Here at CORSAIR, we’ve been making gaming headsets for years. They cover the entire spectrum of price, features, and designs. This means that if you’re in the market for a new gaming headset, CORSAIR will have one for you.
However, one of the oft-overlooked features of a gaming headset is Sidetones. Despite being commonly overlooked, this is a total dealbreaker for some, so, let’s take a look at what sidetones feature is, and why it’s so important.
Sidetones refers to a function of some headsets where the audio captured from the microphone, i.e. your voice, is rebroadcast through the earcups back to you in real-time.
If you’re unfamiliar with sidetones, this this might sound pointless, annoying, or both. However, there are a few good reasons why people like this feature.
The first is for volume management, if you’ve ever had the misfortune of playing with teammates who always seem to be shouting even when you aren’t letting them down, they probably weren’t using sidetones. As sidetones allow you to hear your own voice, you become far, far more aware of when you’re being too loud. As vital for avoiding the ire of annoyed parents or roommates as it is for preventing you from shouting down the entire discord server.
Another reason is for comfort. If you’re a fan of open-back headphones, you’ll be aware of the immediate difference when you put a closed-back headset on. You lose a lot of real-world awareness as most of the sound is blocked out. Additionally, when speaking, you’ll notice your own voice is muffled, which can be very off-putting. Enabling sidetones resolves the issue.
While most of us will get used to the muffling effect of a closed-back headset, some find it totally unacceptable. Which might be how you landed on this page. So, here’s a list of CORSAIR headsets that have sidetones as a feature. Afterwards we’ll go over how to enable sidetones. Note that only headsets that connect via USB will have sidetones. Additionally, sidetones will only work if used with a PC because it’s a software feature, not an automated hardware thing.
To enable sidetones on your CORSAIR headset, regardless of which specific one it is, simply open iCUE, navigate to the settings menu for the headset in question.
At the bottom left, you’ll notice a couple of sliders. Given that Sidetones utilizes the mic to work, you’ll need to unmute the mic to adjust Sidetones volume.
You might notice that the sidetones control remains greyed out and unusable even when the mic is active. This can happen if Windows Spatial Audio is active. Using Spatial Audio takes over basically all the control you have over your sound output.
To turn Spatial Audio off and reclaim control go to System Settings, then Sound Settings, and then click the little arrow next to the output device in question. Then scroll down and turn Spatial Audio off. Once you’ve done this, switch back to iCUE and enable sidetones.
If you’re worried that disabling Spatial Audio will remove the surround sound of games and therefore totally destroy our K/D, you’ve nothing to fear. Spatial Audio has no bearing on games as they take care of surround sound themselves.
So, now you've educated yourself on the nature and utility of sidetones, and your CORSAIR headset is all set up. However, if you're just here because you're a sidetones loyalist and want to know which headsets have this feature, now you know. So feel free to choose from the list above or simply browse our entire range of gaming headsets on our main website.
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