Gaming Headsets: Myth, Truth and How We Test

1 - Einführung und Übersicht 2 - Alles über Schall und Frequenzen 3 - Räumliches Hören, Surround und viel Voodoo 4 - Sounding: Markting-Gag oder Skill-Verstärker? 5 - Menschliche Sprache, Tiere, Bewegungen 6 - Typische Kampf- und Transportmittelgeräusche 7 - Wie wir messen und urteilen 8 - Fazit und Zusammenfassung

What is Sounding?

To illustrate what can be done wrong with Sounding – i.e. the deliberate falsification of playback by under- and overemphasising individual frequency ranges – here first two exemplary selected headsets. The thick white line indicates the frequency progression of a truly neutral headphones with excellent playback properties.

First, we compare a more average stereo gaming headset with the typical bathtub sound, where basses and heights are significantly overemphasized and present more glow than being. The tip of one kilohertz is also the honeypot for the standard measurements, where the 1 kHz mark is always chosen as the reference point. The red areas indicate the over- and the blue areas the significantly understressed frequency ranges:

According to the marketing specialists, the crowning glory of evolution is supposed to be “real” multi-channel headsets (5.1 or 7.1), which also contain several drivers per headphone and often also a kind of special subwoofer. How such an expensive headset can also be stranded as a sonic submarine, we have already learned in one of our tests:

Why the hell do you sell such sonic failures as gamer periphery? Could it be that it is possible that especially schleich-shooters or wild fighting tumult have their own challenges and that the frequency ranges of the relevant sounds are so narrow-bandthaty that a sounding is really worthwhile? We will go on the search for traces and test exactly that.

But what you need to know: none of the gaming brands really produces themselves. They are all products from large contract manufacturers (ODM) who have almost everything ready in the drawer. In the end, all that remains is the individualization via the optics (changed tooling), special chassis selection, the tuning of the resonant body and the optional damping or insulation, as well as by means of ear pads. Then there’s some cost-down to guarantee the margin. That’s usually it.

Sounding by ear pads

We see in the pictures below an actually excellent HiFi headphones (Meze 99 Neo), which has also been matched in an exemplary way. The damping is exactly right and the workmanship is excellent. The previous model was really enthusiastic with an almost linear reproduction, but the measurement now shows problems with the successor.

Unfortunately, one has managed to create clear dents in the reproduction characteristic by a failed ear pad alone. What was supposed to be progress can quickly go wrong even at this high level. With simple gaming headsets with overflowing bulges and cheap foam with luscious fabric, this looks much worse.

Sounding over a lot of internal volume

But it’s also much worse! Take a really large plastic hollow body, immediately leave out insulation and damping and wait for the things that come along. And they have it in them!

It is a bass bomber of the cruellest kind, because the small chassis is actually not suitable for basses. No level strength, poor settling behavior and extremely exaggerated upper mids and heights. In order to feign a lot of low tone, the range is raised extremely by the 250 Hz. The result is the so-called cardboard sound, which is also known in cheap systems from the local party cellar. Loudly, it rumbles, but a really low tone is not present.

Sounding about fixed resonance bodies

In addition to the appropriately selected driver, as with loudspeakers, you can artificially raise individual frequency ranges in the level with various tricks by selecting the resuscitation ranges of the body appropriately and adjusting the internal structure acoustically. Here the earcup hums along like a bumblebee on Extasy.

The result is actually much more brutal, but at least the center of gravity of the low notes has already slipped down into the upper bass. At least something, but not really nice yet.

Vote instead of upset

There are also positive examples of a sounding system where one tries to eliminate the disadvantages of favorable production and the actustic problem areas of the body. You can use the possibilities offered by the ODM (felt for gluing or steaming the correction openings) in both richtugs: to either raise or lower frequencies.

Here the result is already much better, even if something is missing the bass. But if necessary, there are also sound controllers on the output device.

That’s how Sounding goes right!

There are also really positive examples, such as the QPad QH90, which is actually based on a usable stereo headphones from Takstar, where the finisher appears here as ODM and uses his know-how correctly. In addition to the clean tuning of the resonant body, we also find a very useful damping.

The result isn’t completely linear, but it’s actually just right for gaming. So, or something like that, we would like it, because here the combination of precision, location and a detailed reproduction is always given outside the game world.

We will now see on the next pages how extreme sounding with too many basses and heights beats against a neutrally tuned headset. And that’s almost more interesting than many games!