Which gaming headset drivers should you choose?

close up on cup grills of Corsair Virtuoso Pro showing open back design and logo
(Image credit: Future)

There are many things to consider when buying a gaming headset; your connection options, design, size, platform compatibility, headband shape, and cushion material to name a few. If you’re serious about tuning your audio to y๊our exact preferences, though, you should also be conside🦹ring the driver powering all that sound. After all, it’s the workhorse behind everything you hear. 

The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming headsets have traditionally stuck to their roots in this department for years, with the vast majority packing the same driver design and achieving the same sound qualities with it. However, more and more driver options are entering the mainstream. While common dynamic drivers still rule the roost thanks to ꦿtheir low cost, you’ll now find more planar magnetic,ꦚ electrostatic, and even balanced armature options providing your game audio. 

Knowing how each one works and its resulting sound response is crucial to fi☂nding out which gaming headset driver is right for you. Some of these options are particularly pricey, so it’s well worth knowing exactly what you’re investin൩g in if you’re splashing some cash on an upgrade.

How do gaming headsets produce sound?

Before we dive into how individual drivers produce their audio, it’s worth getting an overview of how sound is produced through a driver. All of these options use electromagnetism to create vibrations in a diaphragm via an attached conductive material (well, nearly all these options - but we’ll get to that). These vibrations produce the soundwaves you hear through your headset. In general, the thinner and stronger the diaphragm (you can check out our guide to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:graphene drivers for more on newer diaphragm materials) and the fewer points of connection between each part 𒁃of the driver th💧e better for reducing distortion.  

Dynamic drivers

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro for Xbox gaming headset

(Image credit: Future/Royce Wilson)

These are the bread and butter of the gaming headset world, having dominated the induꦯstry for most of its life. Dynamic drivers are cheap, easily produced, and efficient, making them a go-to for mainstream brands. 

A dynamic driver uses a cone-shaped diaphragm and a copper wire coiled around a magnet (and within a magnetic field). The coiled wire becomes electromagnetic🥃 when an electrical signal moves through it, causing it to be pushed and pulled very rapidly due to the surrounding magnetic effect. It’s being drawn towards one charge and then another in rapid succession. The magnet and coil sit within the centre of the cone, so this movement causes larger vibrations across the diaphragm itself, creating the sound waves you hear. 

The result is a gaming headset with a powerful bass and a wide dynamic range. However, it’s not as detailed as you’ll find in other driver options, ♋and the fact that all these parts are heavily connected to each other can cause distortion, particularly at high volume, due to secondary vibrations from the coil itself. 

Good For: 

General play
Cost efficiency
Powerful bass

Bad For: 

High volume listening
Heavier low-ranges 

Most gaming headsets use dynamic drivers, but some of our favorites are the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Arcꦬtis Nova Pro Wireless, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X Wireless.