A few of you have asked us “What is the best gaming headset for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” so we thought we’d try and answer the question by way of this blog post!

Our resident YouTuber iKingOfHouse had high hopes for the game sound in Treyarch’s latest release however he reports that “sound whoring is almost impossible” with his current headset:

I picked up the Sharkoon Xtatic V3 on Amazon back in 2009 and it worked really well with MW2. For Black Ops I had to tweak things slightly but with a little help from JagerllBomb I was able pinpoint the location of footsteps and gunfire. I had no issues with MW3 and just used the default settings.

However I’m really struggling with Black Ops 2. I have tried the “Treyarch Mix” and “Headphone” sound profiles from the in-game menu to no avail. My best solution so far has been to crank the volume up really high but this can be quite uncomfortable.

I’m hoping that things will improve when I unlock Dead Silence. I’m also going to try the “Hard of Hearing” setting and am yet to play with the Sharkoon settings. If neither work then I think I’ll need to invest in a headset with some custom pre-sets.”

In an effort to enhance the gaming experience, certain headset manufacturers now include pre-set sound settings which allow, amongst other things, users to accentuate sounds like footsteps and gun fire.

Based on our research we would suggest the 2013 Astro A40, the Turtle Beach Ear Force Tango or the Turtle Beach Ear Force Sierra if you are looking to maximise your Black Ops 2 experience.

Both offerings from Turtle Beach have been developed in conjunction with Treyarch, however we wouldn’t rule out the A40s: Astro’s flagship headset is a favourite amongst the MLG community which has to count for something.

Reviews of gaming headsets mentioned in this post:

Astro 2013 A40 headset review
Turtle Beach Ear Force Sierra review
Turtle Beach Ear Force Tango review