Razer, a company known for its dedication to constant improvement, has recently refreshed its popular Hammerhead mobile gaming earbuds. With the added Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz Wireless connectivity, gamers now have the freedom to enjoy their favorite games on consoles, computers, and a variety of mobile devices. The Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed Wireless Gaming Earbuds are designed with gamers in mind, providing an immersive audio experience that takes your gaming to the next level.
Not only do they sound great, but they also prioritize comfort and durability, ensuring you can enjoy long gaming sessions without any discomfort. The Hammerhead earbuds offer a secure fit, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the game without any distractions. With Razer's reputation for quality, are these earbuds reliable and versatile enough to meet the demands of today’s gamers? Join us as we dive deeper into Razers Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed gaming earbuds.
Specifications
- Current Price: $199 (Amazon)
- Headphone Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
- Headphone Impedance: 16?
- Headphone Sensitivity: 95 db SPL / mW by HATS
- Headphone Input Power: 5 mW (max input)
- Headphone Drivers: 10 mm
- Headphone Connector:
- Bluetooth
- 2.4 GHz wireless via USB-C dongle
- Cable Length: None
- Approximate Weight:
- 3 g – Hyperspeed USB-C Dongle
- 6 g – Per Earbud
- 46 g – Charging Case
- Microphone Pick up Pattern: Advanced ENC Beamforming
- Microphone Signal-to-noise Ratio: 64 dB
- Microphone Sensitivity(@1KHZ): -26 dBFS
- Connection Type:
- PC: Wireless via USB-C dongle OR Bluetooth 5.3
- PlayStation: Wireless via USB-C dongle
- Nintendo Switch: Wireless via USB-C dongle OR Bluetooth 5.3
- Android devices: Wireless Via USB-C dongle OR Bluetooth 5.3
- iOS/iPad OS devices: Bluetooth 5.3
- Devices with Bluetooth audio capability
- Smartphone app available for Android and iOS
- Supported codecs: SBC, AAC
- Battery Life (Bluetooth, AAC, music playback only):
- LIGHTING OFF / ANC OFF Up to 30 hours:
- 6.5 hours on earbuds + 24 hours from case (3.7 recharges of earbuds)
- Tested with iOS device at 50% volume.
- LIGHTING ON / ANC OFF Up to 25.5 hours:
- 5.5 hours on earbuds + 20 hours from case (3.7 recharges of earbuds)
- Tested with iOS device at 50% volume and brightness on Breathing effect.
- LIGHTING OFF / ANC ON Up to 18.5 hours:
- 4 on earbuds + 14.5 hours from case (3.7 recharges of earbuds)
- Tested with iOS device at 50% volume and Active Noise Cancellation on.
- LIGHTING ON / ANC ON Up to 16.5 hours:
- 3.5 hours on earbuds + 13 hours from case (3.7 recharges of earbuds)
- Tested with iOS device at 50% volume and brightness on Breathing effect and Active Noise Cancellation on.
- Battery Life (2.4 GHz Wireless, Music Playback only):
- LIGHTING OFF / ANC OFF Up to 18.5 hours:
- 4 hours on earbuds + 14.5 hours from case (3.7 recharges of earbuds)
- Tested with PC at 40% master volume setting
- LIGHTING ON / ANC OFF Up to 17 hours:
- 3.6 hours on earbuds + 13 hours from case (3.7 recharges of earbuds)
- Tested with PC at 40% master volume setting
- LIGHTING OFF / ANC ON Up to 15 hours:
- 3.2 hours on earbuds + 11.5 hours from case (3.7 recharges of earbuds)
- Tested with PC at 40% master volume setting
- LIGHTING ON / ANC ON Up to 14 hours
- 3 hours on earbuds + 11 hours from case (3.7 recharges of earbuds)
- Tested with PC at 40% master volume setting
- Others
- Noise Cancelling:
- App Adjustable hybrid ANC
- IPX Rating
- IPX4
- Lighting
- Razer Chroma RGB
- Other Controls
- Remappable Touch Controls
- Auto Pause
- Accessories
- Wireless charging case
- USB-A to USB-C charging cable
- USB-A to USB-C adapter
- USB-C dongle
Razer, one of the best-known brands in gaming peripherals, continues to innovate and expand its product range. With a focus on refining its already impressive lineup, Razer introduces the new Razer Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds. These earbuds come packed with a host of new features, including the latest Bluetooth 5.3 technology and 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity. By incorporating these advancements, Razer aims to provide gamers with an enhanced and versatile audio experience.
