Gaming accessory maker Razer’s Orca headset was specifically designed to look good and feel comfy, while delivering premium sound. The sound quality, while not perceivably perfect for demanding audiophiles, should be good enough for th e $60 price tag (also, audiophiles should know enough to stay away from $60 gaming headsets anyway). Comfortable? We have no reason to doubt the design. Does it look good? Now that’s entirely a matter of opinion. The shade of bright Hulk-green they used is certainly striking, and while we’d probably have no problems wearing it while working Call of Duty on a desktop, we think the color’s just too loud to rock outside and it doesn’t match any of our shoes. Or shirts. Or umbrellas. Why did they call it the Orca anyway? Aren’t Orcas black and white?
Anyway, let’s stick with the desktop gaming angle for now. For those purposes, the Orca definitely works. It’s built to be lightweight, with enough padding on the cans and band to allow for long gaming sessions. Sound quality is delivered through a pair of 40mm neodymium drivers for 200mW of input power, featuring a 15 – 21,000Hz frequency response, and impedance at 32 Ohms at 1kHz. The average gamer probably wouldn’t look at any of those specs anyway, but it’s probably enough to say that quality should be good enough for the price if you don’t mind gaming headphones that doesn’t come with a built-in microphone. We just like the fact that it looks light enough to wear for long stretches. As for the lack of a mic, considering that this is designed to also be worn outside, it’s totally understandable.
The attached braided cable is a relatively short at just a little over a meter in length, but it’s also bundled with a 2-meter braided extension cable that you can leave plugged into the desktop if you plan to walk around with this headset into your mp3 player. Simple, practical concept, but an overall nice touch that we wish our old pair of Sennheisers had. The cable on those cans were so long, you’d need an extra pocket to shove everything in if you wanted to walk around with it.
The Razer Orca is estimated to ship between August 16-20 for $59.99 if you pre-order on their page now. Personally, we hope Razer releases a version with an alternate color that flips the black parts with the green (we’d be totally on-board with a black headset with this-shade-of-green highlights). That might be a bit less “hey look at me” enough to wear outside.
Tags: Gaming Gear, Headphones, Portable Audio, Razer
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