Review: CM Storm Sirus 5.1 Headphones

Do you hear that? it’s the sound of true 5.1 and while the Coolermaster CM Storm Sirus 5.1 headphones have been out some time, a review of this popular headphones is something of a given. The headphones over true 5.1 surround sound, like a lot of surround sounds headphones on the market that offer the same but do so virtually by manipulating the stereo sound to basically fake 5.1/7.1 sound. Well the CM Storm Sirus offer full true 5.1 and have 4 speakers on each ear to do exactly that. So before we take a look at the headphones, let’s look at the specs.

Headphones

•  Transducer principle: Dynamic closed
•  True 5.1 surround sound
•  Ear coupling: Circumaural
•  Ear cushions: Detachable micro fiber & leatherette
•  Frequency Response: 10Hz – 20,000Hz
•  Impedance: F/R/C: 32 Ohms Sub: 16 Ohms
•  Sensitivity: >105dB
•  Driver: F/R/C: 30mm Sub: 40mm
•  Distortion: Less than 1%

Microphone

•  Retractable Microphone with LED mute indicator
•  Frequency Response: 100Hz – 10,000 Hz
•  Impedance: 2.2k Ohms
•  Sensitivity: -46 dB ±3dB

Features

• True 5.1 Surround Sound, 4 speakers on each side!
• On-The-Fly Bass, Rear, Front and Center channel control for maximum sound customization.
• Interchangeable circumaural weaved and leatherette ear-cups
• Microphone with LED mute indicator
• Dual gold-plated USB Connectors for maximum bass boost

So the headphones have great specs on paper and over cover your needs when it comes to gaming or even watching movies. So no let’s take a look at the contents and the headphones themselves.

The headphones come well package in a nice layout, the box also lists all relevant details about the headphones themselves, including the specs we listed above.

True 5.1 and that is evident hear when we take a look at the earcup without the padded, here we can see the three 30mm drivers for the Front,Rear and center speakers and then the bigger 40mm for the sub woofer speaker. This is of course the same layout for each speaker. So 3 x 30mm drivers and 1 x 40mm. This is easily set to offer some great sound.

The headphones of course come with a built-in microphone. The microphone includes an LED at the end to signify on/off modes. The Mic will also mute automatically if you slide it up along side the headphones, which is a great feature to have for quickly muted your voice for whatever reason.

The top of the headphones have a very thick and soft foam for added comfort.

The package also includes an analog adapter which allows you to by-pass the entire control module altogether, since the headphones still require power, you simply use a USB port for this exact reason.

The headphones come with two sets of ear pads, one set is circumaural weaved and the other is leatherette. Changing them involves swapping out the plastic clips, which can be difficult at first, so you may not want to change between them often.

The tactical mixing console that comes with the headphones has a built-in sound card. This unit includes the ability to control the sound of each channel individually, so you can adjust the rear, front , center and bass and then of course the master volume. This is great for while your gaming as it gives you a way of adjusting the sound without having to exit the game. There is also two other buttons for muting the headphones or mic for any reason necessary. Overall the device is easy to use and adjust to your liking.

The mixing console connects to your computer using two USB gold plated connections.

Now let’s take a look at the setup and the Storm Tactical Driver panel software that comes supplied with the CM Storm Sirus headphones.

The CM Storm Sire software gives the user the ability to change different settings like volume for each channel, microphone volume and to activate/deactivate Smart Volume Normalizer.

The software comes pre-loaded with some profiles for Music, Movies or Games and of course default which is just normal. There is also an option to create your on profiles based on adjusting each channel yourself.

That is pretty much all there is to the software, it covers all the important parts. Once you install the software(supplied on disc) and plug the Control module in, it will automatically become the default sound card. We did have to change it to 5.1 the first time on we used it on Windows, but was suspected. Once done you can start using the headphones straight away. It basically took to minutes to get the headphone up and running.

Conclusion

Now, these headphone have been out sometime, but are quite popular none the less. Coolermaster are very well-known for the amazing Cases, gaming keyboards and other peripherals and it made sense when they released the CM Storm Sirus headphones. So after using them for a while and to be honest, the opinion was there after 5 minutes. These headphones are amazing. They are easy to set up and use, work pretty much straight out of the box and have amazing control thanks to the tactical mixing console and the ability to mute the mic by sliding it up is simply fantastic.

The main aspect however is the sound quality and whether or not they are comfortable and they are extremely comfortable. It was mainly the leatherette earpads that were used as they also aid in blocking out unwanted noise but do feel more comfortable overall. The true 5.1 is easily there and over each sound driver gives off high quality sound that makes for a great experience overall. This doesn’t just count for games or movies. We actually found ourselves using them for music just as much and at the end of the day, that is just as important when it comes to headphones.

The CM Storm: Sirus 5.1 headphones easily get the gold award and considering they only cost €119, there really isn’t much to fuss about and we would easily recommend them to someone looking for a decent pair of 5.1 headphones to cover all their needs be it gaming, movies, or music, or even communication in general. The Sirus headphone swill have you covered.

Thanks to Gert at Coolermaster for sending out the headphones for review.