Verdict

If it sits within your budget, the Razer Nari is a definite choice for those looking to purchase a new gaming headset. It’s smartly designed, attractive and sporting all of the elements you’d expect from a peripheral at this price point.

Pros

• Smart and attractive design
• Impressive audio and microphone
• Plenty of customisation features
• Battery life is good for long sessions

Cons

• Can feel surprisingly loose on your head
• Microphone could feel more sturdy

What is the Razer Nari?

The Razer Nari is a gaming headset priced at £149.99, establishing itself as a premium peripheral with all of the aesthetics you’d expect from the popular brand. Renowned for its striking pitch black and venom green colour combination, this is a headset that will take pride of place in any serious setup.

And it isn’t all about visuals – the Razer Nari delivers on the fronts of audio and oodles of distinct customisation options that help cater to your specific preferences. While lacking the haptic vibration of the Nari Ultimate, this base model still stands up against the competition as a fiercely impressive headset.

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The pitch black design might not be for everyone

Razer Nari – Design

Like many other Razer products, the Nari headset is entirely black with slightly different shades present across the entire device. This brooding colour scheme won’t be for everyone, but it’s perfectly suited for the fluorescent RGB lighting located in each ear cup.

These can be customised to your liking with Razer Synapse, a bespoke programme that will prompt an install once the Nari is linked to a PC or laptop. I found there to be a surprisingly generous range of options for customising the lighting, audio balance and even sensitivity of the wireless microphone, gradually fiddling with things until I found a preset that worked.

It’s quick and easy to use, although you will need to set up an account to gain proper access to everything. I did encounter a few issues where the microphone wouldn’t respond without Synapse being open in the background, or I was being received far too quietly during multiplayer sessions. But these were temporary issues, having only emerged as small teething errors.

The headphones themselves are made up of a somewhat hollow plastic extending into a more robust headband consisting of both a softer material and metal. It’s easily adjustable and perhaps a little too flimsy when resting on your head before finding a position that really fits you.

Leaning back while playing the PS4 led to it slipping off my head, so it would’ve been nice for it to push tighter against me. After popping it on the head of a colleague, they felt the same, indicating that the lack of a decent seal made for inconsistent noise cancellation.

This small niggle aside, I love the Razer Nari’s robust, comfortable design. My personal highlight is the absurdly soft ear cups, snuggling against you with a soft, almost silky material that springs back against your touch. Razer has emphasised this headset can be used in professional gaming settings, and it definitely shows.

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It fits in perfectly with most major gaming setups

Razer Nari – Audio

You can use the Razer Nari both wired and wireless, with a Bluetooth dongle securely stored in the headset itself if you fancy using it on consoles or with a laptop on the move. Its seamless connectivity makes doing so a joy, and I’m yet to experience any latency issues with audio on any of the devices I’ve tried.

General audio quality is solid, delivering a profile that’s worthy of the hefty price the Razer’s Nari headset demands. It’s heavy on bass, yet the tonal balance feels evenly distributed throughout the design. For example, in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, the groans of zombies and blasting of grenades felt natural, nailing both high and low ranges across the spectrum.

There’s certainly a lot of bass here, which is indicative of Razer’s other range of headsets, although there’s enough dynamism across different audio settings to make it feel necessary and impactful. Tested across a variety of games and applications, I never felt displeased with Nari’s audio quality. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

THX Spatial Audio is simply a cherry on top of an impressive audio feature set, providing an additional sense of realism to the majority of games. By simulating 360 degrees of audio around the player, it’s very easy to determine the footsteps of players in online shooters or the source of incoming gunfire. 

The microphone, stored within one of the ear cups and pulled out with a seamlessly soft tug, is perfectly fine. Audio quality is crisp and clear, and there’s a toggle on the headset itself to balance the game and chat audio if you’re having trouble hearing one or the other.

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With wireless and wired settings, there’s plenty of buttons and inputs on the Nari

Should I buy the Razer Nari?

If it sits within your budget, the Razer Nari is a definite choice for those looking to purchase a new gaming headset. It’s smartly designed, attractive and sporting all of the elements you’d expect from a peripheral at this price point.

Those with money to spare and hoping for a superior experience with haptic feedback might want to splurge on the Razer Nari Ultimate. But if not, this is a perfectly fine alternative.

Verdict

A fantastic headset for PS4 and PC gamers.

Trusted Score