At first we would like to thank Razer for offering us their Kraken Ultimate Gaming Headset for testing and reviewing.

 

About Razer:

"Razer is more than just the world's leading brand in gaming.

We were founded in 1998 in San Diego, California by our CEO Min-Liang Tan and our President Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff in a tiny shared office with a couple other gamers. We have grown today to hundreds of employees worldwide with offices in seven cities, including San Francisco, Hamburg, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore.

Our vision from the very beginning was to be the world's greatest gaming brand and we've set out to achieve that by designing the best gaming products that any gamer has ever seen.

We believe that truly great products are based on technology, designed with extensive human factors and user ergonomic studies and then tested by the top professional gamers. In simpler terms, our own world class scientists and engineers develop cutting edge technology in-house or with partners, design phenomenal products around core technologies – and test the hell out of them in the field with our pro-gamers before we launch them.

We are the only gaming hardware company in the world with dedicated gaming user interface research and development labs, and our technology and designs are incubated in three dedicated design centers located in facilities in California, Singapore and Shenzhen. No other company boasts of technology like we do – because we're the only guys who have what it takes under the hood.

We tell it like it is: some can pretend to co-develop products with professional gamers, but gamers don't develop technology: scientists and engineers do (and ours just happen to be gamers as well).

We develop and design our products in our own labs and then put them to the test with top professional gamers who use them in pro-level tournaments and then provide us with feedback. Then we iterate on the product, refining it with the feedback – over and over and over again. That's how it's done, that's how a Razer product is built from ground up. No marketing BS and no hype.

We pioneered the eSports movement with the world's first $100K tournament back in 2000 and we have continued to give back to the community by sponsoring top eSports athletes who give back to Razer by beta-testing our products. We remain one of the largest sponsors of eSports community sponsoring top global eSports teams worldwide.

The people that work here at Razer are gamers just like you – some amateur, some ex-professional gamers, some just play for fun, just ask our CEO who will lay the smack down on you in Quake Live or our President, who has over ten level 80's on his local server. Hell, he will even take you on a raid in the middle of the work day.

We are the same gamers who are told by the suits that we need adult supervision and we need a professional CEO or management team – and we're the same gamers who tell the suits exactly where to shove it because we like doing what we do – and we do it on our own terms.

We hope our passion for gaming speaks to you like it does to us, through our products and we hope you enjoy the competitive edge we bring to your game."

MAKE SOUND YOUR WEAPON

 

Hear the unfair advantage firsthand and be the one to beat with the Razer Kraken Ultimate—a PC gaming headset built for the ultimate competitive gaming experience. With threats lurking all around you, it’s time to go on the offensive and let them know who’s hunting who.

 

THX SPATIAL AUDIO

 

Surpassing traditional 7.1 surround sound, this gaming headset produces positionally-accurate audio in a 360-degree sphere for more realistic audio depth. This heightens your awareness of your surroundings and allows you to locate opponents with greater precision, even before they’re within sight—ideal for avoiding flanks and setting up your own ambushes.

 

CUSTOM-TUNED 50MM DRIVERS

 

Built to produce a more natural sound curve, these expertly tuned drivers deliver super-clear sound and punchy bass that make for a more immersive and life-like soundscape, perfectly capturing every auditory detail to enhance this surround sound headset’s effectiveness.

 

ACTIVE NOISE-CANCELING MICROPHONE

 

To ensure absolute clarity when relaying information to your squad, the headset's retractable microphone is powered by active noise-canceling technology that detects and nullifies noise as you speak. Using this process, it’s able to effectively cancel out sounds such as the hum of your PC rig or cheering tournament crowds—making your voice even clearer. Have a listen to its ultra-clear mic, compared to others:

 

EYEWEAR-FRIENDLY COOLING GEL CUSHIONS

 

Enjoy long-lasting comfort during your gaming marathons with cushioned earcups designed to reduce heat build-up and apply minimal pressure on your head.

