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Razer Kraken Mobile – A Closer Look
The Kraken Mobile is offered in six neon colors (blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and purple), all of which have matching cords to color coordinate, and no matter the color, you can depend on turning heads. The one thing you might want to notice here is the in-line remote/microphone and its positioning. The remote is more at chin level than chest level like most in-lines. We tried the microphone, but we needed to pick it up and position it at the corner of our mouth. The microphone is omnidirectional, so background noise might be an issue if you’re in a noisy environment. The volume up and down, as well as answering and ending calls, worked perfectly and was little more than second nature.
We much prefer over-ear headsets to on-ear, as on-ear can get very uncomfortable quickly. We did find that the cups on the Razer Kraken Mobile are a bit on the small side, so at times the cups would touch our ears, but we would think that would be expected on a moving around mobile headset. Overall, the headset was comfortable and feels to be well constructed to meet the rigors of audio on the road.
One thing we noticed is that Razer didn’t light up the logo which is what you normally expect from Razer, but being mobile headphones, powering the lighted logo would undoubtedly lead to shorter battery life on your device, so we didn’t really expect a Kraken Mobile Chroma. One thing we might mention is that sounds outside the headphones were muffled to the point of almost not hearing them. The flip side of the coin is that anyone standing close to you is going to now what you are jamming to. The sound leakage is pretty audible from the two large 40mm drivers, and the mesh used in the black ring probably accounts for the sound leaking out.
The cup on the Kraken Mobile is 50 mm, and the weight comes in at 0.69 pounds, so the weight is negligible but noticeable. When it comes to mobile headphones, you can accept a little weight to enhance durability, or you can get fly-weight-flimsy, and flimsy, no matter how expensive, just won’t last very long on the move. Making the Kraken Mobile a little heavier than other mobile headphones is easy to live with, but you will sacrifice a little carrying space to that durability.
The arms of the Razer Kraken are extendable, and when they extend there are no visible wires, which is a pet peeve of ours. Wires running to the drivers and sound components of headsets should not be exposed, and when they are, that often leads to the eventual demise of the headphones. The included 4.7 foot (1.3 meters) cord is a bit short for gaming, if you use the sound out on your computer system, and few computer systems have a combined sound in and out, but adapters are readily available and inexpensive. The connections on our Android setup are standard 3.5mm, so extensions and adapters are plentiful and inexpensive. If you are using an Apple device, then you know you are going to pay a premium for cables and aftermarket items.
