With the Opus model, Razer is entering a new territory for gadgets, not only for gamers, but also for a different audience that values convenience, comfort and is more relaxed about bright design. The Razer Opus has a very tough challenge to compete with Sony and Bose, which have long been firmly established in the wireless noise canceling headphones segment. Let’s see how much Opus will be able to deal with difficult competitors.
The Razer Opus comes with a hard carrying case, a USB Type-C cable for charging, a mini-jack cable for wired connections, and a splitter for connecting to the two mini-jacks commonly used on airplanes. The case turned out to be of high quality and pleasant to use, with it you can not worry about the headphones in your bag or backpack.
I will not hide, but the Razer Opus does not look like something new and original. The design is very similar to the Sony WH-1000MX3 . Perhaps a certain distortion still plays a role here, because from Razer I am used to seeing mostly something bright, with my own handwriting, or at least with an acid green insert. But no, except for the silver logo on the bracket and the THX inscription, belonging to a strictly gaming brand does not give anything away. With this, Razer emphasizes its focus for an audience looking for more discreet peripherals. And the headphones do exactly that.
Austere design, no flashy elements, practical matte plastic – all this makes the Razer Opus as neutral in design and suitable for any occasion or clothing. Glossy details are minimal – only inserts in the bracket, but prints on them are almost invisible. The design is of high quality, for two weeks of almost daily use there was no backlash or squeak.
In terms of wearing comfort, the Razer Opus deserves only high marks. For its size, the headphones are relatively light with a weight of 265 grams. With several hours of wearing, they do not burden the head or squeeze it.
All controls and connectors are concentrated on the right bowl. In the area of action of the thumb of the right hand is the power key, which also acts as a switch for noise canceling modes. Separately from it is a group for volume control and playback. All keys are made in a comfortable shape and are well felt when blind.
Sound, noise reduction and tuning
I’ll start with the overall sound quality. It is very good, detailed, low frequencies are pronounced, but not excessive. The sound quality is very similar to that of one of the main competitors, which I mentioned above. The difference lies in the other – the customization options and the supported codecs. The Razer Opus works with AAC and SBC, but unfortunately there is no support for LDAC and Apt-X. For there is a suspicion that the headphones only benefited from their presence. But even without advanced technologies, the sound situation is definitely quite good.
Additionally, the sound quality can be adjusted in the smartphone app that was released specifically for these headphones. In them, you can turn on the bass boost mode, THX-preset and others. With THX turned on, the headphones sound a little more detailed and the bass a little harsher. But not in all compositions. Also in the application, you can configure the off timeout and enable the automatic pause function when removing the headphones from the head. The latter is realized thanks to the proximity sensors in the bowls.
The Active Noise Cancellation function is simple enough. It has two modes of operation – “on” and “off”. No squelch strength setting. When turned on, you get almost complete silence around you, even next to a busy road, such as Victory Avenue in Kiev. The Razer Opus does an excellent job with this.
There is also an ambient sound enhancement mode – it allows you to talk to someone without removing your headphones or to be attentive on busy streets. These modes are quickly switched by the dedicated button.
Since the Razer Opus supports wired mode, you can still use the noise canceling function when connected to a mini-jack audio source.
Battery life is announced at 30 hours with noise cancellation on, which is roughly true. A full charge of the USB Type-C headphones is approximately 2 hours.
Microphone
The Razer Opus omnidirectional microphone does not show any outstanding quality. It’s not bad, but no more.
Conclusion
Razer Opus is a high-quality and comfortable wireless headphones with noise canceling system and good battery life. Comparative disadvantages include the lack of LDAC and Apt-X. Overall, Razer’s first product, which targets more than just gamers, turned out to be good. But the company still has something to strive for. Except for the convenience during use, in this regard, the headphones can outperform a number of competitors.
