Razer Opus Review: Cannot get better than this

Different from Razer’s traditional array of gaming products, the Razer Opus is a pair of noise cancelling headphones. It is meant to be a daily commute companion rather than your go-to gaming headset. And for its price tag, it is far cheaper than any other options offering a similar feature set.

Design and build quality

Razer has done a tremendous job with the Opus’ look. The headphones look stylish with a monotone design. But that is not a bad thing. You find Razer branding on both sides of its headband alongside THX branding on its outer cups. The left cup is bare whereas the right cup houses all of your controls.

The controls are laid out in a simple manner. You find buttons for volume and to pause and play tracks, a separate power button that doubles as a way to toggle active noise cancellation (ANC) along with a port for a wired 3.5 mm connection and a Type-C USB port for charging. There is a nice amount of flexibility to the headset to support bigger heads and for storage. The Razer Opus can fold inward and be housed in a nice case that comes with the packaging.

The slight concern though is the size of the ear cup. For myself, the size allows for a snug fit however for people with larger ears, this may be a problem. Moreover, the ear cups are not user replaceable and cannot be customised in size. But if you are like me, you will enjoy the Razer Opus on your head. The foam around the inside of the headband is soft and coupled with the ear cups, the headset makes for a very comfortable experience.

Connectivity and companion application

The Razer Opus connects to any Bluetooth compatible device with the pairing process taking less than a minute. One omission we found with the headset was its inability to connect to multiple sources of audio simultaneously. With Huawei devices in particular, we could seamlessly switch between two devices, either automatically or manually with a button press. We know this is not common for the majority of headsets available on the market. But it would be nice if Razer could implement this feature in the next iteration.

While Bluetooth alone is enough to connect the headset, there is also a Razer Opus application available for both Android and iOS. Via this, you can configure equaliser presets, auto shutoff timings and auto pause/resume options. Aside from the preset equaliser modes, there is no way to make a custom one. But there are some bigger concerns. Whenever the Opus is connected to the application, audio strangely starts dropping. It makes the headset unusable so we had to disconnect it from the application when using it. To be fair, you are not missing much without the application anyway.

Sound quality and ANC

That minor blip with the application aside, the sound quality on the Razer Opus is really good. With THX certification, you can enjoy anything from music and podcasts to video content. Aside from the sound being slightly bass heavy, we found the headset to do a fantastic job, keeping up with a wide genre of music. But if you are coming from more expensive headphones or wired ones, you will notice that the Razer Opus does not get as loud as you would expect. This is not a big deal though, as the headset offers some great ANC support.

Repetitive sounds such as my fan in the room are easily negated and even one-off sounds do not get in the way of your listening experience. We also think that the ANC is not too overpowering making it comfortable for long-term usage. The quick toggle between ANC and ambient mode also helps when trying to listen in on conversations around you. However, one of the Razer Opus’ most convenient features is auto pause/play. Here, simply removing the headphones and placing them around your neck pauses what you were listening to. And putting them back on plays it again. This works so well and a small feature like this goes a long way in making sure usage on-the-go is convenient.

Battery life

The good things to say about the Razer Opus do not stop there. In fact, when it comes to battery life, the headset is one of the most reliable we have ever tested. Throughout our 2-3 week usage period, we only had to charge the Razer Opus twice. This is with regular 1-1.5 hours of usage on mid-volume with ANC enabled. A large part of this is also because of Razer’s power optimisation. When the headset remains unused for a long period of time, it automatically shuts off. In turn, when you need to use it, you always have enough power to get you through.

Conclusion

As an alternative to any high-end pair of headphones with ANC support, the Razer Opus is impressive. Not just because of its great feature set but also because of its pricing. This is Razer’s step away from core gaming in an attempt to attract a larger audience. And we think the company has done well. Unless you particularly want gaming headphones or have ears that may not fit the Razer Opus’ smaller ear cup, these check all the right boxes.