Corsair HS35 Headset Review

1. Introduction2. Unboxing and First Look3. Testing4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

Over the years Corsair has built a strong brand around offering high quality components, usually at relatively high prices. The last few years have seen the company place more focus on the budget end of the market, however, and today's review is a continuation of that – with a look at the new HS35 headset, priced at £39.99. Offering simple plug-and-play functionality, the HS35 is an analog headset designed to provide decent audio and a good mic, with none of the additional extras to drive up the cost. Is it any good?

Designed to sit under the HS50 in Corsair's product stack, the new HS35 uses a trusty 3.5mm jack, meaning it can be used across a range of devices – from your phone or laptop, to a Nintendo Switch or PS4. Despite its low price, Corsair highlights its memory foam ear cups and ‘custom-tuned 50mm audio drivers', and impressively it still boasts a detachable microphone.

Specification:

• Available Colours: Carbon, Green, Blue, Red
• Driver: Custom-tuned 50mm Neodymium
• Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz
• Impedance: 32 Ohms @ 1kHz
• Sensitivity: 113 dB (± 3 dB)
• Mic Type: Unidirectional noise cancelling
• Mic Impedance: 2.2k Ohms
• Mic Frequency Response: 100Hz – 10kHz
• Mic Sensitivity: -40 dB (± 3 dB)
• Dimensions: 184mm(L) x 88mm(W) x 205mm(H)
• Weight: 250g
• Warranty: 2 years

The HS35 ships in a dark blue box, with a large image of the headset visible on the front.

On the back of the box we find multi-lingual information about the headset itself.

 

Inside the box, the headset sits in a black plastic mould designed to keep it safe during shipping. The are some included accessories, but these are pretty basic with a warranty guide, waste leaflet and safety guide.

Looking closer at the headset, the first thing to note is that I do indeed have the blue colour option, but there's also green, red and carbon (black) options as well should one of those take your fancy.

The design as a whole is certainly similar to the HS50, with the same overall look, but there are some differences. Starting with the back of the earcups, these are made of plain black plastic and have the Corsair logo in the middle of each cup.

 

There are some on-ear controls on the left-hand cup, too, with a simple volume wheel as well as a mic mute button.

As for the ear pads, these are made of memory foam and feature a meshed fabric covering, which I do personally prefer over faux-leather as that can make my ears very hot. Interestingly, these cushions are actually removable which is a big plus in my book, and this is an area where the HS35 beats out its more expensive sibling, as the HS50 pads are glued on.

As for the headband, the inside of the band is padded with more memory foam, again covered in that blue fabric material. The padding here measures around 2cm thick, but we talk more about comfort on the next page.

The top, or outside, of the headband is made of more black plastic with the Corsair logo also printed on this section.

It is very good to see Corsair has stuck with a metal headband slider, however, something which most headsets at this price would forgo. The Razer Kraken X, for instance, is priced at £50 yet only uses a plastic headband slider. There are no size markings for the HS35, but you can feel each step as you widen the headband's size.

Now, as for the mic, the HS35 is again doing very well in that it has a full detachable mic, when most would have a non-removable mic at this price. Again, the more expensive Kraken X does not have a removable mic. For the HS35, the mic simply slots into the small port on the left-hand cup, and then away you go. The mic itself is one of those ‘goose neck' designs, too, so it is very flexible and can be positioned essentially any way you like.

The last feature to note is the cable. It's made of plain blue rubber – it's not braided – and it measures 1.1m. As we mentioned on the first page, the cable terminates in a 4-pole 3.5mm jack for use across a variety of devices and consoles.To test the HS35, I used it for just under a week while gaming and listening to music. We break our testing down into three sections – build quality and comfort, sound, and mic. We usually include a look at the accompanying software, but as this is an analog headset there is no extra software.

Build quality and comfort

Starting off with build quality, it is immediately apparent that this is not a high-end gaming headset from Corsair. The HS35 is made almost entirely from plastic, and while that does help keep total weight down to just 250g (more on that below), there is a definite ‘cheapness' about the overall feel. Picking up the headset, for instance, instantly makes the other ear cup start wobbling around all over the place as there isn't a whole lot of rigidity with this design.

While that does mean the headband does actually flex an impressive amount, you also get the feeling that too much tension will cause the plastic to snap. If you're just using the headset at your desk and putting it down afterwards, you'll have zero problems, but I'd definitely be relatively gentle with the HS35.

Even compared to the HS50, which is about £10-15 more expensive depending where you look, the HS35 feels like a significantly cheaper product. The HS50 has a metal headband and metal yokes, for instance, when both of those parts of the HS35 are made from plastic. It makes complete sense for Corsair to do this to meet the lower price point, so I don't want to knock it too much, but you definitely get what you pay for with this headset.

The upside to the plastic construction is the very lightweight nature of the headset. Weighing in at 250g – funnily enough, the exact same weight as the Kraken X – it is very light for a gaming headset, and that directly translates into real world comfort as you simply don't feel it as much. I was able to wear the headset for a few 3-4 hour-long gaming sessions and I really had no issues with it.

