Audio Performance

I'll split the audio performance analysis into two parts —gaming and music. Even though the headset produces the same sound regardless of what it's being used for, you won't necessarily look for the same things while annihilating your virtual opponents as you will when listening to your favorite tunes.

Gaming

When it comes to sound performance, gaming is what I consider to be the Corsair HS35 Stereo's forte. This headset is not nearly as good for certain genres of music. The overall sound signature has an unmistakable artificiality to it. It's very easy to hear that someone did quite a bit of fiddling with the built-in 50-millimeter dynamic speaker drivers in order to tune them to their intention. The sound they produce is very bassy and even somewhat boomy in the sub-100 Hz region.

The mid-range has a decent presence and a fair amount of detail. I didn't have trouble hearing more subtle audio cues, such as distant footsteps or someone reloading their weapon nearby, or determining the direction of gunfire. Although the soundstage is by no means wide, the stereo imaging works nicely, at least from left to right as it does not work as well vertically. If you're playing a shooter and have enemies directly above or below you, it becomes a bit challenging to figure out their exact location. The higher frequencies are handled decently too, with no excessive harshness and sparkle that would cause gunfire, engine noise, or similar sounds to make your ears bleed.

In dialogue-heavy games, especially those with a lot of lively or atmospheric music playing in the background, the excessive bass can be a bit overwhelming and tiring, and even make some of the things that are being spoken harder to understand. The same goes for movie watching. Still, considering the $40 price tag, I'd rate the sound performance of this headset as perfectly acceptable.

The passive noise isolation is good. You won't be bothered by your surroundings, nor will you irritate the people sitting around you. At the same time, the seal isn't so tight that you'd feel any pressure building up in your ears.

Music

Music performance of the Corsair HS35 Stereo is very much genre-dependent. For rap, EDM, and similar types of music, where the rumble and thickness of the bass isn't an issue, the headset does alright. Sure, it will at times sound boomy and bloated in the lower end of the frequency spectrum, but you probably won't hate it because of that—you'd be much more disappointed if the bass were lacking. However, play something a bit more complex and with more finesse, such as heavy metal or singer-songwriter music, and the fatness of the bass quickly turns into a problem. If for some reason I had to use this headset for music listening, I'd use my soundcard's equalizer to trim the sub-100 Hz frequencies by as much as -4 or -5 dB. That would subdue some of the boominess of the bass and put the vocals into focus even more. Of course, basic sound cards don't offer this feature, nor should you aim to get one that does, at least not for this headset. It simply costs too little to justify such an investment. Do yourself a favor and take it as is. Once again, when we take into consideration that it costs as little as $40, there's not much to complain about.