Corsair HS70 Wireless Gaming Headset Review

Corsair makes a variety of gaming peripherals that keep you in the game longer and more comfortably. One of their latest additions is the Corsair HS70 Wireless Gaming Headset. With more people looking to clean up their gaming environment, freeing themselves from being tethered to cables, the HS70 could be a great option for one fewer cable-connected device.

Box Contents and Feature Highlights

When you open up the box, you will see the HS70 neatly tucked into a injected-mold container. The accessories that come with it are neatly placed in a little compartment you can pop out. Included in the box are the headset itself, the micro-USB charging cable, the USB dongle and the detachable microphone. There are also the standard quick start guide and warranty guide.

Features

The Corsair HS70 is a wireless gaming headset with some features that may put it ahead of others in its price range:

• Virtual 7.1 Surround Sound (PC only)
• Premium Build Quality
• Ultimate Comfort
• Crystal Clear Microphone
• On-Ear Control
• Discord Certified
• Superior Wireless Performance with Low-latency
• PlayStation 4 Support

Specifications

A Closer Look at the Corsair HS70 Wireless Gaming Headset

There are three color combos to choose from with the Corsair HS70: the Carbon, Black and White, and Rose Gold. For this particular review, we have the Black and White style. It is a nice change to have a headset that is not all black like previous ones I have used.

The styling is similar to the previous entry level Corsair headsets, like as the HS50 and HS60. The ear cups have a rigid plastic enclosure with metal accents and pivot to fit a variety of head shapes. The backs of the ear cups have a mesh grill that make it look like they are open-backed, but they are not, which will help isolate the sounds to you and not the environment around you.

There are reasons why an open-back design is desired, but at this price point, you won’t see that. The ear cups do not rotate 90 degrees to sit flat if you take it off; it would be nice if more headsets on the market supported that feature.

The headband slider is made of metal and has size markings engraved into it. Adjustments are easily made with each mark giving a bit of a “click” while you slide the ear cups up and down.

Moving up to the headband, you will notice the white stitching accent on the faux-leather finish. The padding is good and comfortable for the top of the head; this will provide many hours of use without the headset becoming uncomfortable.

The ear cups themselves are made with a plush memory form and are very comfortable to wear for long periods of time. They are large enough that they should cover most people’s ears as well.

The ear cups also hold the various controls for the headset and wireless functionality. The right ear cup has the power button, the left earcup has the volume control, mute button, USB charging port and the microphone port. The mute and volume controls are easy to access and use.

I love how the Corsair HS70 Wireless Gaming Headset has a detachable microphone. I wish all gaming headsets had that feature. That means I can bring it into the office and use it as a regular headset to listen to music without the nerdy look of having a microphone attached.

Then there is the microphone itself which is unidirectional. That means it helps only pick up the sounds in front of it such as your voice. Remove a plastic plug in the left ear cup and plug the microphone in with its 3.5mm jack. The microphone boom is flexible and can be moved into any position necessary.

Performance

As with most gaming headsets, you can just plug it in and play. The included USB dongle needs to be plugged into an available USB port on your computer though for this headset to work. Being a Corsair product, the CUE or Corsair Utility Engine will recognize the headset and allow you to check the charge level of the headset. The Corsair HS70 also supports Virtual Surround on the PC.

The CUE software will allow you to switch the headset from stereo sound to virtual surround. The headset, at the time of this review, does not seem to work when it is plugged in with the USB charging cable though, which is a shame, but you can charge it via the cable and still use the headset while it is connected via the USB 2.4GHz dongle.

The comfort of the Corsair HS70 Wireless Gaming Headset is great. The plush memory foam ear cups allow for extended use without discomfort. I also did not experience any “sweaty ears” with prolonged use, unlike with other headsets in the past. The headband is comfortable as well. As mentioned earlier, the ear cups are large enough to go around most people’s ears, which for me, is a preferred thing. I personally find headsets that sit on top of the ears uncomfortable.

The overall construction of the headset is great. It does not feel cheap and plastic-like. The weight on the head is not too bad and the memory foam helps with comfort.

The Corsair HS70 also supports use on the Sony PlayStation 4, so I checked that out as well. I plugged in the USB dongle and it instantly recognized it and switched over to the headset. Being a parent, it is great that I can make use of a wireless headset with the PS4 so that I do no wake up the kids when I am doing any late night console gaming.

The headset did such a good job that while playing The Last Of Us (Remastered), I didn’t realize that my son had gotten up and had been watching me play. The headset blocked the ambient noise as I didn’t hear him walking on the hardwood floor. One down side is that the HS70 does not support the use of the Virtual Surround Sound under the PS4, which is a shame as that would be pretty cool.

