The Corsair Virtuoso Pro is a high-end analog gaming headset, aimed toward streamers and hardcore gamers who value wearing comfort and sound quality over everything else, and don't mind paying a bit more for it. For most gaming headset brands, analog headsets fall at the bottom of the bunch, with USB and wireless models positioning themselves higher up the lineup. For that reason, the $200 asking price of the Virtuoso Pro might strike you as steep, so it's that much more important to keep in mind that this isn't an ordinary analog gaming headset.

The Virtuoso Pro sports an open-back design, which comes with several benefits. Warm air can freely pass through the ear cups, so the headset is more comfortable during prolonged usage than a traditional, closed-back headset would be. You can hear your own voice almost like you're not wearing headphones at all, which means you'll have a better experience of using the microphone, as you won't be inclined to talk louder than necessary, or sound nasal to your teammates and/or online audience. The obvious downside of this approach is that you have to sit in a dedicated gaming room, where you won't bother anyone with the sounds coming from your direction, or be distracted by the sounds coming from your surroundings. This is an inherent "feature" of the open-back design – sound leaks in both directions.

The build quality of the Virtuoso Pro feels great, and the wearing comfort is terrific. While not exactly light, the headset can be worn for many hours without any fatigue, even if you have a larger head, as verified by yours truly. Corsair was thinking ahead and made the parts that could wear out over time, such as the earpads and inner headband, easily removable and user-replaceable. You can even replace the perforated metal mesh covering the ear cups, which is an interesting way to customize the headset's appearance.

The custom 50-millimeter graphene speaker drivers deliver a snappy, well-balanced sound, that I found enjoyable both for gaming and music listening sessions. Another piece of good news is that you don't need an expensive sound card or a dedicated headphone amplifier to bring out the most out of the Virtuoso Pro. The graphene speaker drivers are extremely easy to drive, so you can do with something as basic as an integrated sound card.

Compared to the Drop+Sennheiser PC38X, my favorite open-back gaming headset to this date, the Corsair Virtuoso Pro is more comfortable, more luxuriously built, slightly better sounding, and easier to bring back to its original glory in the long run, due to the aforementioned replaceable ear pads and inner headband (PC38X only has replaceable ear pads). It's also $30 more expensive and has a noticeably worse microphone than the PC38X, which could be an issue if you plan to use it for streaming but don't want to invest in a proper external USB or XLR microphone. Its microphone is removable, though, while the microphone of the PC38X is permanently affixed to the headset.

With all that in mind, I'm happy to recommend the Corsair Virtuoso Pro to anyone looking for a high-quality analog gaming headset. A product like this was needed on the market, and I'm glad Corsair had the will to release it.