Apple’s forthcoming 15-inch MacBook Air will feature a processor “on par” with the company’s current M2 chip. According to Bloomberg, Apple recently began testing the laptop to ensure its compatibility with third-party App Store apps, something the company does in the lead-up to the release of a new device.

Developer logs shared with the outlet show the machine was configured with a chipset that featured an eight-core CPU and 10-core GPU, along with 8GB of RAM. Those specs suggest the 15-inch MacBook Air, referred to as “Mac 15,3” in the logs, will ship with an M2 chipset, not Apple’s next-generation chip, as some past reports had suggested. “Bigger changes to the Mac will come later with the release of an M3 chip,” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman notes. The new machine was spotted running macOS 14, which Apple is expected to announce at WWDC 2023

About the most interesting detail revealed by the logs is that the 15-inch MacBook Air features a display resolution “equal” to that of the 14-inch MacBook Pro. That means the new MacBook Air features a less dense display. It’s unclear when Apple plans to release the new laptop. The company announced the M2 MacBook Air at WWDC 2022. Gurman previously reported the 15-inch MacBook Air would arrive sometime between late spring and this summer.

Microsoft is making it easier to view your photos in File Explorer. The latest Windows 11 developer preview rolling out today includes Gallery, a new feature that lets you view the Photos app’s image library while browsing files and folders.

The Gallery view, the shortcut to which is found in the File Explorer’s navigation panel, arrives in Windows Insider Build 23435. After selecting Gallery, the main file-browsing window will show thumbnails of the same images from the All Photos view of the Photos app. Microsoft says it’s optimized for accessing your most recent photos if you have OneDrive Camera Roll Backup activated on your phone; they’ll display right up top.

It should also make it easy to find content from specific folders. “You can choose which folders are shown in Gallery through the Collection dropdown,” Microsoft’s announcement reads. “You can also add subfolders of existing sources to filter to a subset of your content, such as desktop backgrounds and SD card/camera imports.” In addition, Gallery will appear as an option in the file-picking dialog, which should simplify attaching images to emails, PowerPoint presentations or social posts.

Microsoft

Microsoft says the feature is rolling out gradually and won’t be available to all Dev Channel Insiders immediately. Instead, the company will “monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.” Although it seems like a feature that will make its way to future stable releases, it’s still in beta and could (theoretically) end up on the cutting-room floor if the company receives negative feedback or changes course.

We check for tech deals every weekday. On Fridays, we pull together the best of what we found that still happens to be on sale. This week, Amazon continued to sell Apple's latest AirPods Pro for a $50 discount and one more retailer joined in too. Samsung's flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S23 series, finally got a proper discount, instead of just a free storage upgrade, so you can grab the base configuration S23 Ultra for its lowest price yet. Depending on which options you want, Microsoft's tablet-PC hybrid, the Surface Pro 9, is up to $300 off during the company's spring sale. There's also a deal on a rugged portable SSD, as well as discounts on a graphics card, bluetooth speakers and even a projector. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Apple AirPods Pro

If you didn't dive in last week and are still hoping to save on Apple's second-gen AirPods Pro, here's good news: Amazon is continuing its $50 discount on the buds. Verizon is now matching the price too, so if you'd rather buy from them, you can. The $200 price point matches the lowest price we've seen so far and if you're an iPhone person, we think these are the best buds you can buy. They've got one of the best transparency modes of any buds we've tested, perfect if you like to listen to music but still keep an ear on what's going on around you. The overall sound is clear and much improved over the previous generation Pros, with properly immersive sound. And of course, they work seamlessly with iOS and Apple's ecosystem in general. They earned an 88 in our review.

One other sale we can point you to is a discount that's still holding strong on our favorite earbuds overall, Sony's Sony WF-1000XM4. They're $198 after a 29 percent discount, which is the lowest price outside of the shopping holidays last November.  

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Samsung's latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is $200 off at Amazon right now — and that discount applies to the 256GB and 512GB configuration. We've seen sales on the S23 Ultra before, but the savings essentially amounted to free storage upgrades, as they made the 512GB phone the same price as the 256GB model. But now if you just need the base model of the premium handheld, you can still save some money. We like the long battery life, brilliant display and improved cameras on the S23 Ultra and gave it an 89 in our review. We also happen to think it's the best Android phone you can buy. 

If you're thinking of grabbing the Galaxy S23+ instead, that model is getting a $150 discount, again in both storage configurations, making the 256GB size $850 and the 512GB capacity phone $970. The S23+ earned an 86 in our review, but don't necessarily think you need to upgrade to this model if you already have the S22+.

