Xtrfy H1, Professional Gaming Headset, Optimised for esports, Extra-Large Ear Cushions with Comfortable Memory Foam, 2 Replaceable Microphones incl. SC1 USB Soundcard Black

Updated review after more than a year of use:The mic is way too quiet through either the dedicated usb soundcard or used directly through the jack on my laptop. Had to rely on other mics for everything.Soundwise excellent - Bass, mids, treble, comfort, modular wire package - all present here, for a bargain.Sound: Installed my proper soundcard driver on Windows (no fancy soundcard just the integrated Realtek), downloaded a free equaliser app (Equaliser APO), and got blown away by the sound in music, movies, and games. The braided cables don't pick up any noise when moving them around. Many of the gaming headsets in the price range come with their own software equaliser but worth to note those only work when that specific headset is plugged in through USB, not the audio jacks.Mobile: A tad bit quiet connecting to my phone's headphone jack (1+ 5T). I suppose for this size of a driver (60mm) I'd benefit a lot from an integrated DAC (like in lg v60) or a mobile amp.Virtual Surround: I use the free Windows Sonic, works fine.Comfort: Wearing it for hours at a time is fine. Can get quite warm under the leather cushions, will probably need to take more frequent breaks in the summer heat anyways.Control: The mute-audio volume-mic volume control is at a distance on the wire that I don't have to search for it.The context:I spent long hours doing my research into available headsets in both online and offline shops from UK and Europe. Listening to dozens of headsets and headphones in shops, read through hundreds of reviews and watched loads of Youtube videos. I've wanted an overall versatile headset connected by wires for media consumption and playing single player games at home on PC, for these reasons:- I already have wireless headphones I am happy with for when I'm on the go but wanted an even better sounding over-ear one for at home, without braking the bank, setting my limit at 150gbp.- The more wireless stuff around the place, the more interference. That 2.4Ghz wavelength can be pretty crammed when you consider a wifi router, a dongle each for mouse, keyboard and steam controller. In theory they should work on slightly difference ranges, but in practice I have experienced enough interference and disconnects for my taste, with both mouse and keyboard and controller input lagging. Hence did not want to add yet another potential problem by a wireless gaming headset. Having a wired headset is the least of the compromises compared to going wired with a mouse or controller.- I use a laptop with a wireless keyboard, steam controller and mouse from the couch, so the wires had to be long enough and with the option of not using up yet another of precious USB ports (even though my laptop has more of them than the average one). It's an older Clevo with separate mic and audio jacks.

Bought for work (Teams meetings - I'm a games developer) and for multiplayer gaming / Discord.Also just to listen to music while coding :)I use these with a Dell Precision laptop, and a Google Pixel 4a phone.Pros:* Very comfortable to wear for hours on end, excellent headband, good contact everywhere without pinching.* Unlike every other pair of headphones ever, my ears are not sweaty after long use: this is a huge plus!* Sound quality for music, speech, and game effects is excellent - these make a humble laptop sound card sound high definition; loud if you want them to be, and comfortable to listen to at low volume as well* They mildly block environmental sounds: there is no active sound cancellation, but a 3 hour train journey wearing these is a decent experience (though obviously they look fairly large)* The microphone is detachable* Hard-wearing, the cable is tough and the headphones are fine after I've travelled with them and dropped them plentyCons:- The microphone is average, not really any better than my laptop's built-in mic- The cable has a heavy volume control box on it (separate dials for headphones and mic volume), this can tap against you if you move around while wearing these and generally it's quite annoying and not really necessary my laptop already has a volume control and mute mic button...- The cable is mounted on the left ear of the headphones, but all my devices have their 3.5mm headphones jack on the right side: there is just no good way to run the cable left to right, I sometimes wear these reversed because the cable is so annoying. For the price, XRTFY ought to offer both left- and right-handed options