Microphone Performance

The microphone of the Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE was tested by wirelessly connecting it to my PC. I also tested the microphone by using the USB connection in order to figure out if it performs any differently from the wireless connection.

To review the microphone's sound and compare it to similar headsets, I used the Adam A7X speakers and Shure SRH840 headphones (both fall into the studio monitor category). I connected them to the Audiolab's M-DAC, a high-quality digital-to-analog converter that functions as an external sound card when connected to a PC. Testing was done in Discord, Skype, and Audacity, and I also used Audacity to record the sound from the microphone. The sound was recorded with microphone sensitivity set to 100% and was not post-processed or edited in any way.

For reference, this voice recording has been made with the Rode NT-USB, a high-quality studio microphone:



This is the sound recorded by using the omnidirectional microphone with a 9.5 millimeter capsule the Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless is supplied with:




As mentioned in the introduction, the microphone capsule is arguably the biggest point of differentiation between the Virtuoso RGB Wireless and the $30/€30 pricier Special Edition of the headset. The Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE has a significantly larger, 9.5-mm capsule, as opposed to the 4-mm capsule on the "regular" model. Unfortunately, while definitely bassier, the larger capsule generally performs worse in terms of voice naturality and smoothness. To put it simply, you'll sound better when using the "regular" Virtuoso's microphone. To hear what I'm talking about, take a listen of these two samples, recorded on the "regular" Virtuoso.




That's not to say the Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE doesn't have a good microphone, although if you listen loudly and carefully enough, you'll notice my voice isn't perfectly clean in wireless mode. The noise completely disappears after switching to the USB connection. Listen to the microphone samples of some other wireless headsets to hear how the microphone of the Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE performs in comparison.








As you can clearly hear, the microphone of the Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE is a massive step up from the HS70 Wireless and Void Pro Wireless. It's also noticeably better than the microphones of the HyperX Cloud Flight, SteelSeries Arctis 7, and some of the most expensive wireless gaming headsets on the market, the Sennheiser GSP 670 ($349) and SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless ($279). The only problem is that it's not better than the microphone of the $30/€30 cheaper "regular" Virtuoso RGB Wireless.