Razer continue to make a play beyond their dedicated customer base in gaming with the Hammerhead True Wireless X Earbuds, a fine pair of Bluetooth headphones fit for broad use.
Razer has become synonymous with gaming gear, now offering everything from mechanical keyboards to RGB-lit face masks. In an effort to expand ever further, lately they’ve been attempting to grow beyond that audience into a broader consumer space with products that are less geared towards gamers and gamers only. The latest example is the Hammerhead True Wireless X Earbuds.
Priced from $106.95 AUD, they’re not the most expensive earbuds out there, nor are they the cheapest. What we will say from the get-go is that they punch about their price bracket and then some. Let’s find out what makes them so special.
First and really foremost, as should be the case with earbuds, the sound quality is excellent. I was especially impressed with the Hammerhead’s performance on songs with a pronounced lower range – not a bad feat considering their 13mm drivers, which is about as big as you can pack into an earbud.
The sound produced by these little guys really leaves nothing much to desire. Of course they’re not going to sound as crisp as a $2,000 pair of over-ear headphones, but they output a fantastic sound quality for their build and price. Unless you’re mixing on your earbuds, which by god you shouldn’t be, these will certainly do the trick.
Ergonomically they could be slightly improved – mainly because they only come in one size. As a one-up to AirPods the Hammerheads come with a gel covering to make their plastic chassis a little more comfortable and slip-proof in your ear, but in my experience in-ear headphones with several differently sized gel earpieces are generally comfier. Especially if your ears are a size above or below average.
A standard True Wireless charging case allows for a fantastic 24 hours of use (28 with lighting disabled), and speaking of, the Hammerhead’s backlit Razer logo does look pretty stylish. If you’re on the fence about a beaming logo on the side of your head though, a brand new Razer Audio app allows you to turn the lighting off entirely.
The app is a nice cherry on top to what are already a pretty wonderful pair of headphones, allowing you customise your lighting, EQ, remap any of the hands-free commands, and toggle on or off Smart Link for Android devices and Gaming Mode.
Gaming Mode switches to an ultra low latency (60ms to be precise) wireless mode, allowing you to (almost) immediately respond to audio cues such as those in a reaction-based mobile game. Without a game on hand to play, I tried out a few of my usual job activities that had always been compromised by the usual delay that comes with Bluetooth audio – these were transcribing audio to text, and editing video.
The results were incredible. These were activities that have always been frustrating without a pair of wired headphones, and suddenly, the Hammerheads had made them possible. For that alone, I was sold.
The Razer Hammerhead True Wireless X Earbuds are a great fit for practically anyone with ears – provide your ears fit their one size. Their extreme battery life and low-latency Gaming Mode are lifesavers, and there’s plenty more to play with for those of you who love customisation.
The Razer Hammerhead True Wireless X Earbuds are now available through JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, and Amazon.
