CM Storm Sirus Headset Review

Installing the Sirus

The way the Sirus is connected to the PC is up to the user. It can be plugged into the 5.1 audio connections of a PC, or it can perform as a USB audio device. The Windows audio device manager instantly recognizes the Sirus once it’s hooked up. It comes with a software that is, unfortunately, very primitive; it features only volume controls for sound and voice and a pre-mix selection for games and music. Without installing the application or even a driver, we were able to make calls with MSN Messenger. Skype, however, said it recognized the Sirus and even performed test calls with success, but once we tried a conference call to our gaming buddies, the microphone kept mute. So we really had to install the Sirus applications and driver to solve the problem – Skype was to blame (it is a rather quirky software), but it made it clear that it’s better to install both driver and application to make the headset be recognized by all audio programs.

Figure 7: The application

Due to the application being unfriendly, we missed the fact that there is indeed a more advanced menu: you just have to click on the microphone and speakers icons to open up an equalizer, a bass booster and even environment effects. Unfortunately, this feature was so well hidden that took an email from Cooler Master for us to notice it.

Figure 8: Additional features