Product: Razer Kaira X for Xbox
Type: Gaming Headset (Wired)
Price: $99.00 AUD
Availability: Out Now
Link: https://www.razer.com/console-headsets/razer-kaira-x-for-xbox

Comfort in a pair of headsets should never be at the detriment of good audio. In particular when gaming for long periods of time. You could give me an expensive set of phones with amazing audio, but if they’re not comfy and can’t be worn for longer than 10 minutes before I declare torture and shout “uncle” over and over again while tapping somewhere furiously, I’ll gladly shelf them and shift to a mid-range audio option, provided comfort is king.

It’s a unique tradeoff in our industry because games, by their very design (mostly), are long-haul time-investments.

Of course your number one goal should be to find the best audio with the most comfort. That’s beyond a “duh” statement, but often factors such as price play a major factor in your purchasing decisions, which brings us here today with the affordable mid-range Razer Kaira X wired headset -- a set of audio vehicles that won’t break the bank, or your head.

Tech Talk

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When it comes to baseline delivery of audio tech, Razer is a trusted brand whose budget offerings always manage to kick it with the higher range products. And while snubby audiophiles would rather go hungry than save and use a slightly cheaper product, all will still tell you Razer, with its 50mm Triforce Drivers, can never, ever be left out of the conversation. And with the Kaira X you get the added value of a lightweight setup that is comfortable for longer gaming sessions, a fairly serviceable microphone and at a price point that won’t break the bank.

Here’s the official specs on the set:

• Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
  
• Impedance: 32 Ω
  
• Sensitivity: 96 dBSPL / mW
  
• Driver Size - Diameters (mm): 50mm
  
• Driver Type: Razer™ TriForce 50mm Drivers
  
• Inner Earcup Diameter: Width: 45 mm, Length: 65 mm
  
• Earpads Material: FlowKnit memory foam ear cushions
  
• Connection Type: Direct to Xbox / PC via 3.5mm Connection
  
• Cable Length: 1.3 m
  
• Weight: 283g
  
• Pick-Up Pattern: Unidirectional
  
• Microphone Frequency Response: 100 Hz – 10 kHz
  
• Microphone Sensitivity (@1kHz): -42 ± 3 dB

What you get with the Triforce offering is a fairly natural audio outlay. Everything comes through very clear and balanced. It’s not as bass-heavy as some other offerings, though, so some games can feel a bit hollow when using these if you can’t play with the audio at the source. But that’s what makes these good as a utilitarian option as well -- you’re not in any required department of tweak and what you get is a mid-range you can rely on, it’s just not booming in either the highs or lows in a default way. (You can connect and tweak with Windows Sonic and other EQ setups, of course.)

For example, I’m currently playing Cyberpunk 2077 in a post-launch world where most of the game’s issues have finally been fixed and what was promised is (mostly) delivered on. And one of the strongest aspects of Cyberpunk 2077 is the world of Night City, which is a playspace that never sleeps. This means every vehicle, every conversation, every audible light flicker needs to be felt, heard and most importantly, believably occlude in the game-world based on where you are, what time of day it is and what you’re doing. And with the Kaira’s you get the peripheral ‘noise’ of Night City, but you don’t get its depth. Which is the trade-off I’ve alluded to throughout this review.

It’s not that the Kaira X’s aren’t serviceable, it’s that they’re an out-of-the-box-ready set of headphones that do a job, and they do it well. They’re just not expert at it.

Design and Comfort

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"As a ‘throwabout’ pair of headphones I felt they were actually very sturdy and resilient, especially in sharing usage with my 10-year-old son...”

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The plastic casing, similar to the Kaira Pro, is a lightweight, flexible design. For some it might actually be too light and therefore flimsy-feeling, but as a ‘throwabout’ pair of headphones I felt they were actually very sturdy and resilient, especially in sharing usage with my 10-year-old son who was flicking between PC, Xbox and Switch while he ‘borrowed’ them (don’t think I’ll ever see them again, to be honest). Razer has marketed a set of these as Xbox and PS4/PS5 respectively, but with a 3.5mm jack they can be used in anything that will spread audio that way. Even on mobile devices. Rather, with this review set specifically, you get a colour-coded pair of headphones that are Xbox-geared (and more Razer as well, with the green and black) to show off your allegiances, if that sort of flex is your jam.

But really, regardless of the colour or box statement of platform support, these are fairly agnostic as far as what you can use them with goes.

Sounds Like

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It’s hard to pitch (heh) the Kaira X as anything other than a serviceable piece of kit. As I’ve talked up, they’re comfortable and lightweight, but being wired can and could be seen as a negative. It’s not, especially when you’re connecting to most consoles through the controller now, which means you’re not being reeled in like some magical couch carp by the console unit itself, and this also means there’s less chance of dropouts, which can happen often with Bluetooth devices, but I can also see why people just prefer to be untethered.

As far as its microphone goes, I still prefer using my desk-planted Seiren X as my main mic option, but the HyperClear Cardioid mic does its job and does it well and I tested it mostly in a work environment in the brave-new-world of WFH meetings and, in our case, for developer interviews and was pleasantly surprised, but can report the Seiren X delivers a way better return, especially in recording.

And that’s where we land with the unit on the whole -- it is a serviceable piece of kit that can run with the big boys, but doesn’t bat as deep. The price-point helps overall, and its plug and play nature across numerous devices, not just Xbox, means you get a tool for more than one occasion.