Best PC Gaming Headset: Corsair CA-HS1NA Gaming Audio Series HS1 USB Gaming Headset

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Product Details

Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 11.8 x 18.8 inches ; 8 ounces
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
ASIN: B0041RRNLC
Item model number: CA-HS1NA

List Price : ~~$129.99~~
Price : $84.97
You Save : $45.02 (35%)

Product Description

Style: USB
From the Manufacturer
The USB headset for gamers who care about audio
If you're like most gamers, you use your computer--and your headset--for more than just gaming. You listen to music, watch movies, and even use voice chat applications like Skype. The Corsair Gaming Audio Series HS1 was designed for you. With its massive 50mm drivers and careful acoustic engineering, the HS1 delivers amazing audio quality, clarity, and depth for the competitive advantage you need in your games. But that's just the beginning... movie soundtracks will come alive with full virtual surround sound, and you'll enjoy detailed, uncolored music reproduction that's beyond anything you've experienced in a typical gaming headset.
Built for comfort
The noise-isolating, closed-back circumaural design helps keep noise out, so you can keep your head in the game. With its padded headband, extra-large earcups, and replaceable memory foam earpads, the HS1 fits comfortably around your ears without binding or pinching, making the HS1 easy to wear for hours of non-stop gaming. And since they're covered with breathable microfiber fabric, you'll find them cooler, too.
Dolby® Headphone technology for virtual multi-channel surround

Listening fatigue is a common problem with headphones and headsets. It's caused by having isolated drivers delivering the right and left channels independently to each ear, making the audio seem to come from inside your head. Dolby Headphone technology brings the audio "out of your head", adding a natural sounding balance and spaciousness. Advanced audio processing, including psychoacoustic modeling, lets you get the most out of multi-channel games and movies, putting you in the environment in a way that ordinary stereo headsets simply can't match. You can even transform ordinary stereo sound sources like MP3s into an immersive virtual 5.1 surround sound experience.Dolby and the Double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories.
Advanced audio customization

The HS1 control panel for Windows allows you to choose stereo, 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, and even choose the exact position of the virtual audio sources. You can select from multiple room sizes and environments for just the right amount of realism, and exploit the amazing dynamic range of the 50mm drivers across the entire frequency spectrum by tuning the equalization to match your media and your style. You can even change your voice in Skype and multiplayer games to amuse your friends and confuse your enemies.
What the experts are saying about the Corsair Gaming Audio Series HS1

"Bottom line: the Corsair HS1...is the best gaming headset we've come across and is certainly worthy of a recommendation if you're looking for a premium sound from a premium product." - Hexus.net, September 2010

"The comfort level of the Corsair HS1 USB Gaming Headset was nothing short of spectacular. The combination of the thick memory foam and absorbent cloth fabric is a great match and to be honest, it makes us wonder why more companies don't do this...The Corsair HS1 USB Gaming Headset is a great entry to the audio market and we have to give Corsair the thumbs up on their efforts."- Legit Reviews, September 2010

"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."- Tom's Hardware Guide, September 2010

"The HS1's sound is generally excellent, with high-end and mid-range tones particularly detailed and clear; female vocals in particular sound deliciously smooth and natural... The Corsair HS1 is a headset capable of high-quality audio that's also supremely comfortable to wear over long periods - a rare feat indeed. More than a few times during our testing we looked around our desks for the HS1 only to realise we were still wearing it – it really is that comfy!"- Bit-tech.net, September 2010
The Corsair Advantage
With more than 15 years of building enthusiast-grade memory and components, we've earned a reputation for quality, compatibility, and performance. Need help? Our highly-regarded technical support staff is available by phone, email or the web.
Product Information

Package contents

High-performance headset with USB connector, inline volume control/microphone mute, and replaceable memory foam earpads
Driver/Utility CD for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP
Quick Start Guide

Headphone Specifications

20Hz to 20KHz frequency response (limited by the USB audio specification) `
32 Ohms impedance at 1KHz
93dB A-weighted dynamic range
Consumes just 250mW of power from your USB port
Custom engineered 50mmm drivers with 24mm copper-wound voice coils
Extra-large circumaural earcups with a closed-back, noise-isolating design
Replaceable, memory-foam earpads with moisture-resistant microfiber covers
Adjustable, padded headband, with pivots to pack flat for travel or storage
Includes attached 3 meter USB cable with inline volume control and Type-A USB connector

Microphone Specifications

Unidirectional, noise-cancelling condenser mic in an adjustable, rotating boom
2.2K Ohms impendance and frequency response of 200Hz to 10KHz, +/- 2dB
Sensitivity is -45dB (+4dB / -2dB)

The Gaming Audio Series HS1 USB Gaming Headset is designed for gamers who are serious about audio. Massive 50mm drivers deliver serious gaming punch, without sacrificing the sparkling sound quality you need to enjoy music and movies.Dolby Headphone surround sound gives you a competitive edge, and the noise-cancelling microphone ensures that your teammates and opponents hear you loud and clear. Extra-large earcups and fabric covered memory foam earpads provide a firm fit and excellent noise isolation without binding or pinching, so you’ll keep your cool and keep your head in the game for hours of playtime. The extra-large inline volume and microphone controller is easy to grab when things get fast, and the HS1 is designed and crafted with high-quality materials for years of use.

