When it comes to gaming headphones, players look for functionality, affordability, and sound quality. The Klipsch KG-200 Pro Audio Wired Gaming Headset is functional and works with many game consoles, but it doesn’t exactly satisfy with affordability or audio quality. Its $129.99 price tag is high for a wired gaming headset, and it isn’t justified by its performance or design.

Design
The Klipsch KG-200 is a circumaural (over-ear) headset with a black-and-gray matte finish. The earcups can pivot for a better fit, and to let the headset hang around your neck more comfortably. While it managed to fit around my big head, I felt a constant pinching around my ears while wearing it. Adjusting its height didn’t relieve the pinching at all, and prolonged use caused a slight but uncomfortable pressure around my ears. The earcups feature a gray, mesh-like pattern that feels soft to the touch. However, I found myself scratching my ears because of the unusual texture.

The controls sit on a panel on the right earcup along with an indicator LED. There’s a large Volume Up/Down rocker surrounded by four buttons. One switches between equalizer presets, one mutes and unmutes the microphone, and the other two let you adjust either game audio or voice volume with the rocker switch. The volume rocker is easy to feel during use because of its jutting arrow tips for Volume Up/Down. The surrounding buttons are a smooth matte finish and feature textured icons that describe each button’s function. The buttons are slightly separated, but for someone with big fingers like me, it was very easy to accidentally press two at the same time.

The headset’s tiny LED indicator glows solid or flashes red or blue, depending on the situation. Some of the patterns are simple: a solid blue light means the headset is on, while a flashing red and blue light means some functions are muted. But after a week of use, I still had trouble memorizing the indicators and had to constantly look back to the owner’s manual.

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A detachable and flexible microphone locks into the bottom of the left earcup. Unfortunately, there is no proper place to store it when it’s not in use, other than bending it away from your mouth and making sure it’s muted.

Setup
The KG-200 works with PCs, the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and the PlayStation 4. (It also works with the Xbox One if you buy the $24.99 Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter(Opens in a new window).) Setting up the KG-200 is more complicated than you would think for a wired headset. For example, the attached nine-foot wire splits into a USB connector and two 3.5mm plugs for audio and microphone. With a PC, you need to connect all three plugs—including hooking up the USB connector to an included power adapter, which is then inserted in the USB port in order to power the headset.

Setting it up with consoles requires even more connections and cables. Whether you use composite, component, or HDMI, you need to output audio through RCA, and use the included splitter on the game console to connect the RCA output to the headset’s headphone connection. The splitter is short, so even with a nine-foot cable, you’ll need to get pretty close to the screen. In order to chat, you must use a separate cable (also included) that connects to the controller. The cable works with Xbox 360, Xbox One, and the PlayStation 4. Unlike the PlayStation 4, the PlayStation 3 does not require the chat cable, but you’ll need to change the sound settings on the console for audio output and chat.

The result is a frustrating maze of cables and connections, with no proper method for keeping the wires free of tangles when not in use (I recommend twist ties). At least the Plantronics RIG ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , another wired headset, has a rubber clip to keep its shorter wire out of the way.

Performance
The KG-200 certainly delivers on bass. Explosions and gunfire sounded intense in Team Fortress 2, even when the action was far away. Unfortunately, the loud bass masks the treble; footsteps and opening doors can only be heard if there aren’t any loud explosions nearby, and the higher frequencies seem toned down even when it’s otherwise quiet.

Voice chat from others players comes through clearly, but the microphone produces loud feedback for those on the receiving end. In-game music seems to strike a good balance: It’s distinct in the background and slightly louder than voice chat, but doesn’t overpower the bass-heavy sound effects. All of those things together add up to mediocre sound for gaming.

For comparison, I used a less-expensive pair of $99.99 Sennheiser HD 439 headphones, which doesn’t include a boom mic and isn’t designed to be a gaming headset. While the bass wasn’t as strong during gameplay, the overall sound quality was excellent. The same deep explosions and gunfire weren’t as loud as the KG-200, which made it easier to hear enemy movement in the higher frequencies and to get a sense of stereo positioning. In a back-to-back test with the HD 439s, a heavy gunner’s sound effects transferred noticeably from the left earcup to the right earcup as he traveled across the area in front of me, which wasn’t the case with the KG-200.

The KG-200’s emphasis on bass carries on when you listen to music. The Knife’s “Silent Shout” features a heavy bass synth, and at full volume the headset had no distortion. In Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets,” on the other hand, the bass guitar oddly takes center stage, and drowns out the much more important piano in this track.

I also tried to test the four preset EQ modes, but I didn’t hear much of an appreciable difference. Turning on and off the chat, adjusting the volume, and muting the mic all worked in my tests, if preceded by loud and annoying clicking sounds.

My biggest issue with the KG-200 is the ever-present hiss. It’s not loud, but it becomes a particular nuisance during quieter moments of gameplay and music. If you’re just using the headset’s audio output, the hiss is slightly noticeable. Turning on the chat audio and mic actually increases the white noise volume to where it competes with in-game audio. The headset’s loud bass partially masks the white noise, but even then it’s still noticeable. At first I thought it was a connection issue, but after reinserting the jacks and USB and muting the chat and mic functions, the white noise was still there.

The KG-200 headset provides a frustrating, flawed gaming experience. Its tight fit is uncomfortable, its many cable connections are awkward, and its sound quality is mediocre. I would go with the same-price Plantronics RIG, which is more comfortable to wear and sounds noticeably better. Or save your money and grab the Tritton Kama, which offers surprisingly good in-game and music quality for only $29.99. If you’re thinking about making the jump to wireless headsets, the Editors’ Choice Skullcandy PLYR 1 Gaming Headset offers great sound quality, although it’s $50 more than the KG-200.