Corsair isn’t the first company that jumps to mind when it comes to audio, but the Fremont, California company aims to change that with the release of its HS1 USB gaming headset.
You might think that motherboards or graphics cards would be a logical next move, given the company's forays into PC cases and power supplies, coupled with the manufacturing experience gained from its bread-and-butter memory products. But motherboards and graphics cards force tight margins and high support costs. Given VP of marketing Jim Carlton’s roots in Creative Labs and Logitech, it’s probably not a big surprise that Corsair is moving into the audio space, though. Still, there are a ton of good headsets on the market. So, Corsair decided to focus on two things: price and audio quality.
The result is a headset that won’t (pardon the pun) turn any heads for its looks, but will please your ears your wallet. The HS1 offers 50 mm drivers built into fully circumaural, close-backed cups. Completely surrounding the ear and closing the backs made the challenge of designing this headset a little easier, while simultaneously masking outside noises better than cups that partially cover the ears. The boom microphone is of the now-common noise cancelling variety, and rotates out of the way.
The inline volume control is quite large, and easy to find in the dark. The controls couldn’t be simpler: microphone mute and large, tactile buttons for increasing or decreasing volume.
Building headphones, much less a complete headset, using 50 mm drivers can result in a heavy unit with the potential to be fatiguing over long periods. The padded headrest is comfortable enough, but the cups are what set this headset apart. The ear pads are made of cloth-covered memory foam, which is easily user-replaceable. Corsair says it will be offering replacement pads directly from its Web site.
We wore the HS1 for extended listening periods (six hours in one case), and it proved to be one of the most comfortable headsets we’ve ever worn. Of the three headsets mentioned in this review, Corsair's was the only unit that didn’t actually rest on part of an ear, which made it more comfortable right out to the box.
Comfort is well and good, but audio quality needs to be up to snuff, too. The HS1 offers a variety of listening modes, from pure stereo to Dolby Headphone-enabled virtual surround sound. In direct stereo, the headset sounds as good as the excellent Steelseries Siberia V2 (which also uses 50 mm drivers) and nearly as good as a pair of dedicated Sennheiser HD 580 headphones...and the Corsair unit is more comfortable than both. The overall effect is mostly neutral, with a little bit of forwardness to the vocals. The 50 mm drivers deliver excellent detail, with subtle nuances audible in complex music material. We listened to renaissance music from the quartet Palladian Ensemble and Loreena McKennitt’s Live from the Alhambra CD, and could hear all instruments, even those barely audible at low levels.
Bass is less robust. Even with 50 mm drivers, there’s only so much you can do. Mid-bass content from rock music, like Green Day’s American Idiot and The Crane Wife from the Decemberists is solid, but deep bass effects from Blu-ray movies lacked punch.
Once we were satisfied that the stereo reproduction was up to snuff, we moved on to virtual surround in both movies and games. No virtual surround technology is perfect, and Dolby Headphones is no exception. The default settings for 7.1 seemed a little conservative, and the overall surround effect wasn’t particularly noticeable. However, Corsair’s basic-looking but easy-to-use control panel allowed us to spread the effect out a bit, and the overall sound stage did emerge from between our ears and at least across the desktop. Note that, like many similar technologies, Dolby Headphones uses HRTFs (head-related transfer functions), which tend to affect listeners differently, so your mileage may vary. Some users can’t hear HRTF effects at all.
Even in 7.1 virtual mode, the HS1 seems to retain its ability to project excellent detail, although volume levels drop a bit. However, Corsair’s headset offers a lot of dynamic range (up to 93 dBA), and a few clicks of the large, tactile inline control boost volume to ear-shattering levels without maxing out volume. We could hear every crunch, gunshot and effect during the combat scenes in Kick-Ass, but subtle background noises, like those from the quieter passages of the Band of Brothers boxed set, were clearly audible.
We also compared the HS1 to the Razer Megalodon, another 7.1 virtual surround unit, and was immediately struck by just how wide the HS1’s dynamic range appears to be. By comparison, Razer’s high-end unit’s maximum volume just couldn’t compare. We’ve also listened to the Psyko 7.1 headset with its baffled multiple drivers. But the less said about that, the better.
Finally, we fired up several games: Mass Effect / Mass Effect 2, Mafia II, Left 4 Dead 2, and Just Cause 2. Left 4 Dead 2 allowed us to try out the microphone with our teammates, and it worked like a charm, though Corsair’s control panel defaults to a mic gain of “1”, so be sure to turn it up if you want to be heard! We also recorded some voice content, and then played it back to test out the noise-canceling feature, which worked quite well. The only thing we avoided were “karaoke” effects (allowing you to alter the sound of your voice). But that capability is there, so if you’re a man who plays female characters in MMOs, you can now sound like one as well.
It’s worth noting that the HS1 was more comfortable than any headset we’ve tried, including various Razer headsets, the Steelseries Siberia V2, and the Psyko. It’s also more comfortable over the long haul than our dedicated Sennheiser HD 580 audio headphones.
In the end, Corsair has exceeded expectations. The audio quality, while not perfect, is certainly excellent overall. Factor in the high level of comfort and the $99 price tag, and you have a nearly unbeatable combination.




