The 8 Best Gaming Headsets In Australia For 2024

If you still enjoy gaming staples like Call of Duty and Halo, plus you work from home quite often, a good gaming headset is an astute life hack.

Why? Well, pick up a good pair of gaming headphones and you’ve got a kit that not only offers a competitive advantage in gaming but also functions as an excellent pair of cans for your home office. This is because gaming headphones and office headphones (sometimes known as enterprise headphones) share many common features.

With a good gaming headset, you’re generally getting:

• Sound Separation: Great for hearing footsteps behind you; gunshots in the distance and clear team commands despite dense soundtracks. On the work front, it helps with call clarity and also lifts your voice from a noisy background during meetings.
• Comfort: Any worthy gaming headset will also be built for comfort given manufacturers have to consider that you’ll have these things wrapped around your head for long gaming sessions.
• Better Communication: Most gaming headsets also come with a flexible extended microphone so you can trash talk your opponents and also give commands in co-op. This helps immerse you in the team environment and can elevate any gaming session; especially when it comes to first-person shooters. And any good microphone is designed to filter out unwanted noise to keep your voice, and your mates’ voices, clear at all times.
• Affordability: This is another big reason why investing in a good gaming headset actually benefits your work-from-home set-up. Office headphones are generally much more expensive, especially if they’ve been optimised for a platform like Microsoft Teams. A gaming headset will not only suffice, but it’ll usually cost much less. You kill two birds with one stone, and you save money.

Below, I’ve rounded up what I feel are the best gaming headsets you can buy in Australia right now, from brands like SteelSeries, Audeze, JBL, Razer and Bang & Olufsen.

Best Gaming Headsets

1. Razer Blackshark V2 – Best Overall Gaming Headset

Optimised For: PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Mobile
Connection: Wired, Wireless

Given Razer’s reputation in the gaming industry, it’s unsurprising that the brand offers one of the best wired gaming headsets to date. Everything has been considered, from the supreme audio quality to the stable connection and all-day comfort.

The 50mm TriForce Titanium drivers help with the lightweight design, featuring discrete ports to help with sound separation so bass, mid and treble are all kept clear and don’t overwhelm each other in the mix. This is important because you can expect richer aural clarity with both vocals and bass. No one should struggle to hear commands in the kind of dense action sequences that games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 thrive on.

2. Beoplay Portal – Best Premium Headset

Optimised For: PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Mobile
Connection: Wireless

The Beoplay Portal headphones from Bang & Olufsen represent the high-end Danish brand’s surprising entry into a new market. While the company is generally better known for its top-shelf speakers, these cans are engineered perfectly to offer something a bit more premium than your usual gaming headset and have been optimised for PC, console and mobile gaming.

Dolby Atmos support is the headline feature but Bang & Olufsen has worked this pair so well that it’s often referred to as the ultimate gaming headset. The design is gorgeous, there’s rock-solid connectivity with lossless 2.4GhZ wireless and Bluetooth 5.1, quick-access gaming functions, and an array of beam-forming microphones to help isolate and amplify voice on a virtual boom arm (as opposed to a physical one).

3. Xbox Wireless Headset – Best For Xbox Series X|S

Optimised For: Xbox
Connection: Wireless

Using the same wireless connection Xbox Wireless Controllers use, the Xbox Wireless Headset has been designed specifically to make it more appealing for owners of the console. That’s because Microsoft has been specific about what kind of lower-latency connection is possible while balancing that with higher-quality sound than what Bluetooth usually allows.

Microsoft’s designers have also eliminated the need for a separate transmitter. I wouldn’t need to plug a receiver into my console’s USB port. I just press the button on the Xbox, then the button on the headset, and the connection is instant.

It may not have the best microphone out there, but the convenience factor makes this a no-brainer for Xbox owners.

4. PS5 Pulse 3D – Best For PlayStation 5

Optimised For: PlayStation
Connection: Wireless

Just like Microsoft has made its own gaming headset, so too has Sony built one designed especially to work with the PlayStation 5. This is because the two different consoles have very specific software, and these headphones are equally specific in the way they connect and communicate.

The Pulse 3D was designed to correct directly with the console without the need for a USB antenna. As such, you’ll get a more reliable connection with Bluetooth codecs designed around the PS5’s very specific hardware and software. Then there are the convenience features like quick start-up buttons and a boom mic that works hard to isolate your voice in a sound mix.