For an even bigger bargain, you can check out Google's Pixel 7, which Amazon is selling for 25 percent off, making it $450 instead of $600. The phone earned a 90 in our review, in which we called it and the Pixel 7 Pro the best bargain in flagship phones. 

Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 Pro

Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is down to $394.49 at Amazon right now, which is a 12 percent discount over its usual $450 price tag and actually lower that it sold for on Cyber Monday. The watch features GPS tracking for your hikes and runs and offers sleep tracking and coaching. The sensors can even give you a body composition analysis. The deal only applies to the black Bluetooth model. If you want it in gray or with LTE connectivity, you'll have to pay full price. 

Of course, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is cheaper overall, and it's on sale for $249. That's $20 above the lowest price we've seen, but it's still more affordable than the Pro version. We called the standard Galaxy Watch 5 the best smartwatch for Android users and it gives you in-depth fitness and health tracking, body composition analysis and sleep coaching. The only thing it lacks over the Pro model is the larger titanium case and the turn-by-turn hiking and biking directions you get from the Pro's GPX-format routes.  

Blink Mini indoor camera

Many of Amazon's Blink security devices are on sale right now, including the Blink Mini for 29 percent off and the Blink Outdoor for 36 percent off. Both discounts are within $5 of the all-time-lows the devices hit during last year's Black Friday sales. We named Blink Outdoor the best wireless security camera in our guide to smart home devices. Amazon is discounting other Blink devices as well, including the Blink Video Doorbell for 30 percent off, making it just $35 instead of $50. While doorbell cams can bring peace of mind, we should note that these devices do have their share of security concerns. But if the benefits of keeping tabs on your homefront outweigh any possible risks, you may also be interested in Arlo's sale on similar security devices. 

Google Nest Doorbell

If you'd rather Google kept an eye on things over Amazon, you may want to check out Google's sale on its Nest security devices. At both the Google Store and at Amazon, the wired Google Nest Doorbell is down to $130, which is a $50, or 28 percent, discount and the lowest we've seen it drop yet. This is the wired version, which means the device will never go dead (outside of a power outage) but you'll need to have doorbell wires available for installation. Otherwise, you'll want the battery version of the Nest Doorbell. 

Other Google home devices are on sale too, including the Nest Thermostat which is $90 after a 31 percent discount, and the outdoor or indoor Google Nest Cam — down to $140 after taking 22 percent off the $180 list price.    

XGIMI MoGo Pro Portable Projector

Portable projectors can bring your movies and shows to more places — including outside. The XGIMI MoGo Pro Portable Projector is our favorite portable budget projector in our updated guide to projectors and right now it's seeing a 40 percent discount at Amazon, making it $300 instead of $500. You can snag the same discount directly from Xgimi too. MoGo Pro is small enough to fit in a backpack and can run for over two hours on a charge. The image it delivers from the 300 lumen DLP projector is reasonably accurate, with 1080p resolution. Keystone and auto focus will help you get it looking as sharp and accurate as possible, and the built-in Harman Kardon speakers will handle the accompanying audio.

PS5 God of War: Ragnarok bundle

This particular bundle went on sale last month, but it's back — good news for those who weren't yet ready for a PS5 but are now. The PS5 God of War: Ragnarok bundle includes Sony's latest console along with one of our favorite games of last year. The 9 percent discount knocks $50 off the game and console, which basically means you're getting GoW: Ragnarok for $20, since it usually goes for $70 on its own. While that may not sound like the largest discount, the bundle is notable for being available at all — in 2022 the PS5 was tricky to find in stock anywhere. As for the game, we think its one of the best games you can play on Sony's console. If you prefer, you can get the same deal from Target, Adorama or Best Buy.  

Bose SoundLink Flex

We named Bose's SoundLink Flex one of our favorite portable Bluetooth speakers and right now it's getting a solid $20 discount from Amazon, Adorama, Best Buy or directly from Bose itself. The speaker is about the size (and sort of looks like) a clutch bag, but still manages to deliver good clarity and significant bass. It's not a room-filler, but can pair up with similar speakers for stereo sound. The IP67 rating means it's dust proof and can handle a dunk in water without damage. Perfect for taking outside as the weather warms up. 

A slightly bigger speaker that also gets the nod of our recommendation is JBL's Charge 5. Both Amazon and JBL are selling it for $140, which is a 22 percent discount and the lowest price we've seen outside of the shopping holidays last November. The Charge 5 delivers an impressive 20-hour battery life and can even recharge your smaller devices. The bright output and decent low end is great for entertaining a few people and comes in a portable two-pound package. 

