4Game

Edit: wheeeew stirred up a hornets nest. I think my point still stands though. Should "bottom-of-the-barrel" headsets sound like shit?

Just bought my first set of active headsets (Walker's Razor) in real life for use at the range. I also had an opportunity to try on a friend's headset (Sordins, ~$300, imperceptible difference). In real life they're much different than how they behave in the game.

In Tarkov, active headsets reduce ambient noise and make it easier to hear player-generated sounds.

In real life, these headsets are basically the opposite. There's a lot of amplifier "hiss" (varies with headset quality) and the fidelity of the audio is quite poor. You also loose a lot of your sense of what direction sounds are coming from. They don't turn you into someone with superhuman hearing powers at all.

They essentially exist so that you can talk to the person next to you at the range without blowing out your eardrums. They also interface with radio communication systems too, but that's not currently implemented in Tarkov so isn't really relevant.

If Tarkov wanted to attempt to be realistic, close proximity to unsuppressed weapons would cause a type of hearing loss (ringing or suppression). If you wear headsets, this effect would be lessened but you'd lose out on baseline audio fidelity.

Would be an interesting rock-paper-scissors where some would choose to go suppressed without headsets, or loud with headsets. More expensive headsets could have less hiss and clearer audio.

I am unsure if the addition of hissy, low-quality audio or ringing ears would be too annoying to justify it being a more accurate representation about what happens in real life.

Thoughts?