Wireless Performance

The supplied wireless dongle uses Corsair's own Slipstream Wireless technology. It establishes a 2.4 GHz radio connection with the headset and uses Intelligent Frequency Shift to detect and dynamically switch between the cleanest currently available channels. The total wireless range is around 18 meters (60 feet). In my tests, the wireless connection behaved flawlessly—it was rock stable, and there were no traces of lag in sound reproduction or microphone broadcasting. The wireless dongle has a built-in status LED that blinks red when waiting for the connection or glows white when the connection with the headset is active.

Th dongle establishes a 2.4 GHz radio connection, which works with no perceivable lag in sound output or microphone input. Having the headset and a gamepad connected at the same time doesn't introduce any additional lag to either, which I've tested by simultaneously using the Corsair HS75 XB Wireless and Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2. The wireless connection is robust and perfectly stable within the specified 10-meter range.

Battery Life

Corsair claims that the HS80 RGB Wireless can offer up to 20 hours of usage in wireless mode. According to my tests, it can actually do better than that. I used it for several full cycles and got to 21 hours of operation every time. My battery life tests were conducted after setting the volume to 50% of its range, which made it louder than I'd set it to for everyday usage with the RGB LEDs turned off.

Of course, I also conducted the battery life test with the RGB LEDs turned on and set to the Rainbow preset, which constantly cycles through the colors of a rainbow. In that scenario, the HS80 RGB Wireless shut down after 11 hours of usage.

A voice prompt will notify you when the battery level becomes critical, although there's no need to panic—you still have around 5 hours of juice in the battery when that happens. It's hard to say why Corsair went with such a conservative critical battery life notification as receiving it two hours before the battery drains would be perfectly fine. It's worth noting that the RGB lighting system turns off and becomes unavailable as soon as the headset declares battery life as critical.


A small LED underneath the volume wheel serves as an indicator of remaining battery life. Corsair is vague about the status of the battery, as it only uses High, Medium, or Low without any exact numbers attached to these "values." A high battery life is marked with a green LED, orange amounts to medium battery life, and red means that the battery is low. Although the iCUE software driver can display a battery gauge in the system tray, it too uses the same High/Medium/Low descriptors. The same is true for the "Device Settings" submenu in the iCUE software driver.

Of course, the headset can be recharged through an external power brick and used at the same time, or switched to USB mode if you're charging it through your PC's USB port. Charging it from empty to full takes slightly under three hours.