We’ve been sent another headset from Razer to try – this one is the Cacharias, built for Xbox as well as PC gaming.
Obviously I handed it over to the teen for reviewing purposes – he’s far better equipped than me for such tasks.
This is such a great headset! I’m a huge fan of Razer anyway, but that’s only because they’ve earned it by being reliably good at what they do – and the Carcharias is no exception.
There’s two major things I look for in headsets – are they comfy for long periods of wear; and do they handle the sounds.
First up, how does it feel? It’s actually a really light set, which doesn’t become awkward on the ears over along gaming session. As with most decent headsets the Carcharias are designed to allow you to remove and replace the ear cushions. However the standard issue ones are great, and I’ve not been wishing for anything else.
One small touch which I do love (funny how it’s always the small design elements that you notice the most) is that instead of using plastic arms with notches for adjusting the headband length, Razer use a slider with braided section that stops over extension. This makes for a really accurate (and therefore comfortable) fit.
The microphone stem can be rotated from vertical to below horizontal depending on how you like to use it, and is slightly flexible to allow near/far positioning. For myself I happen to prefer the entirely flexible stem on the Kraken Pro model – but that’s not to say the Cacharias is bad, obviously.
The on-cord control for the microphone mute & volume are a handy feature, and mean an end to the rapid scramble when you’re skyping friends and your mother bursts into your room singing loudly…
And so to the real test. How do games SOUND through the Carcharias?
In all the games the quality produced by the Carcharias was… outstanding! Utterly brilliant. The most impressive is the way it handles such a huge range – from ambient rain up to massive explosions. The virtual surround sound was also great, allowing me to easily tell where individual sounds were coming from.
I didn’t notice any distortion, even in deep booming car engine revs, and sounds were clear and precise, even when running alongside voiceovers.
Just as important to me is the ability to chat to my friends whilst gaming – and the Carcharias is totally up to the job, my friends reported clear, background noise free audio (apart from the invasion of the singing parent, of course).
I also noticed the quality of listening to music and films through the headset – it really is an all-round winner.
If your child is in need of a headset (and if they use a PC to game or talk to their friends or listen to music, then trust me, they want one) you really couldn’t go wrong with the Carcharias. I love it.
The Razer Carcharias Gaming Headset is available from Amazon for a smidge under £60.
