Best Gaming Headset for FPS Games: Valorant, CS2 and Fortnite

The best gaming headset for FPS games is a comfortable closed-back stereo headset with a clear microphone. You don’t need virtual 7.1 or a high price. Valorant, CS2 and Fortnite create positional audio in the game engine, and a decent stereo headset is enough to hear it.

This guide compares five headsets, then covers the settings that make footsteps and gunfire easier to place.

As an Amazon Associate, Gamesness earns from qualifying purchases. We have not bench-tested these headsets ourselves. The picks are based on the manufacturers’ published specifications, and each link goes to the Amazon listing we checked for that model.

FPS gaming headsets compared

The picks

HyperX Cloud III: best wired headset

The Cloud III has angled 53mm drivers, memory foam ear cushions and a 10mm microphone. It connects by USB-C, USB-A or 3.5mm, so it works with a PC, console or controller.

Wired means no battery and no delay. It is the pick if you play at a desk and want the most headset for the money.

Razer BlackShark V2 Pro: best wireless for competitive play

The BlackShark V2 Pro is a wireless headset with a detachable wideband microphone and a battery Razer rates at up to 70 hours. It includes sound profiles tuned for specific shooters.

Its closed-back earcups block a fair amount of room noise. Choose it if team communication matters and you want to be free of the cable.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2: best for PC and console

The Arctis Nova 7 connects by a 2.4GHz USB-C dongle and Bluetooth, and can play both at once. That lets you hear game audio from the PC and a call or music from your phone together.

The USB-C dongle moves easily between a PC, PlayStation and handhelds. It suits people who play on more than one system.

Logitech G Pro X 2 Lightspeed: premium esports pick

The Pro X 2 uses 50mm graphene drivers and connects by Lightspeed 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth or a 3.5mm cable. It comes with both leatherette and cloth ear pads.

Cloth pads run cooler in long sessions and leatherette pads isolate better. It is the most expensive of the five.

HyperX Cloud Stinger 2 Core: best budget pick

The Stinger 2 Core is a light wired headset with 40mm drivers and a microphone that mutes when you swivel it up. It is a basic headset that covers the essentials.

Build and sound are simpler than the others here. It is a sensible first headset, or a spare.

Audio settings that matter in FPS games

Set Windows to stereo. Go to Settings → System → Sound, select the headset and set Spatial sound to Off. Let the game do the positional processing.

Turn on the game’s headphone mode.

• Valorant: in Settings → Audio, set Speaker Configuration to Stereo and turn on HRTF.
• CS2: in Audio settings, choose a headphone EQ profile and leave L/R isolation near the default until you have a reason to change it.
• Fortnite: in Audio settings, turn on 3D Headphones and consider Visualize Sound Effects, which shows footstep and gunfire directions on screen.

HRTF, or head-related transfer function, is processing that mimics how your ears hear direction, including above and below. Menu names change with updates, so treat these as correct as of 2026.

Turn off enhancements. Disable loudness equalisation, bass boost and any second surround mode in the headset’s software. They flatten the volume differences you use to judge distance.

Lower music volume. Set in-game music low or off so quiet cues aren’t masked.

How to choose between them

Decide wired or wireless first. Our comparison of wired vs wireless gaming headsets covers latency, battery and price. On a tight budget, see the best gaming headset under $100.

Then check comfort details: weight, clamp force and whether the pads fit around your ears. Comfort decides whether you can keep a headset on for three hours.

Sound cues only help if the game runs smoothly. For frame rate, see how to improve FPS in Valorant. If voice chat cuts out or enemies teleport, the cause is your connection, and fixing high ping and packet loss is the place to start. For other game problems, use the guide to diagnosing PC game problems.