Corsair is one of the behemoths of gaming peripherals. From the ultra-accurate Glaive mouse to the water-resistant K68 keyboard, their lineup has a ton of quality gaming hardware at a number of different price points. And the recently released Void Pro RGB wireless headset is no different. This headset is a worthy entry in Corsair’s product lineup — one that offers a great wireless experience at a price that won’t break your bank.
I have to admit — I’ve never been a huge fan of Corsair’s peripherals. Though they’re high-quality products that do exactly what they’re designed to do, something about them has just never been right for my play style, desk space, or general needs as a gamer. But the Void Pro headset is a different story. It offers a painless wireless experience that packs in just the right amount of functionality and a fairly immersive sound profile that puts it leagues above other wireless offerings in its price bracket.
Solid Specs and a Striking Design
The Corsair Void Pro boasts a full range of specs for the discerning gamer — including Dolby 7.1 surround sound, a 16-hour battery life, and a noise-cancelling microphone. Its box comes with the bare essentials of the headset, a wireless transmitter, charging cable, and a foam windscreen that you can put on the mic if you so choose.
The headset itself is a sleek-looking number that mimics the sturdy build and angled aesthetic of Corsair’s other peripherals. Its body is mostly durable plastic, with metal joints at the ear cups that let you swivel them 90 degrees. The polygonal ear cups feature RGB lighting in the Corsair logo, and three buttons on the side for power, mic mute, and volume/EQ adjustment. Both the headband and the ear cups are padded with memory foam covered in breathable mesh for maximum comfort. And to bring it all together, a unidirectional microphone sits at the end of a sturdy swivel arm with LED indicators that illuminate when it’s muted.
You can choose to install the Corsair Utility Engine (CUE) software to fully customize your experience with this headset, but it’s also fine for plug-and-play use if that’s what you want to do. Of all the Corsair products I’ve tried, the Void Pro is the first one that hasn’t really forced me to use the software at some point or another, which is a big plus since I rarely have the time or patience to fiddle around with a myriad of settings that ultimately have minimal impact on my everyday use. And while Corsair has made some improvements on its user experience in CUE, the changes still aren’t enough to make me want to use it frequently.
All-Day Comfort
In spite of the fact that it’s heavier than a number of other headsets in its class at 390 grams (13 ounces, or 0.8 pounds), the Void Pro is incredibly comfortable. The fit is nice — though probably a bit too snug initially for gamers who aren’t hobbit-sized — and the band doesn’t slip or move unless I’m moving around a lot.
The padding on the headset is soft and breathable, and the ear cups are large enough that I can easily sport these all day long, even with glasses and piercings demanding extra room. Whether I was tackling an 8-hour workday, doing a weekend-long SMITE grind, or marathoning episodes of Black Mirror, I never had to stop to adjust the headset or let my ears cool off.
Wearability is the name of the game with this wireless headset. The Void Pro lets you swivel its ear cups so it can rest around your neck when it’s not in use, and its design is just slim enough that it doesn’t get in the way of normal head movements when you do so. This made it a perfect set of cans for my normal work day, or for quickly moving about my house between dungeon queues in ESO.
Ultra-Functional Features
Corsair’s Void Pro strikes and excellent balance between a minimalist design and tons of functionality. While some of its detailed features are more helpful than others, it’s hard to argue with this headset’s ease of use.
The Void Pro has a number of different LED indicators that can reflect a number of different statuses for the headset. On one of the earcups is a small light that indicates whether your headset is connected or disconnected, and whether it has a lot or a little battery life left. Similarly, the mic boasts an LED strip that turns red when you mute it.
Both of these indicators, while helpful in theory, aren’t really visible enough to be as useful as they could be. In practice, I found that the audio cues associated with power up/down, charge level, and mic mute were far more useful than the little lights.
The same could be said for the headset’s RGB lighting. Though it was as vibrant and customizable as you’d expect from a peripheral that offers this feature, the placement of the illuminated area on the side of the earcups obviously made it impossible to appreciate while in use.