Microsoft Surface Pro 9

If you've been thinking about getting a Surface device, now is a good time to do so as Microsoft is hosting a spring sale with up to $300 off different devices. Discounts apply to the tablet-PC hybrid Surface Pros, with the more expensive versions seeing the larger savings. Not to be outdone, Amazon is also offering deals on different configurations of the Pro 9. 

Microsoft came out with the Surface Pro 9 in October of 2022 and they essentially made two different models: one with WiFi connectivity running on an Intel chip and a 5G-enabled version powered by Microsoft's own SQ3 ARM chip. We got the chance to review the 5G model and you can read our review here. For the record, we prefer the Surface Pro 9 without the 5G connectivity, and recommend it as the best convertible laptop in our guide to the best laptops. 

Microsoft is also including discounts of up to $450 on newer models of Surface Laptops, including the Surface Laptop 5, which impressed us with its faster Intel processor and added Thunderbolt support, but we felt that the chassis and overall design could use an update. 

Eero Pro 6 mesh WiFi router

We covered a similar deal on Amazon's Eero Pro 6 mesh Wi-Fi 6 router a couple weeks ago at Wellbots. If you didn't take advantage then, and still want better Wi-Fi coverage for your home, you can snap up a unit now for the same $40 discount. That's 20 percent off and, while it's not the lowest price yet, it's the cheapest the unit has sold for since last year's holiday sales. The router will cover 2,000 square feet, offers support for WiFi 6 and can deliver speeds of up to a gigabit per second. If you've got a lot of smart home devices, the Eero Pro 6 can connect up to 75 of them at once. If you've got a late-model Echo speaker, Eero routers can turn them into WiFi extenders to offer even more coverage. 

Samsung T7 Shield portable SSD

Need a little more storage for games and files? The T7 Shield SSD takes our favorite portable SSD, Samsung's T7, and wraps it up in a tough rubber casing to make it water- and dust-resistant. Right now, the 1TB and 2TB versions of the drive are on sale at Amazon, Best Buy and directly from Samsung, going for $80 and $130, respectively. Both prices are at or very near the lowest we've seen on the drives yet. 

SanDisk's Extreme Portable SSD in the 1TB size is also getting a discount this week, with 64 percent savings at both Amazon and at B&H Photo. 

ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT graphics card

Newegg is selling ASRock's AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT graphics card for $610 after a $50 discount and a $20 promo code. Enter VGAEXCAA496 at checkout to get the full deal. You'll also get a free game code for The Last of Us, just in case you don't have that title yet. When it launched last year, the card went for around $1,000, so this a decent discount and a new low. While this isn't the newest GPU from AMD (and it eats a lot of power), it can still capably play many games in 4K, with strong high-fps performance in 1440p. 

It's no accident that this discount is coming shortly after Nvidia's launch of the similar RTX 4070, which is probably the card you should get if you care about ray tracing. But if not, or if you'd specifically prefer an AMD card, this is a relatively good value. Newegg is also selling ASRock's AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Phantom graphics card for $540, which is a decent price for another 1440p option, and also includes TLOU game code.

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You can technically run Windows on gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck, but it's not really designed for small-screened devices and their specialized hardware. However, there's at least one person at Microsoft who would like to improve the situation. Developer and Reddit user AndrewMT has confirmed that a Walking Cat video leak represents a hackathon project meant to optimize Windows 11 for Steam Deck-style devices. The proposal from September would have not only improved driver support, but fine-tuned the interface and introduced tools to help you quickly launch and exit games regardless of which service they came from.

The project was spurred by the desire to use multiple non-Steam services (such as Xbox Game Pass and GOG) and Windows' support for game mods and trainers, AndrewMT says. He also notes that The Verge isn't right in suggesting that this is an ongoing initiative. The handheld Windows proposal "didn't go much of anywhere," the developer explains. While Xbox head Phil Spencer offered contact with people who could help, they were occupied at the time. AndrewMT is hopeful the publicity will help pitch the idea a second time.

Numerous gaming handhelds, including the new ASUS ROG Ally as well as portables from Ayaneo and GPD, already run Windows out of the box. However, their creators typically load custom front-ends to make up for Windows' lack of optimization. And while you can technically use Xbox Cloud Gaming on a Steam Deck thanks to the web, Valve's system is ultimately a Linux machine built to run Steam games.

A project like AndrewMT's would theoretically encourage manufacturers to build Windows-powered handhelds. They wouldn't have to pour as much work into software, and could expect games from a wide range of stores to run smoothly. Any official commitment would take a while to pan out, however. While Microsoft senior user experience designer Dorothy Feng has already explored a prototype handheld interface, there's considerably more work necessary to make this proposal a practical reality.

