Razer Kaira Pro review – These don’t play around when they’re playing around. Nor does the price

On the subject of gaming headsets, Razer is often included in the top three brands – or is at least mentioned in the conversation. Over the past week, we’ve used the Razer Kaira Pro – PlayStation Edition, and they’re what you’d expect from a Razer headset. When Razers cans are brought up, it’s usually to say; “Woah! These headphones are sick! But why are you using them to watch Teletubbies? You’re 21 years old–” That’s usually when they stop talking. But we can confirm that yes, the Razer Kaira Pro headphones are indeed “sick!”.

The Razer Kaira Pro for the PlayStation exceeds the expectations of a R3,000 headset. Unfortunately, the Kaira Pro doesn’t cost R3,000. They cost in excess of R4,000 – which is the Kaira’s only issue. Everything else is great. Audio is splendid, it looks magnificent, and the mic is crisp. Every element it needs to be brilliant is present, besides the price. They’re definitely worth buying if you have the disposable income to do so – but don’t break the bank just to get your hands on a pair of these.

Lights, ???, Action

Seriously, the Kaira Pro is a beautiful headset. It’s large, sure, but that adds to the overall comfort it delivers. The cups fit perfectly around the ears, even on someone with larger ears than average. The cushions are fashioned from a plush leatherette. They can stay on for hours at a time without you ever noticing they’re on your head.

Besides comfort, the PlayStation Edition follows a similar design pattern to the PS5. The over-ear cups are black, while the band connecting the two features the same white shade seen on the PS5. The outer shell is even covered in a similar hard plastic, which helps sell the connection it’s establishing.

On the ear-cups’ shell is the famed Razer logo, in all its glory. The logo lights up too, changing colours while you’re gaming. There is an app available to define those colours, though it feels like more of a gimmick than a feature. You can’t see the colours when you’re using them, so what’s the point? Style, obviously. Or perhaps you need to rock your sponsor’s colours on a Twitch stream.

While we obviously didn’t throw the Kaira Pros down the stairs, we imagine they would survive the fall. Construction feels sturdy, which is more than other headsets could say. But we’d rather avoid a drop test. Even if the shell would survive, there’s all that lovely tech inside that makes the audio sounds as good as it does. We’d feel terrible if we damaged that.

What does R4,000 sound like?

The Razer Kaira Pro’s sound is amazing. Simply amazing. At R4,000, how could it not be? It would’ve been more surprising to discover the audio was terrible.

There’re a few factors that make the audio as good as it is. For one, the cups are over-ear, blocking out most surrounding sounds. Secondly, there are the TriForce Titanium 50 MM drivers shoved in there. They make a real difference. And maybe the best part is the inclusion of Razer’s HypserSense Intelligent Haptics – which allow for some crazy 3D audio in games.

Only a few games have 3D audio enabled, one of them being Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Miles and Elden Ring were on a heavy rotation throughout our week, mainly because the headset brought New York to life while using them. Elden Ring doesn’t support 3D audio, but it didn’t matter. The headset’s ability to keep any potential distractions at bay made four hours disappear in moments. You don’t even have to wait for that level of immersion.

The Razer’s are charged right out of the box, letting gamers jump right in. But if you prefer to tweak your perfect audio settings, you can. There’s a mobile app that allows you to customize and fiddle to your heart’s content.

Read More: Yealink BH72 Bluetooth headset review – Absolutely perfect (for call centre operators)

The app features a sub-setting for different scenarios; Amplified, Enhanced Bass, FPS, and Default. Most will prefer the default setting, but don’t turn your nose at the others. Each offers a unique quality. The best of the lot was the FPS setting, which lowers the noise of explosions and gunfire to enhance enemy footsteps. If you’re thinking “that sounds pay-to-win” then you’re right. Sort of. It’s not as noticeable as you’d expect, though it did amplify incoming footsteps that might have remained unnoticed otherwise.

Mic-wise, the Kaira’s are crisp and clear. A supplied external mic has to be connected before you can use it, however. It isn’t ground-breaking mic-tech, but it’s not shabby either. Playing Rocket League and being clearly audible to teammates helped us chalk up a few extra W’s. Not because our opponents were in Gold 3. No way. It was definitely the mic.

A surprise while listening to music early one morning was the shaking of the controller as the song reached a particularly bass-heavy section. Yes, these have haptic 3D audio, but we originally believed it was only supported by specific games on the PS5. Not on a random song playing through Spotify. The cans shake and rumble throughout music sessions, but only if you want them to. We kept the feature permanently enabled.

Extended sessions

The Kaira Pros have excellent battery life, when you consider what they’re capable of. Razer claims eleven hours between charges, which sounds right if you’re running these with HyperSense turned up. Turn it, and the LEDs, off and you can add a few extra hours to that total.

Testing began with an extended session on the PlayStation 5. Four hours later, the Kairas hadn’t even broken a sweat. If it hadn’t been 1:30 AM, they might have gotten the workout they needed. It left us the perfect amount of time to charge these back up again. It takes almost four hours to get to full from 0%. That’s a bit long, yes, but if you charge them often while not in use, you should never hit the lengthy wait time.

There are plenty of other headsets that offer longer battery life. But they’re missing the quality and features the Razer provides here. And if you’re being honest, do you really need longer than 11 hours of life? Unless you’re planning on watching Zack Snyders Justice League three times, back-to-back, you’ll be fine.

Razer’s Roughnecks

These headphones feature a batch of Razer-specific tech. We’ve touched on most of it already but it doesn’t hurt to recap. The Razer Kaira Pros include HyperSense Intelligent Haptics. This offers a shaky, 3D audio experience. It’s a little like strapping a Dualshock controller to your head.

Then we come to low-latency Bluetooth quick-connect, paired with a feature called SmartSwitch. SmartSwitch allows the headset to automatically determine whether you were using them through the provided dongle, or through regular Bluetooth. For the most part, it does its job well, barring a few mishaps that required a quick restart to correct.

Then we have the TriForce Titanium 50 MM drivers – designed to tune high, medium and low frequencies all at once. It’s not something you’d notice specifically while listening on the Kaira’s, but audio quality is generally excellent. If it’s not the drivers doing their job, it’s something altogether more mysterious.

Lastly, and perhaps least importantly, is the ability to mess around with the LEDs on the headset’s side. It’s a gimmick that most will rarely bother adjusting. It’s there, and it’s causing no harm. But it’s certainly not a selling point unless you’re doing some Razer #sponcon on a stream.

Razer Kaira Pro – PS Edition verdict

The Razer Kaira Pro is a good headset. A great one even. It offers brilliant audio quality and a comfortable design that lets you game for hours at a time. The extras are a nice addition, though you could do without them. But at roughly R4,000, you’d be better off getting something cheaper that focuses on audio and comfort primarily. That said, if you have the money to spend, you can’t go wrong with Pro. These can be found at most of South Africa’s leading retailers, though it’s worth noting that the Xbox edition is nearly R1,000 cheaper. On Takealot, expect to pay R4,350. Search elsewhere before settling for that price.