The Razer Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds feature THX certification, ensuring a remarkable and immersive audio experience. Designed to meet the expectations of high-end earbuds, these earbuds offer a comprehensive range of features. With the included USB Type-C dongle, you can enjoy compatibility with various devices such as PCs, PlayStation, smartphones, the Nintendo Switch, and Stream Deck. Alongside their impressive functionality, these earbuds prioritize comfort, ensuring a comfortable and enjoyable listening experience.
Razer Hammerhead Pro Wireless - Comfort
The Razer Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds provide an exceptionally comfortable fit whether you're enjoying music during work, indulging in some mobile gaming during your lunch break, or using them with your PC to play full-fledged games. They come with three different sizes of ear tips - small, medium, and large - ensuring a perfect fit for your ears and maximizing comfort during extended use.
The fit seems designed after Apple’s AirPods and for an obviously good reason: it’s a tried and true design that works over extended session, exactly as you would want from a pair of gaming earbuds. They have a snug fit that can withstand an excessive amount of movement without falling loose. This is truly a testament to the thought and execution Razer has brought to the table.
Razer Hammerhead Pro Wireless - Listening and Gaming Impressions
Razer Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds deliver a strong and impactful presence without overwhelming the overall audio experience. This balanced approach ensures a satisfying rumble that enhances the fullness of the sound without causing it to feel crowded or rough.
Moving to the mids, Razer's finely tuned drivers bring out an impressive level of detail and richness, placing them at the forefront of the audio experience. These mid-range frequencies take center stage, providing a captivating and immersive sound quality.
While the highs may not be the most powerful, I've heard from Razer, they are certainly more than sufficient. The earbuds avoid sounding overly high-pitched or scratchy, ensuring a pleasant listening experience across the entire frequency range.
The Razer Hammerhead Pro earbuds are equipped with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology. When ANC is activated, they effectively block out most high-pitched tones and offer a customizable level of isolation through a 10-step adjustment slider in Razer's Audio App for Android.
When ANC is set to Ambient Mode, the outside world becomes clear with only a slight presence of white noise. This feature can be particularly useful in various scenarios. For instance, it allows you to block out the noise of crowded or loud areas, providing a more immersive and focused experience. Additionally, when listening to podcasts or audio content while walking, the ambient ANC mode enables you to remain aware of your surroundings, ensuring your safety and awareness. It provides a balanced combination of audio enjoyment and environmental awareness.
Razer Hammerhead Pro Wireless - Connectivity
The Razer Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds offer versatile connectivity options, allowing you to connect and utilize them with various devices. One of the options is Razer's 2.4 GHz Wireless connection, which utilizes a USB Type-C dongle. This dongle is compatible with a wide range of devices, including current-gen consoles, PCs, and handheld devices. The simplicity of connecting is noteworthy, as you only need to insert the dongle into your desired device to establish an instant and seamless connection.
This low-latency wireless connection is particularly advantageous for gaming, and even watching videos that don’t have latency compensation (YouTube, Netflix, and the major streamers all compensate, but smaller sites and embedded players often do not). Traditional Bluetooth earbuds have much higher latency and struggle with AV coordination, which is distracting at best and game-breaking at worst. Not here. Using this dongle, you can play first-person shooters with wired-like latency so you’re completely ready to play.
