Razer Headset Review

Welcome

Razer Headset Review

Design and Features

The ManO'War has the same beefy 50mm audio drivers as the Kraken Pro V2, which produce great sound and bone-rattling bass. The ear pieces are covered with a comfortable, supple foam sheathed in soft leather. The top piece has a gel pad that keeps the plastic cross brace off the top of your head, but it's a little too rigid for my liking. The pad isn't uncomfortable, but it's noticeable.

For a $169 headset, I expected a bit of aluminum in the design since the Kraken has a metal frame, but the entire headset is made of plastic. Razer told me its goal was to make the ManO'War as light as possible, and though it certainly succeeded, and the plastic is rugged and the headset feels well made, it just seems kind of cheap at this price point. For example, the padding for the cross brace is held in by two fragile-looking plastic tabs and there's a lot of flex too; not because the plastic is necessarily pliable but rather because it's thin. Instead of feeling indestructible they feel brittle, and I wouldn't want to pack them in a bag for travel for fear of them snapping in half.

The ManO'War features 7.1 surround sound, as opposed to the "virtual" kind featured on its less expensive headsets, and it can also be fine-tuned in the Razer Synapse software. Both earpieces are adorned with a Chroma-enabled Razer logo, and if you have a Razer keyboard and mouse you can sync all your devices to dance to the same lighting effect, which is cool. The lighting effect options include Static, Breathing, or Spectrum Cycling, where the logos cycle through every color of the rainbow. The left earpiece hides a retractable, unidirectional mic for voice communication along with a wheel for the mic volume level as well as an indicator LED and power button. The right earpiece also has a volume control wheel as well.

As I wrote above, the signature feature of the ManO'War is wireless connectivity, but it's a costly addition as Razer also sells a wired version for $50 less. Communication is made via a tiny 2.4GHz wireless adapter that can be tucked away inside the left earpiece when not in use; a nice touch that is both handy and great design.

Included with the set is a USB charging cable for the headset, a USB extension hub that lets you connect it to the back of your PC and then connect the dongle to it as it rests on your desktop. Putting the wireless adapter into the extension hub extends the maximum range of the headset from 12 to 14 meters, which is a bit silly as either should be fine when you're sitting at your PC or in a living room. In testing I had no problem with the wireless connection walking from my office to the adjoining kitchen in my house, so the range seems totally adequate.

Gaming

The first big revelation I had while testing the ManO'War is that I'm going to have a hard time going back to my stereo headset. The 7.1 surround sound not only sounds fantastic in movies, but it also helped my Counter-Strike game. I was able to get a leg-up on more than a few opponents because I could hear the direction of their approaching footsteps, and I even got more than a few extra kills because of it. The bass reproduction is easily the ManO'War's strong suit, as these things can thump. If you like to listen to bass-heavy music, or play lots of shooters or games with explosive sound effects, the ManO'War seriously deliver.

The headset can also get really loud. My personal volume limit was 60 out of 100, and anything higher made me afraid I might damage my ears. But holy cow; at that level I could literally feel the bass rumbling in my cheekbones. It also didn't lose fidelity when I turned the volume way up, as everything still sounded thick and rich.

The act of listening to music with the ManO'War was also pure joy. Volume is easily adjusted via a dial on the right earpiece, and it controls the Windows sound level as opposed to just the audio, which is something I really liked. What I didn't like was the ManO'War's lackluster ability to block ambient noise. The on-ear design does little to muffle environmental noise, though the tradeoff is they are able to breath a bit more, making them more comfortable for long gaming sessions. Also, if you want full-coverage Razer offers them as an accessory for $20.