| Corsair CA-HS1NA USB Gaming Headset |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Audio | |
| Written by Joey Peng | |
| Tuesday, 08 February 2011 | |
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Closer Look: Corsair HS1NA HeadsetCorsair currently has two headset models (HS1NA and HS1ANA), both with the same looks and specifications. The USB version, HS1NA, costs a bit more but gives PC owners additional functionality. The Corsair HS1NA uses Dolby Headphone technology, the industry standard, to deliver surround sound. Only a rare couple of companies like Razer use proprietary software over Dolby technologies. That doesn't mean all Dolby headsets are created equal. Software only controls the delivery of audio signals, how well it all comes together depends on the headset.
In the package you will get the Corsair HS1NA USB Gaming headset, driver CD, and a setup manual. Installation is straight forward. As with most high-end gaming equipment, the drivers are only compatible with Windows operating systems, 32 or 64 bit.
The Corsair HS1NA has a solid and flexible build. Both ear cups allow about 90 degrees of rotation vertically or horizontally. The circumaural closed back design completely covers over the ears and can block out a good amount of ambient noise. Out of all the headsets I've used, the HS1NA has, by far, the longest USB cord. Fully extended, it reaches over three meters, with the controller about a meter from the headset. While the HS1NA does have a belt to tie up all the extra wiring, Corsair didn't include a pin of some sort for the controller, so most of the time it's just lying on the ground acting as a tripping wire.
The HS1NA has some extra belly weight due to the two 50mm drivers, but Corsair already added a couple features to ensure comfort. The soft leather headband and memory foam ear pads make a great combination to alleviate fatigue. For long gaming sessions comfort is just as important as audio quality, and Corsair intends offer top-notch solutions for both areas.
The Corsair HS1NA uses a leathery black and aluminum silver to achieve a high-tech but minimalistic visual design. The build is sturdy yet flexible. Corsair could have chosen to acquire an existing company to design and build their new line of headsets, as is the case with Mad Catz. Instead they took things into their own hands, and did a good job of including the right features. In the next section Benchmark Reviews will take a closer look at the details of the Corsair HS1NA USB Gaming Headset.
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Comments
Purely in terms of audio quality I'd go with Corsair's. It's cheaper than the rest by at least $35. Also the most comfortable. Logitech G930 is wireless, has a great mic, audio quality good but slightly worse than Corsair's, but again it's wireless.
Mad Catz's headset is true surround sound, not software driven. You will get much better surround sound results if the content does support true surround sound and do it well, but most don't. Make sure you know it matches what you do.
It's performance should be similar to the Corsair HS1. Both 50mm drivers. However SteelSeries seems to use proprietary software over industry leader Dolby for surround sound. You also won't get anything like Dolby Pro Logic that upmixes stereo to 7.1 surround. But the 7H has some interesting things going for it too like the external USB sound card which you can mix and match headsets/sound cards. Seems like a much better travel mate.
Currently I use Roccat Kave and I'm very found of.
But at some point of time (not that far) I'm planning to build mini-ITX system and for that one I would like to have nice USB headset
My Kave doesn't play that well with onboard audio (realtek 889A) - it gives bit hallow and muffled sound compared to the dedicated sound card, so I'm using XtremeGamer from Creative to drive it...