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Technical Details

Massive 50mm drivers for high-quality audio reproduction
Frequency response tuned to deliver serious gaming punch without sacrificing audio quality for music and movies
Circumaural, closed-back earcups for superior noise isolation
Replaceable memory foam earpads with fabric covers for a firm fit without binding or pinching
Microphone: Unidirectional noise-cancelling condenser with flexible, rotating boom

Customer Reviews

I've worked in studios and have demo'd TONS of audio gear over the years. I know what a good DAC (Digita-Analogue Converter) sounds like, and I know what a crappy one sounds like. Music is probably the hardest source material to be objective about when it comes to the listening experience -- everyone has their opinion, but almost nobody but studio rats really "get it" in terms of true flat response. Do these have perfect response? No. It's just not hyped sound -- there's no built in "smiley face" EQ or any nonsense coloring the sound. Well, actually, there is, but it's made to flatten the output as well as it can -- and it does. People complain about "harsh highs" listening to music with this headset...THEIR SOURCE MATERIAL IS LOW QUALITY! Of COURSE an over-compressed MP3 file is going to sound TERRIBLE on any halfway decent DAC. Throw in a good recording of something recently done on a CD or something of equal quality (nice M4A at 256kbps or equivalent) and you're golden.
That's just music. I mention this first because that was my ONLY CONCERN buying this unit. I read review after review of "harsh highs" and "not enough bass" which makes me sick. The bass is there, it's just instead of anything past 500hz was normally smeared all down the spectrum making it indiscernible from the rest of the noise your noggin was bogged down with all these years.
The problem I have with this headset is all that dolby headphone simulation stuff sounds HORRID. Any time you turn it on its like it takes the beautiful bits sound and turns them into bigger, less precise blocks of noise. Yes, it DOES sound like its in a bigger room, or directionally correct based on how you set it, it just sounds horrible. Leave it on 5.1 or 7.1 surround with none of those buttons turned on and it sounds GREAT! Even for stereo source material -- it just processes it better. Another thing you definitely want to do is go into your sound settings and set it to 24 bit audio 96khz output -- the converter is actually decent at these rates.
The mic does a decent job of filtering out noises without putting a hard and fast reducer algorithm so it still sounds natural, and you can hear noise in the room, its just lower. You can set that to 16bit 48khz, as well.
Theres TONS of volume on this thing -- just keep it at a reasonable level and it'll treat you right. Use the mixer on windows 7 to your advantage. Set the output on the programs (itunes, skype, video games) to max (or close to it) and mix the sound in using the control panel -- definitely the way to go.
I could go on (as you can tell), but suffice it to say, this is worth at least double the price in terms of usefulness, it doesn't seem like it will ever break, the audio is WONDERFUL (but you won't be used to its precision if you've never taken audio seriously before).
To the reviewer who said this was not for audio purists, I submit it ONLY suitable to audio purists, and to those not afraid to venture deeper into the audio world for extracurricular activities.
This is a great one-stop-shop for a laptop audio solution.
Windows 7 64bit, btw.

I compared the Corsair HS1NA headphones against my Audio Technica ATH-M45 and a pair of American Audio HP 550's. I primarily use these as headphones and did not thoroughly test the microphone capabilities.
The Pros:
I immediately noticed how comfortable the Corsair headphones are to wear. The tension isn't too tight, and the velvet covered ear pieces are very soft. They wear snug enough to do a good job isolating the audio but do not feel too tight like many other noise isolating headphones. These can easily be worn for hours on end - this is not something I can do with my Audio Technica's or the American Audio's.
Sound quality is very, very good for this price range of headphone. I was impressed with how honest the playback was on my reference tracks with all settings baselined. Recording aside, I found the control panel and it's variety of spacial and EQ settings very cool. The mixer section allows you to mix in from 3 sources - Wave, Software Synth, and CD Player. This is incredibly useful if you want to listen to your own music while playing your video game - you can mix in the desired level between the two sources. The environment settings (reverbs/delays) range from rooms to arenas to very extreme. The "auditorium" and "forest" were my favorite settings for adding a "live" sound to music. The settings do a good job of dividing up a stereo signal into a much more lively and spacial experience. I found the 10 band EQ to be quite good - there are 11 useful presets, or you can adjust to your liking and save your settings. The EQ has an enormous impact; even the slightest modifications are very noticeable. I found this useful for mixing the audio against the game I was playing so the music could sit in the mix without covering up the sound effects from the game.
The Cons:
The only `con' I can really find is that these are only USB headphones and lack an option or adaptor for a 1/8" or 1/4" inch plug. These obviously are designed for users gaming on a computer so it might not be a fair comparison, but I wish I had the flexibility to use these on my iPhone or to plug into my receiver or mixing console.
Overall these are incredibly flexible, great sounding, and comfortable wearing headphones. The audio control panel is a bonus in my opinion, and set these apart from all my other headphones.