Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2
Are four drivers better than two? Razer runs the numbers
“WELCOME TO THE CULT OF RAZER,” says an embossed line of text inside the Tiamat’s immaculately presented box, bringing to mind a certain other tech company with a knack for presentation. As with its stablemates in the current Razer lineup, every effort is made to make this headset feel luxurious, starting with the spot UV printed packaging, and going right through to the generous memory foam earpads. On those grounds, it can’t be faulted.
An aluminum headband over a memory foam contact pad gives the cans a comfortable fit, without the need for squeaky retractable parts. Indeed, there’s very little noise from this model when you adjust it in any direction—moving the mic to purpose, rotating the earcups, and shifting the fit while on your head are all silent operations. A reasonably light 14.6oz overall weight and those aforementioned foam pads make it comfortable to wear for long periods, although synthetic leather and closed cups being what they are, it does get hot around the ears after a while.
BACK-SEAT DRIVERS
The headline act on this revamped Tiamat 2.2’s spec sheet, however, is the introduction of two 50mm drivers inside each earcup. At the base of the right cup is a toggle switch, which gives you the power to activate all four drivers, or go with the more standard two. If your internal gimmick alarm’s going off at the very mention of this, we feel that. But to Razer’s credit, the effect of having all four drivers activated is a well-balanced and warm overall tone. Bass-heavy, yes, but not to the extent that it muddies the mid-range frequencies, and streets ahead of the “no such thing as too much bass” school of gaming headsets, circa 2012. The impedance of each second driver is half that of the primary driver, so it simply offers more punch when listening to music, or a more cinematic sound to games, if that’s your thing. We always prefer as close to a totally flat frequency response as possible in a headset—yes, that is like saying we prefer black filter coffee to espressos because you can really taste the beans. Pretentious or not, flat’s our thing, yet we did find ourselves reaching for the toggle switch to get a bass fix several times during Divinity: Original Sin2 sessions and PUBG matches. So, while it might seem a little gimmicky, it’s actually a great call on Razer’s part to put this choice in your hands.
Let’s go into the overall sound with just two drivers activated before we raise the Tiamat 2.2 V2 on our shoulders and start singing it songs, though. While it is a flatter and clearer sound than in four-driver mode, it lacks a bit of mid and high clarity (“sparkle,” if we’re being filter coffeedrinking posers) that you might hear in Sennheiser’s higher end models, although at $130, it’s not really going up against the GAME ZERO et al. Instead, it’s in the trenches with Kingston’s HyperX Cloud Revolver and SteelSeries’s Arctis, both of which host impressive audio quality. The mic, set on a malleable hinge arm, is good quality, too, picking up voices without the mechanical keyboard taps beneath them.
There’s a big “but,” sadly, and unlike Sir Mix-A-Lot, we don’t like those. The 4ft cable might just about be considered “braided,” but it’s noticeably thin and fragile-looking. The same’s true of its additional 2ft splitter cable, and right out of the box we had connection problems with the audio jack. In fact, it took significant cable-wiggling to even produce a sound, and in the end we had to resort to taking the extension cable out of the equation. It’s a shame to see this otherwise competitive headset hobbled by a flimsy cable, because the addition of four drivers—and, importantly, user control over them—is really enticing. –PHIL IWANIUK
Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2
RAZER SHARP Choose two or four drivers; supercomfortable; powerful bass.
RAZER BURN Flimsy cable. $130, www.razerzone.com