It might be hard to enjoy the earcups for their lighting, but it isn’t hard to credit them for having near-perfect button placement. The power/mute buttons and volume/EQ switch are well-placed on the side of the left ear cup, and are distinct enough in their design and feel that you can easily differentiate them and press the right button on the first try.
Wireless Functionality
Having mechanical functionality is great, but what about the wireless aspect of this headset? Does the Void Pro have wireless capabilities that stand up to its durable, ergonomic design?
Yes, it does! This headset checks two boxes that are essential to having a good wireless experience — a decent range and a long-lasting battery. The range allowed me to wander almost all over my house or office without any interruption, unless I went outside or tried to venture through any interdimensional portals. So if I needed to make a quick snack between Paladins matches or ask a coworker a quick question, I could keep listening to my Twitch stream while I was on the move.
But I was more impressed by the battery life than the range of this headset. The Void Pro advertises a 16-hour battery life — but in actual use, I think it might actually run a little bit longer than that. Usually, I’m able to get through about two 8-10 hour workdays without having to charge it. This amount of time will decrease if you choose to leave the RGB lighting on all the time, but even then, the battery life is still impressive. And even when you do finally have to charge it, the power cable is long and sturdy enough that you can still comfortably use the Void while it’s charging.
Sound Too Good to Be True?
It almost is. The Void Pro has a lot to offer gamers who want a hassle-free wireless experience. But on the front that matters most — its actual sound production — it unfortunately falls a little bit flat.
This headset has a good range of sound for a wireless rig. It’s clear, it’s impactful at the right moments, and it’s an overall solid aural experience for both games and television. However, it’s quite lacking on the musical front, even after using CUE to tweak the audio levels. So while PUBG shots and Game of Thrones dialogue comes through clearly for the most part, listening to Made in Heights or the Morrowind soundtrack is much less pleasing than on other surround sound headsets like the HyperX Cloud Revolver S.
Additionally, the bass in this headset is fairly light. While it’s not as tinny as what you’ll get with something like the Arctis 7, it still leaves a lot to be desired. Even after turning up the lower end in the CUE software, I wasn’t quite getting the skull-vibrating impact that I really wanted.
Add this to the fact that the Void Pro feels rather lacking in terms of directional sound, and ultimately the surround sound experience is simply not as immersive as it could have been. And while this is somewhat understandable given its more affordable price range, it can’t quite match some of its direct competitors — namely the Logitech G533, which offers an incredible wireless sound experience at exactly the same price point.
Testing…1…2…
Though the Void Pro doesn’t quite hit all its bases on the sound front, its swivel microphone is still of good quality and usually provides a crisp, clean communication experience. Though sometimes you might sound a little distance if the fairly stiff mic arm doesn’t quite bend the way you need it to, it’s easily as functional as you need it to be for in-game chat and meetings.
Whether I was throwing salt at some poor casuals who were unlucky enough to end up in my SMITE game or trying to run an editorial meeting through Skype, my voice was clear as day for anyone who cared to listen.
Verdict
All in all, Corsair has done a lot right with the Void Pro. It feels great to wear for long periods of time, has an appealing-yet-ergonomic design, and offers a lot of functionality without much fuss. And its wireless capabilities are on par with most of the competitors you’ll find on the market — especially when it comes to long battery life. And its sub-$100 price tag will make this set of cans look pretty lucrative to any gamer who doesn’t want to break the bank.
If you want a well-rounded headset that does everything it needs to do and delivers a generally satisfying experience both in-game and out, you’ll definitely want to consider Corsair’s newest wireless offering. But unfortunately, the Void Pro just doesn’t offer the best sound experience that it could have. With a spotty low end and directional immersion that leaves a lot to be desired, true audiophiles will want to look elsewhere.
You can purchase the Void Pro on Amazon for $99.99.
[Note: Corsair provided the Void Pro Headset used for this review.]
Published: Aug 22, 2017 02:19 pm