Review: The Sound of Vengeance

Technical Details

There’s a science to this magic, but I’ll keep it brief. The reason why accurate sound reproduction is crucial in games is to make sure no important information is left out. The range of human hearing is similar to perfect eyesight - 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The ideal headphone will reproduce this full range, but without emphasis or loss of a band of frequencies, i.e. too little or too much bass. This concept is called frequency response. The quality of the driver (speaker) makes a big difference, and with the large 50mm drivers on the Vengeance 1500, you’re able to hear more information without distortion.

As I’ve mentioned at the beginning of the review, this is still a gaming headset, meaning the mid-range frequencies (dialogue, footsteps, and gunshots) are favored over lows (rumbling of tank, distant explosion) and highs (nearby handling/movement, silenced gunshots, whizzing bullets). This may give you a competitive advantage in game, but may not be ideal in case you were expecting to also use these for studio monitoring, such as video and sound editing.

On top is a graphical example of the Corsair Vengeance 1500’s frequency response, and below is an example of film industry-standard Sony MDR-7506 professional headphones, for comparison. You can see a dip in the tail end of the low range, and ‘bump’ in the mid range, when compared to the nearly flat response of the 7506.

Comfort

According to market research in 2010, the average time video gamers spent doing what they do best had risen to 8 hours per week, with specifically PC gamers ‘pwning’ at an average of 6.6 hours per week [1]. So it’s good news that the 1500 headset is designed for long periods of wear, however I had mixed feelings about the implementation.

The headphones are keystoned by a large head rest padded with a foam-like material. Unlike other models I’ve tested, which feature rests that only accommodate for the top-most portion of the head, this headrest spans evenly across the entire band. The felt-padded headphone cups are circumaural, meaning they fully engulf my ears when wearing them. Although the phones fit well around my head, the back of my ears sit up against the inner hard plating of the driver shield, which starts to irritate me after more than an hour of use, without a break. This could be because I have large ears, so it may come down to trying it for yourself.