Page 3 - Features and Benefits Continues
Features and Benefits, Continued
Let's take a look at the Vengeance 1100 first, as they are a little like the youngest sibling and require more attention.
The Vengeance 1100 obviously doesnt have a headband since you wear it like a backward pair of glasses. I admit to being old-school and think these new-fangled behind-the-ear headphones are weird. They use a dense blue foam rubber that is both blue and very non-stick to keep it in place. This type of material tends to shine up after a few months of wear, but we found it to definitely hold its place on your head.
The Vengeance 1100 have 40mm drivers and were quite adequate in terms of sound level and quality. I usually like to disassemble the earcups, but these were very delicate and I didn't want to tear them before listening tests. The earcups sit straight on your ears, like Koss or Grado headphones. This is unlike the HS1 or V1500 that sit over your ears. After being a Grado fan for many years, I can appreciate large, comfortable earpads. It could also be my old age.
Update: Corsair contacted us about a new revision to the V1100 that make them more comfortable. We don't know what was changed other than the headband, but they were comfortable to me after several hours of wear.
Also a tradition with headsets, Corsair included, they always have an inline volume and mute for the microphone. I generally leave the inliine volume at 100% because they tend to affect sound quality and balance at any setting other than 100%. I also like knobs. I'm a knob man. (Hilbert: *sighs*) Digital volumes work well, but they are just too slow compared to a good old-fashioned analog knob. Yes, I'm old. Now get off my lawn.
The Vengeance 1100 has a USB to analog connector, allowing it to use a discreet sound card for best audio quality. The USB chipset in the Vengeance 1100 isn't confirmed to be of the same quality as the one found in the Vengeance 1500 (CM6302, 16-bit, 48 KHz resolution, more below), we assume it is a CM119A, which is often used in applications like these. The audio quality of the CM119A is best described as adequate.
So we have a very interesting feature in the Vengeance 1100 that it is able to connect with both analog and USB connections, making it very flexible to your needs. Wheather you agree to the behing-the-ear thing is your choice, but to Corsair's credit, the Vengeance 1100 is at least different from your average mid-price headset.
