Best wireless PlayStation 5 gaming headsets

The Sony PlayStation 5 is still really hard to find, but you can still do a little prep work before you finally nail down your shiny new console. If your heart is set on a new headset, there’s a decent smattering of wireless PlayStation 5 gaming headsets around to scratch that itch. There are also plenty of perfectly great wireless PlayStation 4 headsets that will all work just fine.

Editor’s note: this article was updated on November 21, 2022 to include the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless and more current information about the JBL Quantum TWS.

Why is the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless the best wireless PlayStation 5 gaming headset?

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless is the newest update to the Arctis line and it delivers when it comes to comfort and build quality. Thanks to SteelSeries’ unique way of handling headbands, this headset is comfortable to use for hours at a time. It also has a battery life to match, with our tests showing a 41 hour and 15 minute long battery life, more than enough for multiple days worth of gaming. It primarily connects to the PlayStation 5 using a USB-C dongle that ensures low latency audio, but it can also use Bluetooth in a pinch, as well as a 3.5mm wired connector too.

The overall design of the headset is also very nice, with a retractable microphone and a color scheme that isn’t ostentatious at all. The ear pads are made of a very comfortable Airweave material. Compared to the previous generation of Arctis headsets the frequency response curve is closer to our ideal target curve too, although it is still a little exaggerated in places. All together the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless succeeds in all of the most important areas: sound quality, design, and comfort.

The Razer Barracuda X (2022) brings high performance to a low price

Much like the SteelSeries Arctis 7P+, the Razer Barracuda X (2022) uses a USB-C dongle to connect to your gaming platform of choice. This wireless PlayStation 5 gaming headset weighs a bit more than 250 grams, which is way lighter than most gaming headsets, and well suited to long gameplay sessions.

The Barracuda X (2022) is an example of Razer’s continued efforts to release gaming headsets with a little less flash and a little more substance. It lacks the decorative metal and plastic accents of a headset like the Nari Ultimate, and the colored LEDs of the Kraken Ultimate or any of the other myriad Chroma-supporting devices. Instead, this is a subtler, more anonymous-looking gaming headset—it’s basically a black pair of headphones with a mic sticking out.

However, while the look is fairly anonymous, everything else is pretty great. The Barracuda X (2022) offers great audio, a solid microphone, nearly 60 hours of battery life, and effective isolation. When you add all that up with the connectivity options, $99 USD seems like a steal.

The Logitech G733 Lightspeed offers excellent battery life on a budget

The Logitech G733 Lightspeed is a lightweight wireless headset from Logitech that doesn’t break the bank. Like other Logitech headsets, the G733 is made with sustainability in mind. Logitech is a member of the Amazon Climate Pledge and merits Natural Capital Partners’ CarbonNeutral certification. In our testing we found it had excellent battery life, clocking in around 28 hours total. This means you won’t have to charge it up as often, saving those precious li-ion battery cells from quick degradation.

It’s superbly comfortable, with breathable mesh fabric and a suspension band that makes for a headset that you can wear for several hours without breaking a sweat. This headset also impresses with excellent sound quality for the price range, matching our ideal headphone curve pretty closely.

The included microphone, while certainly not close to studio quality, is great for playing games online with friends. In our testing we found it worked quite well in common gaming scenarios, and if you end up playing on PC there are additional options for adjusting the sound quality. The microphone is fully detachable, and the headset features a mute button in addition to other physical controls.

Like most wireless gaming headsets, the Logitech G733 Lightspeed connects to your PlayStation console using an RF USB dongle, making for a solid and lag-free connection. It’s an excellent, eco-friendly choice for anyone looking for a comfortable wireless headset on a budget.

The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 brings simultaneous wireless connections for a reasonable price

A handful of good wireless gaming headsets support connections over Bluetooth and using a USB wireless dongle, but most of them charge a premium for what amounts to pretty meager options. The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 still offers only basic Bluetooth codec support, but at least it doesn’t gouge for it.

This wireless PlayStation 5 gaming headset comes with best-in-class, 35-hour battery life, and lightweight plastic chassis that makes long gaming sessions a cinch. The Stealth 700 Gen 2 also sounds quite nice, with amplified bass (maybe verging on over-emphasized), and accurate mids and highs, though its isolation isn’t great and may impact sound quality, depending on your environment.

