Corsair HS1 USB Surround Gaming Headset

Package and Contents

- HS1 headset with USB connector and inline volume control/microphone

- Driver/Utility CD for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP

- Quick start guide

The HS1 comes in a stylish blue box with a window at the front for viewing the system before buying. The overall feel of the packaging is pretty low cost stuff when put up against what we think is the HS1's greatest adversary, otherwise known as the Razer Megalodon, which we tested last year. The latter comes in the sort of square up market box you might find a designer hat in.

Inside of the package can be found the headset along with a quick start manual and a handy driver CD for installing those all important Dolby Labs processing codecs. The HS1 will still work without this installation, just not with the many advantages that come with the Dolby Labs software.

There are not really any extras included here. In fact, the whole package is basically just about delivering the headset to the users ears, which we would have to agree is a priority. Although it is nice to get the service at the door when visiting a fine restaurant before sitting down to eat, it just sort of warms you up a bit for what's to come.

There was one surprise, however, and that came in the form of a printed user guide sitting neatly on top of the headphone box when we received the package. This document goes on to explain all of what the headset can do, plus gives a run down of what the included Dolby Headphone software can do. It even finds space to give some usage tips which we felt was a really nice touch.

We would be inclined to think that this document came as part of the 'media pack' that we received and may not be a part of the retail package. From a purely 'boffin-ish' point of view, we loved all the technical information and took great heart after reading in the fact that, yes, indeed this was a truly fine piece of audio gear we had on our hands.

There's no doubt Corsair hope to do very well in order to launch the rest of the line, of which we are astronomically excited about after hearing the HS1's in action. If only somebody would make another high end 2.1 speaker system again; in fact, we officially challenge Corsair to use the same design team to build an almighty drought breaker of a system that will no doubt do very well.