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Corsair HS1NA USB Gaming Headset Review
Manufacturer: Corsair
Product Name: HS1NA USB Gaming Headset
Model Number: CA-HS1NA
Price As Tested: $89.99 at Amazon
Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Corsair.
It seems in this day and age everybody wants a piece of the PC peripherals market. This time Corsair, famous for manufacturing PC hardware, released its own lineup of high-end speakers and headsets. Packing in many popular features, the Corsair HS1NA USB Gaming Headset comes with 7.1 virtual surround sound and massive 50mm drivers. Corsair developed the HS1NA specifically for serious gamers, focusing on performance and comfort. Benchmark Reviews is excited to test Corsair's new headset to see if they took off on the right foot.
The Corsair HS1NA has some unique features making it different from what's already on the market. The HS1NA implements Dolby Logic Pro IIz, the most up to date stereo to surround sound emulation software. Its replaceable memory foam ear pads allow extended comfort for long durations. For communication the Corsair HS1NA has a noise-cancelling unidirectional mic. Corsair didn't deliver a visually flashy headset, but its features and build make an excellent choice to consider.
If USB headsets aren't your thing, Corsair has a slightly different model, the HS1ANA, which uses 3.5mm audio jacks instead of USB. There's no surround sound in that case, but you will get compatibility with systems other than Windows. For the HS1NA, you can expect to pay $89.99, putting its price in the middle of the pack. For a company starting a new line of products Corsair has done a great job capturing the essence of a good headset. Benchmark Reviews will see if the headset's quality headset lives up to Corsair's brand.
7.1 Virtual Surround Headset Features
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The circumaural, closed-back design offers the long-term playing comfort and immersive multi-channel audio that you demand as a gamer, with a unidirectional noise-cancelling microphone that lets you be heard loud and clear, and audio controls that are easy to use without taking your head out of the game.
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Because you can't design a great gaming headset without first building a superior pair of headphones, the HS1NA uses massive 50mm drivers and carefully tuned acoustical design for pristine reproduction and no-compromises enjoyment of your favorite music and multi-channel movies.
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The rugged, compact design with replaceable ear pads complete the HS1NA's mission of not only being an audio weapon of choice for intense gaming sessions, but a well-loved piece of enthusiast gear that will meet all your audio needs.
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Massive, 50mm drivers greatly reduce the overloading that can occur with 40mm headsets. They deliver more accurate sound reproduction, particularly for low-frequency effects. And, they're less likely to cause the distortion that can make it hard to discern voices and other important audio cues when everything is coming at you fast.
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The circumaural, closed-back design blocks distracting sounds and keeps your head in the game. Dolby Headphone technology lets you enjoy multi-channel games the way they were intended to be played, with positional cues that put you into the environment in a way that stereo headsets simply can't.
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The clear, low-noise reproduction of the unidirectional noise-cancelling microphone lets your teammates hear you better, and the extra-large inline volume and microphone control is easy to grab and use when the action heats up - you don't need to take your eyes off the screen.
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Not only do the soft, plush fabric ear cup covers have better acoustic properties than leatherette - they're also better at absorbing moisture, too. Underneath, memory foam ear pads provide a comfortable, reliable fit that confirms to the shape of your head without binding or pinching.
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We began with an obsessive approach to ear cup design - tuning and re-tuning the orientation of the 50mm drivers and the baffle geometry to deliver a frequency response curve that reproduces every bit of sonic detail. The result is a headset that truly respects the music.
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We added Dolby Headphone technology, so you can enjoy the multi-channel audio that brings so much to the cinematic experience - even 7.1 channels from Blu-Ray discs.
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The rugged, compact design with replaceable ear pads complete the HS1NA's mission of not only being an audio weapon of choice for intense gaming sessions, but a well-loved piece of enthusiast gear that will meet all your audio needs.
CA-HS1NA Specifications
Headset:
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Frequency response: 20Hz - 20kHz
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Impedance: 32 Ohms at 1kHz
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Dynamic range: 93dB A-wtd
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USB power consumption: 250mW
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Drivers: 50mm
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Cable: 3 meters
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Connector: USB Type A
System Requirements:
Package Contents
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HS1NA headset with USB connector and inline volume control/microphone mute
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Driver/Utility CD for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP
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Quick start guide
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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...