Literally, as I put the last suitcase in the trunk of my car to head to CES I heard the creak of brakes and the sound of a vehicle settling and turn to see the UPS truck with the driver coming right at me with a package. I thank him, open it up and see the beauty that Cult of Razer followers know all too well: a new green glowing snake product. I think of how much I will have to write during the trip and nod with satisfaction knowing I should be able to test it listening to music and use a recently acquired program to test the mic quality for recording. I toss it in a bag and head off to a week where I get about 7 hours of sleep each night, eat only apples leftover from press lunches for two days straight and meet and greet more people in the business than many people meet in their whole career. Plans are made and remade, I run back to the room periodically to change shirts to lose the sweat stains, and each time I come back to the room I am greeted by a smiling Mrs. Ripper kicking it on her gaming laptop… wearing the new Razer Carcharias. Anyone who knows Mrs. Ripper would not be at all surprised to see her planted in front of a computer playing her favorite MMORPG, but seeing her wear a headset, well I am pretty sure it has been years since I had seen her wear a pair for more than a few minutes. The week flies by in a blur and as she packs her bags to go home before me she asks “can I keep these ones when you are done reviewing them?” With a grin I say, “Sure!” and watched her pack it away in her suitcase knowing she was going to put it to good use before I even made it home and that she had just joined the Cult of Razer.
Tech Specs:
- Frequency Response: 20 – 20,000 Hz
- Impedance: 32 O at 1kHz
- Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): 102 ± 4dB at 1 kHz Max
- Input Power: 200 mW
- Drivers: 40 mm, with Neodymium Magnets
- Inner Ear Cup Diameter: 50 mm / 1.97”
- Cable Length: 3 m / 9.84 ft
- Frequency Response: 50 – 16,000 Hz
- Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 50 dB
- Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): -37 ± 4dB
- Pick-up Pattern: Unidirectional
- Cable: 3 meters, Braided Fiber Sheath
- Connector: 3.5 mm combined jack (headphone and mic)
Features:
Extended comfort circumaural design
From tank battles on a beachhead to blasting the undead in outer space, the full over-ear coverage ensures a comfortable fit. With a fully adjustable, padded head rail that extends an extra 1.25 in/3.18 cm on either side to accommodate a wide range of head sizes, and with its soft, pliable, removable ear cups, the Razer Carcharias for Xbox 360/PC always allows for a perfect fit.
Connectivity to all Xbox 360 systems
Whether your console is legacy or current-gen and connected to a display via HDMI or component/ composite, the Razer Carcharias for Xbox 360/PC is ready to go right out of the box. All required cables and adapters are included to ensure you can connect to any Xbox 360 within minutes.
Testing Them Out:
First off there is the main reason Mrs. Ripper finally embraced a headset: These are extremely lightweight and comfortable after really long periods of time and, if you feel you need to pull it off an ear to listen to the room, it can be done on a moment’s notice then slipped back into place just as quick. She likes to hear things in headphone stereo as much if not more than the next person, but she hates it when the cups cover the ear too much or start to weigh down on them, pushing her eyeglass arms into the side of her head. Her ears get sore quick from earbuds and she finds it a lot bigger pain in the booty to take them in and out. In contrast none of these have really been a problem for me but those are also the reasons she winds up never using any of my headsets so it was nice to have a set come in that finally appealed to her and displayed a different customer base.
The stereo sound is crisp and clear as you would expect from a Razer product, the sound pickup from the mic is excellent and the boom was very flexible, adjusting to just the right spot for talking but not heavy breathing into a hot boom. It works well with both the XBox 360 old and new (I have both) as well as PCs, both desktop and laptop. Beside being so lightweight that you barely notice they are on, they have extremely soft ear padding and they look damn sexy with glowing green Razer logos on the side. Razer definitely takes the stance that if your paying to play with quality it should look sweet as well and the Carcharias do not disappoint on this condition. You could easily imagine them on everyone from professional gamers at tournaments to a housewife playing an MMORPG while on Ventrilio running a raid.
[easyreview title=”Razer CarCharias Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″] Our Rating Scores Explained
