Choosing the right headsets is a decision that you can get very wrong, very easily. Some headsets perform amazingly but are marred by excessive weight or uncomfortable ear cushions that don’t become apparent until you’ve used the headset for an extended span of time. What feels good for a few minutes can literally give you a pounding headache after a few hours. Likewise, a headset that manages good music reproduction may burn you in gaming scenarios when you’re trying to determine if those footsteps are your nearby teammate’s, or the enemy’s on a different floor. And for the record, I’m not even talking about surround sound headsets. The size and depth of the sound field produced by two seemingly similar stereo headsets can vary dramatically.

Aesthetics aren’t everything, but they’re also not nothing. Nobody wants to wear a headset to a LAN party that makes you cringe as badly as my English teacher would if she read that previous sentence. The oft-neglected mic is also a vital component that can be a real deal-breaker if it fails you or performs poorly in multiplayer situations. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.