Corsair HS50 Pro Review

This headset is available in three different versions, with the accents being colored either green, blue, or carbon.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

We started by rating and ranking how comfortable the HS50 Pro and all of the other headsets are to wear. We looked at the ear cups, the headband, and how many hours we were comfortable wearing the headset when it came to determining scores, with the HS50 Pro scoring just above average.

Right off the bat, we noticed that the HS50 Pro is definitely not the headset for you if you have a larger than average or a particularly petite head, as it doesn't expand or contract all that much. Overall, this meant most people only found it acceptable to wear this headset for a few hours, unless their head circumference was the perfect match.

The headband has firmer padding covered in leatherette fabric. The ear cups are covered in the same leatherette fabric but the padding feels slightly softer. We did find the ear cups to be just a bit on the smaller side as well.

Audio

We looked at how the speakers sound on this headset for our next metric. Our scores are based on how other player's voices sound, how the HS50 Pro did in our audio benchmarking and positional tests, how soundtracks and music came across, and how well this headset did at filtering out background noise. The HS50 Pro delivered another decent performance, earning a score just a bit better than average.

The HS50 Pro got off to a good start in our audio benchmarking test. It only had a minimal amount of parasitic buzz in our bass test. It also did well in the driver matching test and made it easy to locate where a sound is coming from in the binaural test. This mirrored our results in the positional test, with our judges able to accurately locate the origin of an in-game sound the bulk of the tie.

This headset cuts down background noise a small amount, approximately 15-20%. Other players' voices also sound quite clear and full, making them very easy to understand. Music sounded fine through this headset, though it definitely paled in comparison to the top models in our minds.

Microphone

Our next set of assessments for the HS50 Pro evaluated and compared how well its microphone did at picking up our voices and if it is effective at filtering out other background noises. It again delivered an acceptable performance, earning a score that is just above average.

We found this headset made our voice sound a bit echoey and far away to other players. Some of our teammates even commented that it sounded like we were talking through a mask, due to how muffled it sounded. Other players felt that it sounded fine, albeit faint.

We did like that it doesn't seem to be overly sibilant or pop too much with hard “t” sounds. It also has the benefit of filtering out most external background noises but unfortunately will pick up just about any side conversation unless it's happening more than 15' away from you.

Ease of Use

Our last metric rated and compared how convenient the HS50 Pro is to use by looking at if the mic is detachable, if it has a sidetone, the length of the cable, and the onboard controls. We found this headset to be above average in this regard, earning it a so-so score.

Onboard controls mute the mic and adjust volume. We like that the mute feature is a button, rather than a slide switch, making it much easier to use.

This headset does have a shorter cable at around 6'. The cable isn't detachable but the microphone is. However, it doesn't give you the option for a mic sidetone.

Value

This headset is one of the cheaper options, making it a good budget buy, but we found similarly inexpensive models that we would recommend over this one.

Conclusion