Note: If you want to skip reading, there is a Video Review at the bottom!

In the past year or so, I have had the opportunity to buy and try out a wide variety of mid range headsets for my PC. There is no doubt there are some amazing headsets out there that I indeed have not tried! But Im not sponsored, so these are simply are the ones I think a good amount of people might consider since they are fairly readily available at most stores and online retailers, and most importantly for a review, the ones that I have personal experience with. Feel free to comment below what you have tried and found out on your own. Other readers Im sure would greatly appreciate it! For myself, some headsets have been fairly mediocre with some glaring issues, but other have excelled at doing things better than the others. So in hopes of narrowing down your choices , I am going to review the ones I have tried personally and give my thoughts on each of them after using all of them. We’ll be taking a look at the following…

– Razer Carcharius

-Razer Electra

-Razer Banshee

-Logitech G930

-Turtle Beach X12

-SteelSeries Siberia V2

-Turtle Beach Ear Force Bravo (PX3s)

When Im wanting a headset I look for a few things. Comfort, cord length, control access (volume adjustment, etc), sound quality, microphone recording quality, and build quality. While all of these headsets I listed are in the mid-range to upper mid-range budget area, its possible most gamers will consider at least one of these brands at one point. I’m going to go over each of my experiences with these headsets in detail, but if you want to skip the reading, I have placed a video towards the bottom where I discuss everything I have typed out and an unboxing of a new headset I just picked up.

Razer Carcharius

Amazon Price: 76.99

Rating – Average, higher priced 2.1 headset.

An excellent open-eared headset, with a good solid contruction and a very long cable to boot. Over all the sound quality was great while plugged into a standard audio jack, and provided good 2.1 audio. The microphone I would consider average, noise cancelletation isnt an option, but for a mid-range headset that feature is really not commonly seen. The one issue I always had with this headset was the cable getting caught under my chair which isnt really Razers fault. While having an extremely long cable is great, without managing the cable, plan on having it tangle under you.

Razer Electra

Amazon Price: $52.00

Rating: Excellent lower priced headset if you can overlook a few things.

Quite possibly one of the most bass heavy hard hitting headsets Ive heard with the exception of my Sony XDs. I opted to purchase these because at the time I was look for a lower budget set of cans to replace my Logitech G930 wireless usb headset that I no longer needed. The Electras come with two cables , one for standard audio ports and the other cable to use the built in Mic. You have probably seen big YouTuber “PewDiePie”, using these headsets in his play throughs. They are an excellent comfortable headset, but with one glaring problem. The cable is too short, way too short. Most desktop users probably don’t sit within 3-4 feet of their audio port on their PC (if its plugged into the back). For a laptop user, they’re perfect length, or if you sit near enough to the front audio jack of your desktop tower. But they do seem to be for laptop users since they also do fold up nicely enough to fit into a shoulder bag. You could buy an extension cable and coupler to extend it, but you may not want to.

Razer Banshee

Amazon Price: $96.00

Rating: High priced 2.1 USB Headset (You’re paying for the branding and fancy lights)

This headset is probably the largest feeling and looking headset I have had. If you want to stand out at Lan Partys or look like a pro Korean StarCraft player, these are definetly for you. In terms of customizability, there is a lot to work with. From all the LED lighting and the ability to alter lighting to match APM in game, its no surprise Blizzard worked closely with Razer to develop an enthusiast branded product. The overall audio quality was alright, I wouldnt say the mids/highs/ or lows were anything special, but it provided a good clean sound. With it being a USB connected headset however all sound is processed through that rather than your sound card on or off board. Either way, some people who record audio might not prefer that option, but for typical Skype/Vent/Mumble conversations it worked fine for me.

Logitech G930

Amazon Price: $110.00

Rating: Must buy if this is within your price range. Hands down my recommendation among this lot.

In terms of build quality alone, the G930 felt like the Rolls Royce of headsets on my head and looked the part as well. The nice thick leather band and ear cups cover your head nicely in an “im ready for hours of gaming and filling your head with 7.1 audio”. The Logitech Gaming Software was able to configure the 7.1 audio in all the games that I frequently played. With them being wireless when the battery stars to drain you will need to plug them in via a microUSB connection from the hub, however there is plenty of cable with a convienient hub to keep the cable from tangling.

TurtleBeach X12

Amazon Price: $53.00

Rating: Encountered a good amount of issues with the headset, would look at other options.

A headset that is also marketed to Xbox360 players. The X12 gets its power via USB and connection via the regular audio jacks. The volume and mic controls are in a very convienient little box near the headset cable and the audio quality was fine at lower volumes, however I noticed some distortion at higher volumes. I’m not sure if that is a by product of not breaking the drivers in fully over time but I wasnt a big fan of it since I seem to be losing my hearing as Im aging into elderlyness. Also, its good to note that I did experience some sort of audio interference in recording and speaking over the mic. Not sure if that is related to the usb connection and the audio ports or if I might have just gotten a bad headset. It’s something to keep an eye out for and keep your reciept handy if you encounter that problem.

SteelSeries Siberia V2

Amazon Price: 89.99

Rating- A solid, well constructed headset, with good sound quality and mic quality.

If you’re a serious gamer and follow e-sports you already know how popular this headset is. A few weeks ago I was able to snag a pair to try out. Its on the upper end of the scale in terms of price for a 2.1 non wireless headset. The cable for plugging into your PC is very similiar to the Cacharius in length, meaning, there is plenty of cord. However, the one thing that I did not like about the head set was the small thumb controls and lack of light indicators to know when your mic is actually muted (the G930 has a red indicator light on the tip of the mic you can see). The sound quality was fairly decent, even though nothing really stood out to me in terms of highs/mids/lows. Obviously I did not use it for an extended period of time but SteelSeries has a good reputation with this headset so if you are picking this one up rest assured the build quality will hold up. As for comfort, the headband contours and expands to your headshape which is a nice touch.

Turtle Beach Ear Force Bravo (PX3s) (Wireless)

Amazon Price: $119.00

Rating- For the price, go with the G930s.

I can’t give a true review on this because Ive only owned it for a day, and the biggest reason I bought it , is because I purchased it for a really low low price. I can say however at the price point of its current going rate on Amazon, I would much rather have the G930 Logitech Headset. This headset feels good, much like most TurtleBeach headsets (Im a fan of the ear cups), and they are fairly lightweight. I havent encountered any glaring issues with them, but in the future I will probably come back to update this if I find anything major.

VIDEO REVIEW w/ Unboxing