Corsair Vengeance 2000 Wireless 7.1 Gaming Headset Review

Fit, Feel, and Function:

With the Vengeance 2000 headset setup complete, it was time to evaluate the fit of this headset. I have a medium to large head, and I found that the Vengeance 2000 had plenty of “adjustment” built in to accommodate a comfortable fit. The tension in the band seemed to be spot on, as the ear cups were firmly planted around my ears without any noticeable pressure that would lead to fatigue after a long gaming session. Even after over exaggerated rock band head banging motions, the headset was still firmly in place…impressive. The microfiber material was comfortable, but did not create a seal…this allowed for some ambient sounds to creep in, but not significant enough to create an issue (unless you happen to game in an extremely loud environment). All of the controls on the headset were extremely easy to reach and operate. This included the oversize power button and a scroll wheel volume control; both on the left ear cup. I found the scroll wheel designed volume control to be specifically ingenious and the first implementation of its nature that I had run into. Its leaps and bounds easier to adjust volume on the fly over any button design I have used in the past. Lastly, the boom mic easily swivels up and down, allowing you to have it down when needed, and up and out of the way when it’s not. Now that I had the headset adjusted and a lay of the land on how it operated, it was time to evaluate the sound.

Now that you know how these fit, and how these work, you’re probably wondering how these sound. Initial impression after a few play sessions and a quick run through my MP3 collection…extremely impressive. The 50mm drivers in the Vengeance 2000 headset produce a very full sound, with rich and deep bass. To properly evaluate the sound production, I wanted to test these in three areas. These would be music, gaming, and lastly movies.

When listening to music, the default listening profile is very enjoyable, but in the Corsair control panel, there are audiophile profiles that can further enhance the sound production. There are four separate Audiophile profiles, and where the sound difference between them is minor in most cases, the difference over the default sound is very noticeable. I personally like a wide range of music, but I do have an extensive collection of 90’s R&B/Pop songs and the bass production of the Vengeance 2000 headset is, at times, unbelievable. On some tracks, the ear cups would literally vibrate during very low bass parts. I personally settled on the Audiophile 1+ profile, as I felt it sort of gave me everything I was looking for, but sound is a very objective thing and so you may find a different profile to your liking. Listening to some live tracks and playing around with the Surround modes (Studio, Cinema, and Hall) really did add noticeable “depth” to the sound, which at times really gave the feeling of being at the concert. All and all, these are marketed as a gaming headset, but they really do excel for listening to music.

Turning to gaming, I wore these through several Guildwars 2, Dishonored, and Far Cry 3 sessions. It’s important to note that there are few games that have support for 7.1 sound, and even in those cases the Vengeance 2000 headset is virtualized 7.1 anyways. With that disclaimer out of the way, the sound production was very immersive. This was really noticeable in the environmental or ambient sounds, that were very clear. From a distant NPC conversation, to wind/water noise, to a passing fly…all of these sounds were easily audible and enhanced my gaming experience so much that I found myself just running around to hear different things. With more obvious sounds, like gun fire, explosions, and magic effects, the full sound and deep bass added “weight” to these sounds. About the only disappointment for me, was the 7.1 surround effect. Where it added depth and spatial recognition, it lacked the granularity of the individual sounds. By that I mean, I couldn’t always discern where “every” sound was specifically coming from on its own, other then I know it sounded “out there”. Although this is hard to put into words, anyone with a discrete surround setup at home will understand that there are times that you know exactly where certain sounds are coming from (i.e. bullet ricochet or explosion). I ultimately think this comes back to the virtualized 7.1 surround that the Vengeance 2000 delivers. It does a great job at creating a sound field with depth, but falls short in accurate sound separation.

Having already evaluated gaming, I turned to movies and carried with me my findings thus far. To that end, I went into this testing with sensitivity to the 7.1 surround reproduction. After watching several scenes from Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, Transformers: Dark of the moon, and Star Trek (2009), the Vengeance 2000 headset really does make watching a movie on your PC an enjoyable experience. I generally don’t watch movies on my PC, as I prefer my home theater for that, but this headset helps to close the gap between the two experiences. The deep bass the 50mm drivers are able to put out really goes well with watching movies…especially those that are action oriented. And although I have mentioned the deep bass several times in this review, the mid to high sound reproduction is not lacking at all. There were many moments in The Dark Knight rises where an errant bullet ricochet had me checking myself for holes. With that said, the 7.1 surround was a bit tougher to evaluate here as the action is generally very quick and the movement (and the ability to follow the sound) is out of your control as you can only watch it unfold. Based on that, I didn’t find the virtualized surround to be as disconnected while watching movies and the added depth and spatial recognition felt appropriate throughout all the test titles I watched.

As stated earlier in the review, the boom mic is rigid, but the middle section of the boom is rubber and is pliable. This allows you to find that sweet spot between “is this thing on?” and “Luke, I am your father!”. I tested the mic through several Ventrilo sessions while chatting with my friends in Guild Wars 2, and at no time were there any complaints. Additionally, there was almost zero background noise transmitted, so the mic does an excellent job of picking up your voice and nothing else. A nice touch on Corsair’s part, the mic will mute when swung to the up position. Seems simple, but makes it easier then hunting for a small button during the heat of battle when you’re hot model girlfriend (or mom) is pestering your about something in real life.

Last up, wireless range. Corsair states that the range is 40 feet, and my findings echoed that. In an open space, I got a little over 40 foot before I lost the signal. Surprising to me, walking out of my office around the corner and into the kitchen, the signal held. I was thinking that walls, doors, etc., would have a larger impact on the signal integrity, but alas I was wrong in my assumption. Add in the support for adaptive channel hopping built into the Corsair Vengeance 2000 to avoid channel collision with other 2.4 GHz devices, the wireless technology provided with this headset delivers in spades.