Corsair HS70 wireless gaming headset Review: iCUE support

We are living in a world where everything slowly-slowly starts getting wireless and the rapid development regarding this we can see in headphones. Wireless earphones or headsets not only give us true liberty from the tangles of wires but also make our body to move freely, especially while gaming. During gaming when the adrenaline starts rushing, then I don’t need to explain how ferocious a gamer would be. In such a scenario, the wired headphone could cause discomfort. When our gaming consoles are wireless then why not the Headsets.  

Today, many manufacturers offer wireless headsets and finding out a good one with the nice build quality is not a Sisyphean task anymore. However, I would like to contradict my this given statement because if a person not well aware of headsets available in the market then he or she perhaps often end up with too heavy and poor sound quality products those microphones even are not convincing. Well, here we are going to give a helping hand if your budget is 9000 INR or $ 91.

Corsair, who doesn’t know about this computer peripheral brand that especially targets the gamers’ community. After reviewing their couple of products, we got our hands on Corsair HS70 Wireless headsets. The wireless headset was convincing in many areas in our test and is definitely one of the better models in the market. It is aimed primarily at gamers with 7.1 surround sound and iCUE software support.  

The Corsair HS70 Wireless therefore ideally complements the Corsair range, although it’s quite old as it had been launched by the company in the year of 2018, however, still worth to buy because of the price which is around 90 dollars only.   

So, let’s go through the key aspects of this wireless headset to know more about it. 

Corsair HS70 Technical specifications

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Technically, the HS70 is quite similar to the Corsair VOID PRO, but look wise and in terms of equipment, the two models differ significantly. We can say that HS70 is simple and pure headset while the VOID PRO is equipped with bells and whistles such as RGB LED. 

Device
Function primary	headset
Use Type	Gaming
sound output	7.1
Wearing style	Bracket (classic)
colour	black-and-white
Type console / PC	PS4, PC
Other	Flexible and retractable microphone arm

Weight- 331g
impedance	32 ohms

Microphone: Unidirectional noise cancelling, -40dB (+-3dB) sensitivity
Connection type	wireless 2.4 GHz Radio Frequency
Connection device	1x USB (power)
Buttons and controls	Microphone mute switch, volume control

Frequency response
Headphones minimum	20 Hz
Headphones maximum	20 kHz
Microphone minimum	100 Hz
Microphone maximum	10 kHz

Inside the box
Included	Headset / headphones
Other	charge cable and mic module

 

Design

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Design of HS70 is not much different and possess the standard design that can be found in a similar form of many headsets. It has a typical oval ear cups and round metal arms that not only in Corsair but also can be found in a similar form of headsets. This setup has been popular because of its robust and practical solution. 

However, the headset can stand out its self because of other added elements such as head cushion that comes with a stitched look and embossed logo on the ear cups grills.

The headset is very compact and designed to accommodate different kinds of controls buttons. The ear cups are about 10 cm high and 9 cm wide. The inner diameter of the pads is 6.6 x 5 cm enough to totally engulf large size ears, thus no pressure on them, results in less discomfort and more hours of on head usage. Inside it, the user will find a 50 mm neodymium drivers same as VOID.

One of the highlights of the HS70, as we find, are the ear pads made of memory foam and covered with synthetic leather. These are extremely soft and fit the head shape well. 

The earcups of HS70 are attached to the oval or U-Shape metal frame that further connected to the headband. This setup allows the earcups to slightly turned in or out to distribute the head pressure evenly and adapt or adjust as per the head structure. Thus, we can’t fold it like corsair VOID. 

As I said headband half part that attaches to ear cups is of metal thus enough hard to use the HS70 under relatively high tension. This metal frame at both sides of earcups can be extended in eight stages or around 2.5 cm on each side. Overall, the HS70 is significantly smaller than the VOID. 

Coming to the ports and buttons available on it. So, left side ear cups uses to give volume control wheel, Mic turn ON or OFF button, status LED indicator, micro USB charging and Microphone 2.5mm input ports. The volume control only affects the headset and does not reduce the volume on the PC. Whereas the right side ear cup spaced for the power switch.

The supplied microphone with Corsair HS70 can be removed completely, thus it makes possible to use it as simple headphones if you don’t need the mic.

