10 Best Gaming Headsets Under $100 in 2022

In this article, we want to show gamers that they don’t have to pay a lot of money to benefit from a lot of performance. This article highlights the best gaming headsets under $100. All of these headsets have been hand-picked based on the tremendous amount of value that they provide for gamers on a budget. They each have high-quality drivers, high levels of compatibility, and unique sets of features that make them capable of competing even with premium headsets.

After our reviews, we’ve also included the most comprehensive buyer’s guide possible. It goes over each and every feature that you should know about and explains some of the more technical terms that most people might have trouble understanding. We hope to offer a broad enough amount of information to help you in your search for the best headset under $100 for your needs.

The Best Gaming Headset Under $100

Design	Gaming	Retailer
	HyperX Cloud Alpha Gaming Headset	Check Price
	CORSAIR Void PRO RGB Wireless Gaming Headset	Check Price
	SADES SA819 Gaming Headset	Check Price
	Logitech G Pro Gaming Headset	Check Price
	Sennheiser GSP 300 Gaming Headset	Check Price
	SteelSeries Arctis 5	Check Price
	Razer Kraken Cross Platform Gaming Headset	Check Price
	ASTRO Gaming A10 Gaming Headset	Check Price
	CORSAIR HS70 Pro SE 7.1 Gaming Headset	Check Price
	HyperX Cloud Stinger S Gaming Headset	Check Price

Best Gaming Headsets Under $100 Buyer’s Guide

This buyer’s guide goes over all of the most important features that a good gaming headset should have. It’s comprehensive and written in a way that is easy to understand. If you’re not a tech geek, you should still be able to understand all of the terminology that we use, so you shouldn’t have any difficulties trying to figure out what you need from a headset.

Related Post: See our post on gaming earbuds for alternatives to headsets.

Build Quality

The quality of a headset’s build is extremely important. Even cheap headsets usually cost around $80, and that’s quite a bit of money to spend on something that will just break in a month.

You should make sure to look out for:

• Band material
• Frame material
• Cushion material
• Mic material
• How these are all connected

Band Material

The band is the part that sits around your head. You’ll want something that has plenty of padding, and it’s best to get a headset that uses metal for the band’s frame. The band is the second most abused part of the headset because it is constantly being adjusted. Cheap polymers will crack and wiggle loose very quickly.

Frame Material

Polymer will work fine for the majority of the headset’s frame. It’s not too easy to damage with small drops, and it’s lightweight. Steel is a more long-lasting material, but it also weighs a lot, and polymer will last just as long if you take care of it. For these reasons, most headset frames are made from Polymer.

Cushion Material

The cushions on the ear cups are very important if you want to play for longer than ten minutes. Memory foam is a good choice, and it’s what you’ll most often find. However, cooling gel is the best filling material that you can get in a headset, and we highly suggest spending a little extra on a headset that uses it.

The cushion covers are also important, but you have a lot more options here. AirWeave is great, but it tends to be pricey. Leatherette and PU are inexpensive, but make sure that you find a headset that uses them properly, or your ears are going to hurt soon after you put the headset on.

Mic Material

Microphones are prone to breaking. They’re forced to swing around in front of your face, and they can break with one false step, so you’ll ideally want one that bends. Rigid mics are usually made from brittle polymers, and they’re a lot more likely to break. A flexible mic can take a lot of beatings before it kicks the bucket.

If you have the funds for a premium headset, you can often find mics made from metal. It’ll cost a lot to acquire one, but steel mics are very unlikely to break.

Cord Material

The material used for your power cord isn’t too important, but it is something to consider. A standard cable is prone to kinking and becoming unusable. That’s not an issue if you take care of it, but things happen. Braided cables are much more durable, and they’ll ensure that your headset lasts much longer.

How Those Are All Connected?

A headset can be made from the most durable materials, but that doesn’t mean much if those materials aren’t properly put together. Check a potential purchase for gaps where the parts fit together. If anything wiggles or slides, you’ll want to go with another option.

The cushions and other pads need to be stitched together in a way that will not unravel. Look for any gaps between stitches, and make sure there aren’t any weird lumps where the padding was improperly inserted.

