, to get ideas. I can only go on my own experiences, with guidance from others, but my experiences so far have been the opposite to what you're saying, that headphones + microphone in combination has been worse than a headset for me. My only regret is that the one really good, cheap pair of headphones I did find, I accidentally destroyed during a really shitty day. Never found that type of headphone again. :(
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I know how bad experiences can be or what they can result in, for that matter. I bought a pair of these two years ago and my first model just let me down after 3 months of use. One of the drivers wasn't working anymore, due to a fault in the enclosure, slowly but surely rusting it down. The manufacturer exchanged it quickly and I didn't have problems since, but I'm sometimes scared that it won't last as long as I wish it does. Westone only gives one year of warranty, which is kinda sad and I'm over that year, but when I spend $300 on something, I expect it to last at least 3 years.
Depending on the mic & headphones I can ofc imagine bad experiences. But I can assure you that the aforementioned combo of These (.de because the headphone is unavailable in the uk atm) and this this (also unavailable in the UK) or this will fare better than any headset under the price of 200 pounds.
Buying more expesive headphones will result in you keeping them for years (10+, I know some guys with 30+ year old Beyerdynamic headphones), as I've already mentioned. I've seen people being kicked from servers because of cheating, just because they were able to hear their enemies better than other people, resulting in playing better. And I've seen people overjoy as the $50 setup kicked their $150 headsets in the nuts, as they abandoned the latter.
Wireless is kind of a special need, in which case I would teeth-clinchingly "recommend" the Corsair 2000. Or a USB mic / Webcam-mic and some wireless headphone. But even good wireless is hard to find, in which case, my recommendation would be this
Trying multiple stuff out first hand is probably the most important part in audio. I would never buy anything blind, aside the rediculously good (regarding the price) monoprice. If you don't know any good hi-fi dealer near you, you can tell me in what town you live in and maybe just try it out, won't cost anything. Also ordering from .de and shipping to the uk dosn't take long, works smoothly and returns are just as easy as ordering from the domestic amazon service. I've tried both ways (.de to .uk, .uk to .de)
All my spouting aside, note that I'm not the average joe regarding sound. (But I'm not audiophile for that matter, I don't own audiophile equipment - I've heard some headphones, In-ears, dacs and amps above $1000 but I didn't think it was worth it yet) - I'm stereophile at best. Just buying the Corsair 2000 might pretty much satisfy you. I can't force you to do something, but I can try to tell you some ways to spend your money on a good and worthy product and not just buying the next best thing.
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I live in Luton (or close enough) in the UK. Any hi-fi stores I was aware of died out long ago and nothing's replaced them to my knowledge.
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I found some pretty good looking stores that also offer free listening to their headphones. Ranging from cheap to really expensive (even if you can't afford it, might wanna have a listen at what 1000 bucks can buy you in terms of sound, if you're curious :) )
One is about 25 miles away:
Hifilounge @ Millow Hall Farms
The other one is in the opposite direction and has a better selection regarding low-budget.
The dealer is in Watford, also roundabout 25km away from Luton. Richer Sounds
Happy new year!
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Thanks, I'll see if I can arrange to go and have a look at those.
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I have something cheap. It has worked surprisingly well for me. This is what i use
Simple, reliable (for the most part) and good quality. 100+ dollar ones might be better, but i never have used expensive brands. This is the best for my uses.
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Gaming stuff? Nah... not my thing.
But I can tell you one thing... don't ever DARE to go for wireless things. Ok it was exaggeration to say 'dare". But just don't do it. Depending on where do you live (eg. Close to power lines) and what you have in your room (lot of metal stuff and things like electric devices) quality of performance of wireless headphones might be very poor.
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Nowhere near a power line. I have a PC and a TV in here, that's it (and a sword, if that's metal enough to be counted). I have a wireless keyboard and mouse, Xbox 360 controller and potentially the router.
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I had metal/glass TV stand near computer and it was enough to hear low quality sound and noise. And I was using 100+ £ sennheiser headphones.
Let's not compare keyboard, pad with headphones. But don't get me wrong I'm not saying that you will have some kind of interference for 100%. That's nothing sure… and it was like 5 years ago when I was testing mine headphones, so knowing speed of technological advancement there should be lower risk. But unfortunately interferences are still one of possibilities. I think that it is much safer to buy wired one with gold plated jack…
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The wireless one looks better in my opinion, but I would never buy any wireless thing for my computer. My wireless keyboard is enough to annoy me running out of batteries in the middle of a game.
