The Razer Carcharias headset is the latest entry in Razer's product line aimed directly to gamers. With a circumaural ear pad design, adjustable headband and microphone, in addition to an in-line volume control, complete with microphone “on/off” switch, the Carcharias features everything you'd expect from a product designed and manufactured by Razer.

Stylistically, the Razer Carcharias is an attractive piece of gear, but its obsession with black detracts from what is otherwise is a fairly well thought-out design. The use of nothing other than black on the major components of the headphone obscures the honeycomb ear-piece design – which forms the most attractive portion of the headset.

At the centre of each earpiece is a raised, circular disc of black plastic, which frames the Razer logo. From this black plastic disc, two metal bands extend upward, to another circular disc, where the cable from the individual earpieces enter the headband itself. Just above this, on the exterior of the headband exists a slightly recessed channel indicator – L & R, for each respective earpiece.

The build quality in this area of the headset is above average – with plastic bands around metal portions of the headset ensuring that the cable is not subject to strain or pinching while adjusting the headphones. The inner side of the upper headband features a thin layer of fabric that allows the headphones to rest against the top of one's head with a certain degree of softness, making them comfortable during sessions of prolonged use.

The left earpiece features the microphone, which can rotate up to 270 degrees around its axis. The microphone (which is uni-directional, and adjustable), is itself encased rigid plastic, which when folded up follows the contours of the headset.

A braided cable exits the lower portion of the left ear pad, which then enters an in-line remote control with volume control and microphone switch. On the face, the remote features a Razer logo, and on the reverse, a handy clip for securing the volume control in an easy to reach location on your clothing. The volume control is textured against one side of the smooth plastic, and is easy enough to find on the remote purely by touch– no need to look away from the screen or search for it whilst gaming.

The volume control can be difficult to operate at times, with the contour of the remote almost flush with the volume dial, but for the most part it is easy to locate and operate with ease. On the other side of the remote, the microphone switch provides a quick way to turn the microphone on and off. The entire length of the cable is 3.3 metres, and it terminates in two 3.5mm jacks, one for audio, and the other for the microphone.

Each 3.5mm jack is black, with a band of green or pink across the pin itself to provide quick identification of the connectors. This is supplemented with a slightly raised indicator on the moulding of each jack which allows easy installation. It would have been nice if this was communicated more clearly, as in low-light conditions, both can be difficult to see.

The ear pads themselves are constructed of a fairly soft, plush fabric, which provides decent insulation against exterior sound. The headphones are capable of producing frequencies between 20-20,000Hz, and feature 32ohms of resistance at 1kHz. The sensitivity at 1kHz is rated at approximately 102 decibels, with a potential variance of 4 decibels higher or lower. The headphones are drivers are 40mm, and feature neodymium magnets.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Dynamic ambience, but a little bass-heavy

While this does give an indication of the headphone's capability on paper, as with all audio products, subjective testing is needed. In reviewing the Razer Carcharias, the focus while gaming was threefold: the accuracy of positional audio, the clarity of individual sound effects (and the ability to locate these within the game) and also the distinctiveness of multiple sound sources within the same area. Games used for testing were Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Counter-Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2 and World in Conflict.

The Carcharias headset was powered through a Creative xfi Xtreme Music sound card, running the latest Windows Vista WHQL drivers. Within the drivers, windows options and individual game options, audio settings were set to the highest possible, and any “headphone” sound option was enabled. Any “driver enhancements” such as xfi Crystalliser and EAX effects were turned off during testing.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the first title the Carcharias was exposed to. With its intense single player, and highly competitive multiplayer, engrossing sound stage and incredible audio quality, it made an ideal testing ground for the headphones. The first thing I noticed when using the Carcharias while playing Call of Duty 4 was the immediacy of the sound. Gunshots are well punctuated (and loud, for what it is worth), with multiple sources of gunfire easy to locate based on the general location and volume level. Positional audio is very accurate, and I found my play actually improving somewhat dramatically – an improved KDR awaited me at the end of my first round, and it continues to grow as I became more accustomed to the sound stage of the headset.

Explosions from air strikes and grenades sound great through the Carcharias, but there is too much bass at times, with multiple explosions occurring at the same time complimented with crackly or poorly defined bass – with its source then being difficult to locate. Overall, the headset's performance in Call of Duty 4 was excellent, with very good clarity and definition with the exception of bass, which was a little too powerful when multiple explosions were occurring at the same time. The Carcharias, for me – redefined the awesome fun that Call of Duty 4's multiplayer component is – providing pristine clarity and excellent audio reproduction across each individual gunshot and grenade falling to the ground.

Counter-Strike: Source Cutting edge effects 10 years ago now sound a little dated

Moving on now to an ageing title – Counter Strike: Source. Still widely played competitively, a good pair of headphones are often considered a vital component of any gamer's kit who plays the game. The Carcharias headset revealed the true age of Counter-Strike: Source, with it evident that sound samples featured in the game can now be considered bastions of fairly poor audio quality.

Despite the lack of dynamic ambience as featured in Call of Duty 4, Counter Strike: Source allowed me to focus on the accuracy of positional audio – which again, was excellent and highly accurate. With more measured bursts of gunfire, and well defined footsteps (even at a distance) it was easier to locate opponents, identify their number and clearly identify the type of weapon used. In this case, it also enabled me to identify the location of team mates, giving me options to consider flanking the enemy before attempting to assist a team-mate under fire.

