Corsair HS1 USB Gaming Headset Review

Final Thoughts, Pricing, Conclusion

Final Thoughts

After more than four weeks of grueling FPS gaming, movies, and music listening, I can confidently say the Corsair HS1 headphones have the right combination of comfort, style, and functionality that gamers are looking for in a multi-purpose gaming headset. The overall size of the ear cups may be a bit daunting for some consumers, but I was able to easily adjust to their dimensions and enjoy a superb sound experience in several gaming titles like Left 4 Dead 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops. While the extra padding helped make the HS1 headphones more comfortable, the ear cups did seem to be a bit hot to wear after a couple hours of gaming. The memory foam around the ear cups is very full, but they might need to tweak it a bit and even use a different material to decrease heat and perspiration for gamers.

While the overall performance during testing was phenomenal, there were a few minor issues that gamers and consumers should be aware of when they purchase the HS1 headphones. The biggest issue we noticed with these headphones was the need to make minor adjustments to the sound quality if you were trying to use them during gaming, movies, or music listening. Each time we switched to different tasks we had to go back and make minor changes to the sound to ensure it was matched up perfectly whether we were fragging enemies in COD Black Ops or listening to the Black Eyed Peas in iTunes.

Pricing

The Corsair HS1 Gaming Headset is available at Newegg.com for $99.99 before shipping. These headphones can also be purchased from Amazon.com for $99.99 and Best Buy for $109.99.

Conclusion

Courtesy of Corsair

We’d like to thank our friends at Corsair for providing their first ever USB gaming headphones for our review today. Whenever Corsair seems to take on a new endeavor, they get the right people on board to manage those new products to ensure they are successful. The Corsair HS1 falls in line with these statements and gave me the best 7.1 surround sound experience I’ve ever heard from several Dolby-specific products I’ve tested this year. While the synthetic surround sound experience might not appeal to everyone, those who can manually adjust the sound settings properly will get optimal sound in many of their favorite FPS games as well as when they watch high-definition movies and even listening to their favorite playlist in iTunes. 

The HS1’s true “claim to fame”, in my opinion, is the overall design of the entire headset itself from the oversized ear cups to the large bridge across the top of the device. I’ve never seen memory foam incorporated into gaming headphones before, and they seemed to provide the right amount of comfort during long stints of gaming. Gamers should not hesitate on dropping the cash for the HS1 headphones if they are looking for a quality set of 7.1 surround sound headphones that provide the right amount of comfort, performance, and style.

Strengths

• Comfortable, oversized 50mm drivers
• Replaceable memory foam ear pads
• Dolby 7.1 surround sound technology

Weaknesses

• Sound control panel difficult to use for beginners
• Adjustable boom for mic a bit bulky