The SCUF H1 Headset Seems Like A Bad Deal
Corsair bought SCUF Gaming, purveyor of premium customizable game controllers, at the beginning of 2020.
One of the first results of that partnership is the new SCUF H1 headset(official site here), and I don’t think it seems like a great buy. The headset starts at $129.99 in its base configuration, but if you kit it out with all of the extra options, it quickly approaches $175. And that’s before shipping.
That puts it within spitting distance of the $179 starting price of the Corsair Virtuoso, the headset that the H1 is based on. At first glance, this seems like a fine deal. You’re getting a Corsair Virtuoso, but for a little bit less money and with different color options and other small customizations.
Except you’re not getting anything close to a Virtuoso. The H1 is a wired-only 3.5mm headset, and cuts the wireless connection, USB hi-res connection, and RGB support of the Virtuoso models. These were some of the standout features of Corsair’s budget-priced flagship, which mostly succeeded at offering the premium frills of $300 headsets but at a much lower price (my original review here).
The pricing of the H1 puts it up against a huge swathe of tough competition. The sub $150 category is a mainstream price packed with so many excellent wireless and wired options. I’d rather have a Cloud II Wireless, Stealth 700, or a Roccat Elo 7.1 AIR before a cut-down edition of the Virtuoso. Wireless is the current growth market in gaming and general audio listening, and losing that option seems wild for a premium product that used to offer so many connection choices.
Hilariously, the H1 has the cheapest base-price of any currently available SCUF product, a curiosity for a brand known for making high-end gaming goods. And the customization options aren’t that robust. You can choose from a huge array of two whole base colors, black or white. You can choose hybrid velour ear pads or the original leatherette Virtuoso-style pads. You can customize the color of the ring around the magnetic speaker tags. Instead of the large and small mics offered on the Virtuoso SE and Virtuoso, you can pick from uni-directional or omni-directional capsules.
