Once you’ve used a gaming headset while playing a first-person horror game, or an intense battle royale where you need to have acute awareness of everything around you—from distant gunshots to footsteps on the other side of a door—you realise how important sound is to the experience. Yes, gaming headsets double up as tools to prevent annoying your housemates or neighbours, but primarily they’re there to give you immersion and advantages. Surrounding you with deep directional sound, a good gaming headset puts you in the zone.
Gaming hardware veteran Corsair knows this of course, and has been refining the tech in its headsets for years. So let’s take a tour of the armoury and check out Corsair’s latest line of headsets.
Corsair HS65
Corsair HS65 Wireless (£120/$120) | Corsair HS65 Surround (£80/$80)
Corsair’s flagship HS65 headset comes in two flavours: Wireless and Surround.
The Corsair HS65 Wireless boasts an impressive 50ft wireless range and omni-directional mic, letting you stay in comms with your team while you go to the fridge and crack open another energy drink. Once you’re in the action, you’ll be able to detect enemy movements with precision thanks to Dolby Audio 7.1 Surround Sound, and the lightweight aluminium-coated chassis and leatherette earpads will keep you comfortable all day (and all night, if it calls for it—the 24-hour battery has you covered).
The HS65 Surround offers much the same high-quality build and specs as the Wireless, but is connected to your rig via a 3.5mm audio cable or USB.
Both headsets also come with SoundID, SonarWorks’ software which lets you tailor a sound profile to your ears.
Corsair HS55
Corsair HS55 Wireless (£100/$100) | Corsair HS55 Stereo (£60/$60)
The HS55 Wireless offers many of the same advantages as the HS65—long range, long battery life, and Dolby Audio 7.1 surround sound to keep you tuned into those sweet sounds. The custom-tuned 50mm neodymium audio drivers (a feature of every Corsair headset) deliver phenomenal range to pull you into the gaming space, while the lightweight construction (a mere 266g) and leatherette ear pads will see you through those late sessions.
With the HS55 Stereo, you can game on a budget while still maintaining high audio quality. The 3.5mm audio cable means you don’t ever need to think about battery life, while the high-quality stereo sound is more than enough for most gaming purposes.
Corsair HS80 Wireless (£160/$150)
The HS80 Wireless is the elegant premium headset for the discerning gamer. The aluminium-reinforced build and breathable memory foam earpads will prevent all cases of sweaty-head syndrome, and the combo of Corsair’s Slipstream sound tech with Dolby Atmos (available only on PC) make for unparalleled immersion. Corsair’s bespoke 50mm neodymium audio drivers are included as standard.
It has a 60ft range, and up to 20 hours of battery life in one sitting, so don’t be surprised if you forget this lightweight piece of tech is on your head throughout those late-nighters.
Are you ready to go all the way, or simply aren’t prepared to settle for anything other than the best in gaming acoustics? Then we present to you the Virtuoso XT. This is Corsair’s premium headset, simultaneously capable of utilising either Bluetooth or Slipstream audio tech to deliver hyper-fast latency-free sound across multiple devices.
The lightweight aluminium construction and plush memory foam ear cushions offer maximum comfort, and you get the very best sound tech here with Dolby Atmos’ immersive spatial audio. The broadcast-quality mic, meanwhile, is perfect for those in the streaming and video content game.
Your journey with Corsair doesn’t need to end with the headset. To keep up with all the great products and innovations from Corsair, check out their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages to stay synced up with one of gaming’s most important hardware manufacturers.