Corsair VOID ELITE Headphones Review

The Corsair VOID RGB Elite are a pair of gaming headphones with highly unconventional looks. They’re essentially a wired version of the similar Corsair Void PRO RGB Wireless gaming headphones and, as such, they share the same swept-back ear cups and glossy over matte plastic construction. Gamers who want to color-coordinate their gaming peripherals with their current setup will be happy to note that these headphones feature an RGB lighting scheme on the side plates that can be adjusted in the Corsair iCUE companion app. Due to their non-detachable mic, however, they'll be easily recognized as gaming headphones.

The Corsair VOID Elite are decently comfortable headphones. They have a pretty loose fit and aren’t too heavy, so they should be comfortable enough to wear during shorter gaming sessions. Unfortunately, their unusually-shaped ear cups might not suit everybody and can cause a bit of fatigue if you intend on wearing them for extended periods. For more comfortable gaming headphones, check out the Corsair HS60 HAPTIC.

The Corsair VOID Elite have an easy-to-use gamer-centric control scheme. Aside from a dedicated mic-muting button, all other functions are handled via the multi-function wheel. Pivoting it left and right changes the volume while an upward press from the middle cycles through your current EQ preset. A longer press activates the surround sound feature. Mic muting is activated via a dedicated button or by flipping the mic itself upwards. Apart from changes in volume, all other inputs come with voice prompts to let you know that you’ve made an adjustment.

These headphones aren't especially portable, which isn’t unusual for a dedicated gaming headset. Their ear cups swivel flat but are quite bulky. Their headband doesn’t fold, and while their boom microphone folds inward, it isn’t detachable, which creates a potential snagging hazard if you throw them in a bag.

These headphones don’t have a case or pouch.

These headphones have satisfactory build quality. They’re primarily made of fairly dense plastic but feature a flexible metal headband. The ear cups feel decently sturdy and are lined with a soft cloth-like material. That said, the boom microphone is a little fragile-looking and can't be detached, presenting a potential snagging hazard. The swept-back ear cup hinges also don’t feel especially tight, while their audio cable can't be removed, so you'll have to replace the entire unit if you damage the wire.

The Corsair VOID RGB Elite’s stability is inadequate for anything other than gaming and listening to music while sitting still. Their loose clamping force means that even minor movement may cause them to slip off your ears. Meanwhile, their non-detachable audio cable can snag on something and pull the headphones off your ears.

• Corsair VOID RGB Elite headphones
• Foam microphone wind sock
• Manuals

The Corsair VOID RGB Elite have a somewhat boomy and muddy default sound profile, in no small part due to their uneven bass. That said, that boominess can serve to amplify the intensity of sound effects in your favorite action-heavy games. However, their somewhat inconsistent bass response means that your own listening experience may vary. If their out-of-the-box sound profile isn’t to your liking, you can customize it via a graphic EQ or presets in the Corsair iCUE companion app.

The frequency response consistency of the Corsair VOID Elite is okay. You may experience significant deviation in terms of bass reproduction, especially if you wear glasses or have long hair. That said, treble should be heard relatively consistently.

The bass accuracy of the Corsair VOID Elite is adequate. It’s underemphasized in the low-bass region, which might rob in-game sound effects of thump and rumble. That’s followed by an overemphasized high-bass, which generates boominess and muddiness in some tracks. That said, these headphones’ bass reproduction is heavily dependent on their fit and positioning, so your own experience may vary significantly.

The Corsair VOID RGB Elite have good mid accuracy. Vocals, dialogue, and lead instruments should sound pretty clear, but a bump in the low-mid range causes some mixes to sound cluttered and muddy while a dip in the mid-mids pushes instruments and vocals slightly towards the back of the mix.

These headphones have amazing treble accuracy. Vocals, dialogue, lead instruments, and cymbals should have appropriate levels of detail and clarity without being harsh or piercing. However, this is representative of the average response and your experience may vary.

The Corsair VOID RGB Elite’s peaks and dips performance is fair. A bump in the high-bass range causes some boominess, pushing vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix in the mid-mids. An uneven spike in the mid-treble range, meanwhile, causes some notes to sound overly bright and piercing.

The stereo imaging performance of these headphones is mediocre. Their weighted group delay falls mostly beneath the audibility threshold, which should ensure fairly tight bass and transparent treble. Unfortunately, the L/R drivers aren’t especially well-matched in regards to amplitude, frequency and phase response, which has an impact on their capability to accurately reproduce the placement of objects in the stereo image and consequently generate an immersive listening experience. That said, these results are only valid for our test unit and yours may perform differently.

The Corsair VOID RGB Elite have an adequate passive soundstage. There is some interaction with the outer ear, which provides an acceptably spacious and natural soundstage, but not nearly to the same degree as open-back gaming headphones like the Astro A40 TR Headset + MixAmp Pro 2019.

The Corsair VOID RGB Elite have a 7.1 virtual surround sound feature, but we don’t currently test its performance.

The weighted harmonic distribution performance of these headphones is okay. There’s a fair bit of distortion present in the low-bass and most of the treble range at moderate volume levels, but the rest of the frequency spectrum falls within decent limits, particularly from the high-bass to mid-mid ranges.

These are the settings used to test the Corsair VOID RGB Elite. The results we obtained are only valid when using the headphones in this configuration.

These headphones do a poor job of blocking out ambient noise. They do nothing to reduce the volume of background noise in the bass range, so you can hear quite a bit of rumbling from bus or plane engines if you decide to travel with them. Quite a bit of ambient speech also leaks through too, so they aren’t the best choice for use in a crowded environment.

The Corsair VOID RGB Elite’s noise leakage performance is inadequate for any environment other than a dedicated gaming room. Listening to your music at high volumes results in a fair bit of audio leakage, which may annoy coworkers in your office and fellow commuters on the bus or train.

These headphones have a boom microphone.

The recording quality of this headset’s boom microphone is alright. Your voice should sound clear, full-bodied, and natural. Quite a bit of distortion is present, but it may not be noticeable for some listeners.

Update 11/15/2021: These headphones have been updated to test bench 1.5. In this update, we made changes to the way we test noise handling. We now use a subjective evaluation of our audio clips. This new method has resulted in different results than what we had reported in our previous test bench. As a result, the scoring of this box has changed, and we have updated our results.

The noise handling performance of the Corsair VOID RGB Elite’s boom microphone is good. People on the other end of the line should be able to hear you clearly if you're talking in a moderately noisy environment, although the volume of your voice is lowered a bit. If you're looking for a pair of wired gaming headphones with even better microphone noise handling, check out the JBL Quantum 400.

These headphones are wired-only and don’t require a battery.

Update 02/17/2022: It was originally reported that the Corsair iCUE software isn't compatible with macOS. Ηowever, this has been retested, and the software does work with macOS and Windows. The results have been updated with the correct information.

These headphones are compatible with the Corsair iCUE companion software. It grants users access to a graphic EQ, audio presets, microphone sidetone adjustment, virtual surround sound activation, and a menu to customize their RGB lighting scheme. Unfortunately, it’s not compatible with macOS systems and doesn’t provide more in-depth features like room effects and button remapping.

The Corsair VOID RGB Elite are wired-only and aren’t Bluetooth-compatible.

The Corsair VOID Elite are wired-only gaming headphones.

These headphones come with a nearly 7 ft-long USB-A audio cable that offers very low audio latency. Unfortunately, they don’t come with a 1/8” TRRS audio cable, so they can't be used in more casual scenarios, like listening to music on your phone.

These headphones aren’t compatible with Xbox One consoles, as they aren't compatible with analog audio connections.

These headphones don’t have a dock.