Corsair products are not strangers to the pages of LanOC, and the name is one that carries with it a good reputation for quality products. It's with an expectation of a quality product that does the job with style that I first put on the Corsair Vengeance 1500 headphones. Would my expectations be met by stunning Dolby 7.1 digital sound? Or with stunning disappointment? Let's find out.
Product Name: Corsair Vengeance 1500
Review Sample Provided by: Corsair
Written by: Shane Ede
Pictures by: Shane Ede
Specifications
Headphone:
| Driver diameter | 50mm |
| Frequency range | 20Hz - 20kHz |
| Impedance | 32 Ohms @ 1kHz |
| Sensitivities(@1kHz) | 98 dB (A-weighted) |
| Connector | USB Type A |
Microphone:
| Frequency range | 100Hz - 10kHz |
| Sensitivities (@1kHz) | -44 dB ± 3 dB |
| Microphone Type | Unidirectional noise-cancelling condenser |
System Requirements:
| OS | Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP |
| Connection | USB |
Packaging
The packaging for the Vengeance 1500 does a couple things right away. There's a nice sized color photo of the headset itself giving me a good idea of what the whole product looks like. The Vengeance 1500 name pops out in contrast to the black and blue that dominates the rest of the box. On the right, we've got a window so that we can part of the actual product. That, combined with the picture on the front should give anyone a pretty good idea of whether they'll like the style or not.
Technical details are a bit sparse on this box, however. The back, and left side of the box look like they have a lot of text and detail. Until you get closer and realize that it's the same small text repeated 6 times in 6 languages. If I were shopping for headphones in a retail setting, this would make it a bit harder to pick.
Inside, the headphones are set into a pressed pulp-cardboard holder. It's a small touch of recyclable material if you like that. I happen to. Along with the headphones, we've got a warranty card and info sheet telling us where to download the software for the headphones.
Comfort
Comfort of ear cups – The cups on the Vengeance 1500 are, according to the packaging, "circumaural, extra-wide diameter." I've got a big head, and ears that fit, and the earcups easily surround my ears. The padding on the cups is a memory foam, which makes for a very comfortable fit. One thing I did notice, after extended use (we're talking 5-6 hours plus), was that the cups don't breath very well and I ended up with sweaty ears.
Comfort of headband – The headband is well padded, although not with the same memory foam that the ear cups have, and covered by soft leather. After having a set of headphones without a padded headband, I was surprised with just how comfortable these were. There's ample padding to make the headphones great for a long stretch at your PC.
The Mic and controls - The microphone is a boom style mic that's attached to the left ear cup. It's got a metal end accent that nicely complements the overall design of the headphones. The boom itself rotates up and out of the way when you don't need it, and also is built with a flexible middle so that you can adjust the position of the mic to some degree. The controls for the headphones come in the form of a inline pillbox. It's oblong in shape, with a microphone mute button and volume control buttons. The volume control buttons are surrounded by a lit ring that's blue under normal operation, and turn red when the microphone is muted giving a simple and easy way to tell whether you've got a live mic or not.
I did download and install the software that Corsair makes available with the headset, but I didn't give it much work. Out of the box, the headphones sound really good, and I'm terrible at adjusting equalizers. It does have some finer control over the surround sound features, and the standard volume adjustments for output and mic input. For someone that uses the equalizer, the software should be very handy. It's got a few presets for the equalizer which should make it easier for beginners like me to get a little help without too much tweaking.
The headset does seem a bit bulky, but I hardly noticed it once it was on. The cord is a nice, long, 10 feet long which should give most of us the ability to get up and walk around our desk without ripping the cord out of its port, or the headset off our heads.
Testing
The drivers in these are 50mm, which is pretty darn good. They should be able to reproduce a pretty wide range of sound without any major distortion, and should be able to reproduce normal level sounds with no distortion. One of the first things I noticed when I put these on was that there was a significant deadening/silencing effect. They aren't active noise-cancelling headphones, but the way they are constructed, they do a surprisingly good job of cancelling out a lot of background noise.
Parliament - Give up the Funk - There's little better to test a full range of sound than some George Clinton and Parliament. It's got a deep bass line with a nice lyrical voice range. Immediately, I was impressed by the bass reproduction.
The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow - I established that the headphones did a great job with bass, so I had to go and test them out with something with a lot of high to mid range sound. Once again, I was impressed with the quality of the sound coming from the headphones.
In Game - Diablo 3 – The front of the box says it's a gaming headset, and Diablo 3 just recently won the award for best video game soundtrack. I've had two revelations while playing Diablo 3. The first was when I played it the first time on my new rig with a card that is 10X better than the previous one. Graphically, I was confused for a bit while I caught up to the expanded world. After plugging in the Vengeance headphones, I was again impressed with the increased level of immersion made possible by the sound in the game. The headphones produced crisp sound from the soundtrack, and the Dolby surround sound is incredible. I've caught myself looking around the room several times looking for the source of a noise before realizing it was an in game sound.
The Microphone – I tested this in a live Skype call and in a recording situation. While I was unable to hear myself on the other end of the Skype call, the person I was talking to said that the quality was good. The recordings I took were clear, and of an above average quality. It will suit all your needs for live chats, recordings, and calls.
Overall and FV
The Vengeance 1500 headset is priced at $99. Some might see that as a bit expensive for a pair of headphones. But, if you're willing to spend 3x or more on a video card so you can have the best video experience while gaming, why wouldn't you spend $99 to get the best audio experience as well?
My biggest issue with the headset is that it can get a bit stuffy in the ear cups after an extended use. The sound, and mic are excellent. I found myself looking around when certain sound effects went off which is a testament to the quality of the surround sound. The only other issues I had with the headset were that it was corded, and it is a bit bulkier than what I was used to. The bulkiness is more of a personal thing, as my previous headset was a communication headset and was much smaller. And, if corded is big deal to you, you'll likely be looking at moving up to the wireless Vengeance 2000 instead. We are happy to give the recommended tag to the Vengeance 1500 gaming headset.
