Irritated with HS1 & RMA Process

Case #1860962

 

Hello,

 

I RMA'd a HS1 and I had issues with the mic as well as distortion with the headset sound. It was received by your company on 1/29/2011. Today, I received the replacement and I'm still having the same issues. Prior to receiving the unit (the replacement), I reinstalled Windows 7 x64 just to be sure it isn't my computer interfering. Moreover, the Mic level has to be set to maximum just to be audible to other people using voip programs, which by the way is still very quite. Furthermore, there is a very distinct distortion/static to sound while playing my games. It doesn't matter what the settings are, nor does it matter if its in Dolby headphone mode or not. At this time I'm using a Corsair AX1200 PSU and a Corsair 800D case so there shouldn't be any interference with the Motherboard concerning the USB header for the front USB ports of the computer (plus all of my normal usb products work just fine, including a Logitech G35 headset).

 

On top of that your website isn't quite 100% and I can't check on the status of my prior RMA or check if "Corsair" received the product that I mailed back. Also, in the information pertaining to the RMA process I was told that it would be a 3-4 Business Day process. Instead I went 19 days without a headset. The reason why this was so frustrating is due to the fact that I could of returned the unit to the place that I purchased it from, but instead chose to follow the Corsair RMA process as stated in the box. Plus this is my only form of audio at the moment because I was waiting to get the SP2500 that your company just released. However, I wanted to finish up this process prior before I purchased anymore products from your company.

 

Even in a prior email that I sent to customer service I stated that if there are still issues with the HS1 headset, I would be willing to take a HS1A as a replacement. I must say that I'm quite frustrated with this whole process, with the lack of information, and the long turn around. I was notified that your company was slow processing RMA's 9 business days (thats after I inquired about the status) after you received my defective product. I wouldn't be so upset if there was some communication about the process, I understand that everyone can have issues from time to time............

 

In the end I believe its your drivers that are causing all of these issues. The forums are littered with postings similar to my issues, and the fact that a RMA was issued without any type of troubleshooting from technical support leads me to believe that the company knows that there is a major defect with these headsets.

 

You know I bought in to the Corsair mantra that your company wants to be the best. I bought a PSU (AX1200), Case (800D), 12gb of Dominator Ram, Ram Cooler, 2 Nova SSD's, 2 USB sticks for storage (8gb Voyager & 16gb Survivor), a H70, and a HS1 headset. Thus I spent about $1300 on Corsair Products, and another $3200 on other components and I don't have any sound on my new $4500 computer. So my question now is what is going to be done to rectify the situation?

Here is what I've found playing around with settings, drivers, and other computers.

 

1: The mic is quite, I've played around with the voice effects in the karaoke settings, with the vocal cancellation as well as off. The mic produces a noticeable white noise/hissing sound. Although, this isn't as bad as my prior headset. I've also used it on a mac, which is my second computer and it works as expected, with audio issues as it isn't supported by OSX. However, my mic level is at 100%. (Although, if the EQ settings are producing white noise in the headset, that could be the cause of the hissing sound while using the monitoring feature of the mic.)

 

2: I can listen to a 2.0 channel audio, ie music and movies and the sound is quite good. However, when playing games or any audio with surround sound the audio goes to crap. In particular it sounds as if the headset is being over driven. Also in iTunes, it doesn't detect that the headset is surround sound capable and therefore it will not play any 5.1 audio to the device.

 

3: While playing surround sound audio I have tried forcing the headset to a 2.0 channel operation however, the sound distortion is there on any type of surround sound audio.

 

4: By going into the audio section of Windows and clicking properties, I can adjust the bass level by setting the cross over to 200hz. However, it makes the audio feel quite hollow.

 

5: On the hissing sound on the headset, when I go into 5.1 or 7.1 audio I can reproduce the white noise by selecting any of the preset EQ settings. The hissing is random, and comes and goes just by changing the EQ.

 

6: My main concern isn't the microphone at this point in time, its the horrible sound distortion of the audio. People can always manually turn me up in vent if they can't hear me.

 

Conclusion:

 

The HS1 headset is not defective. It is the audio drivers that are distorting the audio of the headset on any type of audio that is more than 2 channels. I can reproduce this at will. For example, I can listen to audio from iTunes in 2.0 mode and enable PLII etc... and the audio doesn't distort. Also, if I force a 7.1 audio mode while playing a 2.0 audio file the sound then becomes very quite as well. Where by the drivers are not playing the audio through all of the 7.1 simulated channels. When I enable 5.1 audio it becomes louder etc. etc.... Thus you have to manually adjust your input based upon what you are listening to.

