Razer ManO'War Review

👤by Tony Le Bourne Comments 📅17-07-16
Performance Testing

Setup, Design & Observations
To setup, you will need to make sure the headset has been charged, and plug in the included wireless adaptor into your system, either directly or by using the included extension cable. One the adaptor is plugged in, hold the power button on the headset for a few seconds and it will pair almost immediately.

The first impressions in hand is that, it feels a little expensive considering all the creaky plastic, one would normally expect higher quality materials being used. The earcups swivel and rotate through about 110 degrees, but does not lay flay due to the manner they open out, nor does it fold.

When placing on your head, the headband doesn't really flex or bend too much, but it easily fits over my head at its smallest size, and so smaller people may find the Man'O War too large. The earcups fit over my ears perfectly, and the cushioning is soft, though people with ears larger than 60mm in length may find a problem. General comfort was good for a long session and despite the use of plastic, it was not creaky like the ASUS STRIX headsets, nor did it echo noise through the frame as observed in the HyperX Cloud Revolver. The sound isolation was pretty good too, owed to the thick earpads. This would mean that there is little sound leakage, and would explain why there is a microphone sidetone enabled by default.

The controls on the earcups were difficult to locate by touch at first, but once you get used to them they worked perfectly fine, though they do feel a little cheap. The microphone felt a little short, but was flexible and retracted without any problem. If you mute the microphone, there is a RED LED indicator to remind you.

[/center

Multimedia
Audio was surprisingly good, and listening through some bass heavy music the Man'O War gave a good, powerful bass that didn't overpower the crisp mids and highs. The maximum volume is loud (not the loudest, but enough to cause ear damage if used for long periods) and there was no noticeable clipping/distortion; you could say it was like a broadside to the ear...

Anyhow, the soundstage does sound a little artificially widened while listening to music due to the v7.1 rendering, but it didn't create too much of a detrimental effect. It was here I realised that once you have the Synapse software installed, there was no option to turn off the v7.1 surround rendering, serving as a reminder that this is a gaming headset first. Fortunately, this is where the Man'O War truly battles, because that v7.1 rendering is almost game breaking. The spatial awareness is amongst the best out there giving convincing, head-turning spatial awareness. Though this is a feature that you will have to forego if you plan on using this headset with the PS4.

Microphone
The microphone picked up our voice well and though it sounded rather deep, it is clear and mostly noise free. The automatic noise reduction works very well, but may cause intermittent muffled/rustling sounds if you, for example, have a fan aimed at you. It does a great job of blocking out background noises suck as keyboard typing and mouse clicks. Due to this noise reduction there is a slight time delay however.


7 pages « < 4 5 6 7

Comments