Corsair HS80 RGB Wireless Gaming Headset Review

Final Thoughts

It is nice to see a new addition to Corsair’s HS line of gaming headsets. It has been a while since Corsair has updated the line and I really like what they have done with the HS80 RGB Wireless. First let’s talk about design. I absolutely loved Corsair’s Void series of gaming headsets and I was really excited to see that Corsair went away from the normal HS series design and sort of paid homage to the Void series. So you have that unique earcup shape, but of course Corsair has made it look more modern and elegant. You still get some RGB lighting (what Corsair product doesn’t have RGB), but it is more toned back.

One of the big features of this headset is of course Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio. When it came to gaming I tested this almost exclusively with Apex Legends and it did in fact allow me to hear enemies from further out and identify which direction they were coming from. Using THX Spatial Audio on the Razer BlackShark V2 I would say it THX edges out Dolby here, but not by much. One of the big factors I think is the different settings THX gives you compared to Dolby. Not only do you get the basic game mode with THX, but you also have THX Competitive Mode and THX Environmental Mode. Also Apex as well as many other games have THX profiles made specifically for them. Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio is definitely one of the better virtual surround sound solutions I’ve used though.

There are also Dolby Atmos settings for movies, music, and even one for voice. So if you are on a Zoom call you can enable the Voice settings and it will allow you to hear the person you are talking to better. The headset definitely sound better with Dolby Atmos enabled, but without it turned on the headset sounds quite good as well. The thing about Dolby Atmos and this headset is that you have to use two different apps basically. For general headset settings you use Corsair’s iCUE, but to use Dolby Atmos you need the Dolby Access app. If you are anything like me the less software you have to install for a product the better. It would have been nice if Corsair could have built the Dolby settings into iCUE like Razer has done adding THX settings to Synapse. The Dolby Access app is a bit limiting too, there are only a few settings and you cannot set specific settings per app or per game.

This is of course a wireless headset and in my testing the wireless connectivity was great. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and I was able to walk in every room of the apartment without the sound cutting out, and that is through multiple walls. Also I was extremely impressed with the microphone quality. Typically gaming headset, especially wireless gaming headset microphones sound extremely compressed and bad, but with this headset the microphone quality was quite good (see sample on the previous page).

Finally we come down to comfort and this headset is quite comfortable. The fabric earcups might by some of my favorite that I’ve seen on a gaming headset, but they come with one caveat, your ears do get a bit hot after long gaming sessions. The floating headband design is great and really takes stress off of the top of your head unlike other gaming headsets.

Corsair is going to be selling this headset for $149.99, which I think is a very fair price given the audio and microphone quality as well as the comfort level. Overall ThinkComputers gives the HS80 RGB Wireless Gaming Headset a 9 out of 10 score.

rating9 10

Pros:
– Extremely comfortable
– Dolby Atmos
– Atmos Spatial Audio is one of the best virtual surround sound solutions we’ve used
– Easy to setup
– Sleek design
– Great microphone quality (especially for wireless)

Cons:
– Have to install two apps (iCUE & Dolby Access)
– Dolby Access app is very limited
– Microphone not removable

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