In addition to the 2.4 GHz Wireless option, the Razer Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds also offer Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. This expands the compatibility to a vast number of smartphones and consoles that support Bluetooth connectivity. With Bluetooth, you have the flexibility to connect and enjoy your audio content on a wider range of devices, further enhancing the versatility and convenience of the earbuds.
Razer Hammerhead Pro Wireless - Additional Features
Razer's commitment to meeting user preferences and keeping up with trends is evident in the inclusion of fast wireless charging in the Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds' charging case. With wireless charging gaining popularity, Razer ensures convenience by incorporating this feature directly into the case. While it is designed to work seamlessly with Razer's own charging pad, it may also be compatible with other charging pads, although results may vary. During this review, a Yootech USB Type-C Charging pad was used to test the wireless charging functionality.
True to Razer's dedication to the gamer lifestyle, the Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds boast Razer's Chroma RGB Lighting. Out of the box, the lighting is set to spectrum cycling, but users can customize it through the Audio mobile app. The available options include Static, Breathing, Audio Meter, and Spectrum Cycling. Alternatively, users can also choose to turn off the RGB lighting to preserve battery power.
For gamers seeking uninterrupted gameplay, the DND (Do Not Disturb) Mode is a valuable feature offered through the Audio mobile app. Activating DND Mode disables Bluetooth notifications during gameplay, allowing players to fully immerse themselves in fast-paced games that may not have the option to pause or continue after being interrupted. This feature provides a more tailored and uninterrupted gaming experience.
Razer Hammerhead Pro Wireless - Battery Life
Razer's Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds are designed to offer battery life of up to 6.5 hours that extends to 30 hours when combined with the charging case. This assumes that Bluetooth connectivity is used, with ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) and Lighting features turned off. However, it's important to note that personalized settings and usage patterns can impact battery life and may result in quicker consumption. Using the Hyperspeed Dongle and keeping lighting and ANC enabled, that drops to three hours per session and up to 14 with the charging case. Turning off the lighting gets you another 10-15 minutes of listening time.
I’m a believer in using all of the features you pay for, and in my testing throughout several Discord sessions, the earbuds consistently provided around three hours of usage with everything turned on. Turning lighting off and trying different scenarios lined up well with Razer’s other estimates, but just know that your actual battery life will be highly dependent on how you’re using them.
The battery life is very middle of the road and there’s a real chance they could run dry in the middle of a longer gaming session if you’re using ANC and Hyperspeed, something that you’ll probably want to do to make the most of these earbuds. They do support fast charging; however, Razer doesn’t specify how much battery life you’ll receive for a certain amount of time back in the case, which is an odd omission indeed.
Final Thoughts
Approaching this review, I had reservations about the performance of the Razer Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed Wireless Gaming Earbuds, especially after using more mainstream options like the Galaxy Buds Pro. However, I was pleasantly surprised by their exceptional comfort, stability, and sound quality. These earbuds provided a perfect fit, and I never experienced any slippage or the need for constant adjustments.
In terms of sound quality, the Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds delivered a balanced listening experience and a wide soundstage with THX enabled. Since using them, I haven't felt the need to switch to any other earbuds. The overall design, reminiscent of Apple's approach, proved to be effective and contributed to a seamless user experience.
The biggest issue facing these earbuds is battery life. Three hours when using them with all of the features is very disappointing and certainly puts these behind traditional wireless gaming headsets. No one wants their match interrupted by a low battery warning and that’s something you could certainly encounter here if you use two of its most defining features: Hyperspeed wireless and ANC. With battery life only diminishing over time, we have serious concerns about how long they’ll last after a few years of use.
With that issue to the side, it’s hard to argue that these aren’t great earbuds. They’re comfortable, feature-rich, and offer an immersive listening experience with a detailed, directional soundstage to keep you playing at your best. If you play in shorter sessions, these could still be an excellent choice.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes.
