I consider myself an avid gamer and audiophile--in the past 8 years, I've bought, auditioned, kept, sold, donated, or returned more than three dozen budget to truly summit-fi gaming and "serious-minded" headsets from the likes of Focal, Meze, Sennheiser, Audeze, Kennerton, Oppo, Denon, V-Moda, Razer, Hyper X, RIG, Astro, Logitech, Turtle Beach, JBL, Corsair, and SteelSeries--just to name a few. Above everything else, I always rank comfort as the number one priority--if you can't stand wearing a headset for more than 20-30 minutes at a time, what is the point in keeping them no matter how wonderfully sublime they sound? After that comes sound-quality...most everything else is just window dressing from there. Now, I am not a bass-head, but I do appreciate an articulate, fast, and palpable/chest thumping low-end. That said, mids are where most of the music lives, so I might often sacrifice just a hair of bass "quantity" so long as the bass "quality" is still apparent behind a slightly more pronounced or engaging set of mids. I also listen to a lot of female-fronted and acoustical music so I put another premium on airy, detailed, and sparkling highs, but not to the point where they are so hyper-detailed or clinical as to come off as somewhat fatiguing or just--boring. It has been unusual for me to find a single headset that happens to be exceedingly comfortable AND does well in all three of these sonic performance dimensions without making other sacrifices along the way (higher price, lower build quality, fiddly controls, poor mic, etc.), so imagine my surprise when Corsair rolled out a budget headset that just so happens to pull all this off. Mind you, the performance it turns in is totally contingent on the quality of the signal you feed it--there is no included USB dongle, so whatever you use for signal processing, analog conversion, amping, etc., is what you're stuck with--but if you don't put garbage in, I think you'll be incredibly happy with what you get out of the HS55s. Construction feels surprisingly robust, yet these cans are still lightweight clocking in at just around 275 grams with the cable. The matte and satin-finish plastic shell is smooth and thus should not easily pick up and retain dirt and oils. And despite being plastic, it feels very solid and high-density, while the metal headband helps keep the fit reassuring tight and stable on the head. There was absolutely no creaking or cheap-feeling catches or plastic-on-plastic snaps during my bending and twist tests. The rotating mechanisms on the earcups are smooth yet provide enough friction that they stay in place once situated on the head--they fold to a full 90 degrees to allow the headset to lay flat on a table or in a bag/drawer (though no storage bag or sack is included--probably to help keep costs/prices down). Headband sizing is accomplished with a click-stop set of sliders that allow the earcups to move through about 1.5" of vertical travel. The earcups also have a small range of forward/back tilt on their hangers--maybe five to ten degrees or so--to help dial in the comfort for what I'm sure is a wide range of head sizes. Thankfully, the curvature of the headband is not so extreme that it creates undue clamping force that results in hot-spots on the top and sides of my head or causes ear fatigue and pain. This is what usually gets a set of cans I'm auditioning relegated to the "reject pile" because so many headsets today seem to have unyielding construction that doesn't allow the headband to comfortably conform to the natural shape of my head, or the earpads to rest comfortably on/over my ears. The bottom of the headband and earpads are covered with a very soft synthetic leather that actually feels somewhat thick and substantial. In general, I'm not a huge fan of synthetic leathers because they can crack and flake over time, but these actually feel like they'll hold up fairly well to repeated use with just a bit of reasonable care. The flip-to-mute boom mic does not stow neatly into an integrated slot in the earcup, but it does fold up completely out of the way when not deployed which is nice when I'm playing a solo game or just listening to music. The smooth, rubber-coated headphone cable is captive on the left earcup (unfortunately). This is about the only real complaint I have with the HS55s because it means I cannot replace the cable alone if one of the connectors starts to go bad down the road. The cable has a combination 3.5mm tip but Corsair included a mic/audio breakout adapter in the box if you need it. At the back of the left earcup is a single rotary volume dial with raised nubs around the edges to help with grip/operation in the blind. That is all there is to the controls on this headset--no fancy RGB and no buttons for EQ selection, 3D sound activation, or a chat/game mixer...you'll have to rely on your console or PC to make any such adjustments. The boom mic is a bit of a curiosity compared to the standard round wire-style mic on most gaming headsets. This one is a thin ribbon-like arm with some very strong memory-wire inside to help hold its shape and position (forward or back, not up and down) even after long gaming sessions. At the end of the arm is a mouth-facing omni-directional mic pickup to help ensure decent performance regardless of how high/low it is placed relative to the mouth. In practice, I found voice quality to be exceptionally clear and lifelike in my recordings without any hint of unnatural, watery, or overly DSP-sounding voice compression or cutoff. I cannot speak to its performance in a crowded room with other heated conversations going on, but I did not hear any signs that the mic picked up and amplified nearby droning PC fans or HVAC blowers. Finally, getting down to audio performance, this budget headset really blew me away with how well it rendered complex and multi-layered musical tracks and game soundscapes without getting smeary or feeling slow and imprecise. Bass performance fell along the lines of my preferences--powerful, fast, and accurate but not so overwhelming that it was bordering on painful. Similarly, strings, piano notes, and other highs were reproduced with a great deal of delicacy and definition without getting screechy or sibilant. Thankfully, mids were forward enough that they didn't seem hollowed out like you might get from some headsets' extreme V-shaped EQ. Sure, the Focal Utopias or Meze Empyreans sounded more detailed, accurate, and maybe a bit "fuller," but at the Corsair's bargain-basement price, I was shocked at just how nice and FUN the HS55s still sounded in comparison. Again, however, their performance in your rig is going to be largely contingent on the source in use. For my audition, I leveraged the 3.5mm USB dongle included with my Logitech Pro X headset, as well as the 3.5mm unbalanced jack on my Questyle M15 USB DAC/amp. I was immensely satisfied with the results from both--though the HS55s *were* resolving enough that I could easily discern the significant bump in audio quality and performance on the same musical passages when using the M15 (the ability to move up from 16-bit/44Khz to some 24-bit/192Khz and higher HD sound files may have had something to do it with, too). Bottom line--these headphones are surprisingly light and comfortable yet still offer solid build quality, pleasing ergonomics, and dead-simple usability. You will also enjoy some truly exceptional microphone performance and simply wonderful audio quality that is well-suited to music, videos, and even the most active and bombastic game soundtracks. I am pleased to give Corsair's latest offering such a resounding recommendation, especially given their budget-oriented price tag.

