Meet the Razer Orca, a neon green behemoth-sized pair of headphones. Sure, it sure looks rad on the outside, but does it deliver in terms of audio and comfort? Hit the jump to find out:
First off, the Orca feels surprisingly comfy to wear for extended periods of time. You can chalk this up to ample-sized headphones lined with velvet (or whatever it is) covering padding around the rims. The underside of the headband also has a covered foam lining for the top of your head, or your nape, should you choose to wear it that way. The Orca is also a deceptively light pair considering its relatively large size. Its PVC build with fewer other things weighing it down helps this. You’ll have to be careful not to put too much stress on the plastic, though, as looks like it’s not built for a lot of physical punishment.
Aesthetics and ergonomics aside, the Orca sounds really good. Of course, we tested it out with a bunch of games and a whole lot of music. The first thing we noticed with the Orca is that it’s not a very loud headset, and that’s a good thing. Most cheaper headsets will blast out audio and/or brain-melting bass with little disregard for the users’ ears. The Orca dials it down and focuses more on clarity and clean sounds.
Bass-heavy game soundtracks like that of Street Fighter III: Third Strike and most of the later Tekken games sound awesome through the Orca. I’d like to put specific emphasis on Third Strike in particular as it still stands as one of the most bass-heavy games I’ve played. Soundtrack notwithstanding, the entire game’s sound design makes use of a lot of bass and rumbling, and listening to the game through the Orca is a joy.
Even if you’re not into gaming, the Orca is a dependable pair of headphones for music. Going on my previous point about clarity, the Orca dials down loudness levels to the point where different tracks/layers in a song are a lot more distinguishable. It also delivers a decent amount of clean sounding bass while still managing to be comfortable, making it suitable for wearing on long haul trips. We’ve tried dialling up the volume really high and it still didn’t hurt our ears.
All in all, the Razer Orca headset is a fine and dandy piece of work, and it sounds just about as good as it looks. Just be sure to handle it with care.
Games tested:
- Street Fighter III: Third Strike
- Tekken 6
- Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
- Homefront
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Left 4 Dead 2
Songs/Albums tested:
- Up Dharma Down – Bipolar (album)
- Led Zeppelin – Mothership (album)
- Rush – Leave That Thing Alone
- Janelle Monae – Tightrope (feat. Big Boi)
- Guilty Gear XX Sound Alive (album)
- E.S. Posthumous – Arise
- Aranda – It Ain’t Easy
6 Comments
comfortable po b xa lalo na sa mga malalaki ang ulo? d po b ako mgkakaheadsore nan pg mtgal na nsa ulo ko, na nngyri n po dun s isa kong headset na based sa mga reviews comfortable po xa pero d nmn pla.
Nagamit ko na yung Orca, Carcharias and Megalodon for nearly 20hours straight usage and so far masasabi ko comfortable talaga sya. Nakakatihan ako sa earcup padding nya and tends to heat up pag matagalang gamit, pero di sya nakakangawit.
sir sa dalwa sa tatlong sinabi nyo sir, alin ung better headset?(orca or carcharias)? in terms sa comfortness, weight, and for gaming(esp for FPS games na need tlga ung positional audio)?
think of it like this – the Carcharias is like the Orca with a mic, as easy as that 😀
In terms of comfort, parehas magaan yung Orca at Carcharias pero mas madali i-manage yung wire ng Orca kasi saksakan ng haba yung sa Carcharias. Parehas lang feel nila pero parehas din ako nakakatihan sa padding nila pag matagal-tagal ko ng suot.
If importante talaga po sa inyo positional audio, I suggest sukatin po muna yung cups ng Orca since same size naman sila ng Carcharias, if fit na fit sa tenga nyo then ask yourself if importante ba may mic. If kelangan ng mic, Carcharias; ff wala, Orca. Plus points kasi maporma yung Orca.
Ang pinaka-importante sa lahat jan eh yung sound card nyo po. At least Creative X-Fi or something equivalent para mas rich and vibrant yung audio environment. Both can delivery good positional audio basta nakapares sa magandang audio card.
Been using the orca for a long time and yes there will come a time when it won’t be comfortable na pero that’s if you used it more than say 12 hours straight.
Since not all of us have Boss mac’s superb neck muscle strength I don’t suggest using it for that long. However I’m not denying the fact na the Orca is indeed comfortable and pwede rin siyang ear muffs pag sobrang lamig ng area mo. Since it tends to heat up after mga 5-6 hours of straight use.
Still I love the orca and been using it for how many months now 😀 sarap siyang gamitin sa office lalo na pag kailangan ko mag concentrate sa work.