Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE feedback

[KBhamm]

Originally Posted by TQBF

Unfortunately I have to report extreme buyer's remorse over the audio quality when using the Corsair drivers in iCUE. I am hoping these are teething issues as an early adopter, but I wish I had waited to buy into this product as it frustrates me to own such an expensive headset which is presently a paperweight. I don't want to stop using the rest of the RGB devices I own from Corsair as a sacrifice to keep being able to hear.

My initial impression was good, build quality was excellent, comfort was excellent and it sounded very impressive with the in-store audio samples. I was not looking to buy a new headset and am normally very frugal, so this sold me unexpectedly. Thumbs up there. Unboxing, also great. (Virtuoso SE bag is fun but kind of pointless).

I bought these on a lunch break at work, and I tried them on the work PC both wirelessly and wired. Audio was crisp, clear and lovely, no hiss. (Note, work PC does not have iCUE).

I tried these on my primary gaming PC when I got back and things started to go downhill. I had an older version of iCUE on that didn't recognise the headset, so when plugged in they used Windows 10 default driver and control, everything still sounded good. I updated iCUE and here things dropped from a user interface perspective, iCUE did not like the headset, and pairing was frustratingly inconsistent. At this point it installed its own drivers and the issue with 2.1 or 8.1 channel came up. Eventually I got that sorted by repeatedly uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers. I applied the firmware patch and this also caused some issues, crashing mid install of the dongle update and showing no progress, with a concerning message about how interrupting may cause corruption - but, nothing to do when it crashes itself mid way through!

I am lucky enough to have just upgraded my system, so I had a second PC to try this on for round 2. Fresh install of Windows 10, iCUE not yet installed. Same problem, everything sounded and worked quite seamlessly when not using iCUE, but all the same problems emerged once it was installed.

To summarize the actual symptoms that made me take these off and go back to my $50 no name gaming headset (Note, these were observed on 2 separate machines, ranked least to most troubling):

• Bass is kinda weak even with equalization, audio is frustratingly quiet even at max.
• 7.1 audio sounds like a swimming pool and I can't use Dolby processing as an alternative without uninstalling iCUE.
• Device failing to recognize when on wireless and losing iCUE pairing to adjust settings. (This has gotten better).
• Windows would initially would only recognize headset as 2 channel audio.
  
• Constant background hiss whenever audio is playing (USB & Wireless)*
• Cracks and pops, distorted audio in Apex Legends that makes me disoriented. This is what made me take them off and set them down to await some improvement in drivers, it made the game unplayable. I play a lot of Apex.

* I don't think this one is mentioned elsewhere in the thread.

But in hope of things improving - everything sounded great when initially plugged into my PC. Everything seemed to go wrong with iCUE and the firmware patches.

tl;dr - I wish I had read the reviews here and waited a little, right now I don't feel the headset is usable and I'm wondering if this will be addressed or if I should return them.

just uninstall corsair virtuoso in device manager restart pc and it uses legacy drivers. there you go with dolby atmos :) someone on this forum found out. it works perfect

[Ady1976]

Originally Posted by KBhamm

just uninstall corsair virtuoso in device manager restart pc and it uses legacy drivers. there you go with dolby atmos :) someone on this forum found out. it works perfect

No it does not do this if you have icue installed, it just reverts back to the corsair driver and if you uninstall icue tou lose functionality.

Also i see theres still no response from corsair for over a week, Don't have long left now before i have to return this partially working headset.

[sprendog]

In addition to my wireless mode just not working 75% of the time, there's a new thing that just started happening when loud sounds are playing. If there is an explosion in a game, there is static in the audio. Any ideas?

[Zelot]

Is my Virtuoso supposed to remain on while my system is off and is wired. My computer is next to my bed and I exclusively use my Virutoso wired... but it gives off this white light when my system is off. I have to unplug it to get the light off. I've tried doing sleep mode settings but didn't do anything.

Wondering if there is a setting i'm supposed to have ticked on or if this is proper and I should be unplugging it every night.

[Ady1976]

Right I've come to the conclusion it's Corsairs audio drivers are causing all my issues with audio skipping, breaking up, crackling, missing sounds in games, if i use Microsoft's default USB audio driver ie uninstalling icue altogether the audio is fine, no breaking up when sounds change in games etc, shame on you Corsair, fancy releasing a headset in this state without a single driver update for the headset, does anyone know how can still use the Microsoft driver but still have icue installed for functionality like voice prompts and turning the rgb off etc? I need icue for my h150 i pro.

