Software & Drivers

Software & Drivers

Corsair didnt include a software disc in the box, so youll have to download it off Corsairs website like we did. The Vengeance 2000 does conform to USB audio standards and Windows will install a basic driver to get it going. You dont get the Xear Surround with the basic USB audio driver. This also means that the Vengeance 2000 is an audio device like your sound card, in case you were wondering. Windows has its own enhancements in the driver control panels.

Vengeance 2000 properties:

Some of the properties for the Vengeance 2000 are greyed out (all the way downwards where you see "Cmedia Effect") because the Corsair control panel takes over. Let's check that out.

So once the drivers are all sorted out, youre greeted with a nice display. Probably the first thing you want to do is hit the EQ to add some bass to the V2000. At stock settings, the V2000 sounds a little too flat for my taste. 
The control panel is very minimalist. Basically EQ on/off with presets and surround on/off with presets is what you get to play around with.

The large button labeled "Bypass" in the upper left takes its name and functionality from pro audio gear. When lit, the surround sound functionality is disabled, the Vengeance 2000 operates as a standard stereo headset.

Surround
The surround configuration panel at the lower right allows you to select from three simulated environment sizes. Room simulation is important; it's the key to positional audio. It's accomplished by adding very subtle amounts of echo, delay and reverb to the audio signal to fool your brain into thinking that you're listening to audio in a real environment that is, from speakers in a room. Without this processing, audio can have that "in your head" effect that can lead to what's commonly known as ear fatigue.

Equalizer
Corsair added several presets for various gaming genres to get you started. You can save your own by clicking the + button after you've adjusted the equalization to your liking. Then, enter the name for your new profile in the pop-up, and it will be added to the pull-down list for easy selection.

Select a profile and click the minus button, and you'll get a pop-up confirming that you'd like to remove the currently selected profile.

Default contains no equalization all the sliders are set to 0 dB.

When you listen to music your preference probably will be the Audiophile presets. Audiophile 1 and Audiophile 1+ have a slightly brighter and "open" sound image, and Audiophile 2 and Audiophile 2+ have a warmer and more "mellow" sound image. Audiophile 1/1+ are well-suited for critical listening, and make it slightly easier to pick out the details on good audio recordings, like the key clicks on a saxophone.

FPS Gaming and MMO Gaming are similar. FPS has slightly higher bass and high-end responses, while the MMO preset has a small increase in the mid-range. The FPS preset is optimized for enjoying all those explosions and ambient sounds, while maintaining the positional audio that's essential for situational awareness and knowing where your enemies are. The MMO preset's mid-range boost helps with clarity when communicating with your teammates.

Movies Mod-X helps restore the theatrical experience when watching films. Film audio is typically mastered to an equalization curve called the "X Curve," which is optimized to make the audio sound great when you're sitting in a theatre that is, a large room with the speakers far away. If the audio isn't remastered when the film's released on disc and for downloading, it won't sound as good as it can. Selecting Mod-X addresses this.

The Reference EQ preset "flattens" the output of the headset, so that if you were to look at the frequency response on test equipment, it would be closer to a flat line. It's a good starting point for making further EQ adjustments to suit your tastes.

Xear Surround is providing the software 7.1 surround. I can say that the surround mode on the Vengeance 2000 was very okay but we'll get into that later.

We like simple drivers and Corsair seems to know about making simple, functional drivers. They were also stable and strangely nice to see the icon in the taskbar. Now, though I like minimal drivers these really are pretty thin.