 

RAZER CHROMA™ RGB UNDERGLOW LIGHTING

 

With 16.8 million colors and a suite of effects, the headset’s ear cups illuminate with an underglow lighting that can be tweaked for a truly personalized look.

 

ALUMINUM AND STEEL CONSTRUCTION

 

A bauxite aluminum frame and stainless-steel headband make this PC gaming headset light, flexible and incredibly durable—built to withstand intense gaming sessions for years to come.

 

WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED

 

Get up to 2 years of warranty and access reliable tech support.

Purchase directly from RazerStore and get 14 days risk-free returns.

 

At a Glance

 

THX Spatial Audio

Custom-tuned 50mm drivers

Active noise-canceling microphone

Eyewear-friendly cooling gel cushions

Razer Chroma™ RGB underglow lighting

 

Headphones

 

Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz

Impedance: 32 ? @ 1 kHz

Sensitivity (@1 kHz): 112 dB

Drivers: 50 mm, with Neodymium magnets

Inner ear cup diameter: 65 x 60 mm

Connection type: USB Digital

Cable length: 2.0 m / 6.56 ft.

Approx. weight: 390 g / 0.86 lbs

Oval ear cushions: Designed for full-ear coverage with cooling gel, for sound isolation and comfort

 

Microphone

 

Frequency response: 100 Hz – 10 kHz

Signal-to-noise ratio: > 60 dB

Sensitivity (@1 kHz): -38 ± 3 dB

Pick-up pattern: Unidirectional ECM boom

Mute Function: Click-to-mute

 

On-earcup controls

 

Volume up and down

THX Spatial Audio on/off toggle

 

Audio Usage

 

Audio Usage: Devices with USB Connector

Audio + Microphone Usage: Devices with USB Connect

 

 

The Razer Kraken has had another iteration recently, with the Ultimate name; the wired headset comes with a solid construction, very large earcups, support for THX Spatial Audio but also an Active Noise-Cancelling microphone. All is covered by a 2-year warranty and is offered in an all-black color scheme.

 

The headset is shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard enclosure, with the usual Razer color scheme; right from the top cover, the manufacturer is highlighting the main product features, but also the support for Razer Chroma RGB:

 

 

 

A full list of features can be observed on the side:

 

 

 

Moving on, we do have a list of box contents, the technical specifications involving both drivers and microphone but also the system requirements:

 

 

 

On the back, Razer does show the headset components in a more detailed view:

 

 

 

After unsealing the box and lifting the top cover, we will get to see the product, sitting secure inside a black plastic mold:

 

 

 

The documentation part is handled by a leaflet that introduces us to the Razer world, but also the Master Guide:

 

 

 

The Master Guide does inform the user on how the product should be used, assisted with multiple drawings of the headset design:

 

 

 

As we have seen with the previously tested Kraken headset, we are dealing with a solid aluminum and steel construction, that does not add a lot of weight (390g):

 

 

 

On the outside of the right cup, we do have a central ring with a RGB-enabled Razer logo, but also a metallic black mesh;this whole construction is surrounded by a bauxite aluminum frame that also allows certain movement of the cup so it will aid on the comfort side:

 

 

 

The thick, cushioned earcups do include cooling gel and hidden eyewear channels for people wearing corrective or blue-light glasses:

 

 

 

On the left cup, we will get to see a pretty similar design, but now we do also have a retractable microphone:

 

 

 

Here we will also find a THX On/Off button, assisted by a while LED light, along with a digital Volume control wheel, that communicates directly with the Windows software volume control:

 

 

 

The retractable microphone can be adjusted as needed:

 

 

 

The new ANC microphone is Discord-certified; it was built to eliminate background noise and further tuning can be also performed via the software interface; on the earcups you won’t find any Mic mute button, but the body of the microphone is itself a large button, for easy access. The frontal ring will light up red while the microphone is muted and stay off when the microphone is in normal operating mode:

