Sometimes you just have to sleep on it

The Amazon Vine Program sent me the new Corsair H2100 Wireless Dolby 7.1 Gaming Headset this week for evaluation and review.

I’m not much into video games, but the prospect of a high-end (MSRP $99.99) set of headphones for music and videos and maybe Skype appealed to me.

The package arrived yesterday afternoon and I began the setup process, the first task being to get a full charge in the build-in lithium battery.

That took until about 7 p.m. Downloading and installing the supporting software and getting the computer to install the appropriate drivers involved a couple of extremely time-consuming reboots.

I broke away at 8 p.m. to watch this week’s episode of Grimm, followed by a movie and finally got back to the setup work about 10:30 p.m.

That’s when the real frustration set in: The Bluetooth connection appeared good – I could work the volume control on the headset and see the volume slider on screen move up and down, but there was no sound.

I read and re-read the quick start guide that came with the headset, checking and re-checking each step until I was absolutely convinced that I’d done everything right. I turned the headset on and off several times, wondering if the Bluetooth connection was the problem and finally went to bed about 11 p.m., still unable to get sound from the headphones.

When I woke up this morning, it was with the thought that the problem was in the computer settings.

Sure enough, it turns out I needed to get into the Sound control and designate the headset as the default sound device.

Suddenly, the headphones sprang to life and all was right with the world.

I judge an audio device partially on the basis of whether it shows me something new in my music that I never knew was there. The Corsair H2100 passes the test, revealing instrumental details that previously eluded me.

There are doubtless better headsets out there for the audiophile, but they would be wasted on me because of tinnitus and loss of frequencies through age and hearing abuse. These headphones are comfortable and they sound great to my 69-year-old ears.

I haven’t tried the microphone yet, but I expect it works fine.

It would be really cool if I could pair the headset with my iPhone 5 for music and conversation, but it appears that isn’t possible.