As you’d expect from a headset at this price point, construction materials are primarily plastic, with an aluminium headband forming the base frame. While some manufacturers often arrive at a fairly perfunctory overall look using plastic, Corsair has a knack for keeping it classy with their budget headsets, as is evident here, as well as with the HS35’s siblings, the HS50 and HS70.
A smart mix of matte and gloss finishes conveys an elegant overall look, and the brushed metal logos on each ear cup are anything but budget.
Since the HS35’s cloth fabric doesn’t create that snug contact point of a leatherette pad, there’s some sound bleed and a little low-end is lost. Light doesn’t always equate to comfortable, since one of this reviewer’s all-time favorites, the HyperX Cloud Alpha, weighs nearly 100g more than this (0.7 pounds, 336g). The cable’s rubberized (rather than braided) and ends in a 3.5mm connection, which is a concession to the HS35’s compatibility with PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
We’ll take black every time, thanks very much, but the green, red and blue variants certainly pop, and gamers don’t usually have this much choice in a $40 headset’s appearance. All those contrasting finishes and memory foam pads don’t count for much if the drivers sound like waterlogged phone speakers.
It’s just worth establishing that, no, this doesn’t magically sound as good as gaming headsets four times the price, or audiophile-grade headphones. But pitted against similarly priced headsets, the HS35 has great clarity to the table and doesn’t distort audibly at max volume. There’s no digital surround available here, but the stereo spread sounds nice and wide, again tuned for competitive gaming, where your ears are working hard to position others around you. With a 20-20,000Hz frequency response range, it was always going to miss a bit of low-end, but we found it produces a slightly nasal sound on top of that, possibly because of that noise cancellation.
We love the subtle mix of matte and high-shine gloss finishes and the simple, metallic Corsair logos on each earcup. Despite beefy 50mm drivers providing some low-end oomph, there’s a harshness to the overall tone that seems geared towards game sound spaces at the expense of other usage scenarios.
HyperX’s Cloud range is a prime example, ready to blow your head off with its bass response but still balanced enough to articulate the rest of the EQ in detail.
Corsair HS35 Stereo Gaming Headset Review
Corsair employs some glossy black around the earcups for an aesthetic effect that looks stylish without being gaudy or an obvious fingerprint magnet. While the memory foam isn’t as dense as I’ve felt from my HyperX Cloud Mix headset, there’s still enough of it to remain comfortable on my head and around my ears for hours at a time. There’s plenty of flex, length in the sliders, and pivot and swivel to the earcups to allow for a fit on a wide variety of head sizes.For $39, the build quality is surprisingly good.
The 5.9-foot cable is rubber and includes a strap for wrapping it up when not in use.The first thing I noticed any time I put the Corsair HS35 headset on was the dominating bass.
Violins and high piano notes in Of Montreal’s Spiteful Intervention don’t penetrate the wall of bass and mids. It’s not perfect, but it’s a level above the similarly price Kaliber Gaming Nukleus headset.While playing Rainbow Six Siege , I didn’t get caught up on heavy footsteps drowning out drum cymbals.
In the basement of Rainbow Six Siege’s bank map, I could hear an enemy shifting about the nearest stairwell as my team dealt with enemies elsewhere, so I was able to hold position and keep from getting shot in the back.I also took the game through several hours of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice , and while the low end roared for many enemy attacks, the sharp warning sound for unblockable attacks came through clear enough to help me stay alive.One downside to the breathable mesh ear cups is that they provide very little noise isolation.
Corsair HS35 Review 2021
Bottom Line The Corsair HS35 is a prime example of a budget headset that manages to do everything right while trimming off the excess features to meet this price range. There is no shortage of excellent gaming headsets at and above the $100 price range, but below that point, the options start to dwindle. Name Corsair HS35 Type Over-ear headset Connection 3.5 mm wired Drivers 50 mm Cable length 1.8 m Impedance 32 Ohms Frequency range 20 Hz – 20 kHz Microphone Unidirectional Microphone frequency response 100 Hz – 10 kHz This isn’t in any way superior to automatic adjustment, we’re just pointing out that the headphone can be more comfortable if at first it feels like it’s pressing into places too hard.
Speaking of comfort, we have to say we’re impressed with the way Corsair has handled such an all-important aspect of this budget headset. This works wonders in tandem with the overall lightweight build to make this headset comfortable to wear for lengthy gaming sessions.