This is an excellent, easy, straightforward gaming headset that performs. There is something to be said about wired headset, especially one made like this one. It is comfortable (I cannot tell you how many headsets I have returned due to discomfort during long gaming sessions), sounds good, and the mic is excellent. In the box, you get the headset and a Y-connector (to ensure the headset can connect to other devices, which is nice). Setup is simple……just plug and play. On the left headset, there is a volume knob which is easy to reach. For the mic, it has a flip to mute function, which I LOVE! This device is also Discord certified for those Discord users out there. The sound will not blow you away, BUT it is perfect for all the games I have thrown at it. Hearing footsteps for online games is easy and you don't get crazy bass that you can get from some headsets. As I said before, the mic is great. The flip to mute is so easy to use and SUCH a handy feature, I am always baffled why more headsets don’t have this feature. It becomes second nature unlike a physical button which can be hard to locate at times, depending on the placement. I have had zero issues with people being able to hear me in game or discord. As far as the looks go, you cannot go wrong with white, and gray paired together (imo). It doesn’t try to do too much but looks sleek.

Corsair never seems to disapoint. As a part of the new HS line, the HS55 gaming headphones are a great, affordable pair of gaming headphones. With a simple design that is still much better quality than a lot other brands around this price range, they fit comfortably on the head with 50 mm audio drivers tha don't look like 50 mm drivers. I honestly thought they where 40 at the very most. With that leatherett on the ear cups, wrapping the memory foam for all day gaming, that's a fact. I gamed all day (hours people), until my PC's battery went out twice. And if it wasn't for the cord (which could be a little longer), would've never taken them off. But I had to go get snacks. Playing multi-player games online FPS games, to be more precise, these things have surround sound feature where you can literally hear behind you. In the box, you'll get the headphones and a Y cable adapter for those desk top systems. Again hopfully, you'll have your Desk top close to you. Because that cord man. Dang. The omni-directional mic clarity is very good. It's made with material that can be bent your mouth. I'm telling you this thing is light-weight. Not to mention the flip up to mute feature is present. That's always good. The only minor problem I have is the color ( white) Because of the possible smudging. And that cord needs to be just a little longer. Other than that, these are some top-notch headphones. They work great on my Meta Qest as well. Just thought I'd add that bit of info. So yes, I wholey recommend these.

Corsair headset, a 3.5mm to usb adapter are all you need for a good set for gaming. Once I picked them up I noticed they were super light which makes me wonder how long they will last. Cord was decent length but not extra long. The ear cushion is decent as well. Cover my hubbys big ears. Lol. The foam isn’t leather but feels like plastic and will sweat on your head when you are hot. So stay cool my friends. Headset stays secure and don’t move too much but could be more stiff for a better fit around the ears. The microphone mutes when flipped up which is a cool feature. the microphone quality is really good. streaming quality maybe not and there is not lighting on the mic for functionality recognition. The sound quality was a 3.5 stars out of 5. Plenty of treble, little to no base and somewhat raspy. Nothing horrible but sound quality could be better and part of the reason for not rating it 5 stars. Overall these are decent gaming headphones especially for a starting gamer. Good entry level.

This is an excellent, easy, straightforward gaming headset that performs. There is something to be said about wired headset, especially one made like this one. It is comfortable (I cannot tell you how many headsets I have returned due to discomfort during long gaming sessions), sounds good, and the mic is excellent. In the box, you get the headset and a Y-connector (to ensure the headset can connect to other devices, which is nice). Setup is simple……just plug and play. On the left headset, there is a volume knob which is easy to reach. For the mic, it has a flip to mute function, which I LOVE! This device is also Discord certified for those Discord users out there. The sound will not blow you away, BUT it is perfect for all the games I have thrown at it. Hearing footsteps for online games is easy and you don't get crazy bass that you can get from some headsets. As I said before, the mic is great. The flip to mute is so easy to use and SUCH a handy feature, I am always baffled why more headsets don’t have this feature. It becomes second nature unlike a physical button which can be hard to locate at times, depending on the placement. I have had zero issues with people being able to hear me in game or discord. As far as the looks go, you cannot go wrong with white, and gray paired together (imo). It doesn’t try to do too much but looks sleek.