Razer Barracuda Headset

[Rob Williams]

Razer has been in the enthusist game for a quite some time now offering quality mice aimed towards the gamer. Using the momentum they have gained from such products as the Diamondback and the Copperhead, Razer has just realesed the Barracuda HP-1. Offering "surround sound" in the form of a headset, Razer hopes to incorrporate itself into the mind of gamers in areas outside of gaming mice.

Read the review here and discuss it here!

I own a set of Zalman 5.1 headphones with a mic and would like to see a comparison between them and the new Razer Barracuda Headset. The Zalman set actually uses six speakers to create the surround field, whereas the Barracuda Headset only uses two. I have not yet found a two speaker headset that can give me a simulated surround that can compare with my Zalman's.

Just my 1.5 cents (after taxes)

[Rob Williams]

I'll see about getting the Zalman in. I am not even sure I knew they had one.

[Greg King]

http://www.techgage.com/article/zalm...und_headphones

[Rob Williams]

Ugh. Right.

[Greg King]

.

[madmat]

I don't see how you think it's only a 2 speaker headset when it says plainly in the review:

8 Discrete Drivers: 6 for Mid-High Frequency, 2 for Bass.

Which is better than the Zalman 'phones which don't feature dedicated bass drivers and instead rely on the center channel drivers to do the bass duties.

[Greg King]

Those "2 for bass" were not impressive at all. I did not like the bass response but over all, these were a good set of headphones.

[Buck-O]

Great review. I really enjoyed the slapstick. Though, as always, i could have used some more subjective listening test oppinions. But being a bit of an audio nut, my level of acceptable is probibly to much for most (think 15 page reviews from the old days of 3dsoundsurge, where 10 of them where subjectvive listening tests).

These cans seem to be preaty well enginered, and put together nicely. Certaintly more so then any of the other "5.1" headsets that are avliable.

Couple of things that i noticed that kindof bothered me a bit.
The lights...WTF...i dont need to look like a Jewish Christmas Tree (dont hink to hard about that one) when im gaming. Yeah i know the lighted device is some what of a signature for Razer, but a lighted control panel would have sufficed. I dont need to be a giant bilboard for razers logo. Although, that said, i DO like the little lighted mic jack, thats a cool touch.

Seconedly, no headphone should have have a propritary plug and dongle. Razer is not Creative Labs, and they dont have Cambridge Soundworks to kick around as their bitches to make them special stuff. I see the brand tie in they are shooting for. But its headphones for christ sake!! There is absolutely no reason to have that propritary plug.
Now, i can see why they want a plug like that, becuase it will be "ideal for quick setup at a LAN party where quick setup and tear down are paramount". Or some such marketing slogan like that. But a DVI plug?! Yeah, thats great, im fumble bumbling around behind my case int eh dark, and accidentally plug my flat panel into my sound card. Yeah, smooth. I realize that the DVI cable is the moset modern looking, cheap universal connector they could get, and thats probibly why they went with it. But you shouldent use a current, often used, popular peripherial output connector for somthing it was never designed to do. Its paramount to making a special headphone plug for your soundcard that uses a USB ports pin outs, and adapter. Its jsut a bad idea.

Aside from that, these seem like a solid headset, and id really like to try a pair out for myself, becuase they seem mroe intriguing then all of its competitors that are currently on the market.

[Greg King]

Buck, as always, thank you for the advice. Please elaborate on the "subjective listening" and I will gladly accomodate that in the next headset review. Your advice helps us in bettering our reviews. Always has and always will.

Slapstick is all I know mang! I try to be as humerous as I can, well, that Rob will let me get away with.

[Buck-O]

By subjective listening test, i mean explaining why they sound good, what makes them sound so great.

Its one thing to say "So then i put on some Gnarls Barkley, and the headphones performed fantasticly".

Its one thing altogether differnt to say... (the folowing is a COMPLETELY ficticious review)
"I decided to grab Gnarls Barkleys new CD, and took a liten to their single "Crazy". I chose this particular song because it not only has a very raw sound to it, but also has a varied range of bass tones, as well as producing some solid mid range vocal, and the ocasional high fewquency tone, all simultaniously. Plus it also uses alot of imaging and imersion effects in how its mixed. All told, if the headphones suck or fall flat in any area, this song will expose it. Imidiately i noticed that the bass, while smooth, was not as impacting as i would have liked it to be, and seemed to distort at higher volumes because of being overdriven. Otherwise the bass responce was smooth, and seemed to articulate well with the song Even if it wasnt terribly strong.
The mid range was well pronounced, and the vocals where very forward, where they should have been, and had a very strong presence to them. One area where the mid range fell short however, was in the lower midrange, where some of the lower frequency background chorus seemed to almost fade into nothingness.
The highrange, as limited as it is in this song, was sharp and crisp, with out being overpowering or fatigueing, which can be a problem with alot of "budget" level (less then $100) headphones.
One area where this headphone really shined was in the detail and soundstage department. The placment of the audio was very articulate, and percise. The background chorus sounded distant, and the main versus of the song, which are mixed to sound hallow and empty, sounded as such. Even more impressive was the subtleness of the headphone to pick up on alot of the nuance like sounds in the background. Particularly the aforementioned rawness of the mix, like the sound of the needle on the record. THough this "raw" dust in the groove sound might be irritating to some, the fact that the headphone was able to reproduce this clearly, without detracting from the music, or clouding it, shows that it was at least designed with drivers of high enough quality to actually translate the sound as it should be, full of detail, and charm, rather then watterd down, and muddled like it was being played through a Bose Wave Radio."


Somthing along those lines.

Like i said, that might be a little wordy for some, and might be a tad bit to technicle for most. But i think it shows that the reviewer has a solid grasp of the product, its intentions, and can subjectivly argue its finer points, and expound on its lower ones. To me sound equipment is more then just build quality, and packaging. Its 90% about the actual sound they produce, and conveying how the sound, and why they sound that way. Not just that they "sounded great and performed admirably". ANd i think becuase you already have a strong background int eh finer points of music, and enjoy a varied selection of tunes, that you could easily put what you hear in the music, easily into words that allow the reader to understand how the headphones sound, in your oppinion.


Well, I hope that helps.

Hi guys,
Well all i can say is that i play bf2 a lot and when i got a decent soundcard ie audigy 4 ,i teamed it up with a TRUST 5.1 silverline set of headphones .
Sound was awesome until one of the audio drivers broke?as did the next set i bought.Guess the point im making is i dont mind paying over the odds if they last lol{the trust ones cost me £30}ps just got a razer diamondback plasma le and am impressed with build quality so fingers crossed with the headphones

[Rob Williams]

Yes... sometimes it definitely pays in the end to pay more for something. Buying from a company that has a good warranty sometimes helps also.

In addition to hooking it up to my computer i want to hook them up to my 360 and such, how would i accomplish it by not having to hook it up to my old reciever that would convert the 360's two rca plugs to allow hooking up all the miniplug's with miniplug to rca adaptors on(if thats what there called).

Why wasnt the mic tested? Any gamer would think to test the mic for Vent/TS especially when you say you game, Try Wolfenstein:Enemy Territory out for sound (free game)