Corsair HS80 RGB Wireless Gaming Headset Review

Usage & Testing

I have been using the HS80 RGB Wireless for the past week. It is was the only headset I used during that time so my testing not only included gaming but also listening to music, editing videos, watching YouTube videos and more. Obviously being a gaming headset lets talk about gaming first. With the “Game” setting enabled in the Dolby Access app I loaded up Apex Legends and started playing. In many of my matches I noticed I could hear enemies further away than normal and I could pin-point the direction that they were coming from. The Razer BlackShark V2 I reviewed back in January has THX Spatial Audio and comparing the two I would say THX is better than Dolby, but also offers more options (I’ll go into that on the next page). Dolby Atmos’s Game mode is definitely one of the best though, much better than many other “Virtual Surround Sound” offerings I’ve tested in the past.

The Dolby Atmos settings for Movie and Music are very much the same, but I do feel the music setting adds more bass. The detailed setting (my favorite) really allows for those small sounds to be more pronounced. So say someone’s footsteps in a movie, or an instrument in a song. You can just hear everything more detailed, this is great if you listen to a lot of electronic music. Balanced of course will give you a good balance of everything and is my second favorite option. Finally there is Warm. I would say test each setting and find out which one is your favorite.

It is good to see an option for Voice, especially with many people working from home and doing Zoom calls. Voice does not have any options, but basically makes it so it is easier to hear someone you are talking with. It will more or less isolate their voice and turn down any background noise. This of course is ideal as many people might be using a cheap microphone or have a lot of background noise where they are calling you from.

Without Dolby Atmos enabled the headset sound good, but obviously not as good with it enabled. You still do get some great bass and you have the different EQ settings in iCUE to mess with.

As far as comfort goes I really do enjoy the fabric earcups. This is definitely one of the more comfortable headsets I’ve reviewed from Corsair, but I do have to say after a long gaming session your ears do get decently hot. The floating headband was also very comfortable and I did not notice any irritation after my longer gaming sessions.

Corsair says the microphone on the HS80 RGB Wireless is “broadcast-grade” and I do have to say it is one of the better microphones I’ve used on a gaming headset, especially a wireless one. Typically when it comes to wireless gaming headsets the microphones sound extremely compressed, you basically sound like a robot, but not with the HS80 RGB Wireless! Check out our audio sample below, along with audio samples from previous gaming headsets.

Corsair HS80 RGB Wireless