Microsoft has begun integrating Bing AI capabilities into its popular keyboard app SwiftKey. While the third-party tool already includes some AI features, like learning from users' writing styles to make suggestions. Once a user clicks on the Bing button, which is located on the top left side of the keyboard, it offers three options: Search, Tone and Chat. 

Say you want to know which dessert pairs best with lasagna, just type that in to the search bar as you converse. Chat will suggest responses that it feels are in keeping with the messages or emails it's responding to. Tone, however, can help keep things more formal if you're replying to a work email and need a hand making things appear a little more professional.

Any iOS and Android users can set SwiftKey as their default keyboard across apps, like social media and email. Basically, if an app allows a third-party keyboard, you can use SwiftKey on it. Aside from AI technology, SwiftKey's other features include correcting spelling mistakes, task saving and a personalized toolbar. The Bing button lives on the left side of the keyboard and also autosuggests across the top as a person types.

SwiftKey can also access up to five chosen languages and, in the same release, Microsoft revealed updates to its translation services in the Bing App. Users translating words and phrases from English to French, Spanish or Italian will now see the masculine and feminine versions, versus the chatbot making assumptions.

Bing's inclusion into SwiftKey follows the lead of other Microsoft programs like Skype and Microsoft Start. Skype lets users message directly with Bing in a group chat or on-on-one, while Microsoft Start provides access to Bing across the app. 

If you're looking for a new smartwatch but aren't keen on Apple devices, Amazon's latest price cut may excite you. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Pro is down from $450 to $394.49, which is a 12 percent savings and lower than the price we saw back on Cyber Monday. 

The Galaxy Watch Pro is one of Samsung's newer options and includes GPS route tracking, a full analysis of your body composition and a titanium case. The Pro also goes beyond the original with an advanced sleep tracker, improved bioactive sensor and better battery life. 

It's worth mentioning that, while not on sale, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is still over $100 cheaper— a good option if you're looking for a reliable smartwatch with all the basics. It's our pick for best smartwatch for Android users. Plus, it comes in some fun band colors, like like purple and sapphire.

As for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, just the black model with bluetooth are discounted. The gray with bluetooth and the LTE version of both colors are still full price. 

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Amazon is joining the generative AI fray. Bedrock is the company’s new API for Amazon Web Services (AWS) that lets developers use and customize AI tools that generate text or images. Think of it as a cloud-based and configurable alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E 2 aimed at businesses and developers.

AWS customers can use Bedrock to write, build chatbots, summarize text, classify images and more based on text prompts. It gives its users a choice of Amazon’s Titan foundation model (FM) and several startups’ models, including Anthropic’s Claude (a Google-backed ChatGPT rival from former OpenAI employees), AI21’s Jurassic-2 (a language model specializing in Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch) and Stable Diffusion (a popular open-source image generator). Additionally, businesses and developers can customize how the models work based on input — which Amazon says won’t be used for training the models, according toCNBC. That should (theoretically) address a crucial privacy concern for businesses entering sensitive data.

Amazon views the range of AI models on offer as a way of providing flexibility to customers. The company’s description reads, “With Bedrock’s serverless experience, you can get started quickly, privately customize FMs with your own data, and easily integrate and deploy them into your applications using the AWS tools and capabilities you are familiar with (including integrations with Amazon SageMaker ML features like Experiments to test different models and Pipelines to manage your FMs at scale) without having to manage any infrastructure.”

“Most companies want to use these large language models, but the really good ones take billions of dollars to train and many years and most companies don’t want to go through that,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy toldCNBC on Thursday. “So what they want to do is they want to work off of a foundational model that’s big and great already and then have the ability to customize it for their own purposes. And that’s what Bedrock is.”

Amazon says C3.ai, Pegasystems, Accenture and Deloitte are some early businesses lined up to try Bedrock. The company hasn’t yet announced pricing for the AWS toolset, and it’s currently opening access through a waitlist. You can read more and apply for admission at the project’s website.

Those who've been in the market for a video doorbell to add to their array of smart home devices may want to check out a sale on some options from Google Nest. A sale has dropped the prices of Nest video doorbells by 28 percent. That means the second-gen Nest Doorbell Wired has dropped to $130, which is a record low for that model.

The latest iteration of the device can continuously record footage for up to 10 days at a time if you have a Nest Aware Plus subscription. A Nest Aware subscription includes 30 days of event video history and a familiar face detection function.

