Thank you for the review. I noticed that you mentioned nothing about the battery life? Or did miss it? It's a pity one has to fiddle with EQ settings. The mark of good drivers for sound reproduction, is me not having to do it all. It should only be used when you as an individual struggle to hear in certain frequency ranges, not to make up for drivers that are trying to be something they are not. Also, I hope you used a proper dedicated sound card too? On board audio still remains garbage till this very day. Ah any case, if there is one thing that audiophiles know, not one sound system sounds the same for every individual, one of the hardest things to review.

@Legacy-ZA correct me if I am wrong , but as far I am aware on wireless speakers the soundcard pllays no role .. or that was just the bt wireless speakers ?

Legacy-ZA:

Thank you for the review. I noticed that you mentioned nothing about the battery life? Or did miss it? It's a pity one has to fiddle with EQ settings. The mark of good drivers for sound reproduction, is me not having to do it all. It should only be used when you as an individual struggle to hear in certain frequency ranges, not to make up for drivers that are trying to be something they are not. Also, I hope you used a proper dedicated sound card too? On board audio still remains garbage till this very day. Ah any case, if there is one thing that audiophiles know, not one sound system sounds the same for every individual, one of the hardest things to review.

Audiophiles should probably not be buying Razer products to listen to their audio on 😛 I mean it might be alright, but it's probably a trash product overall. Made to be sold at a premium to people who trust that Razer as a brand - a mouse-maker - has the skills to pull off sound engineering. Or the desire to actually put money in to that instead of just buying some existing product and putting it inside a Razer shell and slapping on some Razer gimmicks like lighting and rumble packs. Also if you're on a wireless device you are probably using some USB wireless tech like bluetooth that is full of latency and compression or a different standard, none of which are going to be affected by the quality of your soundcard or other things like high quality external DAC. But it's a 129$ headset - 199 for the wireless - what level of quality can you actually expect at such a low price - is the question.

AlmondMan:

Audiophiles should probably not be buying Razer products to listen to their audio on 😛 I mean it might be alright, but it's probably a trash product overall. Made to be sold at a premium to people who trust that Razer as a brand - a mouse-maker - has the skills to pull off sound engineering. Or the desire to actually put money in to that instead of just buying some existing product and putting it inside a Razer shell and slapping on some Razer gimmicks like lighting and rumble packs. Also if you're on a wireless device you are probably using some USB wireless tech like bluetooth that is full of latency and compression or a different standard, none of which are going to be affected by the quality of your soundcard or other things like high quality external DAC. But it's a 129$ headset - 199 for the wireless - what level of quality can you actually expect at such a low price - is the question.

Yes, you are right of course; however, that doesn't mean that they couldn't have finally released a premium product with haptic feedback. Which I would have been interested in. As for the wireless issue, one does have the option to go wired, and would have been used this way, and only used in wireless when the situation calls for it.

Not sure why but the conclusion page is showing the Corsair Virtuoso SE photo not the Kraken, was that intentional? Thanks

Legacy-ZA:

Yes, you are right of course; however, that doesn't mean that they couldn't have finally released a premium product with haptic feedback. Which I would have been interested in. As for the wireless issue, one does have the option to go wired, and would have been used this way, and only used in wireless when the situation calls for it.

Hmmm we are way different on this aspect I use my headphones always on wireless mode because I like the convenience ! Standing to make coffee next room podcast/ music / what ever stays on ! The single time I tried em wired ... The sound was fine but they where feeling "dead" the sound levels where usable but soooo low so I see your point.

