Corsair HS70 Wireless Gaming Headset
Up Close
The Corsair HS70 comes in the now familiar Corsair yellow packaging. Unquestionably it stands apart from the more common colour schemes used, and whilst it might not matter as much as it once did in these times when most of our shopping is done online rather than in bricks and mortar stores, it nonetheless is good to be different. Inside the box is a vacuum formed shroud for the HS70 itself made of sturdier plastic than we were expecting to find at this price point. As you can see all the piano black plastics have their own plastic cover to ensure they arrive to you free from assembly line fingerprints. Instead of the accessories loose in the box behind the headset the HS70 plastic shroud has a cubby hole inside which each accessory has its own plastic bag.
Here are the accessories. A clear guide to the headset itself and what the various buttons do, the wireless dongle including activity LED, the separate microphone and a charging cable that will be familiar to anyone who has ever owned an Android phone.
The contrasting stitching unquestionably dominates the visuals. The last time I saw something that had such obvious diamond shapes it was a smoking jacket, then again I’m kept locked in a basement writing reviews for crumbs, so maybe it’s more common in modern fashion. It does look the business though and is a nice change from the more usual slab of untextured pleather that dominates headbands.
The controls on the HS70 are easy to get to and easy to use. Sometimes the buttons on wireless headsets can be a little hard to distinguish from each other when you’re feeling for a tiny button on something you can’t see using your thumb, but the HS70 keeps the microphone mute and power switches totally separate. The volume wheel protrudes enough to be able to be hit in a hurry, and the microphone input port is far enough away from the charging port that it doesn’t become an issue even if you’re having to charge and play.
The hinge design is a familiar one and a successful one. All of the headsets we’ve tested that have this steel band with U shaped hinges has been totally reliable. It combines robustness with lightness, like a featherweight boxer. In keeping with something that will be a theme today – that of the default setup being ‘just so’ – the hinge height can be adjusted but for most ordinary head shapes wont need to be.
Having a microphone that stays where it is placed is a hugely underrated aspect of a headset. We’ve spent ages fighting against ones which are determined to retain whatever shape they first arrived in, but thankfully the microphone on the HS70 not only looks the part but totally stays wherever it’s placed, no matter how unlikely that position. It is as happy facing the back of your neck or your nose as it is your mouth.
