Razer Hammerhead True Wi-fi Professional Assessment

Razer demonstrated that it will possibly make a forged pair of wire-free earbuds with the Hammerhead True Wi-fi. The ones $99 earphones faithfully practice the lead of Apple’s AirPods, however at a lower cost and with a extra gamer-centric design. Now Razer is taking at the AirPods Professional with the Hammerhead True Wi-fi Professional, a $199.99 pair of earphones that upload an in-canal are compatible and lively noise cancellation (ANC) circuitry. They sound relatively just right, however they percentage lots of the similar weaknesses as their extra reasonably priced siblings, and their underwhelming noise cancellation circuitry merely isn’t price the additional cash. 

Hammerhead True Wi-fi Professional Design

Identical to the Hammerhead True Wi-fi earphones mimic the bud-and-stem construction of the AirPods, the Professional fashion takes that design and upload in-canal eartips, just like the AirPods Professional. The addition of those eartips is just right for audio high quality, because the common Hammerhead’s easy in-ear design has no seal towards the ear canal, which can lead to inconsistent sound (the similar is correct of the usual AirPods). 

Razer contains 3 pairs of SecureSeal translucent silicone eartips in numerous sizes, designed to completely block off your ear canal for higher sound. You additionally get 3 otherwise sized pairs of SmoothComfort opaque black silicone eartips designed to be extra at ease to put on over lengthy sessions of time, and a medium pair of Comply foam eartips that may actually shape to and seal off your ear canal. Whilst Razer contains an excellent seven pairs of eartips, it doesn’t come with any earfins or different stabilizers. The eartips lend a hand stay the earpieces in position, however they may be able to be dislodged simply; some kind of earfin would actually lend a hand the are compatible, particularly if you wish to use the earphones whilst exercising.

Talking of workout, the earphones are rated IPX4, because of this they’re modestly water-resistant and must rise up to sweat, however you don’t wish to get them significantly rainy.

Awkward Controls

Each and every earpiece has a touch-sensitive panel at the again, with a inexperienced Razer emblem on it. Faucet as soon as to respond to/finish calls and play/pause media, faucet two times to skip to the following monitor, faucet thrice to move backward, and faucet and hang for 2 seconds to cycle via ANC modes, manually energy at the earpiece, or turn on your telephone’s voice assistant. You’ll additionally triple faucet after which hang for 2 seconds at the remaining faucet to permit Gaming Mode, which Razer says improves lag between the earphones and the attached tool. 

The panels are awkward to make use of, occasionally no longer registering faucets or unintentionally triggering whilst you alter an earpiece. Each and every earpiece has the similar purposes, so there’s no quantity keep watch over; you want to make use of your telephone or different attached tool to regulate quantity. Between the inconsistent contact panels and the loss of quantity keep watch over, those are a few of the extra disappointing true wi-fi earpiece layouts we’ve noticed in recent times.

Charging Case and Battery Lifestyles

The charging case is a rounded rectangle flip-top charger with a hallmark LED at the entrance and a USB-C port at the backside. The earphones slide stem-first into their recesses, which makes eliminating them from the case a bit of awkward, particularly in case you have giant palms. I fumbled time and again looking to get the earphones out, continuously unintentionally triggering the contact controls within the procedure.

In keeping with Razer, the earphones can last as long as a mediocre 4 hours on a fee, with the charging case sporting an extra 16 hours of listening time. This will likely range in line with your quantity ranges and use of ANC.

Noise Cancellation and Audio Efficiency

The noise cancellation right here isn’t in particular spectacular, particularly on this value vary. It produces a slight hiss when no song is taking part in, and doesn’t tamp down a lot in the way in which of outdoor noise. The AirPods Professional do a a lot better task of blockading out sound, or even the more cost effective Panasonic RZ-S500W and Sony WF-SP800N can higher muffle rumbling and hums. Those aren’t earphones for any person on the lookout for sturdy noise cancellation; getting a just right are compatible at the eartips (and most likely the usage of the Comply guidelines) will do extra to passively block out noise than the ANC circuitry.

Relating to bass, the earphones be offering a decent degree of energy. They treated our bass check monitor, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” at most quantity with none distortion, and the kick drum hits got here via well rounded and thumpy.

How We Take a look at Headphones

The hole acoustic guitar plucks of Sure’ “Roundabout” have just right low-mid resonance in the course of the Hammerhead Professional, whilst letting forged string texture come in the course of the high-mids. The upper frequencies don’t obtain relatively as a lot readability and finesse as we adore to listen to for actually crisp notes, however they nonetheless sound just right. When the monitor correctly kicks in, the bassline will get quite a few presence, however the guitar strums and drums will also be obviously discerned within the combine, and the vocals are transparent, for an total balanced sound.

The Crystal Manner’s “Busy Kid” sounds complete and thrilling, with the deep sub-bass notes getting plenty of ominous pressure. The backbeat drives the monitor powerfully, whilst the synth riffs and vocals come via over the thumping. It’s a lows- and low-mids-focused sound, however the upper frequencies get sufficient presence to stay their position within the combine.

Like the usual fashion, the Professional earphones function a low-latency gaming mode that Razer claims reduces lag. Most likely this selection will also be helpful if you wish to use the earphones as a gaming headset, however in the end it seems like a gimmick, and we advise the usage of a stressed out connection or a USB wi-fi transmitter for gaming audio as an alternative of Bluetooth. 

Too Dear for What You Get

The Razer Hammerhead True Wi-fi Professional earphones are a good improve from the Hammerhead True Wi-fi, however at a long way too excessive a top rate. They provide just right sound high quality, however handiest modest ANC, and that merely is not sufficient to justify the rise in value. Within the $200 vary, there are a variety of possible choices with higher sound high quality and noise cancellation, together with the Jabra Elite 85t and the Technics AZ70. If you are prepared to spend extra and you are an iPhone person, we advise the AirPods Professional. And if you are on the lookout for the best possible noise cancellation you’ll be able to get in a real wi-fi shape issue, the $280 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are price the additional cash.