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The new Razer opus are a pair of very well built $200 ANC headphones that definitely try to punch way above its weight class. And its obvious that Razer modeled their new Opus from the none other Sony 1000XM3’s. Now even though these headphones have amazing build quality and fit great, there are definitely somethings you need to know about them before you decide to pick them up.
Now like I mentioned at the top of this video, these headphones retail for $200… so if you want to pick these headphones up they’ll be linked down below. But personally I feel that these headphones should retail for at least $250 cause of their build quality and included carrying case. The Razer opus come included with a very premium feeling hardshell carrying case that even puts the 1000XM3’s case on notice. And its also very rare for a pair of $200 headphones like these to come included with such a premium feeling case. Cause normally most other $200 ANC headphones either come included with a soft-shell shell case or just a carrying pouch… or sometimes they don’t come with anything at all.
But carrying case aside, the build quality of these headphones makes me feel that Razer should be charging more for these headphones. These headphones fit and feel very premium. These headphones have zero cracking or squeezing when ever you handle them or even flex them… The majority of the body of these headphones is smooth plastic, when you extend their hand band there’s a very satisfying click for every step, and then there’s the leatherette on these headphones. The leatherette on these headphones puts the leatherette that you’ll find on the 1000XM3’s to shame. The leatherette on the Opus feels soft and smooth and there’s a slight grain to it. Where as the leatherette on the 1000XM3’s feels very synthetic and plastic.
And when it comes to actually wearing these headphones, the Razer Opus are definitely big head approved. These headphones have very little clamping force, you barley even feel any type of clamping sensation when they’re on your head. Clamping force wise these headphones fit like the Bose QC35’s which are perhaps the most comfortable headphones out there right now. But when it comes to the ear pads themselves… the ear pads on the opus are very similar to the 1000XM3’s. For me the ear pads on the opus fit me just fine but I still feel that if you have larger ears or ears that stick out a lot then you’ll might want to go with something that has roomier ear pads like either the Sony XB900N or the Surface Headphones 2. But another thing that I really like about these headphones is their padding. Both their ear pads and headband have very soft but still yet springy padding… combined with that fact that these headphones have very little clamping force, and these headphones weigh in at 265 grams which is well with in reason for a pair of ANC headphones like these… you can easily wear these headphones for hours on end without any issues. So with all that being said, fit and build quality wise Razer really knocked it out the park.
Now when it comes to tech specs, these headphones charge via a USB C port so if you’re an android user you can charge your phone and headphones with the same cable. But I also want to point out that these headphones come included with a USB C to USB C cable and they also come included with a USB C to a USB A adopter. Which I think is pretty cool. But I do want to point out that the USB C port on these headphones is strictly used for charging. You can’t use this USB C port as a wired connection.
Now when it comes to battery life, these headphones have an advertised battery life of 25 hours with their ANC turned on. And a 25 hour battery life is average for headphones in 2020. Now even though Razer hasn’t put out any official fast charging numbers for these headphones…. Ive found that a 10 minute charge from a dead battery is good for about 2 and a half hours of playback time. Which is not bad at all.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, these headphones are using bluetooth 4.2. But more importantly these headphones can only be connected to one device at a time. So you can’t hot swap from one device to another. Now ultimately this isn’t a huge deal, but this might suck for some power users out there.
