The Razer Hammerhead earbuds have seen plenty of iterations, and with the 3.5mm headphone jack slowly disappearing, it solely made sense for there to be a USB-C model. But, not solely did Razer launch a extra appropriate pair of buds for the evolving Android cellphone panorama, it went a bit additional by providing energetic noise cancellation (ANC), whereas nonetheless conserving the value at an inexpensive $99 (£79.99, about AU$140).While that is nonetheless a great worth for a pair of strong earbuds, at this worth, they run into competitors from a number of the greatest earbuds, just like the $100 (£100, about AU$168) 1MORE Triple Driver in-ear headphones, the $99 (£89, about AU$125) Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear headphones, and even the $199 (£200, about AU$335) 1More Quad Driver In-Ear headphones when a great sale is happening. While the opponents lack ANC and use 3.5mm jacks, they’ve bought critical audio chops and might hook up with telephones with USB-C dongles when wanted. The flexibility of those different earphones over the Hammerhead USB-C ANC make it a considerably arduous promote for earbuds that can solely be compelling for particular circumstances.
Design
The Razer Hammerhead USB-C ANC use a braided cable that runs as much as the skinny in-line management. The management is constituted of aluminum and has three buttons for controlling quantity and playback, dealing with calls, or activating a voice assistant. A swap on the facet of the management toggles ANC and has a blue indicator mild. The in-line management lacks any form of clip although, which results in it bouncing round a bit whereas strolling.
The result’s loads of undesirable cable noise that will get added to the music. From the management, rubber wires break up towards every headphone, with a small field for the microphone halfway up the proper earphone cable. The headphones themselves are additionally made with aluminum.
The inexperienced Razer brand is beneath a little bit of glass/plastic on the again of every headphone, and it lights up when the headphones are plugged in.The predominant physique of the headphones are a reasonably typical dimension for earbuds, however these are the in-ear fashion which lengthen into your ear canal for a snugger match and provide extra passive noise isolation.
Razer contains three totally different sizes of silicone ear suggestions for the headphones in addition to a pair of Comply foam suggestions. With the ear suggestions eliminated, we are able to see a steel grille over the channel for sound to return out — a pleasant contact for stopping clogs from particles and earwax.Aside from the dearth of a clip on the in-line management, the one actual draw back we see from the design are the always-on Razer logos. We did discover one sudden impact on account of the aluminum building, nonetheless: when it’s beneath freezing outdoors, the earbuds act like extremely efficient heatsinks to your ears, sucking the warmth out and making winter climate that rather more depressing.Otherwise, the headphones really feel well-built, and the mixture of a braided cable and useful carry case assist keep away from continuously tangled wires.
Efficiency
The Hammerhead USB-C ANC boast high-quality audio, and for probably the most half ship it in spades. The digital-to-analog convert helps 24-bit/96kHz audio, which is mostly greater than sufficient high quality for MP3s and streamed audio. Listening to advanced songs from FLAC information, we don’t discover any form of compression, although the EQ stability is a distinct concern that we’ll cowl in a second.The headphones work utilizing twin drivers, with one dynamic driver for the bass frequencies and a balanced armature driver for the upper finish of the spectrum. The ensuing audio is highly effective throughout the spectrum.
The mids are punchy, standing out particularly within the vocals so, in case you’re a fan of listening to the lyrics, the stability is more likely to be favorable. But, we really feel it’s positively pushing the vocals additional ahead than they wanted to be, taking a number of the richness out of advanced tunes. That push comes on the expense of the bass and better frequencies. They aren’t misplaced to the mids, however they aren’t as distinct.We can at all times really feel the presence of the bass whereas listening to music, however it could possibly get a bit overwhelmed by the mids. A clean bass line in a tune received’t come via as clearly because it must if there’s a powerful vocal occurring on the identical time.
The excessive finish stays clear. Cymbal hits sound crisp with out simply turning sibilant. The lengthy intro of Heart of the Sunrise options numerous cymbals cruising together with an unstoppable bass line and a few atmospherics, and the cymbals are crisp all over. But, they do get misplaced in passages with quite a bit occurring within the mids.In phrases of soundstage, the audio can really feel a bit shut, making it more durable to select distinct elements of music. Complex tunes like Of Montreal’s don’t have the identical lushness they might get from a extra spacious soundstage, and that’s much more the case when Kevin Barnes’ vocals overtake the remainder of the audio spectrum.The passive noise isolation of the earbuds doesn’t provide a lot whatever the ear suggestions used. It’s pretty simple to listen to what’s occurring round us when we have now the headphones in.
The ANC can scale back a number of the noise, and we discovered it competent for eradicating the decrease drone from prepare rides, nevertheless it comes with its personal little bit of white noise added to the combination. We don’t really feel the ANC on these does far more to cut back outdoors noises than additional passive isolation may.The built-in microphone is nothing thrilling. Speaking usually with it resting on our chest, our voice is a bit muffled, and even talking straight into it doesn’t lead to dazzling clear sound. All the identical, it does the job of hands-free calling.
Verdict
Given their transportable kind issue, the Razer Hammerhead USB-C ANC sound good. For anybody that has a smartphone with no headphone jack, they’ll make for a premium headset with the added perk of ANC. But, assist isn’t common. Razer has a brief listing of supported telephones and leaves the remaining doubtful. We examined these totally on a OnePlus 5, which is absolutely supported (although we had to enter superior settings and activate OTG storage each time we plugged them in).
Other USB-C telephones may fit, however some simply as nicely might not. We additionally plugged it right into a Razer Blade, and it labored and not using a hitch regardless of no point out of assist for laptops.Given the query of compatibility and the value, anybody who doesn’t particularly want ANC and USB-C headphones can most likely be higher served by different earbuds. These are good, however the 1More Triple Driver and Quad Driver earbuds provide superior audio, good passive noise isolation, as does the Sennheiser Momentum in-ear headset. Those headphones all use a 3.5mm headphone plug, making them appropriate with headphone jacks and USB-C gadgets utilizing a dongle. Meanwhile, the Hammerhead USB-C ANC received’t be plugging right into a 3.5mm jack any time quickly.