Best Gaming Headset

The Razer Megalodon is Razer's latest 7.1 surround sound headset. Powered by their own Maelstrom drivers, the headset uses software to reproduce sound in such a way that it mimics the 7.1 effects of a home speaker setup.

The cleverest thing about the Megalodon is that all of the 7.1 trickery is done through the control box, which is attached inline on the headphone cord. This makes the Megalodon a true plug'n'play device as there is no need for drivers to be installed on your PC. Just plug the USB cord into your computer and the Megalodon will do the rest.

The control box allows you to control the volume on each of its channels, as well as the mi volume and sensitivity. There is also a dedicated button for toggling between 7.1 and 2.0 modes.

Sound quality from the Razer Megalodon is fantastic and the nicely padded cups are very comfortable, even after a long gaming session.

If money is no object then you want the Logitech G35 headset. This is Logitech's latest offering and offers 7.1 surround sound, a microphone and clever gaming features.

The sound quality is superb and the directional information provided by the 7.1 Dolby speaker setup is excellent.

Comfort is top notch, with plenty of adjustment on the headband and nice paddnig to the cups. The Logitech G35 even comes with a choice of three contoured headband pads so you can choose the one that fits you best.

The G35 also boasts some great gaming features. There are three customizable G-keys that can give you easy control over music, voice morphing, or whatever you decide. With the voice morphing you can choose from six voices, including Troll, Mutant, Alien, Giant, Cyborg, and Space Squirrel (yeah, I know, it's a bit of a gimmick).

There are audio controls on the cup that allow you to adjust the volume, microphone mute and surround sound settings.

The microphone is also very good, with excellent noise-cancelling that allows it to cleraly pick up your voice. It can even be rotated up and, as it does so, it automatically mutes itself.

Roccat have a knack of producing stylish gaming peripherals (such as the Kone mouse) and the 5.1 Kave headset is another fine example.

Each headphone has three speakers inside, arranged at 12 degree angles to reproduce the 5.1 effect. There are also vibration units to add extra emphasis to the explosions around you!

The sound quality is good and it's easy to pick out the direction it's coming from. Both bass and treble are clear, if not quite as clear as the more expensive Logitech G35 headset.

The rotatable (and removable) microphone is also an excellent piece of kit with good noise cancelling and has a nice blue LED at the tip to indicate if the mute is on. There's no point shouting at people if they can't hear you!

The Roccat Kave also comes with a handy remote that allows you to control centre, front and rear volume settings as well as the bass level. There is also a switch for toggling the user-defined sound profiles.

No gaming frills here, just a set of beautifully crisp speakers. The Sennheiser HD555 headset is aimed at music and home theatre users but it performs extremely well in gaming.

The headset doesn't try to reproduce surround sound with software, instead using Sennheiser's own in-built technology to give the impression of surround sound. It is very effective and is easily as good as the surround sound headsets mentioned above. Sound quality is also excellent, with lovely clean bass and treble. They're also light and very comfortable.

Obviously there's no mic and no gaming extras, but if you want a simple headset that offers excellent sound then you could do a lot worse than pick up these Sennheiser HD555s.