Corsair HS1 USB Gaming Headset Review

Components and Design

The overall design of the HS1 is absolutely stunning and right away I was drawn to the extra padding around the ear cups and bridge. These ear cups are by far the largest I’ve ever encountered (with an interior diameter of around 55mm) with any gaming headset I’ve reviewed. However, that might not necessarily be a negative thing once we try them on. I’ll go more into this later in the review.

Both ear cups rotate 45 degrees and are lined with thick memory foam for added comfort during extended gaming sessions. The braided USB cord extends from the left ear cup where the adjustable mic boom is located. 

Here’s a close-up shot of the left ear cup where Corsair stuffed a 50mm driver. This is much larger than typical gaming headsets. Users should also take note that Corsair actually went with a USB connection instead of conventional audio/mic jacks that can be used with high-end sound cards from Creative and other vendors. This means that any new gamers can enjoy 7.1 surround sound without any extra hardware because Corsair provides all the software and drivers they will need to start their surround sound gaming experience right out of the box.

The HS1 was gorgeously designed using a silver and dark grey color scheme with black accents on the memory foam ear pads, adjustable mic boom, and comfortable bridge. the overall quality of the headset seems very sturdy and the adjustable ear cups that can be moved 45 degrees to allow gamers to take off the HS1s with ease. 

The top of the bridge includes an embossed Corsair logo that adds the company’s branding in an inconspicuous way. The bridge includes the same memory foam found in the ear cups, which gives gamers more padding than conventional gaming headsets. We’ll hold judgement on the validity of this extra padding to ensure it works well during extended periods of gaming, movie watching, and listening to music.

Another key aspect of the HS1 is the uni-directional, noise-cancelling microphone on an adjustable boom. The boom swivels from the front of the headset to the top of the left side of the bridge. It’s not flexible, but seems to go in the correct position without any need to tweak the mic’s position manually.

Corsair also created a simple and effective volume control button on the braided USB cord that includes buttons to increase and decrease the volume as well as for muting the microphone. There are LED lights that illuminate each volume control button, which is a nice touch that should work well during dark gaming sessions.

Lastly, we wanted to show our readers a quick shot of the braided USB cord that measure about three meters in length. This should be more than adequate for gamers who put their rigs under their desks or behind their LCD screens during LAN parties.