APC Australia

Razer Kraken 7.1 v2

A different kind of monster.

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The ear cups on this headset are on the large side, with the 50mm audio drivers but you can bet this is what helps them sound so great — and those drivers can be custom-tuned through Razer’s Synapse software (though we were happy with the default settings).

The Krakens boast 7.1 virtual surround sound. While not as good as being surrounded by speakers, the headphones do a convincing job in-game, as well as just listening to music. In testing, we mostly played Dishonored 2 with them on and both the subtle sounds of distant bloodflies and lapping water, and the sharper screeches and clanking of the overhead trains were perfectly heard from all directions. The sound in general is quite well balanced and sharp, too.

The aluminium frame is sturdy and holds the cups very securely in place, with no movement of rotation. The cushioning across the band initially seemed a little thin, but ended up being comfortabl­e, as did the cups, which are padded with memory foam. Despite being circular in shape, the cups are big enough that they should adequately fit over most people’s ears and lend themselves to extended periods of use.

The Kraken sports a pliable mic that retracts back into the left cup — a nice touch — and the noisecance­lling feature can be activated using Synapse. The tip of the mic doubles as a squeezable mute button, too, which makes it easy to find by touch alone.

The braided cord is a generous 2m long, and then there’s the Chroma LED lighting, offering 16.8 million colour options. The logo on each cup can be programmed with three different lighting patterns including a static colour, breathing and the spectrum effect, which we preferred.

Something we’d like to have seen, though, is media controls, but that’s hardly a deal-breaker.

For a gaming headset, these upgraded Krakens sound and feel great, and have become this reviewer’s current go-to set.

 ??  ?? GAMING HEADSET $169 | WWW.RAZERZONE.COM
GAMING HEADSET $169 | WWW.RAZERZONE.COM

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