Otherwise, Nest offers a free three-hour event history of video clips of up to five minutes in length, plus two-second previews. The device can detect motion, people, packages, animals and vehicles and provide you with intelligent alerts without the need for a subscription, Google says. You'll be able to chat with whoever's at your door or use pre-recorded messages.

There's the option to view a live video feed of what your doorbell's camera can see via Google Assistant- and Amazon Alexa-compatible devices. You'll be able to use compatible Nest and Alexa speakers as a doorbell chime — the Nest Doorbell Wired requires a chime and transformer to work. Oddly, this model does not support the Nest app or website. You'll need to use the Google Home app (or a compatible voice assistant) to manage it instead.

Meanwhile, the battery-powered Nest Doorbell is also on sale for $130, though that's $10 more than the all-time-low price. That version does not support continuous recording, but it does offer live video streaming with HDR and night vision (it captures footage in 720p resolution).

You'll still have the option to hook this device up to your existing doorbell wires. if you opt to stick with battery power and you suffer an outage or the WiFi cuts out, the doorbell will store up to 1 hour of recorded events.

In addition to the doorbells, the Nest Cam with Floodlight is also on sale. It's down from $280 to $220, which is the lowest price we've seen for it so far this year. It can capture footage at 1080p, including up to 10 days of around-the-clock recording for Nest Aware Plus members. The floodlight will activate automatically when the camera detects important activity. You'll be able to control the brightness of the lights through the Google Home app.

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Apple is promising more eco-friendly batteries ahead of Earth Day. The company has committed to using 100 percent recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries by 2025. It also expects to use completely recycled rare earth elements in its magnets by that point, and all in-house circuit board designs will use fully recycled gold plating and tin soldering.

Only 25 percent of the cobalt Apple used last year was recycled. While thats's up from 13 percent in 2021, that makes the new target more ambitious than others. Apple already uses 73 percent recycled rare earth elements and 38 percent recycled tin. Apple has custom battery designs in most of its portable products, including the iPhone, iPad and MacBook lines.

The company eventually hopes to make all products exclusively with recycled and renewable materials. It expects its products to be carbon neutral by 2030. As of 2022, just 20 percent of the material in Apple hardware was recycled or renewed.

Yes, this is partly about burnishing the company's image. You may be more likely to buy an iPhone or Apple Watch if you believe it's relatively gentle on the planet. However, the cobalt goal may be more significant than most. Cobalt is widely used in batteries, including in electric vehicles, but it also has significant environmental and social problems. The mining process contaminates the air, earth and water, and can lead to health issues for both miners and the general population. There are also concerns about miner exploitation in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Companies have been developing cobalt-free batteries that could lessen the environmental impact across the tech industry. For now, though, efforts like Apple's could reduce the demand for additional cobalt and the associated mining.

Most of the time, the best gaming headset isn’t a “gaming headset” at all. Although these devices are often thought of as a distinct niche within the wider headphone market, they're ultimately still headphones. And while it’s certainly not impossible to get a gaming headset that sounds nice, doing so still tends to come at a higher cost than a comparable pair of wired headphones (yes, those still exist).

A good wired headphone remains your best bet if you want the most detailed sound possible at a given price point and don’t need something especially portable, which is usually the case when you’re gaming. If you need to chat with friends, you can always buy an external microphone, whether it’s a USB mic, a cheaper clip-on mic or a standalone headset mic like the Antlion ModMic or V-Moda BoomPro. In many cases, those will make your voice sound clearer and fuller than the ones included with a gaming headset.

But we do recognize that many people just want the convenience of an all-in-one combo, value and aesthetics be damned. So after testing out a few dozen pairs over the past several months, we’ve put together a list of good headphones for gaming and dedicated gaming headsets. We recommend you consider the former first, but all of them should make your play time more enjoyable.

What to look for in good gaming headphones

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Evaluating headphones is a particularly subjective exercise, so calling one pair the absolute “best” is something of a fool’s errand. At a certain point, everything becomes a matter of taste. For most, a headphone with a wide soundstage and strong imaging performance – i.e., the ability to position sounds correctly, so you can more precisely tell where footsteps and other game effects are coming from – will provide the most immersive experience, the kind that makes you feel like your head is within a given scene.

For that, you want a headphone with an open-back design. That is to say, an over-ear pair whose earcups do not completely seal off the ear from air and outside noise. The big trade-off is that these are inherently terrible at isolating you from external sound and preventing others from hearing what you’re playing. So if you often play games in a noisy environment, their benefits will be blunted. But in a quiet room, the best open-back pairs sounds significantly wider and more precise than more common closed-back models.

