Top gaming headsets and controllers compared

About Top gaming headsets and controllers compared

This ranking covers gaming headsets and controllers from 58 brands, and the trade-off runs from entry price to what you get once the box is open. These are single purchases rather than subscriptions, so the numbers that matter sit at the start of a listing: €26.30 for the cheaper quarter of the field, €56.92 in the middle, and €117 at the upper end. After the purchase, the reading is battery life and cover, with 60 hours of battery typical and a median warranty of 1 years. Platform coverage decides who can use the gear, and market coverage decides who can buy it. Wireless runs at 92% across the field, and a help centre appears on 98.2% of listings. The list moves from the broadest gaming fit down to the narrowest.

How we picked

Scores are built from three inputs. Cost carries 40% of the weight, offer carries 40%, and trust carries 20%. Cost reads the entry price a brand publishes, offer reads the width of the gaming range behind that price, and trust reads warranty length, support channels, market coverage and the legal entity behind the name. Brand figures come from the brand's own store, product and policy pages, while the comparison points come from site-wide statistics for this category, such as the median entry price and the typical battery figure. Products are read as ranges rather than single models, since the cheapest headset and the cheapest pad are not the same purchase. Where a brand also sells outside the category, that gap is stated in the blurb rather than smoothed over. Partners that serve your country are listed first in this ranking, then the rest by score.

Our top picks

1. E5. Edifier: best for lowest-price-from

   Edifier holds the lowest-price-from label in this ranking, opening at $7.99, the smallest entry figure in the list and well under the €26.30 that most brands here start above. The company sits in CN under the name Edifier International Limited and has been trading since 1996. Battery life of 49 hours is shorter than the 60 typical figure, and the warranty is 1 to 2 years. Platform cover in pc, playstation and switch omits Xbox, and delivery is limited to US, CA and AU, so the saving arrives with a narrower fit. PowerA, ranked next, asks more at $22.99 and pairs the pad with the headset.

   • Price from: $7.99
   • Noise cancelling: Yes
   • Battery life: 49 hours

   Pros

   • The catalogue spans headphones, earbuds and speakers, where HyperX lists headphones and earbuds and CORSAIR lists headphones.
   • Entry pricing of $7.99 ranks 2 of 64 brands, near the front of the field on starting cost.
   • Noise cancelling is available and the listed battery figure of 49 hours sits just above the 40 hour median across the site.
   • Warranty of 1 to 2 years reaches the 2 year upper quartile seen across the site.

   Cons

   • Warranty runs 1 to 2 years, so entry models carry the shorter term rather than the longest cover on offer.
   • The direct store serves US, CA and AU, so buyers in other markets buy through a different route to the same range.
   • Turntables sit outside the Edifier line, while JBL covers them within headphones, earbuds and speakers.
   • Battery life of 49 hours ranks 27 of 61 brands, short of the 70 hour upper quartile.

2. 6. PowerA

   PowerA is the specialist in this ranking. It sells controllers and gaming headsets and little else, as controller and gaming headset shows, with an entry price of $22.99 and 70 hours of battery on the headset side. The company behind it, ACCO Brands Corporation, has been trading since 2009 and covers US, JP and CN, so the reach is wider than the catalogue is deep. A 2 years warranty is longer than the 1 to 2 years term above it. The weak point is help, since support runs on help centre alone with no email, chat or phone, the thinnest list in this ranking. Scan, ranked next, opens higher at £48.98 and answers on more channels.

   • Price from: $22.99
   • Wireless peripherals: Yes
   • Warranty: 2 years

   Pros

   • The entry price of $22.99 ranks 11 of 47 brands on price from, so the cheapest way into the range is genuinely inexpensive.
   • A 2 year warranty places PowerA 5 of 40 brands on cover, ahead of most accessory sellers.
   • Battery life of 70 hours on the wireless headset is enough for long sessions, and wireless is yes on that model.
   • One brand covers pc, playstation and xbox, where Skullcandy's gaming range is gaming headset only.

   Cons

   • Support runs on help centre only, so a direct line to a person is not part of what the brand states.
   • Noise cancelling is no on the listed headset, which rules it out for anyone wanting a quiet listen on travel or in a shared room.
   • Charging for Xbox Series XS is no on Gan, narrowing the choice for anyone after a compact high-output charger.
   • The $22.99 entry figure comes from the controller range, so headset buyers should not treat it as the headset price.

3. A7. Anbernic

   Anbernic enters this ranking through controllers opening at $12.99, with handhelds added to handheld and controller and a company name, HK YANGLIMING ELECTRONIC TECH CO., LIMITED, behind the store. Platform cover in pc, switch and mobile reaches pc, Switch, mobile and standalone hardware but drops PlayStation and Xbox, so a console player is served less well than by 8BitDo above. Battery life of 21 hours is the shortest stated here, and the 1 year warranty is short as well. Support covers email, help centre and community, which is more than most sellers at this entry price. CyberPowerPC, ranked next, sells laptop, gaming laptop and desktop from $805, a far higher starting point for anyone shopping for a pad.

   • Price from: $12.99
   • Wireless peripherals: Yes
   • Warranty: 1 year

   Pros

   • The range spans handheld and controller, so a handheld console and a controller come from a single maker.
   • Platform coverage of pc, switch and mobile keeps the gear useful across PC, Switch, mobile and standalone play.
   • Wireless is listed as yes, so the controller works without a cable.
   • Support is offered on email, help centre and community, including a help centre you can read without waiting.

   Cons

   • Warranty cover is 1 year, and Anbernic sits at 17 of 40 brands on warranty length.
   • Support runs on email, help centre and community, with no phone or chat route among the listed options.
   • Battery life of 21 hours is well under 40, the median for gear on the site.
   • The lineup is handheld and controller, and it does not cover the headsets, mice and keyboards that gaming headset, gaming mouse and gaming keyboard covers.

What to look for

Entry price

The category median sits at €56.92, the lower quartile at €26.30, and the upper quartile at €117. A listing well under the median is a budget buy, while a figure near the upper quartile usually means a flagship headset or a bundle.

Battery life

The median claim is 60 hours, with a low of 8 and a high of 300. Anything past the median suits long sessions without a cable, and the top of this ranking sits well beyond it.

Warranty

Median cover is 1 years, running from 1 at the lower end to 2 at the upper. Longer terms matter most for headsets with replaceable ear cushions, headbands and batteries.

Platforms

pc support is close to universal at 96.4%, while mobile sits at 58.2%, PlayStation at 54.5%, and both Xbox and Switch at 50.9% and 50.9%. A single platform name means a narrower buy.

Support

A help centre appears on 98.2% of listings, email on 67.9%, phone on 42.9%, chat on 32.1% and community boards on 41.1%. A headset with a battery or a failing earcup is a support case waiting to happen.

Wireless

Wireless gear makes up 92% of what is sold in this category, against 8% that is wired. Pads in this category are almost always wireless, so battery claims matter more for headsets than for controllers.

Frequently asked questions

Top gaming headsets and controllers compared by country

• Australia
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV