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.

Battery Life

Corsair claims that the Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE 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 two full cycles and got close to 27 hours of operation both times. Granted, I used it with the RGB lighting system turned off, but that's something I'd strongly suggest everyone do anyway. RGB lighting systems on headsets are simply pointless. All of this puts the Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE up there with the longest-lasting wireless gaming headsets on the market, surpassed only by the HyperX Cloud Flight, which lasted for 29 hours in my tests. A voice prompt will notify you when the battery level becomes critical, although there's no need to panic with still about 2 hours of juice in the battery when it happens. Of course, the headset can be used and recharged at the same time, or switched to USB mode if you're charging it through your PC's USB port.

Corsair implemented a nifty Sleep Mode. It puts the headset to sleep after it's not used for a set amount of minutes. The interesting part is how it figures out you're not using it, which is by using a built-in accelerometer instead of looking for an incoming signal. That means the headset will automatically turn off even if you, for example, put it on a stand but forget to close a tab with a running YouTube video, which is great. The accelerometer also takes care of turning the headset back on by bringing it to life as soon as it detects movement—in other words, when you pick it up to put it on your head. It's an elegant and clever implementation of sleep mode, one I'd love to see on competing products.