[RGBuild]

Originally Posted by Zelot

Is my Virtuoso supposed to remain on while my system is off and is wired. My computer is next to my bed and I exclusively use my Virutoso wired... but it gives off this white light when my system is off. I have to unplug it to get the light off. I've tried doing sleep mode settings but didn't do anything.

Wondering if there is a setting i'm supposed to have ticked on or if this is proper and I should be unplugging it every night.

to turn the headset off you need to unplug it from the computer or outlet and set it to wired mode.

[RGBuild]

Originally Posted by Ady1976

Right I've come to the conclusion it's Corsairs audio drivers are causing all my issues with audio skipping, breaking up, crackling, missing sounds in games, if i use Microsoft's default USB audio driver ie uninstalling icue altogether the audio is fine, no breaking up when sounds change in games etc, shame on you Corsair, fancy releasing a headset in this state without a single driver update for the headset, does anyone know how can still use the Microsoft driver but still have icue installed for functionality like voice prompts and turning the rgb off etc? I need icue for my h150 i pro.

The only way to have the Microsoft driver is to uninstall the corsair virtuoso driver and just use the headset by keeping it in wired mode with the aux cord.

[Ady1976]

Thanks but I've actually just reinstalled icue rebooted then rolled back the driver for the headset and now using Microsoft's driver which is giving me somewhat functionality on the headset, i can now control lighting but not voice prompts, however i have noticed using Microsoft's driver i still have all the quality options for the microphone in the advanced sound settings tab and can now also adjust the playback quality in the advanced tab which cannot be done with Corsairs driver as it os greyed out also playback seems to be fine using Microsoft's usb audio device driver for this headset, Corsairs driver is messed up, they've released a new headset without even bothering to develop a driver for it knowing issues with their driver and windows 10, from what I've been seeing on here, i won't be purchasing a Corsair headset again.

[killin]

@ op,

can you please add this to the list,

When switching from Wired to wireless while in a game you will lose sound to the game and discord/teamspeak

[eloko]

Playing sound at lower volumes there is always a white noise in the background.
the white noise only stops when there's no sound playing, as soon any kind of sound plays the white noise comes back.

did anyone else notice that?

fixed:
in voice meter output, I was using MME, I switched to KS and the white noise is gone.

BUT using KS icue settings don't work, eq profiles don't load and notifications don't play on the headphones.

[LuciITA]

Originally Posted by Ady1976

Right I've come to the conclusion it's Corsairs audio drivers are causing all my issues with audio skipping, breaking up, crackling, missing sounds in games, if i use Microsoft's default USB audio driver ie uninstalling icue altogether the audio is fine, no breaking up when sounds change in games etc, shame on you Corsair, fancy releasing a headset in this state without a single driver update for the headset, does anyone know how can still use the Microsoft driver but still have icue installed for functionality like voice prompts and turning the rgb off etc? I need icue for my h150 i pro.

Same issue here: audio crackling on games and movies using icue 3.21.88 and last firmware on virtuoso, same on wired and wireless. Need a new driver asap.

[KBhamm]

Originally Posted by Ady1976

No it does not do this if you have icue installed, it just reverts back to the corsair driver and if you uninstall icue tou lose functionality.

Also i see theres still no response from corsair for over a week, Don't have long left now before i have to return this partially working headset.

nope i can use it with atmos or dts x :P

[jpdsc]

Originally Posted by KBhamm

nope i can use it with atmos or dts x :P

How do you do that?

[Ady1976]

Originally Posted by KBhamm

nope i can use it with atmos or dts x :P

I've figured out how to use the Microsoft driver but there's still functionality lost in i cue, it shouldn't have been released without a proper driver that supported the virtuoso correctly, all they have done is rely on the older driver hoping there wouldn't be any issues.

[Corsair Nick]

Guys, first off thank you for the feedback you are providing. Not sure if all of you have seen that there was an update to both iCUE (3.21.88) and firmware for Virtuoso. If you haven't already performed the updates, please do so as it will improve some of the topics you guys brought up. We are working on more updates to address additional items that were brought up, but we want to ensure proper testing is performed in our validations process.

For those of you experiencing crackling during games, can you respond back with the following information:

1.) What system are you using (motherboards and USB port)
2.) What game are you using? Did you enable SW sound settings like Atmos in Overwatch, for example?
3.) SW version
4.) FW version
5.) System volume level
6.) EQ settings in iCUE
7.) Particular content that was played


Some of you already have system specs listed, but I would like you to provide it in your post just in case you have changed anything. I'll relay the information to our validations and software teams as you guys provide it.