I'm usually cautious at anything marketed as a "gaming" anything. To me this is often an excuse to paint something cheap with flashy colors and unleash it on an assumed unknowing "gamer" market. Maybe some gamers fall for that stuff. Personally, I don't know any who do. Most are just put off by it.

But Sennheiser's new gaming headsets aren't the typical stuff marketed at us. Instead, they're well designed and built headphones that have an integrated microphone. They're also big, fairly light, and comfortable. As in, all the things you want for long hours of raiding.

The PC 360 ($300, above) is the top of the line, a successor to the PC 350. It has Sennheiser's Open-Aire speaker design for a more open sound and so you aren't completely cut off from the world around you. The large velvet ear cups are soft, so they remain comfortable over extended listening. The microphone has built in noise-canceling. Sennheiser claims a frequency response of 15 to 28,000 Hz and a max output of a skull fracturing 112 dB.

The PC 333D ($240) is a little smaller, but has Dolby Headphone technology, creating a virtual 7.1 surround sound effect. I've heard Dolby Headphone in demos, and it's pretty creepy how well it can mimic surround sound. The ear cups are on pivots, so if you want to hear something in the real world better, you can just flip it up. Frequency response, according to Sennheiser, is 14 Hz to 22,000 Hz.

The PC 163D ($210) also has Dolby Headphone, a noise-canceling microphone, and a open design so you can hear what's going on around you. The frequency response is a claimed 15 Hz to 23,000 Hz.

The PC 330 ($170) is designed for mass gaming or gaming in an otherwise loud environment. The earcups are designed to block the ambient sound, and there's an automatic microphone mute, triggered when the boom is raised. There's even a volume control built into the right ear cup. A 14 to 22, 000 Hz frequency response is claimed.

If you can't afford a decent set of speakers, or don't want to disturb your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/roommate/roommate's girlfriend/annoying neighbor/parents/etc, a decent set of headphones is the way to play.

All are available now.

Sennheiserusa.com