Plantronics GameCom X95

Plantronics GameCom X95

To be effective without wires, gaming headphones need to have a reliable connection. While the Plantronics GameCom X95 is reasonably priced, its poor range, unreliable signal, and inability to work with anything but Xbox 360 without additional wires sinks this $99.99 (direct) headset. It pales in comparison with many less-expensive wired headsets and wireless models like the Creative Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Omega ($199.99, 3.5 stars), or our Editors' Choice, Logitech's Wireless Gaming Headset G930 ($159.99, 4 stars). DesignTwo pieces, the GameCom X95 consists of a transmitter and the headset itself. The transmitter is a black puck shaped like an Altoids tin with two connectors: one for audio via a 3.5mm port, and one for the power through USB. The 3.5mm audio port connects to game consoles through an RCA passthrough, but that's the only connection available out of the box. If you want to hook it up to your computer or game console through an optical audio output, you're simply out of luck. And if you want to hook up your microphone to your PlayStation 3, that's not an option either. As it stands, out of the box, the headset is purely an Xbox 360 accessory, unless you get a 3.5mm cable for your computer, and a separate microphone (or use the PlayStation Eye camera) for your PS3 or PC.