Gaming experiences and da MIC

Gaming

Testing out the Corsair gaming H2100, we used a few games, Battlefield 4, Metro Last Light, and Dirt 3. 

Battlefield 4

First up, lets get to shoot some stiff ! Battlefield does everything part 3 does, only better in about every way, including sound. The H2100 actually does a terrific nice job of presenting environment detail, and in the FPS gaming mode the bass gave some nice growl to the periodic music and environmental sounds. You have to listen to the voices and intricate little sounds like enemies walking and shooting which will help you pin-pointing their position. The Vengeance 2100 scores very high for voice and explosion effects, very impressive. Really good.

Metro Last Light

Metro Last Light is a gorgeous game that has so much to get immersed in, great atmosphere, eye popping graphics, and beautiful sound design. I feel like Im giving it an award just for all that. Sound wise it is very impressive. Though there are some minor quibbles here and there, Metro uses sound as part of the game itself, part of (or a character in itself) the character. Much like the V2100 the H2100 is very good at immersing you into the space of the game, into the world. The clarity of the 2100 series does not make any illusions, you feel like you are inside the dark nature of the game. Again we notice excellent bass, almost like that thumping sound you get in a movie theatre. The dialog in Metro came through fine as did the environment sounds. But in the rear part of the audio environment you miss out on real environmental positioned noises. See, the H2100 really is not a real 7.1 channel headset, it simply emulates surround from its true source. That might be the biggest caveat for this headset, it's advertised as Dolby 7.1 while it merely is trying to simulate a similar effect. And while it isn't bad at it, it simply isn't true 7.1 channel sound.

DiRT3

Rally racing games have just about everything you could want if youre not into hardcore simulation. Dirt has some very good sounds, especially engine and gear noise, which are the heart and soul of a car. The headset is real good with Dirt3, I didn't miss anything except apexes and gear shifts. And a bridge or two + a corner I jammed myself into. Now we do need to mention 7.1 surround sound again. You can hear simulated sounds behind you but emulating just isn't real 7.1. So if a driver is behind you to the left then you'd expect the motor sound in that position. That just isn't happening. Really, as good as the 2000/2100 is sounding, they just should not have called it a 7.1 channel headset. Surround aside, the headset does deliver great bass. Damn good bass really as that engine has a growl my man.

Microphones

As part of our protocol we tested the microphones out with a number of applications, Skype and some co-op play, playing back the sound samples with Audacity.

The H2100 has a great microphone, plenty of gain and very good clarity. The H2100 also had very low noise and hum, as well as very good noise (echo) cancellation. Pretty much it seems to be on par and similar to the Vengeance 1500 and 2000. Noise (echo) cancellation actually works surprisingly well. Alright, that's how far we're going with games, the Vengeance 2100 really is sounding pretty darn good. It does sound great in all the games we threw at it -- and the virtualized surround really isn't bad.