The headphones delivered excellent positional audio – and also introduced me to minor nuances in recorded sound featured in Counter Strike: Source – with the headphones, I was able to pick up minor audio queues that I wouldn't normally identify using speakers.

In Team Fortress 2, the headset performed admirably – with explosions, footsteps, flames, and the pyro's maniacal laughter all grin-inducing and bright – multiple explosions did not revert to indistinct thumps of bass (unlike in Call of Duty 4), and the sound quality of other players’ VOIP communication was clear.

Team Fortress 2 Experience the Pyro at his best

Good fun was to be had, with the Carcharias a solid performer in TF2. Footsteps were fairly distinct, and everything was well defined. My only gripe was that calls of “medic” were difficult to locate based on audio alone – but gunshots and other indicators of the evil, opposing team were easy enough to locate within the sound scape produced by the headphones.

Moving on now to World in Conflict – a highly competitive real-time strategy game with the speed of a first person shooter. World in Conflict formed the most intensive testing of the headset's microphone, which is incredibly important in the game, where swift and precise communication between team-mates is the key to victory.

In World in Conflict, the microphone on the Carcharias performed well. With microphones I've used in the past, each has lead to a number of complaints or odd remarks. From “Get off the server, ya bloody pom!” (anyone who has heard me speak would laugh at that statement) to “Stop breathing into the microphone!” or “I can't hear you!”, I've heard it all in World in Conflict – thankfully, with the Carcharias none of these responses manifested from my team mates, leading me to the conclusion that the microphone produces some measure of faithful audio reproduction.

World in Conflict Hear and be heard as you strategise

This was later tested with basic sound recording software, which proved to faithfully reproduce my own voice – the recording was a little bit on the quiet side (even with the +20dB mic boost enabled in Windows), but loud enough to be heard upon replay (and in real time through another audio output) to be considered a worthy addition to the fine headphone quality.

Noise cancellation, which is featured as a design component of the microphone managed to silence noises the neighbours were making at the time, and the whir of fans within my computer case – so all in all, the microphone is an incredibly capable component of the headset as a whole.

With the headset its self a fine performer in games – I figured I'd end my round of testing by going through some highlights in my music collection to see how it fared in deeper waters. My opinions here may be a little harsh – but for music, the headphones simply do not stack up against my beloved Audio Technica ATH-700AD headphones. The first track used for testing was what I consider the “most extreme” I could use to expose any weakness in the headphones.

Enter black metal band, Dimmu Borgir and their track Behind the Curtains of Night – Phantasmagoria. Featuring incredibly fast bass kicks, symbols, high-hat, and a horde of other percussive instruments along with synth – in addition to vocals, guitars, bass and the deep growl of death metal – the song is a nightmare for most speakers or headphones to reproduce with any degree of success. To give credit to the Carcharias, the bass response for the track was decent, but any variety across the mid-range guitar interludes and high hats sounded a little muddy. The chugging guitars sounded great – but bass response was a little slow in comparison to the Audio Technica headphones. They didn't do too badly, and would most likely do nothing to sway non-fans of black metal, but they performed well.

When exposed to classical violin – specifically, Bach, the headphones performed okay, but it was quickly made evident that mid and high range was fairly poor – there was enough definition present to differentiate between tones, but highs and sustained flourishes of tone shifting lacked the sparkle and clarity I've come to love from my Audio Technica headphones. It was an adequate reproduction, but nothing to write home about it. “Average” is probably the best descriptor of classical violin.

Tristania's piano piece Symbelime lacked punch, further cementing my concern that for music that contains mid-tone heavy composition, the Carcharias struggles. Oddly, the keyboard intense Over the Hills and Far Away by Nightwish fared a little better, and the female soprano vocals were well defined. Bass was a little heavy, but the track sounded great, with the headphones willing to output decent (but not exceptional) highs while filling the low end with deep, thumping bass. The synth-produced flute interlude before the guitar solo in the track sounded good, as did the track in its entirety. Not the best possible performance, but mightily impressive for the asking price of the headset.

Finally – given some electronic music to run free with, the Carcharias did well, with the bass line of Pendulum's Still Grey well defined. If the Carcharias doesn't satiate bass-heads, then I'm not sure what will (short of strapping a subwoofer to your skull). Bass reproduction is elegant, but can be a little heavy, sometimes distorting when things speed up.

For music, the headphones are adequate - head and shoulders above generic combinations, or whatever ships with your mp3 player or portable audio device. They're definitely a capable set of cans for the price, and if you're buying them with the sole purpose of gaming, then if you do want to listen to music, and aren't too fussy, the headphones should be a welcome addition to your gaming space.

For gaming, the Razer Carcharias is great – audio quality is above average, and bass is explosively heavy. Directional audio is excellent, and multiple sound sources are reproduced with clarity. One downside of the headset is that it will really make it obvious when a game has poorly recorded audio – as in some of the sound effects in the ageing Counter Strike: Source.

The Carcharias headset offers excellent value, with above average sound definition for the price (US$79.99 at the time of writing), and come with everything you could want in a headset – responsive, multi layered audio, a high quality microphone, and an in line volume control. To top it off, the headphones are comfortable when used for extended periods of time (as I've been writing this review, they've been sitting on my head for in excess of five hours.) and the build quality is everything you expect from the likes of Razer. With a less bass, and stronger mid and highs for music, the Razer Carcharias could almost be a perfect music / gaming combo headset for those who spend a lot of time at their computers.