The Razer Kraken appears to be nearly identical to its predecessor. Razer has gone thick and cushiony rather than the angled and detailed stylish looks of other premium gaming headphones – dad bods are in vogue. That is not to say that the Razer Kraken is the Seth Rogen of gaming headsets. This pair of gaming headphones is extremely fashionable. The honeycomb grilles surrounding the Razer emblems on the outside of the earcups, as well as the bright green coating, do an excellent job of displaying personality. If you don’t like the green, there’s also a Quartz Pink edition, as well as a black with blue highlights Razer Kraken for Console. When put to work, the Kraken excels at gaming, which is where we tested it. The Tournament Edition is more suited to PC, but we put it through its paces on all current gaming platforms. Starting with our current favorite testing game, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the Kraken performed admirably with all of Ubisoft’s AAA gaming flagship’s bassy elements. This headset performs admirably when waves crash against the side of the Adestria. During combat sequences, the emphasis on bass makes each thud and collision sound meaty and complete. The Kraken falls short in the treble and upper ranges, which are not as rich sounding. When you’re standing there listening to the ambient world, there’s a lack of detail that other, more expensive headsets pick up on. The Kraken is an entry-level gaming headset. The only extras are a retractable microphone and an in-line volume control. Let’s start with the microphone. It’s retractable and very sturdy, so it’s easy to store when not in use. Once properly aligned, the audio through it is clear, and it’s a noticeable improvement over the mic in the older Kraken Pro V2. The sides and back of the mic provide adequate noise isolation, but it cannot eliminate all background noise. The in-line control is exactly that: an in-line control. The volume wheel protrudes from both sides of the housing, which is a nice convenience feature, and there’s also a mic mute button. It’s a good distance from the earcup, so you’re not poking yourself in the face when trying to use it, and it’s securely attached to the nylon cord from which the 3.5mm jack dangles.
