Closer Examination, Build Quality, and Comfort

The Corsair HS80 RGB Wireless is very nice to look at, and equally pleasant to touch thanks to its ever-present robustness. The design of the ear cups is obviously inspired by the famous Void gaming headset lineup. They're made out of dense, sturdy plastic, just like the outer headband, with "Corsair" subtly written across the top. The ear cups and outer headband are connected with a pair of aluminium hangers, which allow the ear cups to be swiveled by up to 90° inwards. This is a welcome feature for several reasons: The headset adapts easier to various head shapes and sizes and can lie flat on the table, or around your neck.


A feature never before seen on a Corsair headset is the flexible floating headband. Its ends are affixed to the outer headband by two Velcro straps. They can be moved, and by doing so you're changing the tension of the inner headband. I didn't feel the need to readjust it from its default position, as that worked great for my largish head. The floating headband is thinly padded and covered in pleather, but completely comfortable—it touching your head is even hard to tell. If it isn't obvious, the idea behind it is to remove the need to manually adjust the "height" of the headset. When you want to use it, simply put it on your head—this flexible headband automatically stretches as much as necessary. It's a design we already saw on various other gaming headsets, as well as higher-end hi-fi headphones. Corsair's implementation is commendable—the weight distribution is excellent, and there are no pressure points on any of the spots where the inner headband touches the head.


The ear cushions are filled with a thick layer of memory foam and covered in what feels like a premium fabric. They surround the ears completely, although I can't tell whether their unusual shape has any other noteworthy benefits aside from looking interesting. Overall wearing comfort of the HS80 RGB Wireless is good. Due to a slightly higher clamping force, it's not the most comfortable gaming headset on the market, and it definitely isn't more comfortable than other gaming headsets sold by Corsair, but I still didn't have any issues wearing it for several hours at a time. The clamping force loosens up after a while, so that's a contributing factor to my overall comfort-related impressions, too. If you examined my photos more carefully, you've probably noticed that the plastic parts of the HS80 RGB Wireless are a real fingerprint magnet. I found it very hard to keep this headset clean, as that would include wiping it down after every manipulation, which is simply annoying.


The left ear cup contains a power button, volume knob, and USB-C charging port. The volume knob can be pressed like a button, which cycles through EQ settings, created and saved within the iCUE software driver. Should you decide to establish a wired connection to your PC, the power button is also used to switch the headset from wireless to USB mode.


The Corsair logo on the ear cups glows in any color you set it to in iCUE. Corsair is offering various RGB effects, as well as the option to synchronize them with other peripherals from the company. All that is nice, but also fairly pointless for two reasons: You can't see the RGB effects while using the headset, and, more importantly, it almost halves total battery life.


The microphone is pivotable and blends in with the headset quite seamlessly. When you lower it and put it in front of your face, it automatically switches on and starts recording your voice. You can then pivot the microphone upwards to mute it.


Corsair is using an omnidirectional microphone, which isn't susceptible to plosive noise, so there was no need to cover it with a pop filter. The entire microphone arm is rubberized and as such has no trouble staying in whichever position you bend it to. A ring of red LEDs surrounds the head of the microphone. The iCUE software driver lets you decide if you want these LEDs to light up when the headset is activated or muted. I preferred having them off while using the microphone, as I'd otherwise see the glowing ring in my peripheral vision, which I found slightly distracting.