I'm something of an audiophile as I have Jamo speakers + NAD amp bought in ~2002/4. But I needed wireless headset because I play only sim racing games in my simrig which is far away from the PC, so wireless was a must. I bought Razer BlackShark V2 Pro. They were 200 EUR and I didn't expect much. They are not good for music. But they excel with sim racing games like Assetto Corsa Competizione, AMS2, and to lesser extent iRacing. They have a very long battery life, more than 20 hours. In Razer Synapse you can setup THX to off, auto and manual (stereo, game, music, custom). But Razer Synapse is a shitty buggy software. Sometimes it doesn't start and whatever I choose in THX there is no difference - at first it was but I didn't like it and set everything to stereo, but now even if I reinstall THX does nothing. Shitty software. Since I simrace I need the mic. And the mic is awesome. I expected some muted "mobile phone" sound with some shitty ambient noise cancelation but I was really surprised how good the mic is. If you only play (sim) racing games and you need a mic but you're not a streamer, I think Blackshark V2 Pro and probably it's successors are a very good choice. There are cons of course. My biggest is range. If I'm listening to some podcast with my bluetooth earbuds I can walk to every room in the same floor of the house and connection is stable. Razer, on the other hand, even with different placement of the USB 2.4GHz wireless transceiver, if I go to other rooms, connection usually drops.

I have these and and the wired versions. I use the wireless on my PS5. They actually sound pretty good in games after being tweaked, atleast to me. I have tried quite a few USB headsets and always found them to sound VERY flat but these arent bad at all. The haptics are really cool!

Venix:

Hmmm we are way different on this aspect I use my headphones always on wireless mode because I like the convenience ! Standing to make coffee next room podcast/ music / what ever stays on ! The single time I tried em wired ... The sound was fine but they where feeling "dead" the sound levels where usable but soooo low so I see your point.

I bought their Razer Tiamat 7.1 a long time ago, a lot of reviewers at the time gave it a negative review, I was curious, so I bought a set, I experienced non of the issues they had, but I suppose, that's the difference with reviewing it plugged into laptop/desktops onboard audio jack v.s using a proper sound card. So since then, I have taken what they say with a grain of salt. They complained about the bass being sub-bar, though it had dedicated bass drivers. I just switched on the LFE frequency range and set it to 75Hz where it is comfortable to me, the bass was rich and punchy, the only thing I hate about them till this very day, is that they have too high a treble range and since my hearing is sensitive, it hurts my ears when I use them too long. I am sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing; that I can hear and feel between the 24Hz-19110Hz range, I check my hearing often to make sure it is still good. I just want a nice headset, that has a warm sound with solid punchy bass, the Audio Teknika my father has, sounds great, but it is not bundled with surround sound emulating software that I can use with my gaming setup, it's merely a stereo headset. I did sign up for Razers surround software back when they just released it, but it never functioned well, perhaps I should try it again with Synapse 3.0? Anyways, good chat. 🙂

Venix:

Hmmm we are way different on this aspect I use my headphones always on wireless mode because I like the convenience ! Standing to make coffee next room podcast/ music / what ever stays on ! The single time I tried em wired ... The sound was fine but they where feeling "dead" the sound levels where usable but soooo low so I see your point.

Whatever output you are using might not have enough power to drive a larger headset like you have and it'll end up being way low. Seems unusual though, I haven't experienced it happen in a very long time. I remember my first PC from 1995 could power a set of bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer from the 3.5mm audio jack Oo

AlmondMan:

Whatever output you are using might not have enough power to drive a larger headset like you have and it'll end up being way low. Seems unusual though, I haven't experienced it happen in a very long time. I remember my first PC from 1995 could power a set of bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer from the 3.5mm audio jack Oo

I thought might be the case since my sound blaster z was the culprit of a lot of bsods I just use the build in card . As I said was usable just using em in wireless is straight up better .

Venix:

I thought might be the case since my sound blaster z was the culprit of a lot of bsods I just use the build in card . As I said was usable just using em in wireless is straight up better .

Doesn't that require you to use the floppy power or something? I have a AE-X that I bought to replace my failing Asus Xonar D2X. The power-connector for the floppy power was failing weirdly, and the internal amp on the card would drop out when the power was cut - I could probably have had it fixed by someone more skilled in soldering than me - but when the power would fail, I'd need to crank my external amp to very high levels to get any sound.

