Corsair has unveiled the Virtuoso Max gaming headset, which it promises delivers “spectacularly clear, precise audio” thanks to its new 50mm graphene drivers. The Corsair Virtuoso Max also includes active noise cancelling, Dolby Atmos spatial audio and you can customize the tuning of the headphones to suit your hearing.
As a maker of several of the best gaming headsets around, Corsair is no stranger to dialing up the design of its gaming headsets but the Virtuoso Max is one of its most expensive options yet.
For a top-end gaming headset, the Virtuoso Max is something of a departure from some of the company’s main rivals. While the likes of the Logitech/Astro A50 X and Razer Kraken V4 Pro are all about adding loads of connection options so you can use a single headset for PC and console, Corsair has instead concentrated on other features and in fact released the Virtuoso Max in separate PC and Xbox-specific versions.
As to those features, Corsair highlights the sonic abilities of its 50mm graphene drivers. There’s no data to attach to these claims but Corsair says the tech “eliminates distortion and reproduces incredibly clear, accurate audio.”
Joining these drivers is the ability to tune the sound of the headset using Sonarworks SoundID tech. This has you listen to various sounds and feedback your sound preferences to the software which then tailors the output to match your hearing. We’ve tested it before and haven’t been entirely convinced but the Virtuoso Max could be the headset to finely win us over.
Dolby Atmos spatial audio is also supported via Corsair’s iCUE software, providing what we’ve previously found to be genuinely impressive 3D-like sound immersion for gaming.
Active noise canceling is another key addition. It’s not clear if Corsair has added extra microphones into the headset to provide this alongside the detachable boom mic but it does note you can engage a transparency mode so you can listen in to what’s going on around you when needed.
Crucially, though, what we’re incredibly glad to see is that Corsair has added some contouring to its earcup padding. So many previous Corsair gaming headsets have had plain, flat, rounded earcup pads and ended up being a touch uncomfortable but the Virtuoso Max appears to have much more sculpted padding that should improve comfort and the secureness of the headset.
That main boom mic is a flexible-style one and provides an omnidirectional input. It also supports Nvidia Broadcast, although this is essentially a software solution from Nvidia anyway so it’s unclear what Corsair is doing to get compatibility. It also requires a compatible Nvidia RTX GPU.
The Corsair Virtuoso Max offers 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth connections and has USB-C charging. The battery life is claimed to hit up to 60 hours with RGB off. Yes, of course, there’s RGB and it’s housed in the outer edges of the outside of the earcups, with strips of light shining out from between the aluminum earcup plates.
Available in carbon or silver finishes, the Corsair Virtuoso Max is available now from Corsair’s website or retailers like Amazon for $329.99. We’re used to seeing very expensive gaming headsets at the moment but for the balance of features on offer here, those 50mm graphene drivers are really going to have to deliver stunning sound quality to justify such a high price.
For more premium gaming headset choices, check out our Corsair Virtuoso Pro review and Razer BlackShark V2 Pro review, as these two headsets offer a different spin on what you can get from a top-tier headset.
