I made the mistake of believing some dumb guide online that recommended the Razer BlackShark v2 Pro for Linux. Literally the volume control is broken out of the box lol.
I just want a wireless headset. For listening to audio. And a mic. Don’t care for fancy features. Apparently too much to ask for a linux user.
What are y’all using and how is it working for you?
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Yeah lesson learned lol. I figured, I don’t need the fancy features. Turns out volume control is a fancy feature. And I’m not even talking about the volume wheel on the headphones. I’m saying, adjusting my system volume barely affects the headphone volume.
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On the contrary, I have an old Razer Basalisk v3 mouse, and it works perfectly with linux. I installed openrazer to controll the rgb and everything works perfectly.
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Are there any companies that are especially friendly towards Linux? I’m not looking to buy anytime soon but I’d be curious to know.
Razer stuff is fine in Linux. I use several different Razer products on Linux and they all work fine, including Arch Linux on my Razer Blade 14 laptop. Their protocols are pretty well understood at this point on most of their devices.
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How? Mine have worked fine. At least until today when part of the plastic snapped but they are over 5 years old. Going to try glue it tomorrow.
May look for a replacement sometime, always used wired so far.
Are you married to the idea of wireless? The old suggestion of decent headphones and a mic are imo the best way to do things. I’ve got an old blue yeti I use when I need a mic, but been considering getting a modmic to attach to my headphones. I ran with a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-880s for over a decade as my daily drivers with a FiiO DAC/amp combo, use a k5 pro now with some DT 1990s and found that to be a great combo.
I kinda am yeah :P I also want to use it for work, and I can’t sit still so I am always getting up. I wanna be able to participate in a call while I’m in the kitchen for example :P
I used to own a HyperX Cloud Flight. It’s the best wireless headset I’ve ever tried. It comes with a USB dongle, no Bluetooth. Worked out of the box on Arch. I bought mine before HP infested HyperX, but my sister uses a post-buyout one and she says it’s perfect.
Pros:
- Audio quality is great for fun (games and films), decent for music and critical listening. The frequency response has a common V shape, but the bass doesn’t blow out the top ends (eat a dick, Raycon).
- Eight-hour battery life, can be used while charge cable is connected.
- Aux input that bypasses the internal DAC.
- Signal can penetrate several solid brick walls.
- Comfortable even on my melon head.
- Mic is detachable. Quality is as good as an Aussie wanker can expect.
Cons:
- Micro-USB charger port.
- Volume control is a click wheel that sends volume up/down keystrokes to the PC. I had to remove it from mine because it wore out and would “bounce” and send several keystrokes every time I touched it.
- The earpads are covered in shitty leatherette that will fall off in a few months.
In general, avoid anything “Gamer”. You’re paying for the brand, not the quality. Even the cheapest “audiophile” headphones are better.
Wireless headsets will always be limited by their internal DAC. Another option is to get a decent wired headset and a dedicated wireless DAC. I currently use a modded Beyerdynamic DT770 and an AKG K-240, and if I need them to be wireless, I clip a Fiio BTR5 to the headstrap and connect it with a short cable.
avoid anything “Gamer”
to be honest I’m looking for general purpose headset to also use for work, but looking for business headsets landed me in some crazy price ranges, so I’ve been looking for gaming headsets since. gonna look into HyperX, thanks!
It’s less about the concept of a game-centric headset and more about the brands that sell themselves as “We Are Gamers” with angular shapes and RGB out the ass. Steelseries, Razer, Alienware, Aorus, ROG… I’ve had many bad experiences both personally and professionally. The only one I didn’t end up regretting was Logitech G. The G502 mouse is a beast.
I can second Hyper X for Linux. Using the USB dongle is perfect for wireless, as I dont like having Bluetooth enabled all the time. I only enable it when using my controller on my laptop. Headphones are great and not crazy expensive. I just wanted headphones that worked and they do exactly that.
Haven’t had a single issue with my Hyper X Stinger headset across the distros I’ve tried (PopOS, Nobara, Cachy, Endeavor).
Razer is awful, they are about as proprietary as it is possible for a consumer electronics company to reasonably be. Avoid them at all costs.
Logitech is generally a better choice when available.
Steelseries, although I don’t generally love their build quality, has worked well on Linux for me. I can’t speak for their cheaper headsets but I specifically am using a Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless in Bluetooth mode with a magnetic-tip USB cable for charging (leaving the Micro-USB tip in the headphones at all times, because fuck Micro-USB).
I assume the non-Bluetooth USB dongle works fine as well but I’m too lazy to use it and have probably lost it somewhere along the way so I can’t personally confirm that. Bluetooth is my jam though.
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. They’re excellent headphones, decent microphone. Comfy, long battery life. It’s the swap-able batteries dock station type. So they’re decently popular and this exists:
https://github.com/elegos/Linux-Arctis-Manager/
Edit: also has Bluetooth support. I use them with my phone too not just the 2.4Ghz Desktop dock.
these seem great but 300 bucks is… steep
Agreed, but you never specified price range :p
I consider these my upper limit but I think I can feasibly get over a decade of use out of this headset especially with the battery setup.
