Two kinds of thing here.Gaming headsets (2.4 GHz dongle or base station, boom mic, chat features) and consumer ANC headphones (Bluetooth only, built-in call mics, tagged Headphones). Earbuds (Galaxy Buds, WF-1000XM6, gaming buds with a 2.4 GHz dongle) and bone-conduction / open-ear sets (Shokz, Bose Ultra Open) are in here too — use the Gaming headset / Headphones / Earbuds / Bone conduction filters. On headphones the Sidetone column reads "Call sidetone only" — there's no game-chat mixer, and the Software columns are usually blank (no desktop app).
Surround / spatial is always virtualised — two drivers plus DSP, never discrete channels. What matters is where that DSP runs, which decides what it works with. On the dongle / base station → virtualises any source, including a PS5/Xbox/optical TV feed, no PC needed. In the OS (Dolby Atmos for Headphones — paid ~$15 on Win/Xbox; DTS Sound Unbound; Sony 360 / Tempest 3D on PS5) → source-agnostic but platform-locked. In the vendor app (SteelSeries Sonar, THX Spatial, etc.) → usually Windows-only.
Base station + optical input (Arctis Nova Pro, Astro A50 X) is the only setup that can take a Dolby Digital feed from a TV / optical source and virtualise it on the headset's own hardware. A plain USB dongle only ever receives what the host OS sends it.
"Simultaneous BT + 2.4 GHz" means game audio on the low-latency link and phone/Discord on Bluetooth at the same time, mixed in your ears. Most headsets only switch between the two.
Power. Wired-only entries read "Wired" here; everything else shows rated battery hours. Wireless models still play over USB/3.5mm while charging except dongle-only ones (HyperX Cloud III / Alpha, Logitech G733), which go silent when flat. "2× … swap" = hot-swap batteries, effectively unlimited runtime. Charge port is USB-C on almost everything — the Logitech G733 is still micro-USB, and the dock-based sets (Astro A50 X, Pulse Elite, Stealth) also charge on contact pins. The 2.4 GHz link column now names the dongle's plug (USB-A vs USB-C, adapter noted).
Sidetone = hearing your own voice in the cups so you don't shout. The split is whether the level is on a hardware dial (headset or base station) or buried in the app / console menu. Matters more on sealed ANC headsets.
Proprietary software names the vendor app and shows which OSes it runs on (Win / macOS / mobile / Linux). Pattern: the full tuning app (EQ, spatial, mic DSP) is Windows-first; only Logitech / Astro (G HUB) and Audeze (HQ) ship a full macOS app, Corsair's is cut-down, the rest give Mac plug-and-play stereo only. Linux always falls back to generic USB audio — no vendor app exists. Expand a row for the per-OS breakdown.
Standalone answers "does it work without installing anything?" — Standalone = full audio and features app-free (app is optional EQ tuning); spatial needs app = plays fine but virtual surround is locked behind the app or the OS; Setup app needed = a profile or firmware step requires the app once (the Sony INZONE 360 profile); Needs base station = the hardware, not the software, is the dependency (Nova Pro, Astro A50 X).
ANC = active noise cancellation: microphones on the cup listen to outside noise and the headset plays an inverted wave to cancel it. Works best on low, steady sound (plane hum, HVAC, PC fans, road noise); does little against sudden or high-pitched noise (voices, keyboard clacks). Separate from passive isolation — the physical seal of the earcup — which every closed headset here has regardless. Transparency / ambient mode is the reverse: pipe outside sound in. ANC costs battery and only a handful of gaming headsets bother with it; it's standard on the consumer ANC headphones.
Mic quality is a 4-step read from review consensus — Excellent (broadcast-grade, stream on it) · Very good · Good (clear for chat/calls, a bit compressed) · Average (party chat only). Every model here has a mic; the ones marked Integrated / fixed can't be removed or swapped. Any headset mic still loses to a $60 standalone USB mic.
Surround on Linux. No headset has a Linux spatial app. But the base-station units that virtualise 7.1 in hardware — Arctis Nova Pro Wireless / Omni, Astro A50 X (filter above) — give surround on Linux with nothing installed. For any other headphone, build a PipeWire HRTF chain with HeSuVi impulse files, or use a game's own HRTF (OpenAL Soft / Steam Audio).
Street prices below are rough Sep-2026 US figures and move constantly — treat MSRP as the anchor.