Venix:

I thought might be the case since my sound blaster z was the culprit of a lot of bsods I just use the build in card . As I said was usable just using em in wireless is straight up better .

Unfortunately, a lot of the old soundcards have lost driver support with Windows 8, 10 & 11. Mine is no exception, thankfully, MaxedTech (google that), give custom drivers for the ASUS Xonar cards, they aren't signed of course, but they work great with my Xonar D2X, one I am not sure if there might be someone doing something similar for the Sound Blaster Cards? All I know is, I get beautiful audio from mine, it was also designed to catch the pops and noise from the MB etc. I have my eye on the latest AE-X, but no reason to replace mine, it still works great, it's very rare that they die. The only annoying thing about the Xonar D2X card, is the floppy power connector, which makes tidying up the case inside a little annoying but I can live with it. 🙂

AlmondMan:

Doesn't that require you to use the floppy power or something? I have a AE-X that I bought to replace my failing Asus Xonar D2X. The power-connector for the floppy power was failing weirdly, and the internal amp on the card would drop out when the power was cut - I could probably have had it fixed by someone more skilled in soldering than me - but when the power would fail, I'd need to crank my external amp to very high levels to get any sound.

I never remember having extra power connected to the card .... I have to find it and check out ! @Legacy-ZA I can not say I noticed the difference with the 100 bucks Logitech speakers, I tried a lot of version of drivers in the past till I gave up and ripped the card out of my system . In general I can not say I plan to ever get a soundcard again. Edit: no extra connectors for power just pcix 1x and the pins for the front panel audio

Legacy-ZA:

Unfortunately, a lot of the old soundcards have lost driver support with Windows 8, 10 & 11. Mine is no exception, thankfully, MaxedTech (google that), give custom drivers for the ASUS Xonar cards, they aren't signed of course, but they work great with my Xonar D2X, one I am not sure if there might be someone doing something similar for the Sound Blaster Cards? All I know is, I get beautiful audio from mine, it was also designed to catch the pops and noise from the MB etc. I have my eye on the latest AE-X, but no reason to replace mine, it still works great, it's very rare that they die. The only annoying thing about the Xonar D2X card, is the floppy power connector, which makes tidying up the case inside a little annoying but I can live with it. 🙂

Yeah, I used open drivers for mine for the past many years. Worked just great and the sound quality was noticably better than the onboard audio - I did try the "CrystalAudio" or whatever on my Asus X470 Prime Pro board for comparison's sake one time because of the issues I was having with the D2X. Decided to stick with it for a while longer till I got the AE-X. I wouldn't have replaced it if not for the problems, it was still great, and I still have it! Some day maybe I'll figure out the soldering part or have a friend work on it.

Venix:

I never remember having extra power connected to the card .... I have to find it and check out ! @Legacy-ZA I can not say I noticed the difference with the 100 bucks Logitech speakers, I tried a lot of version of drivers in the past till I gave up and ripped the card out of my system . In general I can not say I plan to ever get a soundcard again. Edit: no extra connectors for power just pcix 1x and the pins for the front panel audio

Ah that explains the pins I saw on the pictures of it. If I weren't oldschool minded I probably wouldn't have gotten a sound card either - I should probably have gotten a super high quality USB DAC instead - or found one that fit in a PCI-E slot, because I just really like internal expansion cards 😛 I filled out all the expansion slots on my motherboard just for fun (except for that 1 port that for some reason blew up 🙁 )

@AlmondMan the only reason I got the sound blaster z at the time was 2013 or 14 I had the GTX 770 I had 16gb 1866 ram ssd for is and the 3770k so I was seeing no reason to update anything else ! I am a sound pleb not really an audiophile so I think if the sbz was not blue screening me ..it would have been more than adequate for me , most likely better than any onboard for another 10 years 😛