Final words and conclusion
Final words and conclusion
There probably isn't anything more difficult to review when it comes to audio, thus speakers and headsets. Audio is subjective so that's an entire big grey area that you need to describe loaded with subjective perceptions and facts from the reviewers side.
One thing we can clearly state though is that Corsair have been very consistent in the design, features, and quality of their products, and it shows again in their Vengeance headsets. We liked the 1100, loved the 1500 and think the 2000 is downright impressive. Corsair had big shoes to fill coming from the HS1 and 1500 and it is safe to say that the Vengeance 2000 is an improvement over the HS1. The kit is fairly lightweight and very comfortable to wear. The adjustability of the headband and pivoting action of the ear cups ensures they should provide a proper fit for just about anyone. The headset is moderately lightweight but seems to be of solid build quality. The ear pads are made of micro fiber and are very soft and comfortable.
The million dollar question though is the Vengeance 2000 Wireless Headset actually a 5.1 or 7.1 channel set? No, it isn't. Corsair could have tagged it 9.1 as well but it's stereo that is virtualized trough CMedia's Xear. That makes it a virtualized surround sounding headset, but the accuracy you'll get from a real 5.1/7.1 speaker set is in a completely different league. The overall surround experience is good though, for headphones. But Corsair probably should not have tagged the kit with 7.1 as that just doesn't sit right with me.
The Vengeance 2000 Xear functionality really will reverb the sounds as if you were in a room, but due to the 2-channel configuration in Windows, it doesn't tell you where the sound is coming from (directional sound). Make no mistake, the sound quality is great, excellent really.
The overall sound quality is exceptional after you've tweaked it a little, I probably would not dare to state audiophile-quality but it is certainly above the level you expect for a $100-150 headset, especially considering there is a price premium to weigh in for the wireless feature. The wireless functionality works really well. In a range of say 10 meters you will have perfect reception. Even a concrete floor below the transmitter we had reception. Outside the 10 meters things get difficult fast though, sound simply dies off when you are out of range (and will pop back online once you are in range again).
The good thing about the USB based Vengeance 2000 is the fact that you can tweak the sound to your liking through the equalizer. The equalizer pre-sets are not just generic presets but are fine-tuned by the pros and that lifts up the product really well.
Being wireless we have to talk about battery life, it's actually pretty good, we got a good 9 hours out of one charge so that will definitely get you through a few movies or FPS fragfests. Once you are out of juice you can simply plug in the charging cable and continue to play until all your base are belong to us.
For straight up gaming, the Vengeance 2000 is tough to beat, the overall clarity and nice bass make it a killer headset. You will get into the game real fast... and that of course is not always a pretty sight...
Aesthetically it is a pleasing set to look at, the problem lies thereunder though. Lame photo puns aside, as mentioned the overall wear comfort is good, the microphone was great, and with a little EQ tweakage the sound will most definitely blow you away.
Though the surround Xear modes worked fine the reality remains that it's 'guestimated' or virtualized surround, it will never get close to real perceptive 7.1 sound for that matter. For videos and audio in combo with the EQ the surround mode however works very well so overall the Vengeance 2000 simply is a great set of headphones for many usages including movies, music and gaming.
With the bass pumped and thumped, and the treble upped up a notch my personal sound flavor was reached and satisfied real fast. The headphones can take a lot of deep bass pounding without distorting, more than actually is good for your ears.
Summing it up: The V2000 is a fantastic sounding and comfortable headphone set, its not real 7.1 channel surround though. Regardless of how its marketed; the overall quality combined with the wireless functionality is simply seriously good in this price range. A top pick award as such is granted as it's rediculously good.
- Leave/read comments on this product
- Sign up to receive a notice when we publish a new article
- Or go back to Guru3D's front page
