Razer Kraken Pro V2 eSports Gaming Headset Review

A Closer Look

First impressions of the Kraken V2 are very positive, and the overall design of the headset looks pretty slick. Everything on the headset is finished in black with just a few changes in texture giving the aesthetics some dynamics. What little plastic there is comes well finished and feels durable, while the main frame and headband support are made from lightweight and strong aluminium with a soft leather finish over the headband to give it that premium quality look and feel.

Most headsets use a plastic extension system, but the whole hand band on the Kraken Pro V2 is an aluminium strip, which is stronger, lighter, and certainly more likely to survive a few hard knocks compared to a plastic one. It has a nice measurement engraving to ensure you get each headset perfectly balanced, and a notched slider means that it locks into place at each level of adjustment. Each driver/ear cup is mounted on a wrap around arm, giving it a little bit of a pivot between them for a more optimal fit, but I must stress that this is a very small amount of movement; the ear cups can’t be flipped our or turned sideways at all, not a deal breaker, but worth keeping in mind if that’s something you like your headsets to do.

There’s a mesh design on the back, but the headset is otherwise closed in terms of design, which helps block some external noise, lock in your own sound from the drivers, and should help tighten up the lower end bass response too. If you’re gaming in a noisy environment, such as a LAN gaming tournament, then a closed back design like this is most certainly welcome.

The hard-wired cable joins onto the bottom of the left ear cup, where you’ll also find a small nub from the end of the microphone, which can be retracted into the headset when not in use, or slid out when needed. I prefer this to a detachable boom, as it means you can simply misplace the microphone as I so often do with mine! The hard-wired cable feels very durable, but these days, I would have much preferred to see a detachable cable as they’re easy to replace if they become damaged.

There’s a tiny in-line controller on the cable, which maybe should have been bigger for ease of use, but with a pass-through wheel for the volume, as well as a small switch on the back for microphone mute, it still gets the job done for a basic controller. While gaming it’s pretty easy to use and it certainly never hurts to have a master microphone mute button while playing online games.

The microphone pulls out easily enough, and it’s super flexible and positional too. If you want to bend it up out-of-the-way or pull it around for a closer speaking position, not a problem, it’ll stay where you leave it. It sounds pretty great too, with a nice range to it that doesn’t sound tinny like a lot of sub-£100 headsets can and the passive noise suppression does a decent enough job, so your teammates should be happy with the performance of the mic.

The headband padding is quite slim, especially compared to the rather thick padding on the ear pads. However, it’s surprisingly comfortable and comes with a softer cloth finish that gives it a light grip. The most important part, however, is that the headband is very lightweight, so even with less padding, it still feels rather comfortable to wear for long gaming sessions. My only issue is that I have quite a big head, and it just needed a little more give in it to keep the ear cups 100% flat around my ears, although out of everyone who tried it, I was the only one having this issue.

The ear cup padding is thicker than the old Kraken headset, and while the ear cups don’t have much pivot adjustment, this thick and soft padding does give you a lot protection around your ears and does a decent job of isolating the sound. The 50mm certainly pack a punch in terms of maximum volume too, which is also handy in a noisy environment, but when it comes to listening to music, I found them a little uninspired. This is a gaming headset, a competitive gaming headset at that, so it’s a little treble heavy and the mids are boosted, it doesn’t sound bad, far from it, but it really shines the best with FPS multiplayer and team chat, which is what it was really designed for.

When it comes to gaming, the combination of powerful and clear drivers, an EQ that is tuned for picking out your enemies footsteps and giving you crystal clear team chat, and a microphone that does a fantastic job too, the V2 stands tall and will put a smile on your face. If you’re looking for a day-to-day multimedia headset, however, this isn’t it and dedicated headphones of the same price would be the way to go.