The Sirus 5.1 Gaming Headset -
Cooler Master’s CM Storm Sirus headset is rather bulky. It looks like something from a recording studio (or maybe an Air Traffic Control Tower) more than a gaming headset. The one thing that makes you aware that this is meant for gaming is the CM Storm Logo and the fact that it lights up Red when you have everything connected.

But despite their bulk the Sirus Headset is fairly light and the padding makes it rather comfortable to wear, even for extended periods of time. The each cups are removable and can be quickly switched out. I found that I personally favored the breathable ones over the noise dampening. This was a comfort issue as when I used the noise dampening set my ears got hot quickly. The Sirus is adjustable (of course) but does not collapse down like other headsets can. This means that there is little movement in the ear pieces. You have to rely on the ear cups to give you a secure fit.

When you do remove the ear cups you will see the four independent drivers that are in each ear piece. The three at the top are your 30mm drivers for front, center and rear, while the larger one at the bottom is the 40mm sub.  Let’s take a minute to go over the specs again. You already know that the combination of these four drivers creates a 5.1 surround effect. It does this by placing the drivers at specific points around the ear. The frequency response of 10Hz to 20KHz is actually very good for the price range the Sirus is in and covers most people’s audial response range (the typical human ear can here between 20Hz – 18-20KHz). It is not as high as some of your more expensive headsets out (like Sennheiser), but it certainly can get the job done. The THD is rated at less than 1% (which is average for quality audio gear) with a sensitivity of > 105DB. All in all not bad specs considering what has to be done to get all eight drivers working in concert.

For those of you that like to talk to others while you play your games you get a built in microphone on a flexible boom. This mic boasts some fairly decent set of specs like the drivers in the ear pieces. Again like the drivers the microphone is not top of the line, but it does very well for the price range. You get a response of 10Hz to 10KHz which gives you great low end response but is shy on the upper end by about 3-6KHz. This means that if you have a high pitched voice it could possibly have some trouble picking it up properly. The sensitivity level is good at -46DB (+or – 3DB). Again the Microphone will get the job done but might have some issues with higher pitched voices.

As we mentioned before you have to have power for this headset. You are not going to get away with just running a standard passive audio out to them.  In fact the cord from the Sirus Headset won’t allow it. It is a 10 pin DIN connector. You can connect this to your PC in one of two ways (as we briefly covered before). The first is the recommended one (by me and cooler master). This is using the Tactical Mixing Console (which also happens to be a pretty good USB audio card).  This has two gold plated USB connectors (one for Data and one for Power). Simply plug these in, connect the Sirus Headset and you are ready for some gaming.

However there is more to the Tactical Mixing Console than just being a USB audio card. You can independently adjust the level of each pair of drivers. (front, center, rear and Sub) in addition to having a single master control. You also get two additional buttons, one to mute or activate the mic and the other mutes the headset speakers. The level control dial is a step less one (meaning there are no clicks or start and stop points) and has a finger indent for easy adjustments.  

The other method for connectivity is a group of 1/8-inch mini din connectors that can be hooked up to the 5.1 output jacks on any properly equipped audio card. You also have to have an available USB port to power the Sirus headset.  It is a rather nice setup and a good entry for Cooler Master into this rather picky market. Now let’s see how they perform.