Razer Kaira Pro Xbox Headset Review

The Razer Kaira Pro for Xbox is a brand new wireless headset that has come to the market not only for your Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, but also for your mobile gaming in tandem with Xbox Cloud gaming. From the get go I was impressed as it is definitely packaged like a premium product, nicely put together, and the headset feels very sturdy too.

The wireless way seems to be what is important these days in the world of gaming in the audio market. While wired will always have its fans, for me long gone are the days of plugging a headset into the controller. The Kaira Pro ticks all the boxes for me for a wireless headset to go nicely with my shiny new Series X.

One thing that is 100% recommended is to download the Razer Headset Setup for Xbox app on your console as a first port of call. This is very useful as within the app is the ability to configure the set up, as well as things like setting the power saving options for the headset or the one I found the most important – Microphone Equalizer.

I say the Microphone Equalizer because I found without configuring it first it lead to the mic audio being constantly picked up. This is most easily detected in a Party with the speaker overlay turned on; this would show up constantly even when I wasn’t talking and had a slight hum constantly playing for those in the party with me. I found the Broadcast setting to work best for me, still picking up my voice without constantly detecting background noise.

Hidden within this headset is a second mic that works without the attachable boom mic, handy for when you need to send a quick voice message or if you are on the go and need to answer a call via bluetooth. You have the ability to mute the headset with a slider on the headset. Though do remember to mute your headset with the slider – it’s amazing how much sound is picked up and you forget that you are not muted. I have been caught singing to myself once and never again want to make that mistake again haha! Without a controller adapter it can be a little hard to get used to knowing whether you’re on mute or not, but once I got to grips with where the slider was it was easy enough to know when to sing or have a chat with the missus.

The Razer Kaira Pro is available now for around £150. For this price you would hope that you are getting your money’s worth, but honestly… I think you actually are to a point with the amount you can actually do with it. Thanks to its Bluetooth integration it can be used with any other Bluetooth audio device as well as, naturally, the Xbox consoles (to which it also connects wirelessly using the same connection as a controller). Which basically means along with being a gaming headset you can also use it on your phone to listen to music on the go, or answer calls. I have tested both and it works without any issue whatsoever. Even with calls I sound so clear on the other line (without the boom mic).

The headphones also feature full on RGB lighting, letting you change it to whichever colour takes your fancy within the app mentioned earlier. Nice features like this that make a headset more unique and let you have it styled to how you want it.

The main thing with any headset is the sound quality, and the Kaira Pro is brilliant. It doesn’t have noise cancelling but I have found that you still won’t hear any external sounds and you will get yourself immersed into the game. For example, on COD: Warzone you can easily hear footsteps around you which makes killing people that try to rush you or come near you that bit easier and more satisfying.

It does a brilliant job of balancing audio. Even within the app I mentioned earlier you can do some tuning so you can adjust the bass. You can really hear the bass in titles like Forza Horizon 4 in both the engine sounds and the accompanying music playing in the background. And again, the balance is easy to attain, letting you hear everything clearly.

One thing that also fantastic is you can be linked with Bluetooth on your phone but also have it linked with your Xbox at the exact same time. So you can play a video game whilst listening to music on your phone and both sounds will come through the headset at the same time. Technically this is possible with something like Spotify on the console itself, but it’s much nicer to have it set up this way as it’s easier to balance the audio of each (and is a feature I’ve been missing in my headsets since the XP500’s on the 360 – great to see it here – ed).

The battery life on the Kaira Pro is phenomenal; I haven’t had to charge it as frequently as I thought, and have found it lasting up to 20 hours! The amount of times I have gone to think “Oh I need to charge this” but get a full gaming session using them has been crazy in my time with it.  Charging is simple enough, done via USB to USB-C. So you can charge it either direct from your Xbox, a plug adaptor, or even your PC.

I love how many cool little features the headset has that I would just never think of. Another example is if you turn the headset on to start gaming, your Xbox will also turn on thanks to it pairing in the same manner as a controller.

Built into the headset is a game/chat balance wheel that allows you to customize how loud your chat audio is in relation to the game audio. So it’s a great way to get that extra edge in an online battle.

I also am a proud owner of a Razer Kishi so I can play Xbox games on the go with X-Cloud, and the sound quality is perfect whilst gaming on the go. I didn’t notice any lag or hiccups while playing. I’m definitely impressed with that as you can find sometimes with other headsets the lip sync might not be timed correctly.

Conclusion

The Razer Kaira Pro is perfect for both gaming on the go and at home. I was pleased to say I was very proud of the product and I enjoyed my time. They are well put together and I love the fact I can use it both with my phone out and about but also with my Xbox. Yes it is a steep price but you pay for the quality, but it’s worth the fee in my book.

Hardware provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.