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I think I've replaced the batteries in my keyboard about four times in five years, and that's with heavy use. What are you doing to yours?
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Nothing really xD I use it about... 12 hours a day maybe? I have to change the batteries about once a month, but it always happens when I'm doing something important.
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Hmm... I've always used wired, but that also seems to be the point of failure on all of my audio equipment. However, I'm not sure I'd like to have to recharge my headset if I pulled a 10 hour straight session, which happens more often than I'd like to admit, since I listen to music almost constantly. It looks like the battery life is shy of 10, maybe realistically more like 6, which is much too short for my tastes.
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"that also seems to be the point of failure on all of my audio equipment." And this is why I'm considering wireless. Because seriously, fucking wires, man... Every time it breaks, it's the wire.
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I hate all of the annoyance of syncing/charging wireless, especially bluetooth which sounded like it would be oh so convenient for hooking up to both my android devices and my PC (if you don't mind fiddling with the bluetooth syncing, ugh), so I ended up back on wired even though it breaks so easily. Braided wire cords really help -- they make it last a lot longer and move the point of failure to the earpieces. I'm going to try anchoring my new mouse cord and headset cord with sugru this time around, too.
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You should probably go with wireless, if you don't mind changing the batteries once in a while. Wires... Are damned. :P
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The G930 is great but my first one had a tendency to reset itself every so often, causing the audio to drop out for a second or two. This seems to be an issue that plagues some headsets but not others and I'm currently waiting on a replacement to see if that helps (it also stopped playing with the logitech software for some reason).
Those issues aside it's really nice. The range is great, I've used it in my neighbors apartment and it can even reach across my parking lot to the mailbox (a good 50 meters from my front door). Fully charged the battery should last about 6 hours or so, and you can charge it while in use. The 7.1 emulation also works well and is the biggest feature I miss aside from being corded to my desk.
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Well, I guess, if nothing else, I can buy a G930 and return it if it has major problems with interference. I'm really leaning towards the G930.
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Hey Jade. I haven't used the Logitechs, so I can't compare the sound quality of these, but for an inexpensive headset, I've been quite happy with these: Creative HS800
They're wired, and the cord is on the thin side, but mine have held up just fine for two years now. I've also had the USB version (the HS1000, which isn't currently available at amazon.co.uk) for nearly as long, and those are still going strong as well. For the price, the sound quality's very good, and the mic is nice and clear. The only qualms about it are that the inline volume control has a limited range and won't lower the volume down to complete silence, and they tend to be a bit tight at first, but are comfy enough to wear all day once they break in.
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I recommended these to her because:
Yes, they're wired, as are the G35s that she's also considering, and "better" is an incredibly subjective term. Are your G930s (that you've admittedly had issues with) "better" than the HS800s? It's a matter of opinion and depends on what you're looking for based on price, features, reliability, etc.
This headset has worked flawlessly and served me well for years, and while it's not the "best" that money can buy, I felt that I got more than my money's worth, so I was just sharing that in case Jade found it helpful. I'm sorry that it irked you so.
Truth be told though, when it's time to replace this one, I'll most likely follow the headphone route that Thallassa described. I would have done that originally had I known that you could add on a boom mic like that.
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Haha. I like your style, dysomniak. :) That self delusion comment just reminded me of a co-worker who bragged about how awesome his $300 Beats sounded... as he listened to lossy mp3s on his phone. :P
By less than perfect hearing, though, I was referring to this, "My hearing isn't good enough that I'll hear absolutely everything anyway, there's a reason I have subtitles..."
With that said though, I haven't used 7.1 surround sound headphones, myself, so I don't honestly know how much difference they make.
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I wasn't entirely sold myself until I sent the 930 back for replacement, but switching back to my old headphones I immediately felt handicapped in Far Cry 3, Arkham City, and AssCreed 3. I have to spend a lot more looking around for the source of a noise.
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I can't recommend either, cause I have never used either.
If I were to recommend though, the Logitech H340 works just fine.
