Which Tarkov headphones are the BEST in 2023? 

This must have taken a really long time to make. Thank you veritas for all your hard work. Love ya😊

Thank you for the video, Veritas! I suffer from tinnitus and have always felt that the headphones was personal preference, but always struggled with which ones I like. I am now doubling down on Gssh or M32 indoors as they provide me the best ability to discern noises in CQC, but if I am outdoors or moving a lot, I will use the Comtac 2 or RAC, as they cut down the ambient noise by a huge margin while still allowing me to clearly make out unique or out-of-place noises.

Unless you are a RAT, lower ambient noise while moving seems to be the best goal. Otherwise you will never hear some of the other noises over your own movement sounds.

Thanks for this Veritas. Superb work as usual. Catch ya on twitch soon!

Thanks for making this. I never knew HOW MUCH the sound of guns change with different headsets, no wonder i never learned to differentiate guns by sound.

Conclusions: 1. Having any of the headphones is better than no headphones. 2. CT2, Fast Rac, CT4 and Sordins are the best (clearer sounds, background/ambient noise is heavily reduced) 3. Fast Rac noticeably increases lower end (bass'y) volume of sounds, CT4s are more higher pitched (but it's not as noticeable as FR with the lower end) 4. Sordins are probably between FR and CT4 in terms of eq difference between lower and higher ends, but they have more background noise. 4.1. CT2 and Sordins are practically the same, but Sordins have more of the lower end. 5. There are some minor differences between XCEL, Razor, TacSport and M32, latter one being [arguably] the best of them all. 6. GSSH is in it's own world. That's what I noticed, but feel free to add to it.

At first I really loved the Fast RAC and Sordin, followed by the ComTac4 and 2. But when you start including enemy noises instead of just ambient, I think the suppression and bass boost are a little too strong on the Fast and Sordin. Also, the Fast and Sordin really warp gun sounds, it seems. ComTac4 seems to be the best sound profile, with the right amount of suppression and sound boosting. Then the other 3 I mentioned are pretty much equal to me. Really great video. Super helpful as a newer player! Edit: I forgot to mention that this was also extremely helpful to help understand how I sound to other players and sounds to listen for while playing. Which raises a question with the healing: Do different healing items sound different to other players? There's a difference in deciding to push someone injecting morphine vs pushing someone sewing a leg back together, so now I'm going to look for a comparison of medical stuff in game, haha!

I listened to each example without watching the video (so their would be no visual clue as to which headset I was listening to, in an attempt to eliminate any bias) , identifying which I preferred by number of orders, and also allowing more than 1 preference (so I could say I like numbers 1 and 2 of the bushes for example). Here's what I found. Sordin's had 10 votes overall. GSSH had 2. comtact4 had 6. razor had 6. comtact2 had 5. m32 had 2. fast Rac had 4. excel had 6. tac sport had 2 or fewer votes. I think that is all of the headsets used. Keep in mind that I found no differences between magazine swaps, enemy jumping on wood, or enemy running outdoors while player is indoors. I'm actually really shocked with the results. I have very very rarely used sordin's, but I guess I need to start experimenting. veritas, if you see this comment, would you be willing to kind of do the same experiment. maybe have someone change the order of the video so that you don't know what to expect, then write down which number in order you prefer for each category. I'd be curious to see if it is purely subjective or not.

Last time I loved the CT2 and CT4 but I was surprised to find I prefer the slightly more bass of Fast and Sordin this time around. So I guess Sordins are my new main with fast coming in when im using a compatible helmet

Sadly some headsets pickup sounds when others don’t. I used to use the M32s as they picked up more sounds when compared to what my teammates wore. That has changed and I only use the CT4 this wipe as they NEVER miss a sound. I have over 10k hours and each wipe I have a new favorite almost exclusively using sound registration versus equalizer factors. Surprisingly the GSShs register all sound too.

I haven't played EFT in months, but I thought I'd feed the algorithm.

FIRST: THANK YOU! I love your video's. They're all on point. My apologies if it's a dumb suggestion. In the future could you add listening to pmc running by while it's raining out? Thank you!

Pretty convinced CT4 is my favorite now, though I'm pleasantly surprised by the good performance of the Fast RAC - I always thought I was giving up something to use those, but turns out it's 2nd best for me, and in some cases best.