Mesh isn’t nearly as good at isolating noise and keeping the bass in as leatherette so some users dislike it with a passion. We can understand why – if you’re doing everything you can to make your audio experience the best it could be, then getting a headset with mesh ear cushions can feel similar to shooting yourself in the foot. However, all the little things we’ve mentioned – the adjustability (including swivel), the lightweight design, the thick padding and the breathable mesh – do stack up to make it incredibly comfortable compared to most of its competition. The microphone also doesn’t feature a windshield, which can be a big problem, but the HS35 offers a workaround for this by letting you position the bendable mic however and wherever you want – once adjusted, it stays put. This again saves some trial and error before you can place the microphone in such a way it picks up your voice well enough at speaking volume, without torturing the ears of your teammates on the other side of the Discord call with popping noises. This headset is very bass-heavy, yet the bass would’ve been better with leatherette ear cushions, so the quality and punchiness isn’t the best this price range has to offer.
This headset has a custom-tuned sound profile that expands the soundstage and puts a higher emphasis on frequencies that generally hold relevant audio cues like footsteps in competitive games. Too many headsets spread themselves too thin, while trying to appeal to different audiences, but the HS35 takes gaming as its top priority and does what it’s set out to do – offering gamers what they need.
It’s a barebones headset, but the meat has been expertly picked off the bones, leaving behind a sturdy and functional skeleton that no gamer on a budget would be disappointed with. If your budget isn’t hard-capped at $40, then the HS35 becomes a much less desirable option, as you can easily find better headsets at the $60 price range, let alone higher.
Corsair HS35 headset Review: “An expensive-looking yet reasonably priced over-ear headset”
Pitching itself as a gaming headset ideal for Switch, PC, Mobile and seemingly the kitchen sink, the HS35 represents Corsair’s newest attempt at offering general players an affordable, no-frills audio solution that can still be relied upon for great sound quality and comfort. It certainly undercuts the price of more premium Corsair headset options, like the beefier HS50, but the real test comes from whether it can maintain those benefits without feeling like a cheap product. It’s fairly light, isn’t too chunky, and the cable being colour-matched to both the memory foam earcup and headband cushions does a decent job of making it look more expensive than it actually is. At $40/£40, this is an extremely good-looking and well-designed headset, built using sensible materials that feel comfortable to wear during extended play sessions – even for those with large ears.
Volume is easily adjusted thanks to the on-ear slider that’s also found on the left earcup, while muting all audio comes with just a simple button press. Wolfenstein Youngblood is one of the latest first-person shooters to release, making it a great candidate to test how punchy the HS35 could output those weapon shots, cocks and reloads. On the slightly less aggressive side, Resident Evil 2 saw the HS35 make excellent use of the direction-specific sound effects, with everything from zombie groans to creaking doors setting a spooky tone either on the left or ride-side cup. If you’re looking for an affordable over-ear gaming headset that provides decent sound, apt comfort, with just a splash of elegant style thrown in then you can’t get much better than the Corsair HS35.
Corsair HS35 Stereo Gaming Headset review
A gaming headset with classic styling that does all the basics competently, the Corsair HS35 is a great buy for those looking to spend less. A gaming headset with classic styling that does all the basics competently, the Corsair HS35 is a great buy for those looking to spend less. A wired gaming headset with absolutely no frills, the Corsair HS35 sets itself apart by being pretty good at everything you need it to do.
The microphone’s adjustable (so you don’t overdrive it during those shouty multiplayer moments), while the drivers have a good, clean dynamic range and reproduce the band of frequencies you need for gaming with little effort.
The Corsair HS35 is the gaming headset equivalent of a TJ Maxx little black dress; classic good looks and style, but on a budget. In an era where manufacturers signify special features with LEDs and glowing rings, this minimalism is welcome.
The left cup is where you’ll find a discrete volume control wheel and, below that, a mute button. As it turned out, the smooth cloth and soft padding made a good seal without being too tight.
You want the audio to be crackle-free and for the drivers to handle the loud rumbles and crashes of Doom: Eternal without it sounding like a pub band covering Metallica in the middle of a bar fight. You need stereo separation clear enough that you can hear enemy fire in Superhot and know where it’s coming from. The bass and mid response was clear when racing a souped-up Mini hatchback in Dirt Rally 2.0. There was an audible bass response from 20Hz upwards in our frequency test, but more importantly, it handled our playlist of classical, metal, folk and electronica consistently and well.
The HS35 favours the bass end of the spectrum; common enough in cheaper, closed-cup headsets, but the mid-range was refreshingly wide too. The Corsair HS35 doesn’t really do “features.” It’s a wired gaming headset with a detachable mic and that’s pretty much all she wrote. I’m a fan of the detachable mic stalk and its flexible, gooseneck design — common to Corsair headsets. Some no-frills gaming headsets holding onto the bottom of the budget ladder strike you as cheap out of the box. They shouldn’t be so ugly you hate having them on your desk or built so poorly they break in a couple of months.
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