Get Them Here
A few months ago we checked out the Razer Opus ANC headphones. And over all I was very impressed by them. They have spectacular build quality and they also block out a ton of noise for a pair of entry level ANC headphones. So I thought hey lets check out the Razer Hammerhead Pro truly wireless earbuds. And over all these are also a decent pair of truly wireless earbuds that im not mad at.
Now price wise the Hammerhead Pro’s retail for $200. But quite frankly I’d feel more comfortable picking these earbuds at around $150 or a little less cause simply put there’s a lot of competition around the $200 mark that do out perform the Hammerhead Pro’s. But nonetheless if you want to pick these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Now as with any other pair of truly wireless earbuds, first lets go over the carrying case. So its quite obvious that the hammerhead pro’s case takes a lot of inspiration from the AirPods Pro’s case. But over all this case is a little larger than the Airpods Pro’s case. This case has a slightly larger foot print and it is a little thicker. But nonetheless the Hammerhead pro’s case is small enough for everyday carry and youre not going to notice it too much when you’ve got it in your pocket. And from a build quality standpoint this case does not disappoint. This case has a matte black finish to it which makes it very easy to get a grip. This lid snaps open and close very nicely just like the Airpods Pro’s case and this case also has very strong magnets in it making it very easy to put your earbuds away. Now this is going to be a first for me, but I feel the magnets in this case are a little too strong… cause sometimes it can be a little hard to take these earbuds out of their case. Now ive gotten the hang of how im supposed to grab onto these earbuds, but I did want to point out that there is a slight struggle to get things outs where as there isn’t with these other earbuds.
Now in order to charge this case, its charges via a USB C port as it should. But the hammerhead pro’s do come included with a braided USB C to USB A cable which I think is a nice touch. However one very important thing to point out here is that this case does not have wireless charging. Now personally I don’t mind not having wireless charging cuase I still prefer to use a wired connection… but wireless charging is a pretty standard feature for earbuds in this price range now.
Regarding battery life, these earbuds have a combined advertised battery life of 20 hours. The earbuds themselves can go for 4 straight hours with their ANC turned on and the case can supply an additional 4 charges. And personally I’ve found that with their ANC turned off these earbuds are good for around 6 hours of playback time.
Now over all battery life on these earbuds is decent and they’ll definitely get the job done… But when compared to their direct competition battery life on these earbuds is lagging behind here a little bit. Most earbuds in this price range are trying to shoot for at least the combined 24 hour mark.
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves. Regarding fit, the Hammerhead pro’s are a pair of in ear earbuds, but they don’t go in deep into your ear canal like a standard pair of in ear earbuds like lets say either the Galaxy Buds Plus or the Sennheiser CX 400BT’s. The Hammerhead pro’s are a pair of shallow fitting in ear earbuds like either the Airpods Pro or Jabra Elite 85T’s which help provide a more comfortable fit but still manage to block out a decent amount of ambient noise. But one standout characteristic about the Hammerhead pro’s is that they actually come included with a few different ear tip types. Which is very rare these days. Personally I like the using the standard ear tips here cause they’re very smooth so they’re super comfortable. But if you’re looking for a more secure fit than you can go with the translucent ear tips here which are more rigid than the stock ear tips so they provide a little more grip. Or if you want a super secure fit and if you want to block out the most amount of noise here then you could go with the Comply ear tips. But personally im not the biggest fan of comply ear tips in general cause they do get itchy after awhile. But nonetheless I do think its pretty cool that the Hammerhead pro’s give you options. But like I said I do prefer to just use the stock black ear tips with these earbuds cuase they’re the most comfortable one’s here… but these earbuds can still wiggle out a little bit similar to the Airpods pro.
Regarding connectivity, each earbud establishes a connection with your phone. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time you can use either one it doesn’t matter. And for 2021 this is the type of connection set up that we want to see in earbuds these days.
