A brief overview of the Razer Nari Ultimate
For a couple of decades now, console players have been able to enjoy “rumble pack” feedback directly through their controllers – creating a much more immersive experience with haptic feedback in a way that PC gamers have missed out on until just recently.
Sure, it was possible to add haptic feedback through proprietary gaming mice and keyboards setups. But unless you wanted to spend a mountain of money on dedicated hardware that was found to almost universally degrading to the overall PC gaming experience that just wasn’t a road to go down.
With the new Razer Nari Ultimate headset, however, you get the best of all worlds. You get haptic feedback for the first time ever in a headset from this company but you also get top-tier sound, roomy ear cups, and a whole host of other features that only the folks at Razer could shoehorn into an amazing piece of technology like this.
Features
The obvious star of the show with this headset absolutely has to be the Hyper Sense haptic technology built right into this unit.
The Razer Nari Ultimate is going to rumble and shake depending on specific audio cues that are being transmitted through the hardware, helping you to feel far more immersed in the action (especially in FPS style shooters, for example) than you would have otherwise.
Impressively, the folks behind this headset have found a way to add this haptic feedback without causing any real distortion to gaming audio. Dialogue still comes through crystal-clear, background noise is still going to give the level of ambiance you’re looking for, and when the haptic feedback does kick in – when things get really tents – it’s always an exciting new experience.
If you decide to go without the rumble feedback (there’s an option to trigger it off) you’ll find this headset to still be a worthy addition to your gaming hardware loadout.
The audio reproduced through this headset is rock solid, authentic, and rich without being over-the-top or too warm the way that some other headsets can be. You aren’t going to get quite as close to a 1:1 experience as you would with legitimate gaming surround sound speakers and a dedicated soundcard, but this headset isn’t going to leave you wondering where your enemies or potential threats are coming from.
The comfort of this headset cannot go underappreciated, either.
The whole thing has been designed to alleviate as much pressure as possible from your ears in a way that other headsets do not. This allows you to wear the Razer Nari Ultimate four hours and hours on end without feeling fatigued or worn out. You shouldn’t have to worry about stress headaches when you have this headset on, either.
The microphone built right into the Razer Nari Ultimate is pretty average if we are being honest, but it is still light years ahead of your typical “gaming microphone” and so much better than popping in a set of earbuds that came with your phone and hoping for the best.
Audio management (feature management, really) comes in the form of the proprietary Synapse Software directly from the Razer company. This software has been designed to help anyone and everyone unlock as much horsepower out of this headset as humanly possible, tailoring their audio experience from top to bottom to their specific needs and their specific tastes.
This is the software that allows you to enable THX Spatial Audio, flip on the Bass Boost features, utilize Sound Normalization sliders, and prioritize voice chat/environmental audio cues or to dial-up – or cancel out – the haptic feedback itself.
Best of all, you’ll be able to use this audio management software to manage Game, Movie, and Music presets. This means that once you have everything dialed in exactly the way you want it for a specific form of media you’ll be able to save that preset and flip back and forth between the three options as necessary without having to go through the hassle and headache of reconfiguring everything all over again.
Microphone settings (including Volume Normalization, Ambient/Background Noise Reduction, and Vocal Clarity settings) help you to squeeze every single drop of performance out of the Razer Nari Ultimate system when it comes to communicating online with your teammates as well.
A couple of enhancements can go a long way, and thankfully the software includes built-in features so that you can hear the difference side-by-side and back to back so that you know whether or not you are improving your overall sound quality or if you need to revert changes that you have recently made.
Wireless features are cooked right into the Razer Nari Ultimate system as well, leveraging the latest Bluetooth technology and providing anywhere between eight hours and 20 hours of operating time depending on the specific audio settings you have established in the Synapse Software.
The whole system charges using USB technology (with a USB charging cord included), and you should be able to get 100% battery life back from a completely dead headset in about 60 minutes.
A 3.5 mm headphone jack cord is included with this set up as well if you want to go hardwired (while charging your headset, for example), and many find the hardwired approach to be a little more consistent – which shouldn’t surprise anyone serious about audio fidelity.
Overall, the design is rather ergonomic and intended to stick closely to your skull without adding too much pressure or discomfort. The headset is just oversized enough to effortlessly spread the weight of the headset all over your head rather than concentrating it on pressure points, another really appreciated feature from the gaming community.
All in all, this is a very slick looking set up that has plenty of features and top-tier hardware “under the hood” to impress casual gamers, serious gamers, and even professional gamers looking to upgrade their headphone and communication hardware with the Razer Nari Ultimate.
Pros
Design – The design of this headset is absolutely top-tier. That shouldn’t surprise anyone considering the manufacturer behind the Razer Nari Ultimate set up, as they’ve been known for producing cutting-edge designs in the gaming community for years and years now
Comfort – It’s almost impossible to illustrate just how comfortable this headset is without actually sliding it onto your own head and doing a bit of gaming. You’ll be able to wear it for hours on end with absolutely no discomfort whatsoever, something that simply can’t be said about a lot of other competing options
Software – The software that comes “cooked” right into this headset allows you to manage pretty much every aspect of the overall audio experience from top to bottom. Not only that, but the software has been designed to be used by individuals that have no real experience toying with or tinkering with gaming audio hardware in the past but still produces fantastic results
Cons
This is very much a PC gamer dedicated headset, though it can work with phones and consoles (though you lose the benefit of the dedicated audio software only for PCs)
Pricing
Razer products are always a little bit more expensive than the competition, but almost everyone that ends up purchasing hardware from this company agrees that the premium price tag is well worth it. You get a fantastic design, top-tier engineering, and picture-perfect sound quality out of the Razer Nari Ultimate headset at a very fair price.
Reviews
“I was absolutely sick and tired of the tinny experience that my old headphones brought to the table. Too many times did I end up dying to players I couldn’t hear just because my headset wasn’t picking up subtle audio cues. I don’t have that problem any more thanks to the Razer Nari Ultimate!”
“It’s tough to put into words just how fantastic the Razer Nari Ultimate setup really is. Right out of the box I enjoyed significantly improved audio quality, and after spending about 15 minutes tinkering with the built-in software this just might be my favorite gaming headset EVER”
“I’m far from what you call a “fanboy” of this company but I have absolutely zero problems whatsoever saying that this is unequivocally the top gaming headset I’ve ever tried. It has all the bells and whistles I was looking for, crystal-clear audio, and while it lacks a little in the wireless department its overall comfort is unmatched”
Conclusion
With so many different gaming headset options available to pick and choose from on the market today finding the right one for your specific needs can feel like a real uphill battle.
The Razer Nari Ultimate, however, is easily one of the top options money can buy and is absolutely beloved by the gaming community (especially on the PC side of things). It’s flexibility, versatility, and overall sky-high build quality help to separate it from the rest of the pack.
Combine that with top-tier software features, incredible ergonomic design that feels super comfortable even after hours and hours of use, and audio quality that is tough to beat when using any headset from the competition it’s easy to see why so many people have fallen head over heels in love with all that the Razer Nari Ultimate brings to the table.