I’ve come across some truly outstanding headsets this year, but without a doubt, my biggest surprise of the year is the brand-new Corsair Virtuoso Pro. We’ve reviewed several Corsair headsets in the past, and for the most part, they’ve been…fine. That’s not the case with the Virtuoso Pro, which stands heads and shoulders above anything Corsair has ever made or even what the competition has offered.
The Virtuoso Pro is Corsair’s first-ever open-back gaming headset, which is something special in itself as it lends well to open, spacious, natural sound. On top of that, Corsair has employed Graphene drivers, which really impressed me in the Logitech G Pro X 2 Lightspeed Wireless headset for their deeply rich and clear sound.
And to ensure there’s not a hint of impropriety or latency to mess with the sound, the Virtuoso Pro is a wired-only headset with a surprisingly low impedance of 32 ohms, meaning they are so easy to drive without needing a DAC/AMP. This also means they will work with every device you have that has a 3.5mm audio jack.
Retailing for $329.00, the Virtuoso Pro offers incredible sound in media and gaming, it looks gorgeous and feels heavenly to wear; and despite a questionable microphone setup, it is easily one of the best gaming headsets of the year.
Corsair Virtuoso Pro Review
The Virtuoso Pro undeniably belongs to the Virtuoso family of headsets, sharing many of the same base design elements. Its large circular ear cups are attached to swiveling hangers connected to a traditional headband with padding. The differences are apparent in the details like the stunning grill caps on the outside of the ear cups, the shiny metal accents, the brushed aluminum hangers, or the star stitching on the headband. This is a gorgeous headset by any standards and most definitely by gaming headset standards.
The Virtuoso Pro comes in two colors, black and white, which is what I have for review and I just can’t get enough of it. If I had to complain though, it’s that the light gray cloth on the ear cushions and headband does pick up dirt easily, and after a month of use, I’m not very pleased with the ring of brown around the outside. Thankfully, these cushions are removable, so you can take them off and replace them.
Overall comfort is excellent with the large cushions completely covering my ears so there’s no single point of pressure. The headband is likewise comfortable, though not nearly as comfy as the floating headband design on the Steelseries Arctis Nova Pro. However, I could go several hours before needing to make slight adjustments to ease pressure on the top of my head.
I should point out that the cloth ear cushions aren’t as breathable as I’d like. At the time of writing this, we are in the height of Queensland summers, tracking 32-36 degrees, and the ears get really sweaty — further exacerbating the cleanliness issue I mentioned before.
The Virtuoso Pro is a wired-only headset and uses the split cable design, meaning the main cord splits into two leads that plug into either ear cup. The left one needs particular attention as it has a slightly squared-off shape, and if you don’t pay attention, you won’t plug it in properly and will start experiencing some oddities in the sound.
Trust me, I learned this the hard way when I was experiencing some really odd imaging issues where everything sounded either directly in front of me or behind me, leading to a lot of deaths in games. It took a bit of research to find out that my issue was coming from the left ear cup not being properly plugged in! Once I sorted that out, everything was perfection.
The Virtuoso Pro comes with two cables in the box, one with an inline boom microphone. Now, while I appreciate the presence of a microphone, something my Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X don’t have, I found this cable setup rather fiddly and cumbersome to switch back and forth. You also need to attach a TRS audio splitter to connect it to a PC, another irritation.
I wish Corsair had simply made the boom mic as a standalone adapter that can plug into the earcup and main cable without needing more cables.
Regardless, the Virtuoso Pro worked easily with every device I had, and I didn’t notice any degradation in audio quality whether I was plugged into my PC, monitor, or PS5 controller. That’s thanks to the very low power requirement of 32 Ohms, and it also means I never used these headphones over 35% volume, which is saying a lot.
Audio Excellence
Speaking of sound, this is where the Virtuoso Pro stands head and shoulders above every gaming headset I’ve reviewed this year. The open-back design paired with 50mm Graphene drivers delivers an incredibly expansive sound with detailed highs and deep, clean, and rumbling bass. The factory tuning on these is perfect to pick and go.
Listening to music has been a joy thanks to the feeling of being in a private concert hall. The impressive detail and layering mean you can hear every instrument clearly even in the midst of an epic orchestral theme like Inon Zur’s Into the Starfield. I listen to a ton of film and game scores, and I love that these almost make me feel like I was in the room where it was being recorded.
In games, after I figured out my mistake with plugging in the cable that was causing my imaging and positional awareness, I was in heaven. Even with the wrong placement of the cable, games sounded tremendous. I started by playing Dead Space Remake, which is a masterclass in sound design and atmosphere. Gosh darn did the USS Ishimura sound so damn haunting like never before.
I could hear every hissing pipe, debris tumbling, pained cries in the distance, the lonely stomp of Isaac’s boots as I walked the empty decks. The amount of detail and spaciness to the environment was immersive and disturbing.
Destiny 2 Crucible, I was able to very accurately pinpoint guardians’ locations in PVP, the unmistakable sound of a Super in the distance, and exactly which direction it was coming from saved me more than a few times. In Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, the forests of Pandora are rich with sound, and the Virtuoso Pro captured every detail and directional cue like a boss.
I’ve watched a ton of YouTube and Apple TV+ with the Virtuoso Pro, and everything sounds epic in scale, detail, and depth that makes everything that much more enjoyable. There’s almost nothing I can complain about the sound quality on the Virtuoso Pro except the complete lack of an EQ.
Unlike Corsairs other headsets which also use the amazing SoundID to customize personal EQ’s, the Virtuoso Pro doesn’t have any software support of any kind. Sure, the microphone works better with Nvidia Broadcast integrations and Elgato Wave Link, but primarily, this is a plug-and-play headphone for any platform. And that’s fine because I personally found the sound profile perfect for my listening, though your preference might differ.
Speaking of Microphones, this is definitely the biggest weakness of the Virtuoso Pro. Aside from the fiddly connection, the microphone itself is a flexible boom arm, which makes it easy to position. However, the microphone sounds compressed, and I recorded a fair amount of background hiss. Additionally, it’s very sensitive to peaking and plosives and breathing, which doesn’t sound great in recordings. Just listen to the recording below and judge for yourself.
In truth, I doubt that any streamer will be using this microphone as they most likely have a better-sounding USB microphone. I’d personally be happy to pay $100 less if it meant leaving the microphone out of the package. Speaking of package, the Virtuoso Pro comes with a lovely hard-shell case too, which really adds to the premium nature of the whole thing. I noted not even the Arctis Nova Pro or G Pro X2 come with a case and they cost much more than the Virtuoso Pro.
Verdict
So there you have it. After several weeks of daily driving the Corsair Virtuoso Pro, I’m confident that this will be my go-to wired gaming headset going forward. The incredible sound reproduction, comfort, and ease of use make it an easy choice. Sure, the microphone isn’t worth the bother, but if you can afford a $350 headphone, you most likely already have a good USB mic in your setup.
I love using the Virtuoso Pro and anyone who reads my work will tell you that I am 100% a wireless headset guy. But the fact that for the last month, I’ve reached out for the Virtuoso Pro more than the wireless Logitech G Pro X 2 that I gave 5-stars is saying something. Fingers crossed that Corsair goes and makes a Virtuoso Pro Wireless — I’ll happily donate a kidney for that.
Corsair kindly provided the Virtuoso Pro to PowerUp for the purpose of this review
