Razer Kaira Pro Xbox headset review: Bluetooth and Xbox wireless combine

Source: Windows Central

As more of us shift our gaming habits to mobile devices, more headset manufacturers are looking to slide Bluetooth options into their headset lineup. This latest one from Razer, the Kaira Pro, looks to balance a rich feature set with an affordable price point. Will they succeed and end up on our best Xbox One headset or best Xbox Series X, Series S headsets lists? Let's take a look (and a listen).

Razer Kaira Pro: Availability

The Razer Kaira Pro enjoys good availability across the likes of Amazon, Best Buy, and the Razer website as well. The headset costs $150 generally, but is often on sale during events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as Prime Day.

Razer Kaira Pro: What I loved

The Razer Kaira Pro enters a growing range of $150 Bluetooth Xbox combo headsets, with some of that unique Razer flair. Perhaps the best thing about Razer products, generally, is that you can depend on good software and configuration options. The Kaira Pro is no exception. With an app on your Xbox, you can configure the headset's EQ balance, lighting array, mic volume, and more, complete with the ability to set up bespoke profiles. While I'm typically a fan of Razer Chroma, flashing Razer logos don't really add anything unless you're a streamer who wants to give Razer some free advertising, and they shave five hours off the battery life according to Razer's documentation. Thankfully, you can turn this off.

The headset itself is well constructed, with decent materials and controls that have good action. It's often the case that the mechanical parts in dials and switches end up deprioritized with these "affordable" wireless headsets, but the Kaira Pro delivers.

With dials on both sides for master volume and chat mix, alongside separate buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing, and Xbox pairing, navigating the different functions on-ear is easy and convenient. The device also has audio cues for when you're hitting the dial's limits or when you're using one of its pairing features.

The headset itself is lightweight and comfortable to wear, even across long sessions. The foam and cushioning aren't the highest quality out there, and I do wish they'd given a bit more attention to those aspects as someone with sensitive skin, but it's not really a deal breaker. The headset uses metal on its connectors and inner headband, which should give it some strength and longevity. I also found myself pleasantly surprised by the microphone, which offers good quality audio to the listener, and is even somewhat passable for things like streaming and content creation. It certainly punches above the competition at this price point, without a doubt.

Source: Windows Central

When it comes to sound, the Kaira Pro has mixed results. The soundstage is broad, and complements surround algorithms like Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos well. Playing games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Overwatch is an immersive experience with this headset, giving you a good sense of positional awareness without feeling overly unnatural. You can tweak and tune the soundscape to your preferences using the EQ app, and I found it performs adequately well across highs, mids, and most bass scenarios.

Razer Kaira Pro: What I disliked

While the Kaira Pro performs adequately enough when it comes to audio, I did find that at higher volumes, even on the basic EQ preset, it struggled a bit with bass. Bass often came through distorted, lacking the clarity I would expect paying $150 for a headset. That's ultimately the problem with this feature set, baking Bluetooth seems to be quite costly, meaning savings end up getting made in other areas. Some bass-heavy games like Battlefield, with its explosions, or even Cyberpunk 2077 with its thundering electropunk soundtrack suffer a bit with this headset, which is uncharacteristic of Razer headsets in general. It's not awful by any means, but certainly noticeable if you're, like me, looking for it.

Speaking of distortion, it feels like the Kaira Pro suffers from another issue that seems prevalent in these types of headsets, which is interference. If you use the Bluetooth audio simultaneously with the Xbox Wireless audio, i.e., using a laptop with Bluetooth for Discord, while using Xbox Wireless with your console for game sound, it degrades the signal quality.

I haven't really come across any headsets that have fully solved this problem yet, and it seems to be a limitation of the signal combination. The Beoplay Portal Xbox headset, for example, doesn't even allow this functionality, due to the possibility of degrading the audio quality.

Razer's page for the Kaira Pro says that mic monitoring is present in this headset, but when I originally wrote this review, there was no way to actually turn it on without using a strange workaround. Since then, however, Razer has updated the app to include a mic monitoring toggle, although there's no way to control the volume. It's loud and clear, but I think some users may find it to be a bit too loud, since it can pick up background noise pretty easily and feed it back to you.

Finally, I wish they'd chosen literally any other fabric for those earcups. The foam-feeling cushions they put on this thing are a bit warm and even itchy across long sessions.

Razer Kaira Pro: The Competition

The Razer Kaira Pro goes up against the likes of the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 and the Xbox Wireless Headset as a Bluetooth and Xbox Wireless combo set, and you could certainly do worse. I think the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 probably edges it just ever so slightly on sound quality, but the Razer Kaira Pro's microphone absolutely destroys Turtle Beach here, if you were planning to use this headset as a streamer or frequently on comms with others. The Kaira Pro also beats the Stealth 700 Gen 2 with its on-ear controls, which feel a bit more tactile and of a higher quality grade.

The Xbox Wireless Headset by comparison is far cheaper than the Kaira Pro at $99, giving you a tidy $50 savings. What you sacrifice there, though, is audio quality. The Xbox Wireless Headset is nowhere near as punch or pleasant than either Turtle Beach's or Razer's headset, although you will pay a bit more as a result.

Should you buy the Razer Kaira Pro?

Overall, the Kaira Pro is a solid headset that doesn't necessarily break any cardinal sins. The signal strength while using Bluetooth and Xbox Wireless does seem sensitive to degradation, and the bass quality suffers in some scenarios. However, the signal degradation is only noticeable if you're examining the soundscape very closely, in the heat of battle you probably won't really notice. The mic quality on this thing is also a cut above the competition, giving you a much more pleasant, clear tone than some of the similarly priced options out there.

I'm not a fan of the neon green gamer accents, particularly in a headset that can be used out and about, although there is now a white option on offer. There are better headsets in this price range if you don't need that Bluetooth functionality. But if you're a fan of the Razer ecosystem, RGB lights, and specifically want Bluetooth and Xbox audio combo capabilities, this is a great product to check out.