Corsair VOID Pro Surround Review

The new budget Corsair VOID Pro Surround is out but will it be enough to fill in the 'void' for Corsair!?

Alright! So Corsair just launched their very new Corsair VOID Gaming Headset, yes I know the VOID is old but this is the new refresh lineup. Since the previous Corsair VOID headsets were very successful especially the VOID wireless RGB headset Corsair decided to revamp the whole lineup to keep it in synch with the present market trend.
I have with me the Corsair VOID Pro Surround Hybrid Gaming Headset with me today all thanks to Corsair India & even though its mouthful of a name to pronounce I'm pretty excited to see what this new kid on the block has to offer.

At around $80 the Corsair VOID Pro Surround utilizes 50mm neodymium drivers to deliver a thump pumping audio quality at a maximum 20Khz all working perfectly with almost any device you can name of including PC, cell phones, tablets and even gaming consoles of the latest generation.
With an impedance of 32 Ohms the new VOID series comes in three flavors namely as the VOID Pro Wireless RGB, VOID Pro USB and the VOID Pro Surround that we have today. Also the VOID Pro Surround comes in two colors combinations of red and black or completely black to go with your setup and preferences.

What's in the Box!?

Corsair seems to have adopted the new yellow and black theme permanently and the same story continues for the Corsair Gaming H2100 aswell. The box comes in a yellow and black accent all over along with all the vital details neatly enlisted especially the fact that it supports Genuine Dolby 7.1 surround sound and is fully compatible with all the platforms and handheld devices or consoles.
A see through windows would've looked great but that is something missing on the front.

Inside the box you get the Corsair VOID Pro Surround Gaming Headset along with a bunch of accessories and papers like the warranty and instruction manual, a microphone foam cap and the Dolby Digital 7.1 channel USB dongle which we'll be discussing later on.

A look inside the VOID

Corsair VOID Pro Surround headset is made out of solid premium glass fiber infused plastic that looks and even feels like metal in most cases. It has a high horizontal swivel than vertical swivel making it adjust and fit on almost all head sizes with perfect snugness.

The Corsair sails logo is grey and not RGB infact nothing on the Surround is RGB to make it clear from the start itself to prevent any further disappointment for the RGB lovers out there. The black area is glossy but not a finger print magnet making it appealing and hassle free to maintain. The closed back cups can rotate a full 180° with the left being plane while the right one has a mic mute button and the volume dial at the back along with the boom microphone.
While the mic mute button is nice and has a click to it upon pressing the volume dial feels a bit cheap in terms of build and even fragile at some point. It would've been better if the dial was a bit thicker and clicked upon turning to add a more robust build feel. This is something that they've not improved upon the previous generation VOIDs
The micro-fiber coated memory foam on the ear cups and head band is silky soft & feels weighless once worn. I'm not a fan of cloth rubbing against my ears but this one is a different story, the fiber is smooth and doesn't feel cheap and definitely not like a Nike jersey on my ears! In-fact it might be the best fiber I've experienced to date on any headset of this price bracket! Also this is a new fiber unlike the one used on the VOID stereo from the previous generation that came in the price range.

Unfortunately the cord on the VOID Pro Surround is non braided and is coated with some silicon like material which keeps it soft and very strong so as to avoid those irritating kinks and bends. Also the cable is very long and more than enough for anyone out there ending into a two pole 3.5mm jack which makes it so widely compatible.

Coming to the most interesting part of the Corsair VOID Pro Surround, the Dolby Digital 7.1 Surround Sound USB dongle. Basically it is a USB dongle that you can plug into your PC or laptop and then connect the VOID headset to via the 3.5mm jack inlet. The VOID Pro Surround in all truthfulness is not a surround sound headset but a usual stereo headset that is made to act like one by virtue of this adapter/dongle and hence the name 'hybrid' in the product name. Hybrid surround sound uses science to electronically process the audio signal output by your game or other stereo source to fool your brain into thinking these headphones are 7.1 surround capable when they really aren’t.
Dolby Labs by carefully tweaking delay and reflection timing (echo effects), does a pretty convincing job of fooling your brain into thinking sounds are originating from behind and to the sides of your head. In fact you can plug any stereo headphone set into the included Dolby 7.1 Surround audio adapter and achieve pretty much the same surround effects. I would love to see Corsair launching these USB adpaters as a standalone product in near future!

Making it Work - CUE explained!

The Corsair VOID Pro Surround is a plug and play device when using the 3.5mm jack or the provided USB Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound adapter with the latter being a PC exclusive luxury. However if you are using this headset with Windows 7 then be aware that you'll need to set the Corsair Dolby Surround adapter as the default audio adapter for the PC which is not required to be done in Windows 10. Also once plugged in using the adapter the VOID would become CUE compliant giving you a handful of control over the behavior of the device.