More up for debate is how a good gaming headphone should sound. If you want something that’ll help you in competitive multiplayer games, you'll likely prefer a headphone with a flatter sound signature, so a game’s mix won’t be overly boosted in one direction and mask the smaller details of what’s happening around you. A slightly brighter sound, one that pushes the upper frequencies a smidge, may also work. Open-back headphones almost never have huge sub-bass, so you rarely have to worry about low-end sounds muddying up the rest of the signature. In this light, the fact that an overwhelming amount of gaming headsets are closed-back and bass-heavy seems counterintuitive.

Lots of people love bass, though. And if you aren’t just worried about competitive play, some extra low-end can add a touch of excitement to heavy action scenes or a rousing soundtrack. You still don’t want a pair that boosts it too hard – which many dedicated gaming headsets do – but the point is that what makes a pair “immersive” to one person may sound dull to another.

Best headphones for gaming: Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X

The Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X should please a wide swath of people willing to pay for a capital-N nice set of headphones for gaming. This pair has great imaging performance and the kind of spacious soundstage expected from an open-back design. Bass is a little more present here than on many open-back headphones as well. There still isn’t much in the way of deep sub-bass, as expected, but there’s enough warmth to give in-game explosions a bit more juice without muddying up the mid-range frequencies. The mids get the most emphasis overall, but they’re clear and that forwardness isn’t a bad thing when you’re trying to listen for enemy players in a competitive FPS like Counter-Strike. The treble isn’t pushed quite as hard, but it’s neither overly recessed nor harsh.

All of this means the DT 900 Pro X sounds detailed but not boring, so it should play nice whether you’re trying to win a multiplayer game or taking in a more cinematic single-player experience. And when you’re not gaming, you get an enjoyable sound for music.

Everything’s built well, too. It’ll clamp down slightly harder than average if you have a large head, but it balances its weight well, and its wonderfully soft velour earpads go a long way toward keeping the pair comfortable over long sessions. It comes with two detachable cables, including a three-meter option that’s convenient if you sit far from your PC. This design can’t fold up, though.

Like all open-back headphones, the DT 900 Pro X leak and let in lots of noise, so it’s not great on the go. Clearly, if you can afford an ultra-premium pair like Sennheiser’s HD 800 S, you’ll get more space and true-to-life detail. But for a relatively attainable $250 to $300, the DT 900 Pro X should satisfy.

Best headphones for gaming under $200: Sennheiser HD 560S

If you’d rather not spend as much, the Sennheiser HD 560S is another excellent open-back headphone that’s typically available for around $150. Like the DT 900 Pro X, it has a wide soundstage that’ll help you feel immersed in a given game. Its sound is slightly more neutral on the whole, so you won’t feel like you’re missing any part of a mix, and it retrieves a lovely amount of detail from the treble and mid-range frequencies. There's less bass power for explosions, though, and the treble, while more present, may sound piercing at times. Imaging isn’t quite as nuanced either, though it’s nowhere near poor.

Design-wise, the HD 560S are plenty comfortable to wear for extended periods. They don’t clamp down too hard on those with big heads (like yours truly), and the velour earpads hug your ears softly. The included cable is removable, too. The plastic frame doesn’t feel as sturdy or premium as the DT 900 Pro X, however, so you won’t want to chuck them around haphazardly. It won’t block much outside noise either, nor will it prevent those around you from hearing what you're playing. Nevertheless, the HD 560S is a pleasure and a great value.

Best headphones for gaming under $50: Koss KSC75

If you can’t spend more than $50, it’s still hard to top the Koss KSC75. It costs $20, but judging purely on audio quality, it’s better than some headphones priced closer to $100. This pair is very obviously devoid of deep bass, so you won’t get that full-bodied oomph from in-game effects. You also won't hear all the intricate details you'd pick up with the pricier headphones above. But it locates sounds accurately and its open design gives it a real sense of width. It’s a superb value for competitive play.

The catch is that it’s built like a set of free airline headphones. The KSC75 has an odd clip-on design that, while lightweight, won’t be comfortable for everyone. It certainly looks like it costs $20, though Koss backs it with a lifetime warranty that essentially lets you get endless replacements for $9 each. Even if the KSC75 are pushing 20 years old, its sound remains relatively well-balanced and particularly well-suited for gaming.

Best gaming headset: Astro A40 TR

If you must have a dedicated gaming headset with a built-in mic, consider the Astro A40 TR. Another open-back pair, it has a more spacious soundstage than usual for the category – though it's not on par with better non-gaming headphones – and it generally localizes sounds correctly. This profile emphasizes the bass, giving explosions a smooth and satisfying thump, but it doesn’t overdo it like many other headsets marketed toward gaming.

