Originally Posted by
Gredival
This will be your cheapest option. Buying a gaming headset is about convenience over quality.
Two exceptions where you might want to buy a headset.
1. If you have a really good sound card, you may get something out getting a pair of Astro's which have higher quality speakers than normal gaming headsets. They are nothing you can't get in a normal high quality pair of plain headphones, but if you don't want to keep switching them onto your computer but want good quality sound on your computer set, maybe it's worth the luxury tax for you.
2. If you play a lot of games where you benefit from directional sound cues then you may want a surround sound headset. These come in both virtual USB types and surround sound sets that have multiple positional speakers inside the headset cup. From experience, you actually really can tell which speaker the sound comes from, and therefore where the source is relative to you. Regular headsets do a pretty good job emulating this, but the investment may be worth it if you play primarily FPS style games. It wasn't too useful for me.