Thanks for the update even better than last time I think I still like the Xcels and walkers but I was surprised that I also like the way the CT 2 sound

Sordins and CT4 clearly stand above the rest. The fast racs are up there too. Idk if it's just the order they went in but the CT4s didnt miss a sound, while the Sordins only missed a few. I always heard sordins are the best so I'll collected them, this being my first wipe. Glad I got a bunch of em now lol

What would be nuts if you could play the audio sequences simultaneously and see if you could narrow down the subjectively 'better' ones for the given audio situation. Then have a spreadsheet ticking which scenario a specific headphone shines in. That would be numbingly strenuous though. 😮

this is something i was looking for so long. Thank you

I made it a point to get used to all of the headphones and im glad I did.. I have 4,000+ hours in tarkov and I can wear any pair and know what they do good and not good (imo). I certainly have my favorites (comtacs or m32s) but I can use any and be okay for the most part

Literally was looking for a video like this two weeks ago!

Thank you for your hard work!

This is a level of patience I have yet to develop. Thanks for the hard work!

Another superb delivery by the one and only Tarkov scientist and audiophile. Thanks mate! :))

appreciate the work you put into this stuff!

it wouldve been cool to see the visible audio profile for each of these clips, to SEE the differences

yooooooooo thank you for making this update!!! I loved the old once and had been waiting for a new one from you! Thank you thank you XD

Thanks for making this, it helps a lot!

I like the videos where u talk and explain and give opinions. They are really enjoyed.

It's funny cause i watched your headphones videos that u made 3 years ago for the 1st time and beside the fact that it was pretty interesting, i though it would be a great idea to do a new ones with all the changes and the new headpohones. we are connected bro

CM2 AND CM4. CM2 have a little bit more ambient noise but less noise on your own movement jump and so on wich that is very important to hear in the distance. I think CM4 is for outdoor scenarios on maps like woods shoreline and maybe interchange

Thank you for taking your time for this, I also I think this just hilights how unrealistic the audio is 😂

excited to have an up to date version

I appreciate these types of videos, my personal favorite RU-vid content for EFT.

Thank you so much!

Thanks for the work . Great job .

i was surprised to see some streamers wearing ggsh sets in a video i was just watching and needed to make sure that they didnt buff them in a patch or something because i just came back last night after a year or so off

Thanks Veritas! My favorite part is a deep fryer sound of rain!

Kinda sad you didn't test the only thing I really care about, enemies walking/sneak walking and especially in the rain.

I think randomizing the order of examples for each section would have been helpful. It would have helped hightlight differences, instead of grouping similar ones back to back

Hi, V! Nice tests! Were you using Binaural On or Off?

i run sordin razor and if i wanna use some really cool stuff i tend to use exel ... most of the time i use headphones that can be used with the helm i go for ... not sound is key for me ... but compatibility

Great Video as usual!

nice done. Thank you for your effort from germany

is this before or after the change in last patch?

When I saw the one about the enemy running outside while you're inside I started singing waddle baby waddle

I have always preferred the M32s. It's not that their objectively better or anything, but there is a noticeable difference now whenever I use something else. If it's not M32s, I can hear people just fine, but I just can't ever tell exactly where they are position wise.

Thank you for doing this, it was extremely helpful!

FAST RAC is what I prefer, the problem being that there's very little difference between them. I would say I can discern important details of info at the same distance with any set of headphones, with the rest being purely subjective. Looks like ima save myself some rubles.... is what I would have said if there wasn't an audio update out-dating the video. Atleast I think it does.

that head circle wiggle when jumping...freaky

CT4's and RAC's are still the best and just as expensive as always to pair I'd bet.

16:00 Are those outside stairs inside a filled pool?

YAY i always link to the older comparison vid for peeps when they ask "which is best". thanks for the update dude

4:49 that poor wall - just getting more sh*t on as the tests continue 😄

So that some Headset have the largest "hearing circle" is Not longer true?

Sordin was absolutely the most base heavy by which I mean my favorite, As someone who owns very pricy hi fi headphones I am interested in the sordins just for music.

Comtac 4 is my favorite, but the Sordin is a close second. for obvious reasons of course.

Nice video, thx!

Comtac2 and Comtac4 give me the best experience, I like how much they cut down ambient noises compared to the others

The fact that this isn't time stamped hurts my soul lol

I swear it mostly sounds the same even though I feel like there was a huge difference when I used these different ear canss

thx veritas san

You can't tell me the comtac4 aren't the best. Ambient noise is so much quieter!

