CORSAIR HS65 Surround Gaming Headset Review – Visually and haptically solid with a slight weaknesses in the acoustic finish

1 - Einführung, Unboxing und Teardown 2 - Technische Daten und Features 3 - Messungen und Soundcheck 4 - Software und SoundID 5 - Galerie und Fazit

Software and configuration

Although no RGB lighting has crept into the HS65 Surround, we still need Corsair’s iCUE software to use the headset’s full feature set. The fact that the software now has a download size of almost 1GB and spreads across the hard disk and RAM is always a thorn in my side. The advantage, however, is that you can actually configure and coordinate EVERYTHING in the Corsair ecosystem via this one control center.

Since we neither have RGB lighting nor any wireless settings available here, the first thing that awaits us is the equalizer, which comes up with five presets. Of course, those who are familiar with the matter can also create their own profiles and adjust the sound to their preferences using the 10-band equalizer.

In the device settings we still have a switchable Mic Boost, but it is not necessary at all, as we already learned on the previous page. In addition, the voice announcements can be switched on and off here.

SoundID Individualization

Corsair wants to make it as easy as possible for users who might not be that familiar with the matter to adjust the headset’s sound to their listening habits with the new SoundID technology.

But how exactly is this supposed to work? Through simple comparative tests by means of audio samples.

The user chooses a track that most closely matches his or her personal taste in music.

And then different boosts are applied per frequency range and an A/B comparison is offered for each boost. The user selects which sound they like better and moves on to the next frequency range. Kind of like the eye test.

An individual equalizer setting is then calculated based on the selected preferences.

If the SoundID technology is activated, the regular equalizer is deactivated.

In principle, this is an ingenious idea, and it definitely lets you adjust the sound to your personal preferences. For those who have no idea about frequency bands and equalizer settings, this is certainly a fine thing. Personally, I liked the self-adjusted equalizer even more than the calculated setting.