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Corsair HS55 Surround Wired Gaming Headset Review
Corsair recently refreshed their affordable wired headset lineup with the $59 HS55 Stereo, $69 HS55 Surround, and $79 HS65 Surround. All three are based on the overall industrial design concept of the more premium HS80 wireless headset, but with several smart changes in order to hit a lower price.
I checked out the fanciest HS65 model recently and fell in love with it, as you can read more about in my full review. The HS65 offers excellent comfort and build for the price, a decent-yet-sculpted sound signature that I still think is great for gaming, and a few fun extra features thanks to its USB dongle. It impressed me so much that I decided I needed to check out the cheaper one.
I’m glad that I did, but I also think that the price differences here are so minimal that it makes the cut-down versions a harder buy unless you must absolutely watch every dollar.
Both the HS55 Stereo and Surround are available in white or black color options. They both feature the same core headset, but the “Surround” version offers a capable USB dongle for just ten dollars more. The HS55 headset is trimmed back in terms of build and comfort compared to the HS65 in order to hit its lower $59 and $69 price points. Although it is commendable that Corsair is still trying to stick it to the budget market just like they were years ago with the original HS50 — the price differences are so minimal here that I recommend stepping up to the better HS65 tier.
I bought the HS55 Surround with my own money at retail, and I was not asked to write this by the company. I don’t use affiliate links in any of my stories.
The HS55 Surround (official site here) comes in a similar sleek box to its ten-dollars-more-premium HS65 cousin. Inside, you’ll find the headset itself, some documentation, and the USB dongle. The dongle is nigh-indistinguishable from the HS65's dongle save for a different color tint on the headset jack (black here vs blue there). The dongle’s feature set requires Corsair’s iCUE software to enable, and it features…
