Sennheiser PC 151 Stereo Gaming Headset w/N.C. Mic

I've tried many, many headsets on my PC, primarily for gaming and voice over internet phone at the under $100.00 price point.

Logitech's headsets (corded and wireless) and Plantronics headsets (corded only) made me realize that the microphone elements share the same slightly grainy resolution. Corded headsets do seem to have a lower noise floor over wireless headsets though.

Headset comfort is about the same at and above $25.00, so it's really of no concern here either (no way that anything beats out over-the-ear headphones in terms of comfort-on a side note, I had thought the Plantronics 770 binaurals were over-the-ear, but aren't). I was a bit thrown-off by the pic of the Sennheisers as I was expecting leatherette ear pieces; no biggie.

So, I started to compare the sound quality of the headset. Right away I was able to separate the wheat from the chaff, so-to-speak. In-ear models had absolutely no weight to them, as did most of the headsets under $50.00.

Having a pair of Sennheiser HD 555s probably wasn't a fair benchmark, but I wanted something fairly close to their performance. With that in mind, I decided to give the PC 151s a shot.

At first I wasn't satisfied as they seemed to have the same tinny sound as I had come to expect from the other headsets I had tested. Then, I figured out that dialing back the volume control from full-open to just over half-way balanced everything out. Now the sound was smooth and the bass came to life.

Bear in mind that these are in no way a replacement for a good set of "cans", such as the HD 555s. The sound quality though is really good, and the noise canceling microphone is a little above average.

I have to admit that I haven't tried the two models above this (they could potentially be even better). I am too happy with these to return them.