We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-10-08 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
If you want a featherweight USB wired headset you can keep on all day for mobile gaming, calls and streaming, choose NUBWO HW02; if you need a single-ear USB headset built specifically for call centers, meetings and office work, choose acer USB Headset. That's the short version, and it's the honest one — these two USB wired headphones look similar on a spec sheet, but they're aimed at genuinely different desks.
• NUBWO HW02's biggest strength: an enhanced digital signal sound card in the inline control box, a noise-minimizing boom mic, and a 60-gram build that's light enough for long sessions.
• NUBWO HW02's biggest trade-off: it's an on-ear stereo headset with no active noise cancellation, and the mic is the priority — not audiophile music playback.
• acer USB Headset's biggest strength: DSP-based noise filtering with passive noise cancellation, plus USB-A/C and 3.5mm connectivity, wrapped in a single-ear design made for talk-heavy work.
• acer USB Headset's biggest trade-off: it's mono — one ear only — so it's a poor fit for anyone who wants to hear games or music in stereo.
• Who NUBWO HW02 is for: gamers, students and remote workers who want one light headset for both 3.5mm phones and USB PCs.
• Who acer USB Headset is for: call center agents, office staff and anyone who lives in meetings and wants one ear free.
The NUBWO HW02 is built around one idea: keep the headset light and keep your voice clear. At 60 grams for the headset itself, it's the kind of thing you forget you're wearing, which matters when you're several hours into a mobile gaming session or a back-to-back run of video calls. The on-ear circular earcups and plastic enclosure keep it simple and durable rather than plush, and the 27mm dynamic drivers with 32-ohm impedance and 103 dB sensitivity are tuned for easy, efficient playback — the sort of load a phone or laptop headphone jack drives without complaint.
The feature that does the real work here is the control box. NUBWO puts an enhanced digital signal sound card in the inline controls, and that's what gives you clear, natural audio whether you're on a call or listening to music in a noisy workspace. The adjustable boom mic works to minimize background noise for platforms like MS Teams, Skype and Zoom, and the inline controls let you adjust volume and mute the mic without hunting through software. There's also a mute indicator light, which sounds like a small thing until you've spent a meeting unsure whether you were actually muted.
Connectivity is where the HW02 earns its place. You get a 3.5mm connection for direct plug-in to a phone or tablet, plus detachable USB inline controls for PC and Mac calls. That dual-path design means one headset covers your phone, your laptop and your desktop — genuinely useful if you don't want to own two headsets. It also comes in 1-pack, 5-pack (individually packaged) and 10-pack (bagged) options, which tells you NUBWO expects this to land in classrooms, small teams and call floors, not just on one person's desk.
acer USB Headset: Who It's For
The acer USB Headset (model OHW325) is a specialist, not a generalist. It's a single-ear on-ear headset in black and gold, and that form factor is the whole point: one ear covered for your call, one ear open to your surroundings. If you work a front desk, a shared office, a call center floor or any job where someone might walk up to you mid-conversation, that's not a compromise — it's a requirement.
The headline feature is DSP. Acer builds in advanced Digital Signal Processing to filter out distracting background noise so your voice arrives clearly on the other end, and the headset also carries passive noise cancellation. Read those two together and you get the intended use: a noisy room, a headset that keeps you intelligible. That's exactly the "they hear you, not your office" pitch, and it's the right design goal for a meeting-and-calls device rather than a gaming one.
Connectivity is broader than the 3.5mm jack the spec sheet lists first. Acer's own naming for this model covers USB-A/C and 3.5mm, so it's designed to plug into a laptop, a desktop or a phone jack without an adapter hunt. In the box you get the headset, a cable, a storage bag and a user manual — the bag is a small but real signal that this is meant to travel between home, office and a bag. Controls are push-button, and there's a 1-year warranty.
The trade-off is straightforward and worth saying plainly: it's mono. For calls, meetings and Teams work that's an advantage — you stay aware of your surroundings and speech intelligibility is the priority. For mobile gaming, listening to music or watching anything where stereo imaging matters, a single ear is a real limitation. If you want one headset that does both work calls and entertainment, this isn't the one. If you want a dedicated work headset, it's a very focused answer.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for mobile gaming → NUBWO HW02. Stereo on-ear drivers and a 60-gram build suit long sessions; the acer's single ear can't deliver stereo game audio.
• Best for all-day comfort → NUBWO HW02. 60 grams is remarkably light, and the lightweight design is explicitly built for long calls and all-day wear.
• Best for noisy rooms → acer USB Headset. DSP processing and passive noise cancellation are the two features aimed squarely at background noise.
• Best for mixed phone-and-PC use → NUBWO HW02. The 3.5mm plug plus detachable USB inline controls cover smartphones, tablets, PCs and Macs from one headset.
• Best for plug-and-go on modern laptops → acer USB Headset. Its USB-A/C and 3.5mm support means fewer adapters when you move between machines.
• Best for buying in bulk → NUBWO HW02. The 5-pack and 10-pack options make it the practical pick for classrooms, teams or a call floor.
• Best with microphone headphones for mobile gaming → NUBWO HW02. The adjustable boom mic, mute button and mute indicator light are the features a gamer actually asks for in chat.
If I were buying one of these for myself, I'd take the NUBWO HW02. For mobile gaming specifically, the stereo on-ear design, the 60-gram weight and the boom mic with an inline mute and indicator light are the features I'd actually use every session, and the 3.5mm-plus-USB combo means it follows me from phone to laptop without a second purchase. The acer USB Headset is the better tool for a different job — a single-ear office headset where DSP noise filtering and one ear open to the room matter more than stereo. In my opinion, pick the NUBWO for play and mixed use, and the acer for pure work calls.
If your headset ends in USB-C, plug it straight into a USB-C port on your laptop, desktop or phone and the system should recognize it as an audio output and input device. If the headset ships with USB-A/C and 3.5mm options, like the acer USB Headset, use whichever matches your port and select the headset in your sound settings.
How to use usb c wired headphones on mac?
Plug the USB connector into the MacBook's USB-C port — a USB-A headset will need a USB-C to USB-A adapter. Once connected, pick the headset as the input and output device in Sound settings. Both headsets here are wired, so there's no pairing step.
An Xbox controller's 3.5mm jack is the simplest route: plug a 3.5mm headset directly into the controller. The NUBWO HW02 has a 3.5mm connection for direct plug-in, which makes it the more practical of these two for console use; a USB-only headset generally won't work through the console's USB port for game audio.
If you're weighing these two against each other, check the current price on Amazon before you commit — the specs above are what should drive the decision, but the price is the one thing that changes.
• PLT Plantronics or Beebang Headset: which is better
• ROCCAT Juke vs Jimonyer Gaming Headset: Surround Sound
• Razer BlackShark V3 vs Amazon Renewed SteelSeries Arctis Nova
• YINYOO KBEAR KS1 vs Middle Rabbit SW4: Low Latency Gaming
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
When you buy through links on this page, we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon or its affiliates. This site is an independent third-party review and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon or the product brands mentioned.