Finally, the power cord needs to be properly connected to the headset. It shouldn’t be close to popping out of the headset, and it shouldn’t wiggle at its base. If either of those is true in a headset that you’re looking at, you should give it a pass. Even a great headset is nothing more than a paperweight if the power cord doesn’t work.

Compatibility

This is mostly a common-sense thing. You obviously want to buy a headset that actually works with the system that you plan to use it for. Headsets come in a variety of designs and styles, and some are only compatible with specific systems.

It’s easy enough to tell whether or not a headset will work with your system. The packaging will always have a label that says what it’s compatible with. Before you invest your hard-earned money, make sure to look for its compatibility label.

Drivers

The drivers in a headset determine how high the sound quality is. 50-mm neodymium drivers are the most commonly used drivers in decent headsets, but you can also find some headsets that use 35-mm, 45-mm, and proprietary drivers that are unique to a specific company.

We suggest staying away from the smaller drivers. They’re outdated, and they’re typically only used in poor-quality headsets. With that being said, plenty of low-quality headsets boast that they use 50-mm neodymium drivers.

You’ll want to look for anything that says they’re custom-tuned. Drivers don’t typically arrive at a manufacturer’s warehouse set up for high-quality audio. It’s usually up to the manufacturer to tune the drivers to meet their standards. If you buy from a reputable brand, that shouldn’t be a problem. Always check with lesser-known brands, though.

Proprietary drivers are almost always high-quality. Most cheap companies don’t bother to make their own drivers, and they certainly don’t pay the extra money necessary to patent them if they do. If a company claims to use proprietary drivers, you can rest assured that they’ll produce high-quality sound.

Connectivity

This is the spec that determines how a headset will connect to your device. If you’re looking at wireless headsets, this will usually be via Bluetooth or a USB dongle. If you’re buying a wireless headset, it’s best to get one that connects with Bluetooth. Most modern systems utilize the technology, and it’s a lot more efficient than using a dongle. USB adapters aren’t bad, but they take up a USB port that you could otherwise use for a controller or other peripheral.

That being said, you will also need to consider latency with wireless headsets. The best gaming headsets are usually designed to work without any latency, but cheaper headsets can have noticeable delays between in-game events and audio responses. Wired headsets are a bit more complex. They have almost no latency issues, but different manufacturers use different hookups in their headsets.

3.5-mm audio jacks are compatible with most systems, but they often require a separate adapter to use their mics on PC. USB connectors are compatible with a lot of different systems, and they usually only require a single USB port. However, console players will probably feel a little restricted by these types of headsets. Modern consoles have 3.5-mm jacks in their controllers, but the USB ports are all on the systems themselves, so you’ll have to sit closer to your console to use these types of headsets.

Wireless

There are many advantages to using wireless headsets over wired headsets, but they also suffer from a few major disadvantages. A wireless headset doesn’t require any annoying cables, and that generally makes them more comfortable to wear. However, they will have a slight delay between when things happen in-game and when you hear them through the headset. That’s called latency, and it can impact your performance as a gamer quite a bit.

You also have to consider the battery life of a wireless headset. Since there aren’t any power cords supplying them with energy, they have to utilize an internal battery. Almost all headsets have a battery that’s capable of letting the average gamer play for several sessions without charging, but hardcore gamers might need very long-lasting batteries to accommodate all of their lengthy gaming binges. Charge times can vary between models, but most require a solid two hours or longer for a full charge.

Surround Sound

Surround sound is a highly sought-after feature in the gaming world. It’s the most immersive way to enjoy a game’s audio, and it really makes a difference in how well you can perform. Luckily, this feature is becoming much more common in cheaper headsets. Surround sound utilizes several directional audio drivers to play tricks on your ears, making it seem as if sounds are coming from the same direction as they’re coming from in-game.

If someone is walking behind you in your favorite first-person shooter, you won’t just hear footsteps coming out of all of your speakers. They’ll only come from one direction, and it’ll sound just like it would in real life. In competitive games, this gives gamers a huge advantage over someone who’s playing on a mono audio channel.

