According to Razer, the recently released Razer Hammerhead V3 HyperSpeed improves on active noise cancellation (ANC) by a wide margin, with the company claiming 50% more noise reduction than the previous generation. While ANC is one of those things you’ll have to test yourself to really get a grip on, on paper the figure is still attractive.
Another category in which Razer is making progress is battery life. While the previous generation got a fairly average 6.5 hours out of the earbuds with RGB lighting and ANC off, the new generation gets 10 hours under the same settings. I’ve contacted Razer to see if figures are available on how much battery life to expect with ANC and RGB on.
Another notable upgrade over the previous generation is the inclusion of THX spatial audio when using the buds with a PC. Razer says they’re able to mimic a 7.1 soundstage, which I’m eager to try out for myself. I’m not a big fan of spatial audio when listening to music, but in gaming it makes a lot of sense.
Like previous generations, the Hammerhead V3 comes with a HyperSpeed 2.4GHz dongle, but this time Bluetooth gets an upgrade to Bluetooth 6.0. The previous generation used 5.2, so this should make Bluetooth streaming more reliable when you’re not using the included USB-C dongle. Speaking of Bluetooth use, if you’re not concerned about minimal latency and want to save a little money, Razer is also selling a cheaper dongle-less option.
Also, like previous generations, the Hammerhead V3 HyperSpeed is not compatible with the Xbox due to its use of Microsoft-specific codecs (although Razer did create an Xbox-specific version for it). You can still use the Hammerhead V3 HyperSpeed with basically everything else, though, including PC, PlayStation, gaming handhelds, iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch — anything with a USB-C port that isn’t an Xbox. Of course, they still have RGB. Without it there would be no razor.
The Razer Hammerhead V3 HyperSpeed is now available for $129.99, and the dongle-less Razer Hammerhead V3
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