Our last time out with a pair of wireless cans was a great experience, if a bit daunting. The Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Omega Wireless headset offers a deep and vast audio experience with a ton of options, ways to listen and a software package replete with tuning choices and features to tweak. The resulting editorial was extensive as we tried to digest and convey as much as we could. Luckily things are a tad simpler with today’s wireless solution.
Up for eval is Corsair’s Vengeance 2000 Dolby 7.1 Wireless Gaming Headset. They support Dolby and Dolby Pro Logic IIx and will work with source types from stereo to all traditional multi-channels setups including 5.1 and 7.1 surround. One of the smarter features on the Vengeance 2000 headset is the option to choose your wireless transmitter solution. We found the overall audio to be commendable. Yet Dolby headphones that are wireless and support 7.1 don’t come cheap. If they do, something must be amiss. Right?! Let’s find out.
The set comes with a pair Vengeance 2000 headphones proper, quick start manual, recycling instructional safety leaflet, Warranty guide, USB charging cable, USB dongle and USB extension cable. Those latter two are what comprise your 2-receiving options. The headset uses a nice large 50mm driver with a 32 ohm impedance. It has a battery life of 10 hours, and a good frequency response. The wireless range maxes at 40ft and the 10hr battery life beats out the Sound Blaster Recon3D Omega headset’s mere 8hr lifespan.
They’re not bad looking at all in their chrome on black motif with the illuminated blue accents. There is a blue LED power indicator light on the left earpiece. The omni-directional mic is on a malleable arm so it can be moved and placed according to the user’s preference. The mic also flips up out the way nicely. In this position,, the mice is conveniently muted. It’s a feature we’ve seen on many other headsets like the Sennheiser PC 363D and PC 350E.
The Corsair Vengeance 2000 wireless Dolby headset doesn’t feature optical in/out. To get started you need to plug either the USB dongle or USB extension cable with dongle plugged in–to your computer or laptop. You get better reception with extension cable since it allows the dongle to be better positioned to maximize reception. Your computer will install necessary drivers. But I suggest skipping over to Corsair to download their latest software and driver set for the Vengeance 2000 set.
Once installed the software UI is familiar Corsair stuff. It looks very similar to the utilities we wrote about yesterday in our Corsair M95 MMO/RTS gaming mouse review. However, they are needed less for tweaking and more for testing sound quality if various listening scenarios. Open it up to reveal a single window/page where you can adjust volume for the headphones and the flip-up microphone, set the source type (2.0 stereo, 5.1, 7.1 etc.), and adjust the equalizer to your taste. You can also choose from 7-presets tailored for either audio, movies or games specific game types. After adjusting you can name and save your EQ profile. There is no speaker test or mixer features to futz with. It’s simple and strictly efficient.
We turned up the volume on our favorite games, music, and movies with some surprising results. Game is easily and obviously the best use scenario. There even separate presets for MMO and FPS games. But I found hands-on use customizing the EQ is best. But the simulated 7.1 Dolby audio voluminous. Music and videos come off quite well. These cans don’t perform better than a pair of dedicated music headphones but are laudable nonetheless. I popped in Avengers, Game of Thrones and few others. The audio was fantastic but only after adjusting the EQ to my personal taste. I tried the MOVIE MOD-X preset and It was rubbish in my opinion–as if the sound was coming from deep down an old well, or something. Performance in music is very good but lacks the soundstage definition of a Beats by Dre, California Music, V-Moda or other notable music-centric solutions. That’s to be expected.
Bottom Line: The Corsair Vengeance 2000 Wireless gaming headset is a great buy for the stellar 7.1 performance choice or receiving options and competitive price. The surround sound multichannel performance envelops users in a way that makes Astro Gaming and Creative seem asleep at the wheel. Astro Gaming’s A50 wireless offer deeper more pronounced lows and Creative dumps a ton of features on you. Both these competing solutions do optical-in, which is great. But the Vengeance 2000 hold their own admirably for nearly $200 less than the highest priced competitor. Succinctly… Highly recommended!