I also tried the Corsair HS70 out at work on my Ubuntu 16.06 desktop. At first, I had some issues but that was quickly resolved with creating a little script that allowed the USB dongle not to interfere the the mouse click events.

corsairID=$(xinput --list | grep -i "Corsair HS70 Wireless" | grep -oP '.*id=\K[0-9]+')
if [ -z "$corsairID" ]; then
    echo "Corsair HS70 Not Found"
else
    xinput set-int-prop $corsairID "Device Enabled" 8 0
fi

It looks like under Ubuntu (perhaps other Linux distros as well), the USB wireless dongle shows up as mouse hardware and you need to configure one of the values so that the headset’s buttons wont be interpreted as a mouse and override whatever mouse you are currently using. Gaming hardware is typically lacking support under Linux distributions but I was glad I could get it to work.

Wireless Performance

This is the first wireless headset I have used extensively and I have found it to be quite a positive experience. The range is pretty good; Corsair says it has up to 40 ft range and depending on what is in your environment, I found the range to be a bit less than that before the audio started to cut out. I can easily pop into the kitchen to get a snack or a drink, check on the kids when they are sleeping, or pop outside.

The Corsair HS70 is running on a 2.4GHz band like some Wi-Fi devices and even your microwave oven, so your range and experience may vary depending how “noisy” your environment is. For my particular gaming setup, I have a Corsair K63 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard and the Corsair DarkCore RGB Wireless gaming mouse all running wirelessly and the headset runs perfectly fine. There are even other 2.4GHz wireless devices in our home that would add to the noise and none of my wireless gaming peripherals had issues.

The battery can hold roughly a 16-hour charge and after about 4 days of using the headset, I had to finally plug it in to charge. Not bad for a wireless headset that’s being used almost 8 hours a day. Luckily, you can still charge the headset while using it, but it will only work if you still have the wireless dongle connected to your computer. The USB port on the headset is strictly for charging the headset.

One thing I did notice with the CUE software is that the HS70 does not have the option to display the battery charge icon on the system tray for Windows 10 like the Corsair keyboard and Corsair mouse I have.

Audio Performance

To test the audio performance of the Corsair HS70, I listened to a variety of music from a variety of streaming and non-streaming sources. Of course, I also took the headset for a test run through a couple of different games, such as Fortnite (PC), 7 Days to Die (PC), and The Last of Us (PS4).

With most gaming headsets I have used, they tend to be a bit heavier on the bass. The Corsair HS70 is not much different as it is a bit heavier on the bass but not overpowering. The great part is that it doesn’t get in the way of the vocals on games or music. The vocals come in crisp and clear which can be important if you are chatting with friends or listening to NPCs.

The range on this headset is pretty good and I enjoyed the various music I have pushed through it. I’m sure audiophiles could get more into the nitty-gritty of the Corsair HS70, but a headset that lets me enjoy my music, enjoy my gaming and doesn’t put me out of pocket I think is great.

Microphone Performance

Out of the box, the Corsair HS70 Wireless Gaming Headset does quite well. In fact, it is pretty good for a gaming headset at this price point. The following is a quick microphone test:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/451079202″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

The quality is good from a straight-out-of-box standpoint and you can easily tweak the sound to more your liking with a program such as VoiceMeeter Banana.

Final Thoughts

The Corsair HS70 Wireless Gaming Headset has performed to the expectations I had for it. In fact, it is my current favourite gaming headset (that I currently have) and I have been quite enjoying the freedom of not being attached to a cable. I have found that with wired headsets, the cable always got caught on something on the desk or the chair and when I moved it would tug and rip the headset off. Without the wires, I am free to move around and even get up and walk around, which is great.

Setup was quick and painless (with Windows and PS4) but a bit trickier with Ubuntu. I would assume not many people would be using a Linux machine, though, so that probably won’t sway someone into not picking up this headset.

The sound quality has been good as well. I have been enjoying all the genres of music I listen to through the HS70; the only one I haven’t tried was Country music though I am sure that would sound fine. Gaming with the Corsair HS70 has been great. I can hear the environmental effects and characters in game clearly. The Virtual Surround Sound with the PC is pretty neat to try and I wish more headsets offered that feature.

The microphone is good and if you are looking into getting something that provides good mic audio without getting a stand-alone microphone for streaming or gameplay videos, then the Corsair HS70 mic will do the job. Couple in software like VoiceMeeter Banana and you can tweak the sound of your voice to what you like, but that is totally optional. I love how you can detach the microphone and how it has a button to mute the mic too.

If you are looking for a good wireless gaming headset that can last hours on a charge, be comfortable after long extended periods of use and not your bank account, I would recommend picking up this headset. The Corsair HS70 is