Corsair HS80 Max Wireless Review
A class leader with some worthy upgrades.
Verdict
The Corsair HS80 Max Wireless is a fantastic gaming headset, offering immersive audio, complete with a good microphone, modern looks and plenty of padding to boot. It may be a little heavy, but offers excellent connectivity and battery life to make it a winner for gamers with the cash to spend.
Pros
- Immersive audio
- Sleek looks
- Excellent battery life
Cons
- Suspension headband seems fiddly
- Heavy
Key Features
- 50mm drivers:The HS80 Max Wireless features 50mm drivers that offer an immersive, detailed listen with a fair bit of bass.
- Dual connectivity:This headset can also work over both Bluetooth and the bundled 2.4GHz wireless USB receiver.
- RGB lighting:Small, subtle RGB lighting on both earcups gives the HS80 Max Wireless a flash of colour.
Introduction
The new Corsair HS80 Max Wireless represents a refinement to one of Corsair’s long-standing models, adding features that look to turn it from a good headset in the price range to one of the best gaming headsets around.
All this comes in at a comparably reasonable price – £169.99/$179.99/€189.99 – which may well help push the HS80 Max Wireless above and beyond the competition. After testing the headset for a week, here are my thoughts.
Design and features
- Modern, minimalistic looks
- A heavy wear with lots of padding
- Excellent battery life
The Corsair HS80 Max Wireless offers a modern and sleek look, especially in the white colourway I’ve got here. It carries with it a minimalist look that stands up well against the competition, and against similarly priced headphones, too. The HS80 Max Wireless is also available in black for those looking for something more traditional, and perhaps meaner looks, but the white would be my preference for those looking for a cleaner setup.
The build quality on offer is good here, with smooth and hard-wearing plastics, and the slight soft-touch around the headband is especially welcome. It doesn’t look like a particularly bulky headset either, with the white and silver colouring helping its minimalist and modern looks.
A weight of 352g makes this quite a heavy wear, although the cloth and memory foam padding on the deep earcups offer a good level of support and helps them to be pretty comfortable when worn for longer periods. The addition of a suspension headband is nice, but can leave them a little loose fitting on larger heads without any adjustment. Personally, I prefer more traditional methods of adjustment, but the suspension headband at least makes the HS80 Max Wireless pretty comfortable.
There is a minimal selection of on-board media controls, with a total of two buttons and a wheel. On the left-hand earcup there is a USB-C port, as well as a volume wheel, and a power button. On the right-hand side there is one button, which is for enabling the Bluetooth pairing, as well as housing a few more functions, including being able to control media playback with multiple taps of the button, and for answering phone calls. It’s handy to have, although it’s a learning curve to note how many presses do what. Maybe adding an extra button or two would have worked better.
Connectivity here is strictly wireless, over either Bluetooth or via the bundled 2.4GHz wireless receiver. The HS80 Max Wireless worked a treat with my PC and my MacBook Pro, too, and is also compatible with PlayStation 5. This isn’t a headset that’ll work with Xbox, though.
The Corsair HS80 Max Wireless also features excellent battery life, albeit when the minimal RGB lighting is turned off. With it on (over the 2.4GHz receiver) you’ll get 24 hours of endurance, although turn it off, and you’ll practically triple it to 65 hours. What’s more, switching over to Bluetooth also increases the headset’s efficiency up to 130 hours, meaning it’ll last for weeks on a single charge. For reference, the Roccat Syn Max Air lasts for 16 hours, while Sony Inzone H7 lasts for 40 hours, making the HS80 Max Wireless a leader for battery life at its price point, barring the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless and its remarkable 300 hours.
There is additional software, in the form of Corsair’s iCUE suite. It provides a convenient means of adjusting the headset’s lighting with a variety of presets, as well as a 10 band EQ for getting the most out of audio. Here, you can also adjust the microphone volume and sidetone.
