Razer, Tesoro

Razer Kraken seven.1 Chroma

Price: $100

The Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma is designed for one purpose and that is to game. There are no 3.5mm audio jacks and no dongles, just a single USB cable. Being that these are exclusively USB-powered headphones, you get the same virtual 7.1 sound furnishings every bit the Kingston HyperX Cloud II.

The Kraken vii.ane Chroma has been constructed almost entirely from plastic. The build quality is fine but the blueprint leaves a fiddling to be desired in our opinion. The round ear cups for case aren't the most comfortable considering they don't cover your entire ear. My ears injure an hr into gaming.

Congenital into each drum is a 40mm driver with a frequency response of 20Hz–20kHz and an impedance of 32ohm. With an output of 30mW these drivers are plenty loud plenty.

Adding a little flair are LED backlit Razer logos on the outside of each ear drum which can be customized using Chroma lighting with xvi.8 one thousand thousand color options. The only other detail tin be plant on the top of the headband where you volition find the word Razer in green. Surprisingly, the headband isn't that well-padded and for a headset that weighs over 300 grams, this only adds to the discomfort.

We like that the Kraken 7.1 Chroma's microphone is flexible and retractable, extending out 12cm from the headset when needed. The mic is user-friendly and it looks peachy thank you to the white LED embedded in the tip.

The Kraken seven.i Blush connects to your reckoner with a 2m sleeved USB cable and this is where things go a bit incorrect for the headset. Not just are you lot forced to abandon your sound card and use proprietary software, but in that location is no inline control for muting the mic or adjusting the volume. This is a serious design error in our opinion.

Worse still, after paying $100 for the headset gamers must first sign upward for the Synapse ii.0 software before they tin use any of the advanced features. While the signup process is relatively quick and piece of cake, it'south also unnecessary.

Overall, the Kraken vii.1 Chroma is a absurd looking headset that is let down past an uncomfortable design and express connectivity.

Sound Quality: While we might not have liked some of the blueprint features of the Kraken seven.one Chroma, and missed other features, nosotros still had hopes for the sound quality. Thankfully Razer does deliver here with audio quality that is equally good equally what you get from the Logitech G430's, perhaps even better.

The bass seems more balanced, while the high frequency sounds are only as crisp and clear, even at loftier volumes.

The virtual seven.1 surround sound works quite well once setup using the Synapse 2.0 software, though once more we have establish that the USB sound quality isn't as good every bit an affordable audio card. That said, it tin can exist configured to deliver some decent audio and the Synapse 2.0 software is quite flexible here.

The unidirectional mic works extremely well and voices become through it loud and clear.

Pros: The Kraken seven.ane Chroma's retractable mic works a treat, its audio quality is decent plenty, the headset looks great and we love the customizable LED lighting... simply that's about where the fun ends.

Cons: Razer'southward solution is pricey, has uncomfortable ear cups, simply connects via USB yet has no inline control (whhaaat?!), and yous have to sign up for the software in order to employ it (encounter previous parenthesis).

Tesoro Kuven Pro

Price: $100

Despite being amid the nigh expensive gaming headsets in our roundup, the Tesoro Kuven Pro failed to print. At $100 it sits alongside the Razer Kraken 7.1 Blush and Kingston HyperX Cloud II and if nosotros are honest the Kuven Pro can't hold a candle to either of these headsets when it comes to sound quality.

This is peculiarly true when comparing them to the Kingston HyperX Cloud II which rivaled the impressive Polk Striker P1 Multiplatform.

Nosotros encountered our first event when downloading the driver from Tesoro's website. It took over 30 minutes to download a small 54.9MB utility that was generic looking and titled 'USB Multi-Channel Sound Device'.

This is another CMedia powered device, the same inexpensive part nosotros constitute in Logitech'southward headset. While the software lets yous tinker with environment effects and provides an equalizer, it is still very rough.

This is all rather disappointing as the Kuven Pro headset actually looks decent enough and the command unit of measurement is quite flashy too with nighttime purple LED lighting.

The headset is rather comfortable every bit the big ear cups easily comprehend your ears, while the padded headband offers plenty of support.

Tesoro has virtually no information about the Kuven Pro headset on their website and there are no real specifications listed. The company mentions the ear cups beingness wrapped in leather and padded with memory foam, though information technology's actually simulated leather.

These are billed as being a 'true' 5.1 headset with iv drivers in each cup, which is interesting. Taking apart the headset does reveal iv drivers in each cup and this includes a 40mm 32ohm (100mW) subwoofer, 30mm 64ohm (50mW) centre, and 2 30mm 32ohm (50mW) front and rear drivers.

The headset features a 1.3m long sleeved cable with an HDMI connector at the end. This connector plugs direct into the command box which has a much thicker sleeved wire, this time a 2.1m USB cable.

The control box has three buttons that lets y'all wheel between channels, mute the mic and/or mute the headset. When the mic push button is activated in that location is a small purple LED at the end of the mic that lights upwards and this looks pretty cool.

The channel push lets you conform the front end, rear, center and subwoofer while the channel labeled 'voice' is the main book oddly plenty. As cool every bit the control looks, we found it a little clumsy, though once everything is configured it'southward easy enough to utilize.

Audio Quality: Despite having high expectations for the merely headset to include more than a single driver in each cup, we ultimately ended up disappointed with the Tesoro Kuven Pro. Before we even began testing an annoying bustling audio was present and it remained even after turning the book down on the controller for all channels. After failing to ready that, the Kuven Pro had already left us unimpressed.

Earlier we enabled the virtual 7.1 channel audio we played a few rounds of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare just to see how the Tesoro'south headset sounded. Though it did sound a little flat, the sound was fine for the almost office. The headset's bass was weak even with the controller maxing out the sub.

Like the Kingston HyperX Deject Two's virtual 7.1, the Kuven Pro's surround sound effects were enjoyable and perhaps fifty-fifty more realistic equally this headset actually has 8 drivers. Withal, its bass was still flat and the high pitched audio wasn't that clear, even if the overall experience was pretty enthralling. Unfortunately, we kept running into bugs with the 7.ane virtual sound that would cause the sound to become scrambled, which forced u.s.a. to reset the game each time.

Between the flat bass, distorted high frequencies, buggy seven.1 surround and constant humming would make usa more than a little annoyed if nosotros shelled out $100 for this headset.

Pros: The Kuven Pro has a decent overall build quality, it's comfortable to habiliment, it offers a not bad environs sound experience when information technology works and it'south among the more than aggressive designs we've seen if that's your thing.

Cons: For what it brings to the table, Tesoro'south entry seems somewhat pricey, particularly considering its buggy software, mediocre USB audio quality/inability to use a decent sound menu, and its constant humming noise.