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Best Headset for Dead By Daylight

By Everett Zarnick

* As an Audeze Sponsor, GamingTopTens does make a commission if anyone buys a product from our affiliate links below.

Dead by Daylight (DBD) is a game that’s tied to a 40/40/20 rule. That is, 40% audio queues, 40% mind games, and 20% visual queues. The last two are pretty important, but come with playing time. If you have more than 500 hours in the game, you likely know exactly what I’m talking about: 40% mind games are important for both killer and survivors, and the 20% visual queues are things like spotting survivors, keeping track of exhaustion / hex perks, and locating key areas of the map while you play.

That first part of the deal, though: the “Audio queues.” That’s something that requires some decent hardware, no matter how many hours you put into the game. Because of this, we’re going to go over the ideal headset for Dead by Daylight players so that anyone can take advantage of the in-game audio to the fullest degree. 

Why a Good Gaming Headset is Needed for Dead By Daylight

DBD is game that’s filled with purposefully obfuscated audio. Fire barrels crackle like survivor footsteps, grass rustling in the distance may or may not be caused by a stealth killer, and all audio put off by killers and survivors is distorted by chase music in the heat of the moment. 

This is why having a good gaming headset is absolutely necessary for high level DBD players. Not only is the audio you’re listening for very locationally dependent and varied, depending on who you’re playing against, but BHVR tries their damndest to make sure hearing said audio is hard to begin with. With an average headset these queues mesh together into one big pot of rustles, half-steps, and maybe what were moans of pain in the distance. With a good headset, that big pot of audio turns into nothing but clarity. 

Best Headset for Dead By Daylight - Audeze Penrose

Our headset of choice for Dead by Daylight players is the Penrose, by Audeze. The reasons for this are numerous, but we’ll start with the most important factor: its price. Audeze is known for making the highest quality audiophile headsets on the market (and not just for gamers), but the fact that they’ve listed up the gaming-focused Penrose at the mid-range price of $300 USD means that Penrose users have access to the best price to performance ratio on the market today. 

Additionally, the construction of the headset is ideal for DBD in a number of ways. First, the 100mm Planar Magnetic drivers are often twice the size of what you’d find in a generic headset. This means that instead of getting a jumbled mess of treble and bass (most of which is provided by chase music), you’ll clearly be able to distinguish the two without either pronouncing itself too much. 

On top of that, the Penrose features some extraordinarily convenient accessibility options that don’t stop at the fact that it’s compatible with PS5, Xbox One / Series X, and PC. It also features 2.4GHz wireless connectivity to your devices for an experience that’s equivalent to a wired connection in terms of input lag. Of course, it also has a wired connection for those who’d rather not fiddle with battery timings, though both options are available through the same standard selection. 

Of course, it wouldn’t be a gaming headset without the microphone. If you ever plan on playing with friends, or are a high-level player who frequently 4-stacks at high ranks, you’ll be happy to know that the Penrose also has a detachable microphone that features a max SPL level of 140 dB, with 20dB dedicated to the built-in microphone filters for more clarity and elimination of background noise.   

Check Price on Audeze

Conclusion

Dead by Daylight’s audio is one of the more important aspects of its competitive nature. Without it, a great survivor is always going to be caught unaware and a great killer is going to be at an almost sure loss when mindgaming and searching for immersed survivors. That’s why we recommened any Dead by Daylight player, whether high leveled or new, to use the Penrose for the best horror filled experience.

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