The sound here is still a step behind the DT 900 Pro X or HD 560S, especially for online shooters, as the pushed upper-bass and lower-mids can blunt finer details a bit more. Footsteps usually won’t sound as clear. But compared to most gaming headsets, the A40’s profile is better balanced, and it does well to envelop you in the sounds of a busy scene.

Comfort shouldn’t be an issue, either. The A40 is on the bulkier side, but its weight is evenly distributed and doesn’t clamp down overly hard. The fuzzy earpads are soft and breathable, while the earcups are roomy enough to fit larger ears. The headset has the usual open-back shortcomings, though: It leaks a bunch of sound and blocks almost zero outside noise. The design looks “gamer-y," too, and there’s no built-in volume control. The whole thing is mostly made of plastic, though it doesn’t come off as flimsy.

The A40’s mic, meanwhile, is just OK. It picks up background noises while you chat, and voices sound somewhat muffled. It’s serviceable but you’d buy the A40 for its sound quality first. The mic isn’t detachable either, but you can easily flip it up and out of the way.

The A40 has been around for four years now, but its price has come down from $150 to a more reasonable $130 in that time. Astro sells an optional DAC with extra controls for $130, but at that price we’d strongly advise buying a good “normal” headphone and external mic.

Best budget gaming headset: HyperX Cloud Stinger 2

You won’t find a good open-back gaming headset under $50, so if you’re on a tight budget and require a built-in mic, you’ll have to compromise on sound quality. With that in mind, the HyperX Cloud Stinger 2 is a decent buy at its typical street price of $40. Its mic belies that low price, making voices sound relatively clear and accurate. In fact, it’s a clear step-up from the Astro A40. It’s not detachable but it’s flexible and automatically mutes when you slide it out of the way. This pair also gets the comfort part right, as the pleather earcups don’t clamp down hard and have enough soft padding where it counts.

The Cloud Stinger 2 has a V-shaped sound profile, which is to say it exaggerates the bass and treble while recessing the mid-range. It’s not bad for what it is, and it’ll definitely give action scenes a heavy sense of impact. But the upper-bass is pushed to the point where it may get tiring over time, and you lose some of the fine details you’d hear on a more natural-sounding headphone. Since this is a cheap closed-back headset, the Cloud Stinger 2 also doesn’t sound nearly as wide as the pairs above, nor is it as nuanced about positioning sounds accurately. It’s less than ideal for competitive games as a result, though it can still sound “fun” with many other titles.

Beyond that, the plastic design feels cheap-ish, it doesn’t block much outside noise despite being closed-back and its cable isn’t removable. Nevertheless, you have to pick your battles in this price range. The Cloud Stinger 2 is flawed, but it does enough well to make sense for a certain type of person.

A quick PSA on wireless gaming headsets

Most people do not need a wireless gaming headset. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have a headphone jack built into their controllers, and it's still readily available on the Switch and most gaming PCs. The cost of an OK wireless headset is usually higher than the cost of a comparable wired model, and for the money you often get worse audio quality and a less clear microphone on the wireless versions. You also risk introducing issues with latency. The latter is why non-gaming Bluetooth headphones are a no-go here.

Best wireless gaming headset: HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless

If you really want a wireless headset – say, if your gaming PC is situated at the far end of your desk – you should look for a pair that makes the “wireless” part of the equation a little less apparent. The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless does this thanks to its absurdly long battery life. HyperX rates it at 300 hours, but we were able to squeeze out a couple dozen more at moderate volumes. iFixit did a helpful teardown if you’re curious as to how this is possible, but it’s not a stretch to say one charge here could last you months of play time.

The sound here is typical of many gaming headsets: slightly V-shaped, with overemphasized bass that can make game effects sound exciting but often presents footsteps and finer details with less clarity. As a closed-back headphone, it also won’t sound as spacious or natural as the more open pairs above. (Wireless gaming headsets with an open-back design are virtually nonexistent.) It’s not bad by wireless gaming headset standards, and it generally places sounds in the right place; it’s just not tuned or designed as optimally as a pair like the Astro A40.

The headset itself is comfortable to wear for hours at a time, with plush padding that doesn’t feel too tight, though the faux leather material on the earpads may make your ears feel mildly warm. Everything is sturdy, and the headband is nicely flexible. The boom mic is also fine, though that’s relative to other wireless headsets. It cancels out background noise well and keeps voices legible, but they won’t sound as crisp or full-bodied as they could be on wired headphones with good mics. It's better than the A40, though.

