Razer Man O’ War Wireless Headphones Review

The Razer Man O' War are a little bulky but look decently well-made. They're a mix of a matte and glossy finish to give a more high-end appeal to the overall build. The headband looks a bit futuristic thanks to the intricate padding design that looks good but won't be ideal for durability. The ear cups are dense, thick, and amply padded which further adds to the gaming aesthetic. We purchased the all-black variation, but they have a much flashier green if you want them to stand out a bit more.

The Razer Man O' War are decently comfortable headphones with thick pads and large ear cups that fit well around most listeners' ears. However, they're a bit tight out-of-the-box. That and their relatively low breathability mean they won't be the most comfortable to wear during long gaming sessions.

The Razer Man O' War have a mediocre control scheme when compared to more multi-purpose and casual use headphones. Their control scheme allows you to control the volume and microphone levels and that's pretty much it. While this is enough for most gaming applications, it still feels a little lacking. On the upside, the volume and microphone dials are easy-to-use and fairly responsive.

The Razer Man O' War make your ears fairly hot after wearing them for a while. They're a bit less breathable than typical closed-back over-ear design since they're a little tight on the head and have thick leather pads that block a lot of airflow. This means you may need to take a couple of breaks during long listening/gaming sessions and they won't be suitable for exercising or more high-intensity activities.

The Razer Man O' War wireless headphones have limited portability since they need to be within the range of the USB transmitter for them to work. They're also fairly large and do not fold into a more compact format so they would be cumbersome to carry around even if they weren't limited by range. On the upside, the USB transmitter is easy to carry around with a dedicated slot on the right ear cup, which makes them somewhat more portable than headphones that require a big transmitter stand like some of the other gaming or the home theater models. If portability is important for you, you might want to opt for a hybrid base/Bluetooth model instead, like the Turtle Beach Elite 800 Wireless.

These headphones don't come with a case.

The Razer Man O' War's build quality is average. They're moderately sturdy but are primarily made out of plastic. The ear cups feel dense, and the plastic used in their build quality is decently high-grade. Unfortunately, the headband and joints aren't as durable. The headband is thin and somewhat hollow, which keeps the overall design relatively lightweight but isn't as flexible as some of the other headphones we've tested. The headband will break much easier than models with a reinforced metal frame. If you like the Razer brand but want something better-built, consider the Razer Nari Ultimate Wireless.

These headphones are above-average stable thanks to their tight fit on most heads and their wireless design. They'll rarely slip off your ears during casual listening or gaming sessions. However, their bulky design means they won't be suitable to wear for more intense physical activities. They're not sports headphones and aren't designed for that use so they'll fall if you use them while running or working out.

• Razer Man O' War headphones
• USB charging cable
• USB extension cord
• Manual

The Razer Man O' War have a mediocre frequency response consistency. The bass delivery is quite good and consistent. However, there can be large variances in their high-frequency delivery across different users and positions, most likely due to their ear cup design.

The Razer Man O' War's bass is good. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 18.61Hz, which is excellent. Also, low-bass, responsible for the thump and rumble common to bass-heavy music and video game effects is over our target by more than 1dB. However, mid-bass and high-bass are consistently over our target by more than 4dB, making the overall sound of these headphones boomy and muddy.

The mid-range is very good. The response is virtually flat, but with a 10dB tilt favoring lower frequencies. This makes their mid-range bit cluttered and thick and pushes vocals/leads slightly to the back of the mix.

The treble performance is decent. Low-treble is flat and relatively even, underemphasized consistently by more than 4dB, negatively affecting the detail and articulation of vocals/leads. Mid-treble is also slightly lacking, but it won't be very noticeable. Also, their treble delivery varies noticeably across users. The response here represents the average response and your experience may vary.

The Razer Man O' War's imaging performance is great. Weighted group delay is at 0.32, which is quite good. The GD graph also shows that the entire group delay response is below the audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were well-matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase response. This is important for the accurate localization and placement of objects (voices, instruments, video game effects) in the stereo field.

The Razer Man O' War have an average soundstage. The PRTF graph shows a good amount of activation and interaction with the pinna; however, the accuracy of the activation is low. Also, there's no notch present in the 10kHz area. This and the closed-back design suggest a soundstage that's located inside the listener's head, and not very speaker-like.

The isolation performance is sub-par. These over-ear headphones don't have active noise cancellation (ANC), and therefore don't isolate in the bass range. This means they'll let in all the rumble of airplane and bus engines. In the mid-range, important for blocking out speech, they reduce outside noise by 6dB, which is inadequate. In the treble range, occupied by sharp sounds like S and Ts, they achieve 28dB of isolation, which is above-average.

The leakage performance is decent. The significant portion of the leakage is spread between 400Hz and 5kHz, which is a broad range. This makes the leakage relatively full sounding, compared to that of in-ears and earbuds. However, the overall level of leakage isn't very loud. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage at 1 foot away, averages at about 41dB SPL while peaking at 50dB SPL, which is about the same as the noise floor of most offices.

The Razer Man O' War have a good boom microphone. In quiet environments, speech recorded with this mic will sound full, clear, and easily understandable. However, it may lack a little bit in airiness and brilliance. In noisy environments, it does a good job of separating speech from background noise and would be suitable for most uses, even loud places like a subway station or gaming competition.

The Razer Man O' War's microphone has a good recording quality. LFE is at 95Hz, which is excellent; this results in a recorded or transmitted speech that sounds full-bodied. However, the HFE of 6.5kHz is slightly low, which means speech will lack some air and brilliance. The area between LFE and HFE is virtually flat flawless, resulting in a natural speech.

The Razer Man O' War's boom microphone's noise handling is good. It achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 26dB in our SpNR test. This means it can fully separate speech from ambient noise to a good degree, even in loud environments.

The Razer Man O' War have a long battery life that should be more than enough for most gaming sessions. Unfortunately, they take quite a while to charge and while they have a decent auto-off feature, it's only when the transmitter is completely disconnected or without power. So if you leave your Xbox or PS4 on most of the time, they won't switch off.

Razer Synapse delivers a good suite of features with the Razer Man O' War headset. They have a great graphic equalizer with presets. They offer a good amount of control over the mic from clarity options to mic sensitivity levels. You can even change the color of the headphone lights. An auto-off timer would have been a great addition to the Razer Synapse software but overall it's efficient, easy-to-use, and offers a lot of customization options.

The Razer Man O' War aren't Bluetooth compatible. If you want a gaming headset with Bluetooth support, check out the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Wireless.

The Razer Man O' War only have 52ms of latency. This makes them a suitable option for gaming and even watching movies, as 50ms and below is barely noticeable for most users.

These headphones don't come with an audio cable that you can use with your console controllers, unlike some other gaming headsets like the SteelSeries Arctis 7 Wireless 2017. They also won't be compatible with mobile devices.

The Razer Man O' War come with a USB dongle that has no additional input options. The dongle is compatible with PCs and the PS4, but not the Xbox One.