Now when it comes to performance these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you using an iPhone or and android device which is always great. But these earbuds also have a Gaming Mode to boost the earbuds wireless performance and get you a low latency connection. Overall this is just stuff manufacture’s say cause I really can’t tell a difference. Gaming mode on your earbuds isn’t going to increase your KD ratio. But finally when it comes to audio codecs these earbuds have support for SBC and AAC. Pretty standard.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these earbuds. One of my main complaints about the Razer Opus ANC headphones was that I felt their bass lacked physicality… so personally I find it very ironic that the Hammerhead Pro’s have much harder hitting bass this time around. Now overall the Hammerhead pro’s are a pair of fun sounding earbuds, their bass has a lot of kick to it, it even resonates a little bit… mids are well pronounced and distortion isn’t a problem for these earbuds at higher volumes. And the active noise cancelation on these earbuds really doesn’t change how they sound. But the instrument separation and sound stage on these earbuds isn’t the best. They can sound a little narrow. And sometimes the bass on the earbuds can get a little muddy if you’re listening to something that has a lot of bass. Basically the hammerhead pro’s sound like AirPods Pro if the AirPods Pro’s bass actually resonated what so ever. Now these earbuds have a few different EQ mode to choose from… but personally I just don’t like any of these pre-made EQ’s. They either sound too tinny, too shallow, or too nasally. But thankfully these earbuds have a fully customizable EQ so you can make them sound however you want. Overall these earbuds sound fine and they should please your average listener, but if you’re looking for better detail, better instrument separation or cleaner bass than you’ll might want to go with either the Galaxy Buds Pro or the Sennheiser CX 400BT’s.
Now when it comes to media controls, these earbuds are using touch pads. You can play and pause your music, you can skip and track and go back a track. And over all the accuracy of these touch pads is pretty good. They aren’t overly sensitive like the Galaxy Buds Pro’s touch pads and they’re much more responsive than the Galaxy Buds Live touch pads. And through their app you can customize the layout of this touch pad. But unfortunately these earbuds don’t allow you to adjust the volume of your music. You’re either going to have to use your phone to adjust your music or you’re going to have to talk to your voice assistant.
But one gripe that I do have to point out about these earbuds is that for the life of me I can’t figure out how to turn off the voice prompts on these earbuds. Everytime that I put these earbuds in they say bluetooth connected. Of if you switch them between active noise cancelation or their ambient mode they’ll go ANC On, ANC Off, or ambient on. Personally I just like setting my earbuds to just play a tone instead of full on voice prompts.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds… plainly said the active noise cancellation on these earbuds really doesn’t compete against lets say the Galaxy Buds Pro, Airpod Pro, or Jabra Elite 85T’s. They really don’t block out too much noise. And these earbuds really struggle when its comes to blocking out higher frequency sounds.
Now if you were to use the Comply ear tips with these earbuds than they are going to manage to block out more noise… but thats cause the comply ear tips are providing a better seal. But like I mentioned earlier, comply ear tips aren’t as comfortable as the silicon ear tips for long use sessions.
Now like ive mentioned in the past I don’t really care about active noise cancelation on my earbuds and what’s really important to me is the quality of the ambient mode on my earbuds. And over all the Hammerhead pro’s have a really good ambient mode. It sounds almost as neutral as the Airpods Pro’s ambient mode and their microphone array does decent job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors.
Now these earbuds will still pick up wind noise if you’re hit with a hard enough gust at the right angle… but still its pretty good. My only complaint is that there is a little bit of a low pitched hiss in the background. Now the hissing isn’t as noticeable as the Galaxy Buds Pro’s hissing and you’re not going to hear it if you have something playing… but its still there.
However, one really cool thing about the ambient mode on these earbuds is that its the active kind… meaning that they’ll actively turn off if they detect a sudden spike in loud noise and turn their ambient mode back on when that loud noise stops. Now this is a big deal cuase an active ambient mode is still pretty rare for ANC headphones and especially earbuds.
But finally here’s the microphone test… now its not the best but its defeneitly not the worst. Although ill might sound a little far away you and there might be a slight echo can definitely still take phone calls with this microphone in a quiet room.
But if you try to take phone calls with these earbuds in a noisier environment, even though this microphone does try to isolate you voice… it really can alter the way you sound. So for that I reason I say try to take phone calls with these earbuds in a quieter area.
So with all that being said, the Razer Hammerhead pro’s are a decent pair of everyday carry truly wireless earbuds that sound fun, they have a decent ambient mode, and they’re very comfortable to wear. But personally I would feel more comfortable picking these earbuds up if they’re on sale for $150 or a little less cause at $200 these earbuds to struggle to keep up with the rest of the competition. For starters this case doesn’t have wireless charging which is a pretty standard feature now once we get to the $200 price range, their combined battery life is lacking a little bit, and their active noise cancelation isn’t super impressive. Nonetheless the Hammerhead pro’s are decent and im not mad at them, but they didn’t blow me away like the Razer Opus ANC headphones.