The Sweatiest Players Will Love This Headset

The BlackShark V3 Professional makes use of Razer’s bio-cellulose 50mm drivers. Bio-cellulose usually affords easy midtones—which helps it hone in on these small audio particulars like footsteps. Together with Razer’s software program suite, the headset hits the ears with a punch for each gunshot, a rattle for each reload, and the whining sound of your teammate complaining, “Dude, the place’s my workforce at?” The closest approximation to that sound is the whine of a mosquito flicking close to your ear.

The headset is tuned for aggressive video games the place sound is commonly extra necessary than what you’re seeing on display screen. This implies the audio is constructed to not be distracting nor—dare I say it—immersive. The drivers and audio software program are tuned so you already know the place the bullets are coming from, relatively than how punchy they’re. I switched headsets throughout a number of video games of Counter-Strike 2 and Halo Infinite. I seen I might really play higher listening by means of the BlackShark V3 Professional in comparison with different costly headsets just like the Alienware Pro Wireless, the HyperX Cloud III S, or Razer’s personal Kraken V4 Professional (it’s usually a $180 headset, but it surely prices $400 if you happen to get it with the Management Hub and Razer Sensa haptics). The expertise in video games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Warhammer 40K: House Marine 2 wasn’t in any respect horrible, but it surely lacked the bass that helped the video games’ deep, darkish soundscape come alive. In these video games, I loved a extra dynamic sound from cheaper headsets. For $250, the BlackShark V3 Professional isn’t the headset you need for each situation.

Razer has made some enhancements over the BlackShark V3 Professional, most notably the large 12mm removable mic with its 48 kHz sampling fee. The upper-than-normal sampling fee means the gaming headset can acknowledge a wider vary of frequencies, which helps your voice sound extra like your self or not less than come by means of clearer to your mates or frenemies, relying on how effectively you’re doing every match. The precise distinction between the BlackShark V3 Professional and different headsets is minor, however nonetheless noticeably clearer by means of the golf ball-sized pop filter.

Razer put a heavy emphasis on the gaming headset’s low latency capabilities, so you possibly can’t blame your {hardware} for any time you choke in a match. The BlackShark V3 Professional makes use of Razer’s personal 2.4GHz “HyperSpeed Wi-fi Gen-2” wi-fi codec, which requires an additional dongle wired to the PC so you possibly can have it as near you as attainable. It has a acknowledged 10ms connection latency, which is among the lowest accessible, providing nearly no lag between your wi-fi headset and the sport. For comparability, the high-end HyperX Cloud Alpha has a acknowledged 15ms latency by means of its 2.4GHz dongle. Most trendy headsets have under 40ms latency. You’d solely have the ability to inform the distinction if you happen to had knowledgeable ears. What the HyperSpeed dongle actually means in a sensible sense is you’ll have yet one more wire clogging up your pristine desk area.

The BlackShark V3 Professional has a stage of customizability by means of the Razer Synapse software program (as with all Razer merchandise, Synapse is unavoidable) that opponents are nonetheless missing. You possibly can create your individual EQ—or equalization—to make your favourite video games sound nearly as good as attainable. Razer promoted that it has 12 video games, together with standard shooters like Valorant, Fortnite, and Apex Legends, with EQ profiles tuned by a number of esports stars. I want it had entry to one thing like SteelSeries’ large library of EQ choices by means of its Arctis app, although what’s accessible are excellent for every respective recreation. Customers can retailer as much as 9 of their very own profiles immediately on the headset in case they should take it with them.

See BlackShark V3 Pro at Amazon

The BlackShark V3 Professional is extra bodily customizable than Razer’s earlier gaming headsets as effectively. Taking a web page from HP’s HyperX lineup of headsets, the BlackShark V3 Professional enables you to connect new plastic pads to the left and proper earcups. At present, Razer is simply promoting particular caps that sport logos from varied esports groups. If, like me, you’re not religiously following the Los Angeles Thieves, you’re questioning if you may get different personalized pads. Razer instructed me it might contemplate releasing STL information for customers to 3D print their very own customized panels, however we don’t doubt common customers will craft their very own with out Razer’s assist. On the identical time, the BlackShark V3 Professional isn’t very highway pleasant. The pads don’t fold flat, and that large 12mm removable increase mic means it’s going to take up manner an excessive amount of room in your bag or baggage.

You received’t actually care what you seem like when these are wrapped round your noggin. I’ve loads of issues with some gaming headsets rubbing my bare, bald head uncooked, however the BlackShark match round my ears with simply sufficient strain that I wasn’t caught listening to my very own staccato heartbeat. I may put on them for hours with out a difficulty, although I really feel the headset would really feel barely extra snug with barely firmer reminiscence foam across the high band and softer cups. The BlackShark V3 Professional additionally lacks swappable cups that will have alleviated any small ache factors. Being a “professional”-level gaming headset additionally implies greater than the flexibility to outlive a number of rounds of gamer sweats. The wireframe holding the cups to the primary physique has some give, however not sufficient that they stayed bent as I gave them a robust twist in my fingers.

So is that this the headset constructed for the huddled desktop denizens who don’t wish to go away the comforts of their gamer gap? Razer’s personal $180 Kraken V4 is full of glowing RGB lights and THX spatial sound. That pair of headphones doesn’t embody noise cancellation, however the pleather earcups do a greater job of dampening sound with out the addition of the energetic noise cancellation (ANC) software program. With ANC turned on, it manages to hinder background chatter and the sound of my workplace’s HVAC on a sweltering New York summer time day, however I may nonetheless choose up on the sounds of deskmates typing and sniffling. That’s nonetheless ok for once you’re deep right into a gaming session, however it might not substitute your high-quality ANC headphones for pure listening bliss. The headset will get a acknowledged 70 hours of battery life—which is predicted for this value—however ANC will deplete that quicker. That doesn’t matter a lot contemplating how within the a number of days and a number of play classes testing the gadget, I by no means noticed it dip under 80%.

There are few gaming headsets that may go toe-to-toe with the BlackShark V3 Professional. It’s a lithe, lone aquatic killing machine swimming in a pond stuffed with fairly, glowing fish destined for some wealthy man’s aquarium. It’s a costlier headset than the final go-around, although those that need the very best gaming headset for multiplayer received’t discover significantly better. If you’d like one thing that can be your one and solely headset for each recreation beneath the solar, it’s best to search for extra well-rounded alternate options.

See BlackShark V3 Pro at Amazon