 

This is the same conclusion (being the audio drivers) that I had when I posted my first post a month ago about the HS1, and the problem still isn't fixed; and it won't be until the audio drivers are fixed.

 

The only solution that I have seen offered by customer service is to exchange it for the HS1A (I find this unacceptable given the fact that the HS1A is $20 cheaper than what I paid for), where by there are no drivers needed. Or replace it with another HS1 headset, which still won't fix the problem. Or I can uninstall the drivers, and not have dolby surround, then that only begs the question as to why I spent $100 for the headset. If that would be the case, I would of purchased a pair of beats.

 

I have attached my system info in a text file and If your company will pay for over night shipping I'll send you my computer and the headset for troubleshooting purposes because I'd rather get this fixed, not only for me, but for everyone. I love the headset, its very comfortable its just that the mic is to quite and the drivers are over driving the bass distorting the audio of surround sound audio. On a final note you can really hear the distortion on FPS game such as COD or BFBC2.

system.txt

The drivers are the issue, but Corsair keep ignoring em.

Rather than selling a good pair of headset and delivering great drivers, they rather wanna sell headsets and replace em.

I also tried disabling the on board audio through the bios, however, it disables my Nvidia Video cards. So I had to manually disable it though windows.

alphasig298 You may have disabled the wrong setting but I would suggest checking with the MB manufacturer about this. That is strange![/Quote]

 

In my bios I have an option for on board audio called azalia codec. I was given 2 options disable or auto. When I set it to disable and logged back into windows the option for my Nvidia control panel was disabled (there was no option) and the display was set at 800x600 resolution. When I set the option back to auto the system rebooted as normal. I agree this is strange, but I decided to pick my battles, and this isn't one I care to deal with. Also I don't know what other option there would be in the bios that would disable the video cards. Finally, I think that issue lies with the fact that the on-board audio and the audio used by Nvidia is the same Realtek chip set.

 

On another note I also adjusted the bass option using the shifter method in the Corsair control panel. I turned the audio to -18 db, which is as low as it can go and there was still distortion, but not as noticeable. Then I started changing the settings and db levels with the other speakers but those had no effect. All that this did was quite the audio levels, but the distortion was still present. Thus leaving me to believe that the sound distortion is the settings in the drivers for the sub channel.

 

Ram guy I'll be your guinea pig to help troubleshoot this issue. I just want it to be fixed :biggrin: And I'm not trying to be combative I just want to get to the heart of the issue not only for me but for everyone who has this same issue.

RamGuy,

 

I was reading back over the forums and many are reporting a issue with white noise with the mic. However, many but not all are saying that its noticeable using the monitoring function such as I have. I don't think its the mic now after reading more and thinking about it for awhile. I think its some type of interference with the speakers because I can recreate at will the white noise randomly by selecting the preset EQ settings. Leading me to believe that many of the mic issues reported are not actually defective, but some other issue with the device.

 

Also I believe that there are 2 separate issues with the HS1.

1: The mic failing and being very distorted (my first headset).

2: The sound audio being distorted (my second headset).

 

Moreover, I know that on my first headset I used the drivers from the included CD and I thought that the audio was "tinny" and hollow as stated here http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=92488. On my 2nd headset I used the drivers from the website, in which the audio sounds much better except in 5.1 or 7.1 audio. I do not know if the drivers are the same or if they are different version as there is only 1 file available at the website.

 

And I understand that I can sit here and say that its a driver issue. But I do realize that if you can't recreate the problem you won't know how to code the driver in order to fix it.

 

~Just a thought

alphasig298 You may have disabled the wrong setting but I would suggest checking with the MB manufacturer about this. That is strange!

 

hamzta,

That is not the case at all we are looking into these reports and trying to duplicate and isolate the possible causes then and only then can a solution be found and released.

 

Ive found out that my issue is 99% about Balancing issue, which alot of people have, perhaps not as extreme, but mine is pretty darn.

 

So I was playing Brothers in Arms Hells Highway, it was nice and dandy and all of a sudden sounds start to appear from the wrong sides. I kept looking to the right cause I heard gunsounds.. nothing there, I heard a to my right aswell, nothing there, it turns out, theyre all on the left.

