RAZER Piranha Gaming Communicator

 

Testing headphones is predominantly an exercise in subjectivity due to the many possible variables. However, I will try to report as objectively as possible. My taste in ‘sound quality’ may not necessarily compare to your tastes. For example, I like tight punchy bass as opposed to muddy or booming base. I’d much prefer to have my ears pop and bleed than have them rattled into submission.

 

The system that I used for today’s performance review has been listed below:

 

 

For the testing phase all enhancements on my Auzentech X-Fi Prelude will be turned off to prevent them tainting the results.

 

 

 

I tested the RAZER Piranha Gaming Communicator with a few rounds of Counter Strike: Source and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in order to asses the positional qualities of the headset. All things considered, they performed quite well considering their price. Admittedly they don’t provide the quality and depth of sound of my RAZER HP-1’s, but they are in a completely different price bracket.

 

The quality of the bass is acceptable, although at times it does become quite muddy and uncontrolled. This is quite normal for entry level headsets, and better audio quality could be gained from headsets in the midrange price bracket.

The included boom microphone is excellent. It provides very good sound quality and doesn’t produce any unwanted noise. Because the RAZER Piranha has an adjustable boom microphone, it is very easily positioned for optimal sound pickup.

 

The RAZER Piranha provides an acceptable sound quality although they are quite clearly not in the same ballpark as a pair of high-end Sennheisers. My RAZER HP-1’s were distinctly less muddy and due to their increased speaker setup and design provided a significantly ‘fuller’ sound. If you are after a headset for listening to music then I would look elsewhere.

 

I found the RAZER Piranha’s comfortable for short periods of time. The padded foam on the ear pieces applies additional pressure to the outside of the ear that can become a little annoying over time. To be honest , I prefer the molded cup ear pices of the RAZER HP-1’s for ultimate comfort. The additional padding on the crown of your head on the RAZER Piranha certainly makes a difference though, and prevents the ‘rubbing’ sensation that other headsets tend to give. The padded ear pieces did manage to exclude any external noise from getting in.