u/OldOllie

I have asked about gaming headsets for my son in another thread but thought better to start a different one regarding this specifically.

I apologize if my questions are dumb.

Are Atmos and other spatial audio headphones actually a physically different headphone or just an software control layer to mix the spatial audio?

If they are physically the same then can an Atmos mix be applied to a normal set of stereo headphones through software only ?

If the game outputs some kind of spatial audio anyway could running it through another software actually make things sound worse ?

And I suppose the main question is it worth it in gaming ?

So we just built my son his first gaming Pc which is working great. He wants a gaming headset and his birthday is approaching so I have been looking into the "market" somewhat.

The consensus seems to be that a normal headphones produce a better sound for less money and a separate mic or some kind of stick on mic is also better.

So what combos of headphone/mic/dac are people actually using.

I think our criteria are that at this point we might as well have spatial audio/Dolby Atmos for full emersion. Ear cups that fully cover the ear and are comfy is important.

Wired is fine and I personally am leaning this way just because of cost/ latency but not totally against wireless. Open or closed back is not super important ( unless your experience says otherwise ).

Or is there a particularly good gaming specific option?

Budget wise I think £120 or so and I am not against second hand (this is how we got the PC done in reasonable cost ).

I want to avoid just disposable crap that won`t last 5 minutes.

Thanks.