Purchased almost 5 years ago (2/15/2021) for $200, this headset sounds great, but I’m not happy with the materials they chose and the volume wheel design. The frame structure and the inside components are built fine, I’ve dropped them MANY times and they still feel and sound like new. It’s the materials used for the cups and headband that are awful and cheap. The volume wheel stopped working properly not even 2 years after purchase due to its faulty design.

The original cups started flaking within a year and a half, so I purchased replacements from Wicked Cushions that you see in the photos and they have done the same thing. Whatever fake leather these companies use, they need to STOP, PLEASE, this shit is so annoying and it gets in your ears and hair… not rad, dudes. WC now says they have upgraded the replacements with better stitching and PU leather. Do these work better? I have no idea and would be happy to hear someone’s opinion if they purchased them. Corsair does sell replacement cups, but they are the same exact original ones that I’m 100% sure would start flaking after a year. As for the headband, I haven’t seen any replacements and it looks like it wouldn’t be possible/practical for Corsair to make it so, so I may just end up using a sort of tape that hopefully doesn’t harbor bacteria easily (any recommendations on what to do would be A+).

As for the volume wheel, it has tremendously poor readability which makes one slight movement of it send the volume either up 1 or up really high, blowing your ears out. Research shows that the laser and the inner working of it may get dirty and you need to clean them after a while. Doing this does not solve the issue entirely, it either just didn’t work or it worked slightly for a minute and then goes right back to its issue, no matter how many times I tried to clean the whole mechanism. Could it have permanently malfunctioned after several too many drops? Maybe… just maybe.

The plusses are that it sounds pretty good off rip, but it sounds waaay better after optimizing the EQ with the Equalizer APO program (whoever made that is a god). It’s really easy to use and has great range in wireless mode. It works just fine with PS4/5 consoles. The battery life is on the lower end given it has titanium drivers and delivers good sound through extra power, but it’s still sufficient. Basic versatility works fine, there are three usages for connecting. You have a usb-c option, of course the wireless use with a proprietary dongle, and then the auxiliary port for a DAC (highly recommend). The mic works fine too, it’s whatever. Also, sexy voice tells you things when you mute or switch surround sound modes.

Overall I would… not recommend these. Getting flakes of fake leather everywhere, especially your fcking ears, and having a *potentially* faulty volume wheel is a deal breaker on a $200 premium headset, I don’t care how good they sound. Come to think of it, if you have scratchy/prickly hair, whether it’s from buzzing it or what have you, this fake leather is probably going to grind off in less than a year. If you have smooth silky skin and hair, you miiight be okay. I’m currently using a SteelSeries arctic 3 headset that is sufficient enough, but is built with much better fabric/materials.

On a final note, Corsair iCUE software is absolute dogshit, I have never used something worse than it. I have an MK2 silent keyboard by them, and the software NEVER recognizes it when opening it initially. I always have to open the program, quit it, then reopen for it to recognize the keyboard. The software is so buggy that it won’t open on startup no matter where I change the setting to do so. They don’t even properly maintain their website to download the correct version, I’m somehow on version 5 and when I search up iCUE, it takes me to download version 4. I’d say you should generally pass on Corsair products. I’ve had a Scimitar mouse and a Void headset that are both sadly in the great beyond from normal use. The H110i AIO and MK2 kb are the only things so far that have lasted years, and yes I am eventually going to get rid of the AIO as it is about 4 years old.

Thanks for reading.