 

 

 

The stainess steel headband does include markings for a faster adjustment:

 

 

 

As we have seen with the revised Kraken models, the headband does include a thicker padding than before, for better comfort:

 

 

 

On the top we will get to see a subtle Razer logo on leatherette:

 

 

 

The 2m cable is fully braided:

 

 

 

The USB connector does sport the usual Razer style:

 

 

 

After connecting the headset to a spare USB port on our test PC, we will get to see the RGB lighting in action; the surrounding LED ring does look even better through the black metallic mesh:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we have noted with multiple Razer peripherals before, right after plugging in the device into a spare port, the Razer Gaming Software launcher will appear automatically:

 

 

 

After installing the desired software components, we can launch the products:

 

 

 

Razer Synapse unified software can be launched in regular of Guest mode; by using Guest mode, the settings you perform won’t be uploaded to the cloud:

 

 

 

The detected hardware will be displayed for configuration purposes; the dashboard area allows launch of other modules as well:

 

 

 

From the Sound section, we will able to adjust the volume level, work with Windows 10 Sound Properties but also try out some THX Spatial Audio demos:

 

 

 

 

From the Mixer area, we will be prompted to select which applications will run with Surround Sound and which in Stereo mode; only running applications will be shown here. We can also perform THX calibration from the same menu, if we do find that the positioning is not as intended:

 

 

 

 

The sound signature can be further tuned by enabling Bass Boost, Sound Normalization and Voice Clarity options:

 

 

 

Of course, EQ settings can be adjusted on the available 10-bands; we can choose from one of the available presets as well:

 

 

 

Game

 

 

 

Movie

 

 

 

Music

 

 

 

The Microphone section comes with adjustments for the volume, we can as well adjust the Sensitivity for further minimizing background noise, enable Sidetone but also enable ANC, Voice Normalization or Voice Clarity:

 

 

 

The Lighting area does allow the user to adjust the LED brightness, choose when to switch off the lighting but also work with different RGB presets:

 

 

 

Here are the lighting presets we can work with:

 

 

 

For more in-depth RGB lighting customization, we can enable and run Chroma Studio:

 

 

 

Here we can work with even more effects, great when we do have multiple Chroma supported devices and sync one with the other:

 

 

 

We can use Synapse to link games to different profiles:

 

 

 

The detected games will be shown in the next tab:

 

 

 

Some more lighting effects can be accessed by using Chroma Visualizer, which can transform the RGB lighting into a visual EQ:

 

 

 

Right after connecting the Kraken Ultimate to our testing PC and trying out some games and 4K TV Shows, we have found the headset lacking bass and overall it was not giving out very much audio detail. After adjusting the output details via Synapse software (Bass Boost, EQ settings, etc), the difference was very noticeable and it was like we were wearing a complete different headset in our hands. Thanks to the large, custom-tuned 50mm drivers, explosions and weapon noises were well represented in CS: GO, car noises were correctly rendered in Forza Horizon 4, while the Witcher TV show atmosphere and voices could really make us think that we were present in a cinema chair, especially after turning THX effects on. Granted we are not getting audiophile grade quality from this particular headset, but its audio output should be enough for most mainstream crowd, not only for games but also for other multimedia content.

 

The headset remains very comfortable thanks to the very large earcups, but given its overall size, we would not recommend using this while on-the-go, but was mostly built for home use.

 

In terms of microphone quality, the voice sounds great even without any fine tuning via Synapse and we could confirm that both in conference but also via Skype’s Test Call service.

 

Regarding the RGB lighting, the headset offers the same amount of customization as with the other Chroma-supported devices, but this time you won’t be able to notice it and enjoy while wearing the actual product.

 

At the time of the review, the Razer Kraken ultimate could be found in online stores for about 112 Euros.

Razer Kraken Ultimate Gaming Headset is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Razer for making this review possible!