5. Audeze Penrose – Best For Audio Clarity

Optimised For: PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Mobile
Connection: Wired, Wireless

Most wireless gaming headsets don’t use high-end planar magnetic drivers because they are generally more expensive than the cone-and-dome drivers most manufacturers use. That’s what helps set the Audeze Penrose headset apart, recreating a very rich, detailed soundstage that’s closer to what a producer and mixing engineer would intend.

The notable richness and clarity in the soundstage means this is generally the better option for racing games and first-person shooters. Planar magnetic drivers generally have thinner, more efficient diaphragms so air can flow more efficiently through them.

The USB transmitter has been designed to be used with PCs and all consoles except Xbox. If you want a model that has been optimised to work with a console like the Xbox Series X or Xbox One, then you’ll need to get the Penrose X. It’s pretty much the same headset, just with an Xbox-friendly transmitter.

6. Astro Gaming A10 (Gen 2) – Best Budget Wired Headset

Optimised For: PC
Connection: Wired

Moving away from the digital trend is the Astro Gaming A10. It’s a bit dated in its approach; this is strictly an analog gaming headset. That’s because most gaming headphones these days are digital, in that you’ll connect them either via a USB port or Bluetooth. The A10 simply uses your PC’s headphone jack.

That means the A10 is a bit limited in its functionality. Most flagship smartphones these days don’t have a headphone jack, so that rules the A10 out of mobile gaming. Consoles also don’t come with headphone jacks, unless you want to awkwardly plug this into your PS5 or Xbox Series X controller (I personally hate doing that).

The A10 offers great wired sound but also superb comfort and an efficient boom microphone. That’s pretty much all you need at this price point, making the A10 the best gaming headset if you’re on a budget.

7. SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless – Best For Connectivity

Optimised For: PC, PlayStation, Xbox (depending on model)
Connections: Wired, Wireless

There are two USB-C ports and one desktop wireless transmitter featured with the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro. That’s because you can connect these to your computer and a compatible console at the same time. There are two models: one optimised for use with Xbox, and one optimised for use with PlayStation.

You also get a control knob so you can dial in EQ on the fly, as well as a slot for a second battery. Having so many features really ups the value of this gaming headset, where almost everything has been calibrated to offer best-in-class performance. However, I’ve found that these tend to fall behind the mark when it comes to active noise cancellation so may not be the best if you want to also use them as work headphones in a busy office.

8. JBL Quantum One – Best For Bass

Optimised For: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
Connection: Wired, Wireless

Those big, meaty explosions and noisy gunfights will sound extra tasty with the JBL Quantum One. This is the gaming headset I’ve used most over the years, and I prefer it over the others simply because a) the design is awesome and b) the low-end response is thick.

JBL has also stuffed some accurate head-tracking technology into these premium cans. So aside from the rather aggressive, RGB design with its own light show, the bad boys work hard to keep the mix in front of you at all times despite any head movements. If someone is talking behind you, turn your head; it’ll sound like you’ve actually paid attention to them.

How Boss Hunting Chose The Best Gaming Headphones

At the age of 36, it’s hard to justify dedicating too much of my time to video games. I would no longer really consider myself a gamer but I do still play on occasion. This gives me the chance to actually road-test gaming headsets such as the ones included in this buyer’s guide.

In addition to first-hand research, I’ve spent a lot of time reading Google reviews, watching YouTube reviews and even a few e-sports tournaments. All of this secondary research has given me the confidence to discern a poor gaming headset from a good one. The good ones are on this list.

If you want to know more about how we put together lists like this, take a read of our editorial policy.

Wired Vs Wireless: Pros & Cons

I wanted to briefly touch on the difference between using gaming headphones with a wire or using a Bluetooth connection.

Most gaming headphones these days would come with their own Bluetooth transmitter. That is an antenna for the Bluetooth connection that takes the form of a USB stick. You simply insert it into a USB port and the headphones connect to the antenna via Bluetooth. Then you’d also have the option of using a wired connection, either by USB-C or a traditional headphone jack.

The general benefit of having a wired connection is that the sound quality should be better as it’s a much more direct connection. For Bluetooth to offer the sound quality necessary for gaming, the software would have to include high-quality Bluetooth codecs that help with lossless quality, upscaling and low latency. If there’s lag, there’s no point.

The downside of using a wired connection is, of course, less freedom. If you’re the type to move constantly while you’re gaming, then a wired headphone could not only slip off your head, but you’d also risk fall damage for your console or PC.

Plus, if you’ve got those high-end Bluetooth codecs then the sound quality should be fine despite it being a wireless connection.

Frequently Asked Questions