A word of warning: Don’t bother with HyperX’s companion software. While you can use the company’s Ngenuity app to customize the headset's EQ and activate a DTS:X surround sound feature, several users have reported that this introduces noticeable latency, and HyperX doesn’t look to be fixing it. If you really want these features, use a third-party EQ app and the spatial audio tools built into Windows and the PS5. By default, the included USB dongle offers a steady wireless connection.

The other caveat is that the Cloud Alpha Wireless only works with PCs and PlayStation consoles, or a Switch while docked. It also can’t connect over a cable or Bluetooth. If you’re looking for a competent alternative for Xbox, we note a few recommendations below.

Best premium wireless gaming headset: Audeze Maxwell

The Audeze Maxwell isn’t an amazing value at $299 (or $329 for the Xbox model), but if you’ve got cash to burn, it’s a wireless headset with genuinely impressive audio and mic quality. Its planar-magnetic drivers do well reproducing smaller intricacies in a given scene, and its default signature is like a more refined version of the common “gaming headset” sound. Bass is smooth and impactful but not bloated, while highs are crisp but not overly sharp. Some effects in the mids can sound thin, and as this is a closed-back headset, it can’t provide the same immersive width and precise imaging as the open-back models above. Ironically, it may be better for music than games. Still, for a wireless headset, it’s unusually pleasant and detailed. Audeze’s app includes several EQ presets as well.

Similarly, the Maxwell’s detachable boom mic is a standout. It does a phenomenal job of muting background noise, and while voices lose some air, they still sound clearer and fuller than on most wireless headsets we’ve tested.

The Maxwell is on the bulky side, and its headband uses an odd suspension mechanism that effectively isn’t adjustable without taking the headset off. The squishy padded ear cups will likely make your ears feel warm, but they keep the headset comfortable and isolate a fair amount of outside noise. The design also feels substantial, with the headband made from steel. The essential controls are built into the left earcup, and the device can connect over Bluetooth or a 3.5mm cable in addition to a USB-C wireless dongle. You can even pair with two devices at once, one over the dongle and another over Bluetooth. The headset needs to be powered on in order to play music over a cable, however.

Audeze rates the Maxwell’s battery life at roughly 80 hours, though you'll get less than that if you play at high volumes or use features like Bluetooth or sidetone heavily. While this can’t touch the Cloud Alpha Wireless, it’s still much better than most wireless headsets.

Other notable gaming headsets

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is overpriced at $250, and it can make higher frequencies sound harsh, but its bass and mids are good, it’s super comfortable and its retractable mic is noticeably clearer than the Astro A40’s. Its included DAC is also useful, letting you adjust the headset’s EQ and game/chat mix. But while the closed-back design is mildly better at blocking outside noise, it won’t provide the same sense of width as the A40.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless

SteelSeries also sells a wireless version of the Nova Pro, which typically retails between $300 and $350. The Audeze Maxwell will sound better to most, but this is likely its closest competitor and it has useful bonus features like the ability to connect to multiple gaming devices simultaneously (with the Xbox model) and hot-swap battery packs.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro 7X

If you need a wireless alternative to the Cloud Alpha Wireless for Xbox, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X should work. It’s another bass-forward pair, and its mic is comparable to the one on Cloud Alpha Wireless. Like the other Nova models, it offers multiple connectivity options, including Bluetooth and a 3.5mm cable. And while it's marketed for the Xbox, it can also connect to PCs and PS5s. Its 30 or so hours of battery life are well short of the Cloud Alpha Wireless, though, and its sound signature can make the treble sound somewhat wonky.

HyperX Cloud Alpha

The wired HyperX Cloud Alpha is often on sale for $80 or less, and at that price it’s a decent middle ground between the Cloud Stinger 2 and Astro A40 if you absolutely need a closed-back gaming headset. It’s old, but its plush earpads and headband remain comfy, and its detachable mic, while not superb, is still better than Astro’s pair. Its treble is underemphasized, however, and again it sounds more “in your head” than the A40.

Logitech G535

The Logitech G535 is an impressively light (236g) and comfy wireless headset that’s often available for $100. It has a more neutral sound signature than the Cloud Alpha Wireless and Arctis Nova 7X: not flat, but less beholden to big, thumping bass. It can make mid-range details sound thin, and if anything it could use a little more sub-bass, but it’s an agreeable listen overall. It can also connect over Bluetooth. However, its mic gives up some fullness compared to the Cloud Alpha Wireless (which already wasn’t superb), and its 30-ish hours of battery life are a massive drop-off. Plus, it doesn’t work with Xbox, and it strangely forces you to crank the volume to reach a listenable level. But if you don’t want to spend a ton on a wireless headset, it’s the best of the $100-and-under options we tested.