Razer has a lot of hardware that’s focused on the gaming market; mice, keyboards, controllers, general accessories and headsets. It’s the latter where the Kaira Pro appears and if you’re a gamer that uses multiple platforms, it’s worth taking note of.
This headset is a Bluetooth connected option that works really well for your Xbox, phone and — with an adaptor – your Windows PC. Being Razer, it’s not a cheap headset but they do have a number of features and design elements that go a long way to justifying the $259.00 price tag.
What is it?
Now, don’t get me wrong I “get” the whole wireless thing but I’ve never really understood why a wireless headset when you’re sitting in one place and potentially have speakers if you don’t want to be wired into one place.
This is a setup for some serious gaming, online co-op, FPS or even sporting options as it’s got a removable cardioid mic to minimise noise transmitted to your friends.
Physically the headset looks like a bit of a brute, with big ear cups, lots of padding and a broad arm over your head. But all of those factors contribute to the comfort levels of the headset as it’s really well balanced and remarkably lightweight for its size.
What’s in the box?
You get everything you need to make this thing “go” with your Xbox or Phone with no pointless extras. You get the headset, Microphone, Charging cable and instruction booklet. One thing I particularly like with Razer equipment is the quality and useful length of the provided USB-C charging cable.
It’s Razer gear, it’s gaming focussed
If you’ve ever used any Razer gear in the past, there is no escaping the design here is clearly “them”. Their typical green and black colour combination is present and the design screams the name Razer and it really does look slick. For users who aren’t into the flash and pizzaz of RGB setups, this (while it does screen Razer) is a fairly docile presentation which still has a touch of flair through the Chroma lights, but I found the lights detracted slightly from the headset performance and ended up turning that off.
It’s not a small headset, but it is extremely comfortable and lightweight with some really good adjustability in both fit and audio.
The fit is achieved through a great weight balance on the headphones, really comfortable padding and good adjustability of the band over your head. While it would be nice to have a bit of lateral movement in the ear cups, because the padding is so plentiful and spongy it just — even as a glasses wearer — is not needed.
There is a host of controls on the ear cups that make this a simple headset to use. These include dials to control the volume of what you’re hearing and the weighting of your chat. There are also buttons for power and pairing and finally a slider to mute your mic. Personally, I would have preferred there to be fewer buttons, with a multi-touch option to change what they do eg. Long press to mute/unmute the mic, power and pairing to be combined. This would make the controls less crowded and simpler.
What about the sound quality?
The audio is a bit of a tale of two worlds wherein a pure gaming focus you’re on a winner, but the audio balance is a bit off if you’re listening to music.
In gaming: The Kaira Pro shines, and I mean really shines. The audio balance works really well because of the type of audio used in games. It’s highly focussed on mid-range sound for voice playback and sound effects and the clean high range is suited to adventure and FPS style games. In game play there isn’t massive call for earth shattering bass and that’s a good thing because the bass is a bit flat, from the sound of it due to a lack of power behind it. This stands out somewhat more dramatically when you’re playing music, making the audio sound a bit imbalanced.
Another consideration is that these aren’t designed to be used in a really noisy environment in that they don’t offer noise cancellation, but the padding does provide pretty good noise isolation as well as that earlier mentioned comfort.
The microphones
The really short story here is that the detachable boom mic is great. It provides really good voice quality for in-game use and reduces a lot of the background noise that would otherwise go through to the others in your game. The built in microphone is a very different story though, it’s not directional, the quality of voice it captures is noticeably lower and it transmits a lot of background noise. If you’re playing games where the chat is crucial, attach the microphone arm: It’s just better!
Conclusion
Having used headphones that are focussed on music playback recently, the difference is clear particularly with cleaner highs and more powerful bass. To be fair to Razer, there is a significant price discrepancy to go to that level and — considering the cost difference — the Kaira can’t compete on that level.
But these headphones aren’t primarily for music, they’re for gaming and the extra capabilities that come with that result in a solid gaming experience. The removable boom mic makes the gaming experience and communication in-game so much better.
While I 100% know that this is aimed at Xbox, with mobile gaming something of an afterthought, it would be great if there was a mobile app that offered controls and even tuning tweaks to the audio. This could potentially alleviate that concern about the audio balance outright. It’s a good investment, I wouldn’t think too hard about having to dole out the coin for this one because it’s been a good user experience from the time I unboxed it.
The array of on-ear controls make the Kaira Pro headset extremely simple to use, without tying you down to a spot with wires. If this is all sounding enticing, the Kaira Pro is available through multiple retail chains or via the Razer site for $259.95