For me one of the worst things about tarkov are loud jumpscaring gunshots and headshot sound. Not even cheaters deter me from tarkov as much as these horrendously loud noises lol. That's why I use sordins - nothing seems too loud in them, probably because of the bass boost.

i think my top 5 for most prefered goes Sordins, CT4, M32, XCEL, and CT2. I have to use the RAC more though, they sound interesting to me and I havent used them enough to make a call

Is it just me or do they all seem to have negligible differences between each other compared to how they used to be before oculus audio? They seem to have much less "character" between different pairs

I recommend the ATH-R70x

Thank you Veritas for this great comparison, the effort you and your helpers put into this comparison is much appreciated! However, I have a few questions regarding the influencing variables that were potentially used for this comparison and a small criticism about the presentation of the results. Which of the variables that exist in Tarkov, which are more marginal in this context as "metadata" but become more important as the wipe progresses, were considered for this comparison and what value did these variables have? I am talking explicitly about PMC skills on both sides of the comparison. How good were the corresponding skills of the information-providing PMC and how good were the skills of the perceiving PMC? Were the effects of overweight taken into account? If these did not play a role in this comparison, would you consider making a larger comparison across early wipe, mid wipe and late wipe? Last but not least, my minor criticism is that it is understandable that with the amount of headphones and testing involved, one can get a little confused with the order of the headphones. However, it is extremely helpful for the viewer if a chosen order is followed. Otherwise, it interrupts the flow and makes it difficult to classify the various results on a personal level. All in all, the video helped me a lot to deepen my own headphone preferences! Also thanks to the deepl translator to help me phrase my points exactly as they have been intended to be. 😸

CT4 is absolute king. M32 is goated if you use an equalizer and sound stop. If you're not paying 90k for the CT4s, use the sordin

ASMR video of the year.

To notice deference between these you need a more expensive headset IRL xD

GSSh-01 is very efervescente. It has efficacy and a very good efficacy. little money works

RAC, Com4, sordins still the best headsets they have a real bass and sound profile... compared to the comtac 2s sound like every sound comes out of the end of a pringles can, really tin-y Gssh/m32 is just world is loud, your deaf in every loud animation.

Any headphone that is not a Gssh is a great one for me!

comtac 4 seems to be the best for rain by this comparison

I just use ones from skier dude they work fine to me lol

Comtac 4's especially if it raining.

Watched 3 times, great content. Thank you

M32 or CT2

I love razor one. Prefer wide sound.

CT-4>m32>FastRac>GSSh для тех кто борется с противником. Sordin>Razor>XCEL>CT-2>TacSport для тех кто борется с ветром, дождем и травой, с природой в общем. //слабаки)) Советую использовать только м32, он универсален + доступен, подходит ко всем шлемам, которые позволяют носить наушники. Если не нравится звук, то купите себе гарнитуру с встроенными драйверами и/или подкрутите эквалайзер. Киберкотлетам CT-4 и точка.

I only use comtac 2. cheap and not garbage. maybe comtac 4 if im feeling spicy, and gssh if im going sniping

Comtac 2 is love

Is there a TLDR (tldw) summary?

honestly for a casual gamer it doesn't matter. I only think out loud

Personal Comment comtac 2's 20:48 17:31

Sordins for life and occasionally Tac Sports.

Bsg needs to focus primarily on audio and gunplay if those two things are good people will play if they aren't we get what we have now 60% rats 10% Chad's 30% cheaters lmao

sordins gssh comtac 2s still king

when timestamps

I think the headphones are a good thing in this game besides the fact that BSG made hearing a "skill" in the game. Combining broken Audio with supernatural hearing and headphones gives the high level players extreme advantages over people that are new to the game. Also it almost impossible to sneak or being stealthy in the game when people hear you through buildnings and floors hundred meters away.

aaaaand Comtac 4 prices are going up lol

Addendum the vid with enemy footsteps and sneaking

CT4 ALL DAY !

Headphones are a great mechanic to the game but it's absurd that without them you are basically deaf, didn't get any audio for an explosion 5m away without headphones Airdrops are aboslute ass, the headphones make them louder which is the exact oposite of what they should do (correct me if I'm wrong) Also ambient noises seem broken and your own footsteps are so loud that you cant hear anything while running

This is not a headphones video, this is an ear protection / headset video. Title is misleading.

I have my overall volume set to 70 it works really well but I also have a 1200 dollar sound system tho so that helps.

So basically, Fast Racs and Sordins are the best in-game headsets for getting jumpscared with insanely loud sounds/high pitched sounds. Because they lower high pitched sounds and you hear more of bass sounds which is better imo. I always used Sordins anyway but this video proved me once more that I am totally right. You can't use Fast Racs with every in-game headsets so Sordins are the best choice out there and they are not that expensive.

where are my *Tac Sport* homies? 🤔

lo barato is working

lol all that and they update right after

They all sound the same. Or apart from being blind I am also deaf.