 

Then I alt tabbed out, I go into the windows "Sounds" in control panel, I open up properties for the Corsair Headset, I check the Volume/levels tab, I open up the balance, guess what I see? 24/100 on the left, 26/100 on the right. And yeah, most sounds were coming from the right. And I am pretty sure the balancing has a major part of this all, cause when I switch both back to normal as in 26, the sound is back to normal.

 

Not everyone may notice if there is a +/- 1 on either side. But I do notice it instantly, and it kills the headset.

And because you cannot adjust the headsets volume and system volume individually... its a fail right there, probably wouldnt happen if you could.

Are you sure that your company reads these forums. Its really bothersome when I read that you can't reproduce these issues in the lab. But when you have someone who is willing to help you and even send you a computer with issues to see whats going on and threes no response; that's just bothersome to me. I mean at least acknowledge that you read my post and will get back with me.

 

So far I wasted $110 on a headset that distorts the audio.

Wow, if I were you I would just take the headset back and purchase something else. Provide them with all the emails you have sent regarding this problem and how you have been unable to get it resolved. A good reputable merchant should be willing to help you out, especially considering how much you spent on your computer.

 

Obviously Corsair is having a bit of an issue with these headsets. I don't see why their customers should have to troubleshoot it for them. I also love Corsair products, but every company produces a dud once in a while.

I bought it from Newegg and instead of sending it back within the 30 days allowed I went through the Corsair RMA process, and Newegg isn't going to allow for a return for an item I purchased on 12/21/2010.

I bought it from Newegg and instead of sending it back within the 30 days allowed I went through the Corsair RMA process, and Newegg isn't going to allow for a return for an item I purchased on 12/21/2010.

 

I bought mine around the same date.

 

And my retailer is full of *******s, I mean monkeys.

 

I.e. I have to pay either 30€ to Corsair aka the shipping cost, or 35€ to my retailer for the troubleshooting.

 

One thing I dont get is, how the admin/official corsair dudes quickly go: Click the RMA button!

 

Rather than: Hm, try this? Try that?

Its like they are aware there are very large amounts of defective headsets out there, or they being lazy.

All they need to do is release a driver update.

How can they release a driver update if they can't reproduce the issues. Ramguy already stated that earlier.

 

I have been looking into this but have not been able to duplicate it up to this point. Are you still having the same problems with the mic and distortion if you uninstall the HS1 driver?

They might not be able to reproduce the issue, but it's clearly driver related... And I'm willing to bet the computers around their office are all the same make and model. Has Corsair denied accepting that computer someone was willing to send them?

 

It looks like C-Media Electronics made the drivers for this headset, as the audio chipset is also made by them. Afaik, Corsair only built the hardware. Don't quote me on that though.

They haven't responded to anything that I posted in this forum except that they can't recreate the issue.

I got an email back from Corsair support saying that I should RMA the headset... Changing the headset won't fix anything because it's NOT the headset, it's the drivers. I really hope they release a driver update that fixes the problem.

Agreed. All we can do is come together as a community and voice our concerns until this issue can no longer be ignored. I don't understand why they are still selling a product that is known to be defective. My best guess is that the headsets are cheap enough to produce, that by replacing them doesn't hurt the bottom line to much. Or people are just so use to crappy sounding music that they can't tell the difference in sound. Whereby, there aren't enough people returning the unit to be a critical issue for the company.

I have a feeling there won't be a driver update. I wonder if I could RMA the headset for an HS1A? I know that it's technically a different product, but it's essentially the HS1 without the built-in audio processor. My onboard sound works flawlessly. But the whole reason why I bought the HS1 USB was so that I could get Dolby and 7.1 surround. I blame C-Media Electronics for producing shoddy drivers.

 

I don't think I'll be buying another Corsair product that needs software, in the future.

. I wonder if I could RMA the headset for an HS1A? I know that it's technically a different product, but it's essentially the HS1 without the built-in audio processor.

call customer service, i dont think making the swap is out of the question, but you never know until you try.

I disabled every service except for the ones used for audio and I still get crackling. There's probably some incompatibility with audiodg.exe (Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation).

 

RAM GUY, who made the drivers for the headset?

Someone behind an NDA most likely.