The ear pads fit nicely over my ears without any discomfort, and there is also enough padding on the headband to prevent any pressure points on the top of my skull. There's also a slight amount of swivel with each ear cup, so you can always get just the right positioning for your head. Lastly, even if you don't like the fabric ear pads – which is fair enough, I know a couple of people who find them to be a little itchy – these are removable so using a replacement set is very possible.

So overall, it's a bit of a mixed bag with the HS35. Yes, it does feel like a cheaper headset, but at the same time that is part of what helps make it comfortable due to its lighter weight.

Sound

Diving right into testing the HS35 with some games, I first loaded up PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and played through a few battle royale sessions on my PC. This was my first time using the headset and I was reasonably impressed with what I heard from the headset. The first thing I noticed was the powerful bass, even in the main menu the PUBG soundtrack sounded really punchy and forceful, and when the game had just started, the initial roar of the aeroplane engines came through quite powerfully as well.

On the ground, I had no issues with general spatial awareness, either. The overall soundstage of the HS35 is pretty narrow so you don't get a great sense of depth (though this is the same for most headsets), but I was able to discern the direction the sounds were coming from with no problems. I did notice that when I was coming up close to my foes, footsteps sounded slightly echoey and they could have done with a bit more clarity, but I was still able to tell where they were coming from and respond accordingly.

Diving into some Shadow of the Tomb Raider, again you do notice that punchy bass – it's definitely the most obvious aspect of the mix, and it lends some real weight to explosions and the crashing of rocks as Lara explores a new tomb. I did notice that in this game, which can be dialogue heavy at times, the bass can slightly muddy up the voices however, so at times I was wishing for a little more overall clarity.

Corsair is aiming the HS35 towards console gamers as well, so I had a go with it using my Nintendo Switch. In my opinion, this is probably the best use-case for the HS35, I don't think audio cues are as crucial on something like the Switch when compared to competitive FPS titles on PC. So for me, that meant I could simply enjoy the bass a bit more as I didn't find it distracting and it was just fun, while the rest of the soundtrack in Mario Kart also sounded pretty clear and enjoyable.

Listening to music with the HS35, however, isn't the best of experiences. Here, I found the bass to just overwhelm the rest of the mix, and vocals in particular sounded quite muddy. On top of that, there was one particular frequency peak in the treble region which I found to be particularly fatiguing, so I have to say the HS35 definitely works much better as a gaming headset than something to be used for music as well.

Mic

HS35 mic test

Taken on its own, the HS35 is a decent – if not mind-blowing – mic. It has good overall clarity, though it doesn't pick up much of the low-end so speech can sound quite tinny and ‘nasally'.

Even compared to the the HS50, it stands up reasonably well. The HS50 mic definitely sounds fuller, with a bit more of the lower-end frequencies which are missing from the HS35, but I wouldn't say it was miles ahead of the HS35. Overall, I had no issues gaming with it and didn't get any complaints from team mates, so it's hard to be critical at this price. It's certainly not the best I've ever heard, but it gets the job done.

Priced at just £39.99, the HS35 is Corsair's new entry-level headset, designed to target the user who wants a simple plug-and-play device without the extra bells and whistles like RGB lighting, virtual surround sound or wireless functionality.

You definitely get the feeling the HS35 is built to a price, as it's made almost entirely from plastic. While this does keep the weight down, it can feel a bit flimsy and I wouldn't go throwing this in a backpack. The total weight of just 250g does mean you can easily wear this headset for hours at a time, however, while I also appreciate the comfortable fabric-covered ear pads which are also removable – a nice touch.

It also sounds pretty good, too. It's definitely a bass-heavy headset, so gunfire and explosions carry a real weight to them, but I also had no issues listening out for the direction my enemies were coming from in PUBG, for instance. The bass can bleed over into the mids at times, however, resulting in vocals sounding a bit muddy or muffled, but you can still hear what's being said – it's just not as crystal-clear as I would like.

Speaking of vocals, the HS35 also has a reasonable mic. It does sound a bit tinny and it needs more presence in the low-end, but overall clarity is good so it's hard to complain at this price.

So overall, the HS35 is a good all-round headset for £40. I wouldn't say it's amazed me with its overall quality or sound, but at a price like this we have to be reasonable with our expectations and the HS35 will get the job done. There is certainly something to be said for Corsair's HS50, however, which can be found for just £10 more. You definitely get better build quality with that headset, while sound clarity is improved too, so if you can stretch to £50 that is definitely something to look at.

Still, the Corsair HS35 is a good offering for £40 and I can see it appealing to parents looking to buy a cheaper headset for their kids to use across a range of consoles or devices. It might also be a good purchase if you want a ‘backup' headset just in case something were to happen to your more expensive set, as this will do the job fine on console or PC.

You can buy the HS35 from Amazon UK for £39.96 HERE.

Pros

• Affordable.
• Decent sound quality.
• Nice and light.
• Good clarity from the mic.

Cons

• Vocals can sound muffled.
• Definitely get what you pay for in terms of build quality.
• HS50 is only £10-15 more.

KitGuru says: The HS35 is a decent headset. It hasn't blown me away, but then again it's only £40 and at that price it's a solid purchase.

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