Razer Piranha Gaming Headset Review

The Razer Pirahna Gaming headset is engineered for gamers.  From its lengthy 9′ braided cord, clip-on inline remote, flippable microphone and comfortable earcups, this headset builds on the successes (and failures) of other headsets vyying for the gamer’s greasy cranium.

The earpieces are rather comfortable, but soak up sweat, so this isn’t something you want to share with your friends.  While the audio quality is very good, it doesn’t have the same deep bass found in audiophile headsets. It is surprising that the bass isn’t punchier, as gamers will be experiencing deep explosions and gunfire.  Since many gamers find themselves at LAN parties, I don’t understand why noise-cancelling technology isn’t commonplace in gaming headsets.

The JBL 510 Reference headphones we tested several months ago (review here) are about the same price but deliver much better audio for music.  Because of it’s extra-long cable, you won’t be hooking this up to your iPod anyway: its length is suitable only for PC gaming.

If you resign yourself to the fact that you need seperate headphones for your iPod, then you’ll realize that PC gaming headsets work best for PC gaming.  While the Razer Pirahna isn’t the best sounding headset around, it is compact, relatively inexpensive, has an excellent microphone and good stereo sound.

	REPORT CARD : Razer Pirahna Gaming Headset category rating comments Quality 5 Braided cord, gold-plated connections and durable earcups will last Innovation 4 PC Gamers will dig the design.  Noise cancellation would have been nice Performance 3 Highs are crisp, but bass is lacking Usability 4 Mic is easy to flip down, mute and volume control not as easy to find. Value 5 $70 gets you a much better headset than the competition FINAL VERDICT: 4 out of 5 stars