Corsair HS60 Headset review - Introduction

Corsair HS60 Headset
'Crafted for Comfort - Built for Battle'

We all know Corsair. They're practically a household name in the PC components and peripherals industry now, and their new HS60 headset is a 3.5mm jack based unit designed to bridge the gap between the more budget oriented HS50's and higher end Void and Void Pro RGB units. In fact, we looked at the two above units within four months of each other toward the end of last year, and you can check out the reviews of them here and here. We liked both, so it remains to be seen if the relatively new HS60s will bring anything new to the table, or if they're merely a refinement of an already tried and tested formula.

One of the most obvious upgrades over the very 'back to basics' HS50's is the inclusion of 7.1 Surround through a 3.5mm to USB adapter included in the box. Now, naturally, this is not 'true' surround, and a truly good implementation of the effect is very hard to achieve inside two small earcups with 50mm drivers. That said, it has been done, as noted in my review of the Asus ROG Strix Fusion 500s, as well as my long-term daily driver, Kingston's Hyper X Cloud IIs.

Aside from that, the looks are very similar to the HS50, so much so that you will likely struggle to tell the two apart, even close up. It lacks RGB and any other visual 'gamer' flair, so could legitimately be mistaken for a regular pair of cans if it weren't for the obvious Corsair logo. Even then, you'd need to be able to recognize the logo in the first place. Unless you're a PC gamer, or in this industry, I doubt it. In fact, I wore these in a cafe for some 4-5 hours (and still am as I type this), and not one person has batted an eyelid. I even dare say that some higher end 'audiophile/pro' grade headsets are a good deal more garish than this?

There is another difference, as well. The USB interface allows for software control of the unit, and Corsair's relatively new 'CUEi' software allows the user nearly fully control over the headset's functionality. This is actually an extension of the already existing Corsair Utility Engine suite that has been with us for some time, and Corsair is quick to note that the iCUE software is, for now, still in early access. I will be looking at the suite in this review as well, both as standalone and how well it integrates into the headset. After all of that, I think it's safe to say that the extra 30 EUR is used toward the 7.1 feature + adapter, which by proxy gives you access to Corsair's own software control suite. Like it's baby brother, the HS60 features on-ear controls in the form of a microphone mute button and volume control wheel. Whilst I like flashy (on occasions), nothing - for me - has quite replaced the good old control wheel.

Just quickly, below are the basic specs of the headset:

• Frequency Response: 20Hz - 20Khz.
• Sensitivity: 111dB (+/- 3dB).
• Impedance: 32 Ohms @ 1Khz.
• Drivers: 50mm.
• Connector: 3.5mm jack or USB via the adapter.
• Warranty: 2 years

And now the microphone:

• Type: Unidirectional + Noise Cancelling.
• Impedance: 2.2 KOhms.
• Frequency Response: 100Hz to 10Khz.
• Sensitivity: -40dB (-/+ 3dB).

Taking all of that away, however, for 79.99 (EUR @ MSRP) we have a fairly basic looking pair of headphones that offer an increased feature set over their cheaper cousins, all whilst staying sufficiently(?) clear of its bigger brother(s), the Void Pro RGB series @ 99.99.