Razer Carcharias Review

Razer Carcharias Review

Manufacturer: Razer
UK Price (as reviewed): £69.99 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $69.84 (ex tax)

The Razer Carcharias just missed out on an award when we looked at it for the first time a year ago, losing out to the Creative Sound Blaster Arena. The latter has unfortunately been discontinued, with Creative releasing new Sound Blaster headsets which we'll be looking at in the very near future.

The Carcharias is practically the same headset as the much more expensive Megalodon - they have the same headband and cups, both have 40mm drivers and the same stated frequency response range. The main difference is the inline remote as the Carcharias has simple volume and microphone adjustment where as the Megalodon has the Maelstrom Audio Engine - essentially an external 7.1 channel sound card. The latter is also connects via USB while the Carcharias uses standard 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks at the end of a 3m braided cable.



Comfort-wise, the Carcharias is on par with the best headsets, with its circumaural ear cushions providing a perfect fit which doesn't squish your head. They do leak a little sound, but only at high volumes, a price that's worth paying for such epic comfort.

In games the Carcharias produced a superb range of throaty bass tones whilst giving our ears a good workout with clear mid- and high-tones too. Music was fantastic overall, with riffs that were clear and rich from top to bottom, although on occasions it did lack the booming base of other headsets we've seen recently.


Movies were much the same story, although the Carcharius did claw some ground back here with its brilliant range in the low-end with clear and discernible differences. This made listening to the booming cannon fire and explosions in the Master and Commander ship battle scene we used for testing a real pleasure.

Conclusion

If you've got a decent sound card and want the best gaming headset to plug into it, the Carcharias is our firm favourite. The Crarcharias doesn't have a booming bassline, but deals with low-level bass sounds in a more sophisticated way which isn't lacking in punch. It's extremely comfortable to wear too, an important consideration for lengthy gaming sessions.

• Sound Quality
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• 10/10

• Design
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• -
• 9/10

• Value
• x
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• x
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• -
• 9/10

• Overall
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• -
• 9/10

Score Guide

Specifications

• Cup type Circumaural
  
• Connection Wired, 3.5mm mini-jack
  
• Driver(s) 40mm
  
• Frequency response 50Hz to 16kHz
  
• Impedance 32 ohms (at 1kHz)