Shutting out ambient noise means that you won't be able to hear anything outside even if there's a fire. But shutting it out would make it such that you won't have to hear any outside noise.
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Personally I would recommend the Turtle Beaches Z11, i've had them since Febuary 2013 and up to now they're working great. It also seems to have been the #1 best selling PC headset for quite a while.
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Plantronics GameCom 780 7.1 Surround Sound USB Gaming Headset
Cheaper, awesome sound quality. Using them for like 2 years. Also wireless headset? Worst idea ever, believe me.
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If you want good sound quality, durability, and reliability, don't buy a headset. Buy regular headphones and a separate mic. Don't buy anything with a USB connection or an in-line volume control. Don't buy anything wireless because you pay more for worse sound quality and have to deal with batteries and interference.
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One of my best friends, and now current roommate has a G930 Jade... And it is friggin amazing. He's able to use his headset to still voiccechat from the extreme opposite end of the 2 BR appartment from his PC, and without interference despite us running a rather well used wifi network. The battery seems to generally last longer than it is used, unless left uncharged overnight. Seems like he gets at least a 9-12 hour battery life out of it, under mostly constant use.
The sound quality of it isn't audiophile tier, but it's still very good. And the noise cancellation is quite good too. It's a fairly large headset, so it will go completely around the outside of your ears, and is VERY comfortable because of that: I generally can't use headsets for extended periods because they press my ears against my glasses and cause worsening pain over time, however using his G930 didn't cause that.
The G930 and G35 are identical except for the wireless feature. However the wireless on the G930 is like the Wireless on the G9 mouse: It's hybrid wireless - ie: the cable that will charge it IS a communication cable, so you can use them in either wired or wireless modes.
For a while I was torn between the two as well, thinking I might go with the G35 just to save the small difference in price. However, having used the G930 now, I would say without hesitation to go for that. The wireless is very well done on it, and adds a great deal of convenience factor, without the usual tradeoff I find in most wireless devices that you experience functionality issues. I think it's fantastic, and plan to pick one up the next time I find one on sale.
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I have a microsoft lifechat lx-6000 Headset. It has a USB connection (stay away from wireless headsets!).
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I ordered the Razer Tiamat 7.1 headset a few days ago off newegg. Won't get it until jan 2nd so can't say how good it is but from what i have seen it is a pretty decent headset, specially with it being a true surround sound headset and not emulated like 99% of the other "surround sound" headsets out there. The price wasn't too bad, cost me $175 which is cheaper than alot of the other gaming headsets out there.
I looked around on the web for a week or so before deciding on the Tiamats and looked at a bunch of wireless headsets but decided against it since the reviews i seen on them seemed to be generally iffy. Turtle Beaches were off the table from the getgo after the experience i had with my x31s i got for my xbox a few years ago, nothing but problems with them and the sound quality was far from worth the price.
The Tiamats i ordered are replacing my Arctic Sound P531 headset i got a little over 2 years ago. They cost me roughly $80 and are pretty good quality, specially for the price. The reason i am getting a new headset is because the cushions on them are worn down from wearing them so much that they are starting to hurt my ears.
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Oddly enough some of the cheaper headsets I've had worked better than the expensive ones...
That said, I've got a few headsets that I can walk across the house and still hear/speak clearly. Certain ones (speaking of my more expensive headsets) do give feedback when they're far out of range of the computer (I don't hear anything, but apparently some of the people on the other end hear a high pitch whine from it). The surprise is, my cheaper wireless headsets don't/didn't give that feedback.
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I know there's another thread, but I'd feel bad hijacking it since my decisions mostly already made. I was recommended the Logitech G35 and have heard nothing but good about it but the G930 also appeals. Basically, it comes down to wireless or wired, there's no other difference I know of. Can anyone who's tried them recommend one or the other? Why? What sort of interference might I get with the wireless version? What's the overall battery life like?
Update: I ended up going for the G930. So far, it's absolutely great. I did keep in mind all the helpful advice that was given and in the future I'll check them out in more depth, but the speakers of this are better than any headphones I've had before and the microphone is apparently crystal clear especially compared to my old deskbound one. Had some minor issues at first with the wireless, clicked out occasionally, but that seemed to be a conflict with some software on my PC that I've sorted out. No problems since the first hour of use. Very comfy, even for long periods of time.
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