Like many Turtle Beach gaming headsets, this one also has a very accurate microphone, so you shouldn’t have any issues chatting away with your friends on Discord for hours.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid is your only TWS option on PlayStation 5

The header pretty much says it all, folks. True wireless earbuds like the Apple AirPods are the hottest audio item in the world right now, and if you want something like that for gaming, there’s really only one place to look. The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid is a pair of true wireless earbuds that also pairs to USB-C dongle for lag-free audio over aptX Low Latency.

These true wireless earbuds are admittedly a bit befuddling. As a regular Bluetooth device, the GTW 270 Hybrid isn’t bad. It sounds pretty nice, it’s IPX5 rated, it supports aptX and Bluetooth multipoint, and it’s comfortable. Its battery life isn’t fantastic, at just shy of 5 hours on a single charge, but pretty normal for true wireless earbuds. The microphone isn’t great, but few embedded microphones are.

However, when you’re gaming the experience shifts pretty dramatically. As a pair of gaming earbuds, the GTW 270 Hybrid works well—it still sounds good, and it maintains a steady, lag-free connection to its dongle. However, as aptX Low Latency doesn’t support microphone audio, the microphone stops working when you pair with the dongle, so voice chat isn’t an option (the multi-function button also stops working, but that’s less of an issue).

Basically, if you don’t mind spending this much money on earbuds without a microphone, you should enjoy this one quite a bit.

The JBL Quantum TWS is another pair of gaming earbuds coming down the pike

JBL announced the Quantum TWS gaming earbuds at CES 2022, and it merited our best of CES award. We haven’t had a chance to review it yet, but if you’re looking for something wireless and can’t stand the feeling of over-ear headphones, this is worth paying attention to. It features a USB-C adapter for low-latency playback across all devices (USB-C compatible), and you can also connect to a device over Bluetooth for standard music listening. JBL QuantumSURROUND support (via QuantumENGINE for PC) also makes this pair of buds unique as this is typically reserved just for JBL’s full-fledged headsets.

The earbuds have an IPX5 rating, so they’re fine for exercise too. With an official 8-hour battery life and an extra 16 hours from the USB-C charging case, you get a full 24 hours of listening before you need to recharge anything. Right now you can get the JBL Quantum TWS  for $189 at Amazon.

The best wireless PlayStation 5 gaming headsets: Notable mentions

• HyperX Cloud II Wireless: If you’re looking for something straightforward, comfortable, and sporting that killer HyperX look, this is a great option. You won’t get access to the PC-based software features this headset offers, but it works well as a plug-and-play option. Plus, it’s got better battery performance than most gaming headsets you can buy.
• Corsair Virtuoso Wireless SE: An excellent choice for those looking for a headset with decent battery life. Includes a high-quality microphone, good build quality, and great sound. Includes wired and wireless connection options, but doesn’t support Bluetooth.
• Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless XT: If you liked the sound of the SE model, but really need something that also has Bluetooth, this could be the headset for you. It’s around $60 more expensive, and the only difference really is Bluetooth support (though the inclusion of aptX HD is nice), so this isn’t exactly a budget-conscious upgrade, but it’s a great headset nonetheless.
• Logitech G Pro X Wireless: Based on the wired Logitech G Pro X, this is an updated wireless version that maintains the same great sound and comfort. It’s the most expensive product from Logitech on this list, but it’s hard to go wrong choosing this option.
• Logitech G435 Lightspeed: If you’re looking for a less expensive option, the Logitech G435 Lightspeed is a great choice. It’s one of the lightest gaming headsets on the market whilst still remaining a solid option in regards to sound quality and battery life.
• EPOS H3PRO Hybrid: With active noise canceling, solid battery performance, excellent sound, and a detachable microphone, this is one of the best available options, as long as you can handle the price tag.
• Sony INZONE H7: The mid-tier option is a decent wireless gaming headset, but boy is it expensive. For $229 USD, you get great battery life, decent sound, and a comfortable build, but not that much in the way of extra features.
• Sony INZONE H9: The INZONE H9 is Sony’s top of the line wireless gaming headset, with the same build, microphone, and sound as the H7, but it also includes Bluetooth support and good ANC. $299 USD is a lot to ask for any gaming headset, but this one checks most of the boxes you’d want in this price range.
• Arctis Nova Pro Wireless: Are you looking for a top of the line product from the same line as the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless? This one comes with an additional base station that lets you further control the sound, and has active noise canceling.

