Razer Nari Ultimate Gaming Headset Review

A Closer Look & Performance

Without a doubt this is a Razer headset, you could take your first look at it among 100 other headsets from 100 feet away, and you could pick out the Razer one in an instant. Matte black and neon green is the order of the day, and it looks fantastic. On that note, it doesn’t even have RGB, but you do get some green LED which we’ll see in action shortly.

The back of the drivers features a large circular design with a lovely Razer logo in the middle. They’re quite large drivers too, with huge ear cups overall, so they should have no issues fitting fully around your ear rather than on your ear.

Sneaky Razer has given it a perforated texture too, giving it the illusion of being open back, but they are actually closed-back drivers. It’s all just aesthetics really, and it works, the headset looks superb.

Taking control is pretty easy, with a multi-function wheel on this side. You can click to mute, or turn it either way, to adjust game/chat mix on the fly. There’s a small power button here too, which is also the pairing button. The headset will turn off its self if not used for a few minutes. However, while you can charge/play at the same time, you’ll get 8 hours battery with lighting and HyperSense on, and 20 hours with lighting and HyperSense turned off, so you won’t be fighting to find a charger in most gaming sessions.

The built-in microphone is really nice. It doesn’t fully recess into the ear cup, but that just makes it easier to grab ahold of it. It actually works really well retracted, at least in my experience.

Of course, just pull it out and it’s good to go. The flexible boom makes it exceptionally easy to position too. It has a unidirectional pickup pattern and a really bright and clear sound overall. It’s reasonably sensitive, so don’t have it sitting right on your lips, but a little off to the side works great and you won’t breathe into it then.

When you’re done with the microphone, just tap the mute button and/or lightly push it and it easily slides back into the ear cup. Neat! I’ve seen some reports online of poor microphone performance, but using the Razer software and setting it up correctly, I had no issues really.

The ergonomics are on point here too, with fully folding ear cups so it’s very comfortable to wear around your neck between games. Furthermore, the pivot allows for an improved fit around your ears, keeping the weight very nicely distributed.

The ear cups feature a thick payer of “cooling gel-infused cushions” that are extremely comfortable. It’s very soft, so it is very comfortable to wear and it really distributes the weight of the headset well, improving long-term comfort for those marathon gaming sessions.

What I do like is that they’ve given it a PU leather band on the interior and exterior, this adds durability to it, but also gives you the noise isolation effects you get from a leather ear cup pad, but you still get the comfort of the softer fabric.

The ear cups are removable, so you can get new ones or clean them if needed. However, they offer up a HUGE amount of room inside the ear cup, even my big ears fit without issue. Plus, there’s a little big of tucking room in there if you have truly massive ears.

The headband has been given the same treatment, with soft luxurious padding, and a more durable PU-leather layer on top of it. However, the main headband is actually two durable aluminium strips.

The inner headband is mounted on some springs, so it automatically adjusts to fit. It even fits my large head, albeit, only just. However, fit it does, and so few headsets actually do fit me properly.

It’s a big headset, but the weight is really well balanced overall and the headset is great for those long gaming sessions. It doesn’t feel like it’s clamping on to your head, but it doesn’t slip around either.

One set of drivers not enough for you? This headset has two sets of drivers. There’s a nice switch on the other ear cup, allowing you to switch between HyperSense and Volume controls. Then the wheel will adjust the levels of each, or you can push the button to mute either.

The HyperSense is really quite something, it’s not the first time I’ve had a headset with rumble motors, and it’s a clever way to add HUGE bass levels even at lower volumes. However, cranked up to makes it vibrates my eyeballs, it’s a real bone shaker and tickles my ears. However, dial it down to about 70%, and

Sound quality is really fantastic on the headset though. With or without the HyperSense, there’s a lot on offer. The maximum volume isn’t excessive, but you can EQ the heck out of it if you need that extra womp. Listening to Aphex Twin Select Ambient Works with the bass up and the HyperSense on was like sitting in a subwoofer, this thing rocks your soul. Dial things back, turn the HyperSense down really low, and put a little mid-range scoop on the EQ and it’s an absolute joy for music, ripping through a few classic Steve Vai albums put a huge smile on my face.

However, it’s gaming and movies that shine the most. The THX Spatial Audio works exceptionally well, giving you a full 360-degree surround sound field. It’s not quite virtual 7.1 or anything, it’s object-based audio positioning much like Dolby Atmos processing. It doesn’t really work for music, but for real multi-channel sources, it’s truly fantastic. You can tinker with it all in the Razer software, but honestly, once I had it all dialled in, there was no real need to go back into the software.