But when it comes to watching movie or videos on you phone, these headphones have zero latency across the board whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device which is good. And these headphones also have APTX support. But if you want, you can always just use a wired connection with these headphones cause these headphones have an easy to reach 3.5 millimeter audio jack, and they also come included with an airplane adaptor. Which is pretty rare these days.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones… first off I gotta say that these headphones are definitely not going to please everyone cause these headphones have zero physical bass to them. And no matter what you do they’re not going to physically rattle your head. And also the bass on these headphones doesn't resonate all that deep. Now even though these headphones do have a bass boost EQ, they’re still not going to physically rattle your head cause all this EQ setting does is that it makes these headphones sound very shallow so I don’t even use it. And its also very hard for me to say that these are a pair of great sounding neutral headphones cause the instrument separation and sound stage on these headphones is average at best. Now personally I do think that these headphones do sound best with their stock THX EQ setting. While in their stock THX EQ these headphones sound very balanced with strong mids but I do feel the high are a bit too much and they can get a little ear pricing on rare occasion. Over all I think these headphones sound fine with their stock EQ but I wish the bass on these headphones had some kind of physicality to them. But something that very important to keep in mind about these headphones is that even though they do have an app and they do have a few EQ modes to choose from, you can manually adjust any of their EQ’s. So overall I fell these headphones sound decent enough and performance wise they don’t distort at higher volumes and the bass on the headphones doesn’t bottom out cause these headphones barley have any bass to begin with… but I wish these headphones had more physicality to them. And I know that a lot of people are going to think that these headphones sound very flat.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones. These $200 entry level headphones block out almost as much noise as the Sony 1000XM3’s. It really is impressive for a pair of headphones of this price. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
So like you may have just seen the Razer opus block out way more noise than the Sony WH-CH710N’s which a few weeks ago I said block out an above average amount of noise for a pair of entry level headphones and the Razer Opus is only slightly behind the 1000XM3’s. Now even though the Razer Opus block out an impressive amount of noise… they go about it by brute force. If you’re not playing music through these headphones, these headphones have a considerable amount of cabin pressure. Its not as bad as the Bose QC35’s which do give me head aches… but it is up there to where you’ll have to occasionally pop your ears. And usually headphones that have a lot of cabin pressure are usually older or cheaper. Where as newer or more premium headphones go about blocking out noise with very little to no cabin pressure. Now the cabin pressure on the Razer opus does go away when you’re playing music, but the second the music stops or if you’re watching movies with these headphones you’re going to feel some cabin pressure setting in. So even though these headphones do block out an above average amount of noise for entry level headphones… they do have an above average amount of cabin pressure for headphones getting released in 2020. But the really good thing about the ANC on these headphones is that these headphones do a really good job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors.
But now lets talk about the ambient mode on these headphones… they don’t actually have one but I think they were supposed to. They have this NC slash Ambient button and Razer makes a reference to an Ambient Awareness mode on their site… but then in their user manual they only talk about a quick attention mode where if you hold down this button the headphones will lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you like this.
And then when you let go they’ll go back to normal. Now sony also has a quick attention mode but it marketed as for being used for quick conversations. So unfortunately these headphones don’t have an actual ambient mode where they’ll pump in the surrounding sounds around you while your headphones are playing music like Sony’s headphones do and like a lot of other headphones do. But im not really hold it against the Razer opus for not having an ambient mode cause not a lot of $200 ANC headphones have an ambient mode.
But something that these headphones do have is that they have wear sensors. So they’ll automatically pause your music when you take them off and they’ll start playing again when you put them on. Now personally im not a fan of wear sensors, but at least the wear sensors on these headphones are very accurate. So they aren’t going to start randomly playing and pausing your music when you’re walking around. But if you want you can always just turn the wear sensors off on these headphones.
But over all, the Razer Opus knocks it out the park when it comes to value, fit, and build quality. These headphones come included with a very premium hardshell carrying case making them great for traveling. These headphones have amazing build quality cause they’re very sturdy and the leatherette on these headphones feels very good and you can wear these headphones for hours on end with out any issues thanks to their very minimal clamping force and very soft padding. And these headphones also have decent battery life. But when it comes to their sound, im not the biggest fan. First off like I said these headphones have zero physical bass to them so I feel a lot of people are already not going to like that cause I know a lot of people like to physically feel their music… Now even though these headphones do block out a lot of noise especially for $200 headphones… they go about it by brute force so they do have a considerable amount of cabin pressure if you’re not playing music through these headphones. So for that reason I only use the ANC on the headphones when I have to. SO build quality wise these headphones are great but performance wise these headphones are so so.