The mic comes offered by the Corsair is unidirectional with noise-cancelling and an impedance of 2.0KOhms with a frequency response from 100Hz to 10KHz. The sensitivity is -40 dB as mentioned in the technical specifications. The additional benefit is the flexible wire or gooseneck which helps to place the mic mouth pic as per convenience; it also helps to minimize the wind noise often produces when mic positioned exactly in front of the user’s mouth. 

Thus, the HS70 makes a good impression because of the soft padding and yet quite large ear cups. The tension caused by the bracket makes you a little sceptical. The headset looks very compact overall and clearly presses the two ear cups together. Compared to the many headsets, the HS70 settles in the upper area mainly because of the good ear cushions and can be worn for a relatively long time. In terms of comfort level, it is far better than the budget one that is Corsair HS53 (review) and of course, it would be because price does matter. 

iCUE Software and Equalizer

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Well, most of the time we use iCUE software mainly to control the RGB lighting system but as Corsair HS70 is not an RGB supported, thus some other features can be used and customize via software. The additional functions come with the headset is switching ON the virtual 7.1 mode, Mic volume, sidetone and equalizer, to configure all these, the user has to use the iCUE software.

Corsair HS70 Wireless sidetone is a function when in use, picks sound by the microphone to play directly through the headphones. This function is useful to hear your own voice through the headphones during team play in e-sports. Also, it helps gamers to prevent screaming unconsciously or to know if there is any heavy noise in the background.

The software offers five pre-set equalizers that are Bass, Movie theatre, Clear Chat, Pure Direct, FPS competition apart from them the users can create their own custom one.

The switching between 7.1 surrounds and Stereo sound can also be done on one click in the iCUE software.

Performance

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Corsair HS70 SE plays music very soothingly while testing it, we didn’t find any harshness on ears’ drum that enables us to use it for long hours without any headache or pain in ears. The mids and highs worked properly and were accompanied by a balanced bass, however, the bass should have had a little more depth and the certain “punch” would certainly have been good. Nevertheless, it can be compensated to some extent by adjusting sound preferences using the equalizer.

The 7.1 surrounds, although it depends on the source of sound that how much identifiable it would be, yet, the virtual surround sound ensures a more spatial sound in games like  Battlefield to identify the enemy footsteps and fire coming from which direction. However, some people could find it too much noisy, especially in games, thus they can turn it off from iCUE software. 

The setting of Corsair HS70 is also very easy just plug the wireless dongle into PC or in gaming controller and press the power-on button of the headset, it will automatically identify and connect itself. No extra driver is needed.

If we talk about the range of it then, as per the company claims it is 12 meters; of course, this claimed number is for an area without any object or obstacles, means in a straight line. However, in real life that is not applicable always but yet the HS70 performed really well. We were able to get the audio stream without any signal loss around up to 6 meters with one concreate wall as an obstacle. Also, as soon it comes in range the connection automatically get restored. Nevertheless, there is still some room for corsair to improve this.

Another thing which is important in wireless headphones is the battery life, as per the technical specifications the Corsair HS70 can give 16 hours in one single charge which is almost true and we don’t have any complaints with it. The good thing, one can even charge the headset while using it, thus not a problem at all. 

Corsair HS70 Review conclusion:

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With the HS70, we can see that we don’t have to invest a huge amount to get some good wireless headset along with balanced sound quality. With less a 100 dollar or 9000 INR, it is still one of the cheaper wireless headsets with good range functions such as 7.1 surround sound and mic, that too did well in our recording test, I mean the recording was clear and loud without any significant noise. 

All this can easily attract gamers especially FPS lovers. Furthermore, with the help of iCUE software, the sound can also be adapted to your own preferences with just a few mouse clicks.

Due to soft earpad cushions and closed headsets design, the higher attenuation of external noise and strong bass are another advantage of HS70. But also one disadvantage is there if you are in a humid and hot environment then sweating could be a problem while using it for long hours.

Furthermore, the good battery backup of the HS70, therefore, gamers can get long hours of juice without charging. All in all, the Corsair HS70 is a good wireless headset that does a lot of things right but also has avoidable shortcomings. 

Overall, the Corsair HS70 combines balanced sound, excellent workmanship and beautifully simple design with high wearing comfort at an extremely fair price. Therefore even today it is one of the best wireless headsets in this price range.

Pros: 

• Nice Design
• Comfortable to wear
• Crisp sound with good bass
• Good battery backup 
• Sidetone with volume control
• Microphone perfectly positioned
• Removable microphone

Cons:

• In humid and hot areas sweat could be a problem