Razer Kraken V3 X Wired USB Gaming Headset Review

Performance

One of the first things I noticed about this headset was that it doesn’t make any noises of its own. The cable rubbing on my clothes, moving the microphone, any friction between it and my head, I get nothing. I can hear scratching or shuffling noise from most headsets, so that’s a nice bonus.

It’s also very comfortable, despite lacking a lot of ergonomic adjustments. The ear cups can tip inwards and outwards a bit, but there’s no rotation or other adjustments to be found; fortunately, it seems they’re not needed.

The ear cup padding is very comfortable, and with sound playing at a moderate volume, I could no longer hear people talking in the room or the TV in the background. However, pushing past 50% volume, the headset isn’t noise isolated, and people sat near you will be able to hear you blasting music or the insultthat s your teammates are throwing your way.

One thing that did surprise me was the volume, 100% was far too loud for me, and for calls and general day-to-day use, 50% was more than enough. However, if I wanted a bit more kick to my gaming, movies or music, I didn’t feel the need to pass 70%. At least if you’re dealing with a quiet audio source, you have that extra headroom.

The profile is certainly tailored towards gaming and chat. There’s an OK level of low-end thump, but the 40mm drivers lack the punch you can get from larger models. However, there’s a HUGE amount of detail in the mid-range, where many ambient noises and vocals come through, so environment details ring through while gaming. Plus, there’s a lot of high-end clarity, so vocals ring bright and clear.

Leaning towards the mid to high end of the spectrum makes it easier to hear things like footsteps in gaming, and makes speech sound a lot more natural while on Discord or Zoom. However, if you want to Michael Bay your brains out with a movie, you may want one of their more bass-heavy models.

The controls are easily operated without needing to take the headset off and peak. There’s just a simple volume wheel and a microphone mute button. One thing I do like is that the microphone mute is a mechanical toggle switch; it sticks out a lot when the mic is live.

Click it in, and it’ll mute. You can easily run your finger over it to check if it’s on or not. Plus, the volume wheel is nice and smooth. It takes a good few turns to get from 0 to 100, but it also makes smaller adjustments easier to make.

Finally, while I’m not a fan of wired microphones, this one has a very flexible boom that’s easy to bend out of sight. It’s got a good length to it, so you can get an optimal speaking position very quickly or jam it right against your teeth or up your nose like everyone else in my team chat seems to do.

It’s an excellent quality microphone, though, and at this price, damn near all headsets use the same off-the-shelf pinhole microphone that doesn’t sound any different. However, this may even be a good microphone for those starting in streaming, recording some YouTube voice-overs or those who want good quality calls while gaming. It doesn’t pick up much background noise either, so a TV in the background is fine, or someone shuffling around, but it will hear your kids begging for snacks.