Corsair Virtuoso Max Wireless review: our full review –

A very successful helmet, but not as comfortable as hoped

When unpacking, a first pleasant surprise: the Virtuoso Max Wireless comes with an imposing rigid transport box. This is rare enough to be reported. Above all, the helmet impresses with its design and the quality of its assembly. Without going overboard in its communication, it seems obvious that Corsair has pulled out all the stops on this aspect, in order to deliver a truly unique headset.

It therefore combines a good dose of metal with a few plastic elements. All in very elegant anthracite gray tones mixed with a very industrial design. The headband is covered in imitation leather on its upper part and accommodates a generously padded fabric covering underneath. As is often the case, the forks that hold the earpieces slide in this hoop, to adjust the amplitude of the headset to each person’s body shape. The travel is ample enough for the largest heads and even if they are not visually identified, the notches are well marked.

Capable of rotating 90°, the earpieces are particularly imposing and perfectly round. You would naturally expect the generous foam and fabric to provide remarkable comfort, but that’s not exactly the case. And for good reason, despite the disproportionate side of the pads, their padding is actually very thin, and therefore rather hard. Without making the headset really uncomfortable, it does not perform as well as most of its competitors, especially over time.

1, 2 or 10 TB of cloud storage, for life

Tired of receiving messages about full cloud storage space? With pCloud, you only pay once and you have 1, 2 or 10 TB of storage space in the Cloud, for life.

With such large earcups, Corsair has room to fit in a whole host of buttons and controls. On the right, we find a triple sliding button dedicated to multimedia controls, particularly Bluetooth. It comes with an action button for active noise reduction and equalizer. This is where we also find the USB C connection dedicated to charging.

On the left, the Virtuoso Max is more reasonable and includes a power switch as well as a second USB C port, dedicated to the microphone. If you’ve been following along, you’ll have noticed the lack of a volume control wheel. However, it is very present and takes the form of a very practical ring, which completely surrounds the earpiece. We find the same thing on the right earpiece. These rings are also adorned with very well integrated RGB lighting.

Coming back to the microphone, it is undoubtedly the most elaborate and elegant that we have ever tested. Connected to the headset with a USB C connection, its boom is covered with a braided covering and has a button mute at its base. Its excellent rigidity allows it to be placed ideally and it also includes a luminous circle allowing you to know its status at any time.

Correct autonomy, combined with a reliable wireless connection

The Virtuoso Max is a multiplatform headset, except for the Xbox, which has its own model. The 2.4 GHz connection and Bluetooth can also be used simultaneously, thus ensuring that you can play on console while chatting on Discord or any other platform via a smartphone or computer for example. The wired connection is dedicated to charging and cannot be used to broadcast audio.

During our test, the connectivity SlipStream 2.4 GHz has proven effective. Corsair has not always been able to convince on this point, but there is nothing to complain about this new Virtuoso. Our long gaming sessions were not marred by any particular problem and the headset continued to operate without difficulty, even several meters from the receiver.

Corsair promises a battery life of 60 hours with the Virtuoso Max, without specifying the conditions of its measurements. For our part, with noise reduction deactivated as well as RGB lighting, we are getting closer to 45 hours of continuous music streaming at medium volume. A very correct value therefore, and supported by fast charging allowing you to recover 4 to 6 hours of autonomy in 15 minutes of charging.

A convincing performance, but lacking balance

Thanks to its graphene transducers, the Virtuoso Max Wireless delivers very clear and highly precise sound. Every detail of my favorite titles is audible, as is every little sound effect in games. It offers good stereophony and leaves room for the sound to express itself. In this way, listening is pleasant and immersive in all situations.

However, it also lacks balance in its restitution. Generous in the low frequencies, but behind in the middle of the spectrum, the Virtuoso Max Wireless lacks a little warmth. The same goes for the upper half of the spectrum, which lacks balance and highlights certain frequencies more than necessary. All this is nothing prohibitive as it stands, but at such a price, we would like to benefit from headphones that are perfect from the factory and which do not require going through the equalizer box.

Despite these few remarks, the Virtuoso Max Wireless remains a versatile headset, equally at home on competitive titles where the localization of sounds is important as well as on titles in which atmosphere takes precedence. Its detailed rendering allows you to fully immerse yourself in these worlds, whether they are busy or calm. In addition, a quick switch to the equalizer will correct the main faults of its original settings.

The Virtuoso Max Wireless also offers active noise reduction, combined with a transparency mode to amplify surrounding sounds. This noise reduction is hidden in a submenu of iCue, but also accessible from a button on the headset and has proven to be correct. Without achieving the performance of a Sony or Bose headset, it effectively attenuates continuous noise, even though the headset already offers convincing passive isolation.

The integrated microphone offers a very solid rendering. The recording is particularly clear, although a little metallic at times due to the relatively aggressive noise reduction. This has proven to be very effective and effectively cancels the vast majority of surrounding noise, without too much impact on voice recording.

A relatively limited iCue driver

If the headset is well supplied in terms of buttons and controls, the iCue driver is a little more reasonable in its possibilities. RGB lighting effects can be adjusted, as can the operation of the action button on the right earcup. Above all, we access a 10-band equalizer and the SoundID function. As a reminder, the latter allows, thanks to a hearing test, to automatically adjust the sound reproduction of the headset.

However, EQ and SoundID settings cannot be saved to the headset’s internal memory (unlike lighting effects and action button assignment). In fact, console players will simply not be able to take advantage of it and iCue will absolutely have to be launched on PC or Mac.

Apart from iCue, the equalizer can also be controlled through the Dolby Atmos application, for which a license is automatically unlocked. Furthermore, the headset does not offer game/chat balance. A very noticeable absence, especially since the two imposing dials could have been used for this purpose.

iCue offers some additional settings through a secondary menu linked to the headset. We can thus add a battery indicator to the system status bar, and also adjust the operation of the active noise reduction and the two dials. The delay before betting can be set to a custom value while enjoying a very convenient automatic wake-up. Clearly, and unlike some competitors, the Virtuoso Max automatically “wakes up” when positioned on the head. It’s not much, but it’s very comfortable for everyday use.

Corsair Virtuoso Max Wireless headset price and availability

The Corsair Virtuoso Max Wireless is available at the recommended price of 330 euros.