What you should know about the best wireless PlayStation 5 gaming headsets

The PlayStation 5 is a lot like the PlayStation 4, in that it accepts most connection methods without issue. The console still doesn’t support Bluetooth, but USB dongles and 3.5mm wired connections through the controller are totally fine. The console also isn’t restrictive like Xbox consoles, so odds are good that any wireless PlayStation 5 headset you buy will work on other platforms.

What is Sony PlayStation 5 audio?

Sony made many changes to its console audio situation when it released the PlayStation 5. The new console features a dedicated audio processor that delivers 3D audio to any compatible headset. However, while the full range of the PlayStation 5’s audio features will work on just about any gaming headset, the reverse isn’t necessarily true. If you own a great gaming headset on PC, with all sorts of software bells and whistles, those added features almost certainly won’t carry over.

What is frequency response and why does it matter for gaming headsets?

When shopping around for headsets of any kind, you’ll come across the term frequency response. This is an important specification that indicates what tones a headset can reproduce—20Hz-20kHz is perhaps the most common frequency response for headsets across the board because that aligns with the lowest and highest frequencies that humans can perceive.

A basic numeric range doesn’t tell you everything you need to know, though. And that’s where our frequency response charts come into play, specifically our headphone target curves. Most of our charts depict a cyan line (the product in question) and a pink line (our applicable target curve). Our house curves aren’t meant to be objectively perfect, and instead are meant to depict what’s ideal for certain use cases. Your general consumer who’s shopping for standard JBL headphones likely wants a different sound than a self-proclaimed audiophile.

Gaming headsets typically boost bass notes in order to make explosions sound even louder and more immersive. This isn’t always necessary and you may actually prefer a gaming headset with an under-emphasized bass response because game audio engineers will usually make sure that an action sound (e.g., gun fire or explosions) is the loudest element of a mix. All that’s to say: even if a gaming headset’s frequency response depicts a quiet bass output, you shouldn’t have an issue hearing those explosive sounds.

What makes a good gaming headset mic?

A gaming headset microphone should make you sound loud and clear to those you’re speaking with. Just because something is Discord-certified doesn’t automatically make it a good microphone.

If you game in a loud environment, you may want a directional microphone like the V-MODA BoomPro X. We like this because you can actually just attach it to any pair of headphones and plug it into your console controller’s 3.5mm input. Alternatively, just keep an eye out for gaming headsets with cardioid boom microphones. A cardioid recording pattern means the headset mic will reject some off-axis noise while giving you a good degree of placement flexibility. Omnidirectional microphones are fine and can be good for those who game in quiet settings, say if you live alone.

How we choose the best wireless PlayStation 5 gaming headsets

In order to whittle down the best wireless gaming headsets for the PlayStation 5, our team has an open and ongoing discussion about products that we’ve reviewed. While we initially voted on the top five picks when we created this list, we are continually updating it. Our job doesn’t end when we hit the “publish” button, and we keep the conversation open as more worthy products come out.

Before we can even get to the point of deciding what products deserve to be highlighted and what products don’t, we perform objective tests on gaming headsets that cover frequency response, isolation, and battery performance. We also record standardized microphone demos when applicable and even collect data that we don’t address unless there’s a glaring issue with a headset. For most of these tests, we use a Bruel & Kjaer 5128 head and torso simulator (HATS) with an anatomically realistic ear canal and outer ear. Once we’ve gathered as much data as possible, we create accessible charts that clearly depict a product’s performance and score each product.

Why you should trust SoundGuys

Like all of our best lists and reviews, none of our writers benefit from championing one product over another. We adhere to a strict ethics policy. If we award something, it’s because it’s a good product—simple as that. We subject each product that comes our way to a battery of tests that are appropriate for its specific category.

The gaming headset space, much like many other parts of the audio industry, is rife with exaggerated language and gimmicky features that often don’t add much of anything to your experience. It’s easy to get caught up in the flashy lights and promises of immersive audio and bass so intense it’ll rupture your eardrums (in a good way, somehow), but most of that stuff flat out doesn’t matter. That’s why we review headsets, and why we have lists like this.

Frequently asked questions about the best wireless PlayStation 5 gaming headsets