In solo games, surround sound does the same thing, but it simply makes games more immersive. When birds are flying over your in-game avatar’s head, it’ll sound as if there are birds actually flying above you. It’s honestly the best way to experience the cinematic experiences that game developers tend to focus on.

However, surround sound isn’t a necessity. It certainly helps, but stereo audio is just as capable of providing a similar experience. You won’t hear sounds in a 360-degree arc, but stereo sound will still differentiate between left and right. It’s a lot more immersive than mono sound, and it’s a lot cheaper to produce than surround sound. It’s still better to get a surround sound headset, though.

Frequency Response

Frequency response might sound like a nerdy spec that’s difficult for casual gamers to grasp, but it’s actually really simple. It just describes what frequencies the headset will pick up. As you know, sounds come in a vast array of tones and pitches, and some electronics can have trouble picking up high-frequency signals. That’s not a major issue with modern headsets, but it is something to keep in mind when you’re going over a headset’s specs.

The majority of decent headsets have a frequency response that picks up sounds as low as 20Hz, and they can usually pick up sounds that are as high 20,000Hz. This is perfectly fine for the vast majority of games and music. In general, a wider range is more preferable, but you’re unlikely to actually use anything that is drastically more varied.

All you have to do is look for a headset that can respond to frequencies between 20Hz and 20,000Hz. That’ll provide you with a very balanced experience, without costing a premium price.

Noise Canceling

Noise-canceling is usually a great feature, but it can be a drawback for a select few. It definitely helps to keep all of the annoying background noise out of your ears while you play, but it completely isolates you from your real-world environment. In that regard, this can be detrimental if you have to constantly listen out for your kids or spouse.

The noise-canceling feature works by creating a perfect seal between your ears and a headset’s ear cups. That seal prevents noise from permeating through to your ears, while also keeping all of the sounds from your games trapped within the ear cups. In that way, it usually makes it less annoying for people around you, too.

Audio Controls

This isn’t something that should ultimately determine the headset you buy, but it’s important to know the difference between different control setups. They do slightly impact how easy it is to use a headset, and that’s important enough to be included in this guide. Inline controls are the most common. These are mounted onto the power cord of a headset, and they typically include a volume wheel and a mute switch.

Sometimes, headsets will have audio balancing controls, too. These are simple to use, and they’re not obtrusive. However, you’ll find yourself grabbing around for a dangling audio control in the middle of a lot of intense games, and that can slow you down considerably. Sometimes, audio controls are instead mounted on the earpiece of a headset.

These are the easiest to reach because they’re always in the same spot, but they’re not common in cheaper headsets. These types of controls typically have sliders or buttons that control the system’s audio. That’s not usually as accurate as a wheel, but it’s a fair trade for the added accessibility that these controls provide.

If a headset doesn’t have audio controls located somewhere on it, we don’t recommend buying it. You’ll have to adjust your audio very frequently, and you need to be able to access your controls quickly. If a headset doesn’t have any way to adjust its audio, you really shouldn’t buy it. That’s a blatant rip off.

Customization

Being able to customize your headset via software isn’t necessary, but it’s a nice feature to have. A lot of modern headsets use RGB lighting, and being able to change the color of a headset’s lights adds a lot to its overall package.

Some software even allows you to fine-tune your headset to produce the specific type of audio that you want. This is usually only available with expensive headsets, but it’s a great feature to have, and it’s definitely worth paying a premium price for. Being able to change RGB lighting is often found on budget headsets, though, making it a feature that fits well among the budget theme of this guide.

Adjustable Pieces

With budget headsets, you’ll usually only be able to adjust the length of the arms to secure a tight fit. That said, it’s not incredibly rare that manufacturers will add rotating ear cups, removable mics, and detachable cords, and all of those features add to how adjustable a headset is.

These aren’t features that should ultimately determine whether or not you buy a particular headset, but they make headsets that are already great purchases a little bit better. Once you’ve purchased your headset, you may wish to think about getting a headset stand for it, too. These help to keep your headset out of the way and prevent it from being damaged.

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