I got a pair of Fractal Scapes. The software to modify them is just a website so it’s easy to EQ them on Linux (I run bazzite). The EQ profiles are also saved locally so once it’s set you never have to look at the website again. The works dick worked straight away and volume control+ play/pause work massively on Linux which is great
Same here, no issues so far!
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It’s their first one and so far I’m quite happy with it! The dock is especially nice and one of the main selling points to me from a convenience perspective and it works great. I’m lazier than ever XD
No chat mix is what kills it for me. I’m spoiled with independent volume control between chat and game output. If I can find a solution for this it would open up a world of headsets for me. Steelseries used to do it on headset, now you need their shitty app on newer sets.
I have always used SteelSeries. It might not be the best (because it’s a gaming headset), but it has always worked on Linux and it’s Danish 😁
Audio Technica M50X’s with a Fiio K5 Pro DAC/amp
I love my Steelseries Arctis 7. It doesn’t need any software to configure at all, works out of the box in Linux. Has a nice hardware mixer right on the headphone so you can lower game sounds to hear voice chat better and vice versa.
Is it corded? I think I have a 3, and got the one with 3.5mm plug. Never had an issue.
Wireless with a USB dongle. Analog will never have issues, but this fancy wireless one doesn’t either :)
How does this dial work which lowers game volume so you can hear voices?
The headset presents 2 separate audio devices to your computer, so you direct your games to use the headset game output and Discord or whatever to use headset voice. It’s pretty magical honestly, no tabbing out when you can’t hear a dude.
I have the same, an old arctis 7, and it’s plug-and-play on Linux mint. It’s wireless with a USB-c dongle, but 3.5mm jack is an option.
Once upon a time, I was worried I had to buy another headphones, but I used an aux cord to plug it into a headphone-amp for my electric guitar, and it just works. It turns on & off automatically with the aux cord. I suspect it has to be charged to still work, but I haven’t tested that.
I had an old Arctis 7 that finally fell apart last month after 8 years of heavy use.
I got a new Arctis 7. It is complete garbage. Cheap materials, smaller to the point that it just doesn’t fit my head, my ears don’t fit in the cups.
And instead of having it register two devices for chat and game you get a single device and then have to use their software to mix the chat, which is a nonstarter for me on Linux. SteelSeries has enshittified hard.
This was my experience exactly. Luckily my old arctis still works I’m just terrified of the day when it doesn’t
Sony wh xm4. Remember that Bluetooth audio will suck if you are using vocal chat.
It’s not a wireless setup, but in case someone else is looking: Audio-Technia ath-m20x headphones driven by a Fosi Audio Q4 DAC (because your headphones will only sound as good as their source).
Sounds great for a ~$100 budget. And the DAC has worked right out of the box with no driver issues on the few (fedora based) distros I’ve tried.
Bookmark worthy thread. Really good info here.
For real. I was hoping for like a handful of responses, and I got a plethora hahah
I use the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3
I really like them. You can connect 2 different RF sources (USB dongle) as well as bluetooth and can even use RF + bluetooth simultaneously. This is great for example when gaming on my PS5 with them (using the USB dongle) while they’re also paired to my phone over bluetooth. Call comes in and I can answer directly (mic will switch over to BT) and hear both the game and the call at the same time. Hang up the call and the mic switches back to the RF source.
Anyway, I have one RF dongle in the PS5, the other RF dongle in my gaming desktop, and bluetooth connections to both my Linux laptop and my phone, so I can use any or all of them with the same set of headphones without changing anything.
I Have a hyperx cloud flight (the first ones), very light, in arch based distros the range is pretty big (in mint and pop, for whatever reason, the range is abysmal), they work with no caveats on linux (though no battery report, there’s a script or two floating on the internet to have it with no hassle). I’m sure there are better options these days (better battery and sound quality), but these are the ones I have experience with.
They’re not my first choice in audio, but they did so much for me when I had my kid, you can drop in and out of your pc without needing to remove your headphones, they don’t block much so you can even listen to the baby crying if you’re at a low volume (or you can just have one ear out), you can hang out in calls while holding the bb, etc.
For any new parents out there, can’t tell you how much they did for me, in particular the combination of
- being for PC (no latency, being able to get in and out of your gaming sessions or whatever you do without even having to take them off)
- having a decent quality microphone next to your mouth (you don’t need to raise your voice and can be heard easily despite background noise, good signal to noise ratio)
- not being that good at blocking sound, this is crucial when you can’t compromise your full attention but can have most of it.
- being light weight (I know there are some wireless headphones that are bulky and not that light).
I hope you aren’t playing any competitive games because wireless introduces extra latency and makes you play worse
Naw, and all the competitive games I’ve played in the past, trust me audio was not the bottleneck for my skill lol
Are there dedicated desktop wireless headsets with noticeable latency? My shitty hyperx cloud flight have no noticeable latency and I even played around with some audio settings (on linux, windows audio drivers are very limited) and got it to the point where I could use them to monitor my usb mic in real time (which, for anyone who knows, is a very latency sensitive use case).
Afaik the latency thing is a problem with bluetooth.
