Review: Corsair Vengeance 2000 Wireless 7.1 Gaming Headset

[I am Canadian]

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Gadget: Corsair Vengeance 2000 Wireless 7.1 Gaming Headset
Reviewed-By: JP0le
Price: $149
Purchased: Newegg

Summary: For the longest time I've been using a USB webcam mic and my speakers to play games/chat on my PC. After over a year of thinking about buying a headset I finally took the plunge and have been VERY pleased with my purchase so far. The Corsair Vengeance 2000 Wireless 7.1 Headset has been great and has some nifty features that truly sold me:

 

First and foremost: It's wireless. It has a USB RF receiver that can be placed anywhere on your desk using an included extension cable/dock:

 

 I found this to be really convenient so that I can grab the USB stick quickly if I want to use it with my laptop. Second: all the controls are on the headset. One of the things that I really don't like about wired headsets is that they put all the controls on the cable so that they're hanging in front of you. Maybe I'm just not coordinated enough, but I find that to control the volume/mute on these devices I usually have to take my eyes off the screen and look down because the controller has moved/shifted while playing. This headset solves the issue by putting the volume control on the left ear as a large wheel with nice tactile feedback (shown with the micro USB charging cable attached):



Also, and probably one of my favorite features, to mute the mic you simply raise the mic boom to the vertical position. So. Cool. This isn't unique to this headset, but the same feature seems to be only available on headsets with a higher price point. In terms of comfort, after 2 sessions at 3-4 hours I haven't had any issues with ear pain or build up of heat in the cans. In fact, they're quite lightweight and are very comfortable. I had to open them a few clicks to fit my head, but they have a nice range of sizes that seem to work well. As for battery life, I haven't had to charge mine yet (except out of the box), but it claims that they go for about 11 hours. These come with a built-in rechargeable battery and a nice, long micro USB cable for that purpose. Also, they can be used while recharging, so even if your battery dies you don't have to worry about staying in the game. I'm not really an audiophile, but I can say that these do offer superior sound compared to my desktop speakers and subwoofer. Much more dynamic range, with nice deep bass sounds. Haven't gotten a chance to really test how well they do with positioning music for pseudo-surround sound, but if I do I'll update (right now I've been using these for Diablo 3, Skype and Steam, so no FPS experiences yet). Of course, there are a few downsides... 1 - "7.1" is a lie. These show up as stereo headsets in sound settings. To generate the pseudo-surround sound they have a built in driver and downloadable software that try to generate a sound similar to that of various room sizes. This may cause an issue when you try to use positional audio in an FPS, but I'm not entirely sure. Mixed reviews on this feature, but if you're listening to stereo audio it's not a real problem. 2 - Back to the software again, these are only for PC. I haven't tried on a Mac yet, but the website claims that you can use them as a stereo headset without the pseudo-surround features. 3 - Price. These set me back $149, which is the ballpark for some of the nicer headsets on the market. I'm totally satisfied because of the bevy of features, but I was really hesitant to take the initial plunge. A similar wired version, the Vengeance 1500, is available for $99 and seems to have actual Dolby 7.1 support. To summarize, I love these things. Great sound quality, super comfortable, and full of nice features. They are a touch pricy, and the jury is out on how they will play with more hardcore FPS gaming, but they certainly are keeping me more than satisfied right now. If things change I'll post an update, but until then I think these are a fantastic buy.

Performance-Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 Briquettes
Value-Rating: 4 out of 5 Briquettes

Overall-Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 Briquettes

[Udder Juice]

Those are pretty slick looking.  Gaming with a good headset is awesome.  Glad you are liking yours.

[VanishedNine]

Great review...I need to pick up a set of PC headphones...these might do the trick.