The Sharkoon Skiller SGH50 is an excellent affordable gaming headset. For a mere €60, you're getting a headset that's built well, has a terrific microphone, sounds good, and, perhaps most importantly, is extremely easy to drive, which comes as great news to everyone whose sound card doesn't pump out a lot of power. With a specified sensitivity of 112 dB, you can drive this thing with a potato and it will still play loudly.

The headset is quite bulky and wide, but its weight is kept under control by a dual-headband design and pair of exceptionally thick pleather ear pads. While comfortable for regular gaming sessions, quite a bit of heat building up under those massive pads is expected when using the Skiller SGH50 for a longer time. As long as you can find a minute or two to take it off and give your ears a chance to breathe, you should be fine.

For the price, the sound quality is very good, especially if you're into multiplayer shooters, where the Skiller SGH50 shines. Its boosted treble will provide you with a ton of information about your surroundings and create a sense of openness of the sound in the process. This is one of the main points of differentiation between the Sharkoon Skiller SGH50 and €38 SPC Gear VIRO Infra (reviewed here), my favorite budget analog gaming headset currently on the market. The Sharkoon Skiller SGH50 sounds significantly more expansive and airy. Compared to it, it's almost like the VIRO Infra has a thin veil over its midrange. On the other hand, the VIRO Infra has substantially more thickness and impact in the low end and is more compact and comfortable to wear, largely because of its perforated cloth ear pads. If the bass is what you're after, you'll be happy to find out that the Skiller SGH50 doesn't lack it. Should you want it in higher quantities, you can resort to equalization. The built-in speaker drivers respond extremely well to equalization, giving you a lot of room to play with.

Perhaps the best aspect of the Sharkoon Skiller SGH50, and one of the key reasons why I think it deserves our Great Value badge, is its detachable omnidirectional microphone. It is quite possibly the best microphone I ever heard on a sub-$100 gaming headset bar none. Definitely do check the microphone performance page of this review to have a listen.

The only remaining issue with the Sharkoon Skiller SGH50 is its nonavailability in the United States. This is the second excellent affordable analog gaming headset in a row that's a European exclusive. If and when that changes, I'll happily update this review to bring the good news to our US-based readers.