Sound, an essential part of the gaming experience. Games are just not the same if you don’t play it with a decent quality headset. So please take my advice and invest in one, it really lifts up your game. Maybe this Kaira Pro from R Λ Z Ξ R? This wireless headset is built for modern Xbox gamers, Microsoft is really pushing the play anywhere, on the console, on pc, and on mobile and this Kaira Pro is designed for that. It doesn’t matter where you play, the headset will work thanks to Xbox Wireless and Bluetooth 5.0!
The first out-of-the-box-experience
At first I was relieved about the looks from the Kaira Pro, some gaming headsets are so silly looking with a million colours and weird shapes. Considering I am going to use this headset on the train for Xbox Cloudgaming I didn’t want to look like a weirdo. The green touches and the beautiful Chroma Lighting (more about this later) make it a beautiful piece of hardware. Another big plus is that the mic is detachable, making it easy to travel with and there is no point in having a mic in front of you when you don’t need it. This is also a very strong but light headset, weighing considerably less compared to my headsets from Plantronics and Thrusmaster.
Perfect for glasses!
There are a few fantastic headsets on the market that don’t take into consideration users who wear glasses. I’m sorry designers but without glasses, I literally see nothing, and wearing lenses isn’t for me. So I was glad that the Kaira Pro is very comfortable, it doesn’t put any strain or pressure on my glasses. Even for long sessions, the headset remained incredibly comfy! The technical wording for the ear cushions is flowknit memory foam, I honestly don’t care about the name but I was very surprised how great it felt. I don’t have the best experience with this kind of foam material but Razer’s flowknit foam is totally different. My ears don’t feel like heaters and it doesn’t make me sweat either. Despite being really soft it blocks ambient sounds really well, this isn’t like noise-canceling obviously but the material does great with soundproofing.
So how is the sound?
I have an expensive Sony H.ear headset, I don’t mind spending a lot of money on audio as I’m what they say an audiophile. Game headsets regularly disappoint in this regard as they aren’t designed around high-fidelity sound. Kaira Pro isn’t an exception here and is far from matching my H.ear headset, obviously, it is a bit unfair to compare the two. When compared to the Plantronics RIG headsets it is a bit more accurate and balanced. I’m using this headset with Dolby Atmos, an absolute must if you buy any sort of headset that has the technology to use Atmos. (This is an additional 15 Euro purchase on the Xbox Store.) Windows Sonic (free) is also an option but I highly prefer Dolby Atmos. What matters in gaming is positional awareness, hearing players run around in Fortnite or Call of Duty and it does a tremendous job at that, giving you a big competitive advantage against players who don’t play with headsets. I don’t want to get too technical here but the Kaira Pro has some issues with low mids sounds, you can fix this a bit by changing some sound settings in the Razer’s headset app though. Explosions, gunfire, and electronic music hear much louder than you would expect as the bass is boosted A LOT. A trick that every gaming headset has to give the illusion of better sound, I wish anno 2021 that technology companies would stop doing this and actually improve the music drivers to give better sound to gamers. I don’t want to sound negative here as I enjoyed my almost 100 hours with the headset, it has a rich and clear sound, especially for the price point, and improves immersion while playing your game.
Wait what? Does it have TWO mics?!
Remember what I said in the beginning, this headset is built for modern Xbox gamers. And what do we modern Xbox gamers do? We play fucking everywhere! Xbox Cloud Gaming is on the raise and from personal experience it is fantastic. Being ‘on the road’ or in my case on the train, I started using that two hours a day for watching Netflix series and playing Xbox Cloud Gaming. Kaira Pro has the detachable Hyperclear Supercardioid boom mic, that honestly is unbeaten in quality if you ask me. My voice sound excellent in it and side noise sounds are completely ignored, it has mic on or off monitoring and you can even change some pick-up settings in the app. Fantastic stuff! So how about that internal Bluetooth mic? Let’s say results on that one are a bit laughable, it gets the job done for when someone calls you while playing on your smartphone but it is far from the quality of your smartphone’s mic. So when it comes to being in an Xbox Party be sure to always use the brilliant detachable mic, it easily plugs in so don’t be lazy!
Eyes want something too, Chroma Lighting!
But when the eyes want something it mostly comes with a cost… in this case, that means 5 hours less battery life. In the app settings, you can choose to put this on or not, but I love it. And yeah I’m aware that you don’t actually notice this while gaming. Chroma Lighting lights up the Razer logos on the ears, mine is on SPECTRUM CYCLING slowly changing the colors. (16 million of them.) A perfect feature for streamers who want that extra little something special. Below four images showing Chroma Lighting, to be clear this is the same headset!
Battery Life
On the Technical Specifications: 20 hours or 15 hours with Chroma Lighting on. In practise it’s a lot more though, it is hard to tag an accurate number but I charged it twice since I had it and I play a lot. With Chroma Lighting too, which drastically reduces the battery life. It comes with a long enough cable too so you can charge while wearing it, it is not ideal but in worst case scenario it’s a solution.
Headset design
Crowded is the first thing that pops up here. On the left earcup, we have a mic-mute button, the volume wheel, the charge port, the power button, and an indicator. On the right earcup, we have an Xbox pairing button, a game and chat volume balance wheel, and the Bluetooth button. Considering how well designed and ergonomic the Razer Wolverine V2 is I was a bit surprised to see the clumsy design for the Kaira Pro. Two identical dials for example and everything is cramped together that instantly controlling every function will take some practice.
Wireless connection
Hold down the Xbox pairing button and the Xbox Series S or X pair button and you’re done. That’s it. Gotta love how easy this is, right? Here lies only one fundamental issue that is easily solved but maybe not everyone will be able to do this, for this to properly work constantly you will need to update the firmware of the Kaira Pro. Something that can only be done on a Windows PC, don’t have a computer, or only have a MAC? You’re in bad luck as your headset will have connection issues, forcing a complete shutdown of your Xbox console before it connects again. It beats the hell out of me why you simply can’t update the headset with your console, if other headsets and controllers can do this why can’t the Kaira Pro? Anyway, connecting it with your mobile device is easy too, thanks to Bluetooth 5.0, supporting many codecs. You can also have simultaneous connections, although I’m not sure why you would need this. Anyway, I tested it and it worked. Important here, how is the connection? I didn’t have a single disconnect (AFTER I UPDATED THE HEADSET) and the signal works all around my house. I did have some slight sound issues after using the Xbox Share function for a few seconds but I have this with every headset so it’s an Xbox console issue. Not everything is positive here though, connecting to a computer requires an additional Wireless adaptor for Windows 10 (link). But that’s just how it works because of Microsoft, not something Razer forced.
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Gaming is a passion and I wanted to share my Xbox enthusiasm. That’s why I started LifeisXbox, to make sure gamers all around the world know what games they should buy or avoid. I would like to thank you for visiting my website. Your support is very welcome and I hope you stick around!
