Best Gaming Headset? - Page 20

* Went through an audiophile stage for about 5 years where I lived and breathed home stereo and actually worked in a pretty mid-high level stereo store when I was in college.
* At home my system includes B&K separates, custom made capacitor-less bookshelf mains with amazing staging and realism with a huge wife-unfriendly sub that sounds as tight as all the small subs claim to be.

That's the basics, suffice it to say I'm a bit old school--I'm the kind of guy that likes heavy equipment because I know that generally means it was made well. I'm the kind of guy that doesn't like flashy marketing ploys (like products with THX or Blizzard endorsement) or multi-channel surround sound (especially not in headphones--wtf?) as anything more than a neat gimmick. I'm the kind of guy that believes you have to listen and tweak to see if a product was any good. I also believe you can't tell if something is good listening solely to synthesized or electronic sounds even if that's a defining element to your favorite music but instead you have to listen to organic instruments namely the human voice, cello and similar because your ear can actually tell what sounds more "real" with them. However, all that being said, I love me rock and roll so if the system is too flat well that's plain boring (I'm looking at you Monitor and other similar English speakers).

I bought them without being able to give them a listen in a store, knowing that I could return them if I didn't like them . They looked sturdy and comfortable, my two main requirements for gaming even over sound quality because quite frankly I'm probably a lot more concerned about when to stop droning. I must admit when I first saw them I was very concerned because Corsair is a memory company, what do they know about sound??? But on the other hand--there was nothing gimmicky on the box which stood out from everything else so I was curious enough to give them a try.

For $80, out of the box I was really impressed. Very nice construction, some use of plastic but it feels like most of the key parts are metal--time will tell on this one. They come with two sets of earpads, synth-leather and a cloth type thing. The mic doesn't detach as far as I can tell. I really liked that the cord came with a weave around it.Also, they have a nice classic look which may be a perk or a minus depending on taste.

...Then I played them and I gotta admit, I think they sound pretty great. The first song I listened to on them was a mainstay of mine, "The King is Dead" by A Wilhelm Scream (hardcore punk and ultimate baddasses). It may seem like a really unusual song to A/B stuff on but it's one of my favorites and the first 20 seconds is sheer music genius that has great dynamic range as well as range in sound spectrum (low and high hz) and also will quickly tell me if what I'm listening to was built to paint a picture of the band (staging). That being said, it's one of the hardest bits of music I've ever heard a system try to reproduce faithfully and it can sound like amazing or uncomfortable depending on the system. Immediately I was impressed. Great staging (which I would think would be easy in headphones but sadly isn't always the case), Very clear delineation between the lead and rhythm guitars and the bass. The bass was tight but I was initially uncertain if the bass packed enough punch. As the song progressed I did detect a bit of tinniness. This may be unique to this song as I have not heard it on anything else I've listened to. Even still I knew immediately I would not be taking these back to the store.

Next up I played "If You Want Me" from the Once soundtrack. Mostly because I had it handy. But I found something that would become a trend I really wanted to finish this song and many others long after I got a feel for how well the headphones sounded. This song is a duet, both male and female voices--I wouldn't say I felt like they were in the room with me, but I didn't detect anything off.

Now for some hardcore metal, Every Time I Die's, "White Smoke." Again I wasn't looking for anything in particular but it was accessible because I've been listening to it a lot. I ended up again being very happy to hear the song faithfully reproduced and didn't touch a button for a few songs on the album because of how enjoyable it was for me.

Now since I've gone on and listened to probably about 9 or 10 of my audiophile songs. Everything from Shostakovich's (The name isn't on my ipod but I think it's) "Trio # 2 in E Minor" Largo--classical; "Zigeuneweisen by Uncommon Ritual--odd Appalachian & Classical style of Edgar Meyer's; "Man of Shadows" from Curandero--Jazz fusion with very distinct sounding instruments, pecular time signitures and perhaps the best kept secret I know; Still D.R.E. by Dr. Dre--Rap Sorry Dr. D these put a major beat down on your "Beats" (seriously I listened to those things and was completely let down) though the bass on the HS1As may be a touch light for some; "Inaudible Melodies" Jack Johnson--this song always wakes me up--very nice reproduction here; "Sista" Rachelle Ferrell--R&B with a lot of very fat bass, er Phat, sorry but for this kind of bass I thought it was deadon; "Since We've Been Wrong" by Mars Volta--Progressive Rock I guess is what they are; "Black Girls" by Violent Femmes; and "Bad as they Seem" By Hayden--acoustic rock heavy focus on male voice and guitar but I like to a/b this song because there's so much detail in the guitar strings and grit in his voice.

Anyway, I gotta admit I think I really f*&@#ing lucked out and got so excited I decided to share with you all. Bottom line These things sound very good for $80, Sadly, I'm on a business trip so I can't tell you how Starcraft 2 sounds on them but I'm sure the Hydralisks sound exactly like Hydralisks are supposed to. :D Also, I haven't owned them long enough to put any sort of stamp of approval on them but man, I can't believe how excited I am about these guys. Oh one last bit of info, just a bit earlier today I listened to a pair of Senheisers PC350 (crazily the guy that sat next to me on the plane was wearing a pair and let me try 'em out). They sounded good but don't compare to the Corsair's especially given the price difference and the reputation of Senheiser.

One last note...as I wait for TL to calm down: the synthetic leather pads sound better and block more noise, cloth are a bit more comfortable.