This is a companion to my more general post about alternatives to headsets, as I wanted to write about both the options available for people and about my own experience and the solution that worked for my particular preferences and caveats. Splitting the two aspects into two posts seemed like a better option than creating a giant wall of text.
Due to everything on the limitations/caveats list below, finding a comfortable communication option for gaming is quite tricky for me. Given that gaming is my main way of socialising, a faulty choice here can be very annoying. This meant that taking the time to dive into researching more options was worthwhile, especially if it resulted in a more comfortable gaming-party experience.
I’m aware that this is irrational, and that it’s very much a first world problem, but trying to find a working alternative to wearing a typical headset was annoying not only because I had to try (and return) a lot of audio products, but because I felt stupid for not being able to just do things in the “proper” way.
Limitations / Caveats
- I’m very sensitive to noise; the “immersion” of hearing all of the background noise and detail inside the game that people often desire can instead feel like a sensory overload for me because there are so many sounds going on.
Filtering out chat audio from the background of game audio is also tricky for me, so I need to have the option to hear only chat audio.
Sometimes, direct audio from earbuds/ headphones can feel physically painful even at very low volumes, so I need to have the option to send all audio (game and chat) out from the TV. - I get headaches from wearing most headphones for longer than an hour. The only exception to this to this I’ve found is the Bose QC 35ii because of how light they are and how little force they apply. Wearing headphones or a headset can also put uncomfortable pressure on my ears and jaw when my TMJ is playing up.
- Lots of earphones and IEMs just don’t fit my ears.
- I need to wear either earplugs or my noise-cancelling headphones for a large part of the day when I’m at work, and would prefer not to have to shove more things in/on my ears when I’m at home.
- I’m not very good at talking loudly, so I need an actual mic rather than an inline mic to be audible to my friends.
Anti-Caveats (aka factors I don’t need to worry about)
- I live with someone who is severely hearing impaired, and my neighbours are hearing impaired too, so being overheard or disturbing others is not something I have to think about.
- I have an old flatscreen TV with surprisingly high-quality speakers: both game audio and music sound good and don’t have that scratchy “laptop speaker” sound. This means a complex setup with recievers/ surround-sound speakers isn’t necessary, as hearing party and game audio through my TV is actually my preferred option.