We have at times been very hard on the HS80 RGB WIRELESS in this review, and in part that’s down to our high expectations of CORSAIR’s hardware and software team. It’s jarring whenever they fail to meet the standards they’ve set themselves, and this is marketed as a Premium Gaming Headset after all. So how do we feel about it in the broader scope of the market today?

From a hardware perspective it’s difficult not to be impressed. It has a design that should prove to be much more durable in the long-term in virtually all aspects, particularly the articulated joints and USB connectors. It’s also very comfortable, despite the added weight incurred by larger drivers, a battery and charging circuitry.

Audio clarity is also very good, although the HS80 does lean heavily on equalisation for immersive experiences. Without either tweaked EQ or spatial surround the stereo sound stage seems very narrow, with none of the richness you find through the default configurations for other headsets and speakers. When gaming however that’s more than fine; clarity should always be a primary factor in any sort of curated or competitive environment.

With that in mind, Dolby Atmos really did add some extra punch to the proceedings. None of the frequency clarity is lost so far as we could tell, but positioning within the virtual soundstage was much more clear. We can’t judge whether it’s better or worse than other spatial sound virtualisation tools at this point, but its inclusion in the HS80’s package doesn’t appear to be a minor footnote from our experience.

And of course we must also mention the microphone. It’s… okay. Certainly no worse than other headset mics we’ve used in terms of clarity, even if it does pick up more environmental noise than some. The low volume issue we had appears to be endemic among CORSAIR’s wireless headsets with no clear solution, only the workaround described, but at maximum volume we were able to just about have a satisfying experience in-game.



Satisfying is however not the word we’d use when describing the software. It’s not buggy, or faulty; it just fails to operate in a seamless way that would allow a novice (or really anyone without familiarity Windows 10’s sound system shenanigans) to take full advantage of their new hardware. Simple aspects like setting audio quality for wired and wireless modes, automatically handing over the headset from wireless to wired mode when plugging it in, providing a more detailed battery reading than High/Medium/Critical; each is AWOL. Windows may be standing in the way of some of these, but surely not all.

The wireless signalling is good, although we were never able to practically reach the up to 60ft range boasted by CORSAIR in a home environment with plenty of 2.4GHz devices all clamouring for bandwidth. A battery duration of up to 20 hours would be challenging to reach however, and any sort of active RGB lighting obliterates playback duration to single figure hours.

And so our final judgement is that the HS80 RGB WIRELESS is a wireless headset with excellent hardware features and build quality that, at the time of this launch, is still rough around the edges due to underdeveloped software and an end-user experience that needs work. The market should expect more when approaching £150, even though it’s not a trivial matter for a wireless headset. The great news is that this is fixable, and could even be part and parcel of general iCUE improvements rolled out over time.

The HS80 RGB WIRELESS is a creditable heir to the legacy of CORSAIR’s HS-series gaming headset, solidly constructed and with compelling audio features. It is however let down by undercooked software and a sometimes frustrating user experience. It’s earned our Approved award on the strength of the hardware but more work is necessary for a truly rounded experience.




Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.

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