What is the Razer Electra V2?
Sitting on the cheaper side of Razer’s growing range of gaming headsets, the Razer Electra V2 isn’t exactly a hallmark of quality. Nevertheless, it delivers a surprisingly robust audio experience for the price.
Coming in at £54.99, the Razer Electra V2 offers everything you’d expect of an affordable gaming peripheral without sacrificing the iconic aesthetic synonymous with the brand itself. You’re not paying for premium feel or sound here, resulting in a budget headset we can easily recommend.
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Razer Electra V2 – Design
Sporting a black design with neon green highlights, the Razer Electra V2 headset is immediately distinctive. It’s also quite small, fitting fairly snuggly around my head and ears. It offers little by way of any adjustment, which is a disadvantage when compared to the brand’s more versatile, expensive headsets.
The frame is made of cheap-feeling plastic, resulting in a headset that isn’t the most comfortable to wear for prolonged periods. The Electra V2’s upper portion is a mixture of plastic and metal, much like the Razer Nari, albeit of noticeably inferior quality.
Available in USB and 3.5mm audio jack variants, the Razer Electra V2 can be plugged into your PC, laptop or games console with relative ease – although I was slightly concerned with how delicate the connections in question felt when inserting them into my desktop. Something more substantial here would have been welcome, especially considering how quickly wear and tear can become apparent with headsets such as this.
The microphone plugs into the left of the unit without any issues. It sports a flexible design that makes positioning it around your mouth for optimal conformity a breeze. As for the ear cups themselves, they’re more or less serviceable. Nothing overly mind-blowing, but they get the job done.
For added convenience, the Razer Electra V2 also has a volume adjuster near the left-hand ear cup that can be used to control the level of audio outside of applications themselves. It’s hardly a bastion of accuracy; it’s thick and unsightly. But like much of the Electra V2, it does the job it sets out to do. It’s just a shame it doesn’t correspond at all with Windows’ own volume slider on PC.
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Razer Electra V2 – Audio
Razer has created a functional headset with the Electra V2 then, although it isn’t precision-focused to blow your mind with regards to audio performance. The sound profile here is decent, offering a good balance between dynamic effects and dialogue spread across wide open spaces in Blizzard’s Overwatch and Final Fantasy XIII. (The latter was recently patched to support Xbox One X, if you’re wondering why I’m playing a JRPG from eight years ago).
However, the headset just doesn’t display the dynamic excitement I’ve experienced with better devices, lacking a sense of vibratic immediacy despite the presence of virtual surround sound. Once again, it’s passable, but Razer could have pushed the boat out further.
In addition, the Electra V2’s 40mm audio drivers can’t compete with rival headsets such as the Turtle Beach Stealth 300, which presents a more immersive audio profile for a slightly higher price. Performance across all platforms is seamless, even if you’re plugging the device into a PS4 or Xbox One controller straight from a PC.
Of course, your audio experience can be enhanced through the use of Razer Synapse, and we’d recommend those with even a handful of Razer products should install this application.
Razer Surround is a way of mimicking the desired effect on any pair of stereo headphones, and it does a reasonably good job. It can’t perfectly imitate the immersion you’d experience from a genuine setup, but for a budget option, it’s more than good enough.
The microphone, like much of the Electra V2’s features, is fine. My friends could hear me loud and clear in games, and recording myself resulted in similarly satisfactory results. It looks and feels great, too, acting as a natural part of the headset’s design whilst also being taken out with ease.
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Why buy the Razer Electra V2?
The Razer Electra V2 is a perfectly competent gaming headset with the versatility to perform across a variety of different platforms. However, it is possible to find better alternatives for a similar price that offer superior sound and more attractive, premium-feeling designs.
The plastic frame and uncomfortable fit are a clear indication of Electra V2’s status as a budget headset, although Razer fanatics will still find a lot to love about the striking colour scheme.
Verdict
A decent budget headset – but rivals offer better sound quality.
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