Using the CUE software you can not only control to enable/disable Dolby Digital but also control the volume of the microphone and sidetone which is a handy feature for those who want full control over the mic. Also a set of presets are given to choose from to suit the activity being performed at the moment such as FPS for gaming, Movie Theater, Bass Booster etc which can either be further customized or you can yourself make your own profile with desired settings maybe for a particular game. I however felt that the headset works best when using the default settings especially in the Dolby Digital mode since tweaking the settings tend to distort the audio effects when the Dolby Digital mode is active so I suggest that you stick with the default and just customize the mic volume as per your usage.

Time to hit the Cords!

Gaming Performance

Since the Corsair VOID Pro Surround aims at gaming, obviously, we tested it with some of our all time favorites, Crysis 3 and Battlefield 1 for its excellent blend of audio, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor for its pitch perfect environmental sounds and NFS: Rivals well simply 'coz I like that game!
In Crysis 3 we had no issue whatsoever in listening to or understanding what Prophet was saying and noises were greatly distinguished in the heat of battle, even of the crickets in the NY jungle! Battlefield 1 came out fully immersive especially when it came to sitting inside the battle tanks or listening to aerial bombing happening across the field. In Shadow of Mordor we could really feel the voices coming from different directions and interestingly even though the bass on these headphones are acceptable they didn't distort the sounds of footsteps from behind and I was able to pin point the enemy location making it a great choice for eSport players including CS:GO. The engines of Bugatti or Lamborghini never revved any better and we were blown away by the deep bass these cups had to offer. Once the 'hybrid' Dolby Digital mode was turned on the audio experience just became more pleasant without any in game distortions. All in all these headphones are a major upgrade from its predecessor and work flawlessly, the bass is not too deep but neither is flat and along with good precision audio output I don't see anything wrong over here.
Also the mic is static free and picks up noise at low levels, a bit of a nasal comes in but with a bit of an adjustment that can be taken care of. At the joint the mic does feel a bit weak but is highly flexible and good at picking up voices for in-game chats.

Music, Movies and Miscellaneous Stuff

For movies and music I plugged in the VOID Pro Surround into a ALC 1220 codec based audio solution on my PC motherboard and also we tested it with an Apple iPhone 7 for basically musical playback. Firstly we went in for a wide variety like the dialogue intensive Schindler's List & 12 Years a Slave to high pitch titles like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and The Avengers, all came out in exceptional quality.
Bryan Adam's Heaven and some of my all time favorite Bollywood songs sounded great with exceptional mids and lows accompanied by a good treble. Eminem Legacy and Rap God were as clear as they can be with bass nearing perfection, even at full volume songs from 3 Doors Down, Motorhead or Metallica didn't crack displaying the true power of the 50mm drivers that it uses.

My Verdict

Corsair is well known for revamping their products or upgrading them in one way or the other instead of just piling up new names in their catalogues & to be honest most of the times these upgrades/revamps are totally worth it or needed, the Corsair VOID Pro Surround gaming headset is one of those products launched at that time!
Coming in at $80 it is a massive upgrade over the previous generation VOID Stereo the Corsair VOID Pro Surround is a great headset with upgrades both in terms of aesthetics & performance. The fabric material is much better and breathable hence making it lighter and sweat free even during long matches. The mic is more flexible and picks up sound better and doesn't sound flat at all making it a good multi purpose mic not restricted to gaming only.

Sound reproduction, both in gaming and in general, has improved aswell and is much more richer than before which I'm really happy about since the VOID stereo was just terrible at this! But the true star us the Dolby Digital adapter that does just what its advertised for and magically converts this ordinary headset into a 7.1 channel surround sound headset, if you listen to this and a proper surround sound headset side by side you'll notice that the performance isn't much difference when playing games obviously in other areas the proper surround sound product will have an edge but then this is a gaming headset and not meant for an audiophile.
The mic still needs a bit of work in terms of its design and quality as it feels flimsy and weak though it isn't but it does plus the volume knob is still the same old stuff which required a clicker atleast to make it more accurate and avoid accidental change in volumes by a gush of hand movement.

"Corsair VOID Pro Surround is an entirely new product with great audio performance substantially magnified by the included Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound adapter. Highly recommend for casual gamers aswell as for eSport players who are looking for one of the best gaming headsets in the sub $100 category!"

Pros -

Good Build Quality
Solid sound quality
Dolby Digital adapter works exceptionally
Aptly priced

Cons -

Mic is a bit flimsy
Headset can slip off the head if moved suddenly

I give it a 8/10 earning our Gold Award!

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Wednesday, 23 August 2017