Drop + Sennheiser PC38X Gaming Headset — Noise-Cancelling Microphone with Over-Ear Open-Back Design, Velour Earpads, Compatible with PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox, Mac, Mobile, and More

I'm comparing these headphones to my Sennheiser 598SE open backs and Sennheiser 598C closed backs. I wanted to find a good pair of open back headphones with a better mic (sourced from the 598C's cable) versus the inline one on my older 598SE, which makes me sound underwater unless I hold the mic right up against my mouth. I have relatively big ears and I can't stand on-ears or around-ear headphones that are too small.Clamping force: My initial impression with the PC38X is it clamps harder than both my older Sennheiser headphones (598C and 598SE). I found that my 598SE is more comfortable than these, but it's too early to tell. I might rest these headphones on some books to loosen it a bit.Ear comfort: Comes with two sets of pads, one more vinyl-y feeling, the other more of a velour feel. I prefer the velour one for comfort, not sure how much it affects the sound as I almost immediately switched out the pads. My ears, since they are relatively big, still touches the inside of the cup from time to time, but this might be related to the clamping force mentioned above too. I still give my (older) 598SE points for comfort, but it might just be because it's well used and loved.Sound: Improved over my 598SE. I cannot compare this to the PC37X which in the packaging is explicitly mentioned as an improvement. As is my experience with open-backs, the bass isn't earth shattering, but I do hear more of it with these and I think it's just the right amount. The 598SE was pretty flat, but I do like a slight more bass which I got with this PC38X. Sound stage sounds a bit more expanded with these over the 598SE, but it's only been 3 days of listening to music all day, so take that with a grain of salt. It does sound like snare drums for example are crisper, so I still perceive an improvement.Microphone: The 598SE only has an inline mic from the cable I swapped over from my 598C, and is relatively no-frills. With the PC38X however, I love the boom mic. It automatically mutes when put upright, which is great versus finagling with my Zoom or Slack calls' mute buttons. The biggest pro for me here is the sound quality, which is largely in part of the mic sitting much closer to my mouth. I can be heard much better now, but while it's not going to be as good as a dedicated external condenser mic, this is still very good for my intended purpose and I am very pleased.Volume control: The 598Aesthetics: The 598SE and 598C headphones that I have are both just black, which are pretty classic and understated in my opinion. With the PC38X however, you do have a bit more flair, but it's not super loud like "look at me I'm a GAMER" kind of loud with all the RGB lighting in the world. The yellow accents on the outside of the cups and on the mic are not overdone and I gladly accept it. I would've preferred a different color but hey it's not just red or overdone. The cable supplied with the PC38X is black with interweaved yellow accents on it, which I think looks nice. It is worth mentioning however that the cable on the PC38X is not compatible with the 598SE and 598C, which are interchangeable between the two. The 3.5mm jack on the PC38X is also a right angle one.Final thoughts: I really like these headphones and I've spent about half a week listening to music all day and occasionally played some games with them. I'm very happy with my purchase and I'm hoping to get years of use and love out of them like I did with my previous Sennheiser headphones.

For the last few weeks I have been to my local big box store bringing home one expensive gaming headset after another to try, only to have to drive back in and return it to try another. I started with all the heavy hitter wireless sets, and while some were comfortable and sounded DECENT, none of them really made me feel like I was getting any appreciable bang for my buck: in the end, the audio always felt completely CRUSHED when things got hectic in Warzone, making it difficult to discern what is happening around me (directional accuracy is incredibly important). Ultimately, I decided that since I primarily play on PC, perhaps I should consider a wired set.So looking at all of the reviews, I quickly landed on the Astro a40's with the Mixamp Pro as the defacto standard for gamers in terms of a wired set. Everyone talks about how great these are. Sound quality was certainly better than any of the wireless headsets I tried (including Astro's own wireless version of this headset, the a50's) but it was still just not quite what I was looking for and for the price and all the extra hardware sitting on my desktop, I wasn't particularly thrilled with the value to dollar ratio. After a night of Warzone and not really feeling like they were that great, I decided that it was time to keep looking.Feeling like I had exhausted every option available at the aforementioned big box store, I came here. I saw these PC38x's come up over and over again from everyone that tried them saying that most gaming headsets are garbage compared to these, but since they weren't available at any local store, they stayed mostly off of my radar. I decided to just go for it and ordered a set.Showed up the same day, plugged them in, and was immediately blown away. No mixamp/DAC. No software to install. Just plug in directly to the PC, and away I go. Compared to all of the other headsets I have used in the last month, these are in a totally different class, and it's not even close. They aren't harsh at all, directional audio is excellent (footsteps are not overly loud, but when the sound quality is this good, they don't need to be). In game voice chat doesn't seem to trample all over the game audio, and on top of all of that, they are super light and really comfortable. Mic sounds great too (and I wish ALL headsets could be muted by flipping up the mic like this one with that nice audible click). I will be returning the a40's for sure, and saving almost $100 in the process. I couldn't be happier. Save yourself all of the time and money and just buy these. Of all of the gaming upgrades I have made, these are, strangely, maybe the most transformative of them all in terms of how they affect how I play Warzone. They just sound amazing. And if you also like to listen to music, these actually sound good for that too.

Good sound, open-back (hard to find), comfortable. Comes with two different set of ear pads, one plush and one smoother. I get lots of compliments on video calls about the mic quality.Takes a while to break them in, I stretched mine gently on the box they came in for a few weeks between wearing, but then again I have a big head. Have had these for well over a year now, wearing many hours daily, dropped many times, no damage. Much more comfortable than the Sennheiser game1 (game0? whichever one is open-back) which this model is actually based on.Only minor gripe is that the analog volume knob on the earpiece seems to have a mind of its own, often somehow gets turned down despite not doing it on purpose. Also if turned all the way up, one side or the other cuts out. Have to dial it up to 99% which is a little fiddly, but becomes an easy habit.Be aware that open-back earpieces are not for everyone. They let ambient noise in (so you feel less isolated), but leak a lot of sound to the room. They are also marginally cooler than closed-back phones. But the biggest reason for me is that you can hear yourself talking normally, whereas with closed-back phones it's like you have plugged ears while talking, which is really weird when on video calls if you're not used to it.Note also this model comes with standard headphone/audio phone jacks, no USB dongle included. If you need USB, spend a few extra bucks for a higher quality A/D converter dongle, get higher quality sound. Don't pair it with a cheap one, you'll regret it.