Connecting via the 2.4GHz receiver provides the benefit of Corsair’s partnership with Sonarworks Sound ID feature to offer a personalised sound signature when paired with Corsair iCUE. Going through the test involves Corsair’s software playing tones that you adjust the volume to the point where you can’t hear them, so the software can personalise the audio to your ears. It’s a clever feature, although one I didn’t necessarily notice much difference with. With this in mind, your mileage may vary. It’s definitely a nice thing to have.
Audio and microphone
- Great audio, although quite bassy
- Spatial audio adds even more immersion
- Flip to mute mic is especially convenient
Of course, the most important thing here is how the HS80 Max Wireless sounds, and I’m pleased to report they make for a good listen.
They do have quite a prominent low end, as was revealed on listening to the likes of Rush’s YYZ, Wolf Alice’s Smile, and in Marillion’s Living With The Big Lie, but there’s some solid detail to be extracted here, giving the audio quite an immersive quality. That excellent extension also proved helpful in testing FPS titles for offering more immersion in CS:GO with every gunshot and nearby explosion feeling impactful.
There also proved to be some solid soundstage without any spatial audio effects. The percussion on James Taylor’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight felt suitably wide, alongside providing a crisp mid-range, although the bongos on Earth Wind and Fire’s September did feel a little hemmed in, but that’s perhaps to be expected for a closed back headset.
You do get access to Dolby Atmos when using the HS80 Max Wireless with PC to offer spatial audio, which provides with it even more immersion, and for PS5 users, the HS80 Max Wireless works with Sony’s Tempest 3D Audio to give you the same immersion in your favourite titles.
The omni-directional boom mic offers clear results with good body, although the default volume is a little quiet. Luckily, it’s easy to turn up when inside iCUE, ensuring clear comms with your friends and teammates on whichever platform. In my testing over Discord, the HS80 Max Wireless worked especially well. This is also a flip-to-mute microphone, so it’s easy to chuck it up when you don’t want to be heard by the outside world.
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Should you buy it?
You want fantastic battery life: The Corsair HS80 Max Wireless really excels in battery life, offering weeks’ worth of charge, albeit with RGB lighting off.
You want a lighter headset: If it’s a lighter headset you’re after with more traditional forms of adjusting the headband, you may want to look elsewhere, such as the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid.
Final Thoughts
The Corsair HS80 Max Wireless is an excellent headset, and a worthy successor to the previous models in the lineup. It adds in features that were noticeably absent from last year’s model, including the all-important Bluetooth connectivity, which means Corsair can truly mix with the top brass once again. It’s one of those rare headsets that excels at pretty much everything, be it battery life, software, as well as offering a particularly clear and full-bodied microphone.
Its audio is immersive and detailed, although provides a fair bit of bass to go with it. The audio isn’t muddy, but it features a lot more in the way of extension than other headsets I’ve used. This helps it along in games and music alike, while the spatial audio options also allow for more immersion, too. The addition of SoundID seems like a bit of a gimmick to my ears, but it may be the case that for you, it makes a major difference with a personalised sound signature.
Other headsets may offer slightly better comfort, such as the Astro A30 Wireless, but it comes at the detriment of other elements, especially battery life and microphone – both of which are excellent on Corsair’s latest headset. If you want a great all-round choice, look no further. Otherwise, have a read of our Best Gaming Headset list for even more options.
How we test
We use every headset we test for at least a week. During that time, we’ll check it for ease of use and put it through its paces by using it in a variety of games, as well as playing music in order to get the full experience.
We also check each headset’s software (if applicable) to see how easy it is to customise and set up.
We use as our primary gaming headset for at least a week.
Use on as many platforms as possible to test versatility.
Judge audio for both gaming and music playback.
Use with multiple games to test audio.
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FAQs
Yes, the Corsair HS80 Max Wireless can be used on PS5 – either over Bluetooth or the bundled 2.4GHz receiver.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
