Razer BlackShark V3 Pro review – a gaming headset with a lot of bite

The Razer BlackShark V3 Pro offers brilliant sound quality when playing games, and coupled with a comfortable design and great active noise cancellation (ANC), it’s a beast of a peripheral. However, it does lack sonically when it comes to music, and I hope Razer can bring a USB-C dongle for 2.4GHz in the next model.

Razer has a sharp eye for what works well in a great peripheral, so when it came to the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro headset, it’s safe to say I was expecting something brilliant. Unsurprisingly, the company has done a wonderful job with its latest gaming headphones, and while there are some minor inconveniences that I hope a V4 Pro fixes, it gets big recommendations from me already.

We’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. You can find Razer’s fingers across a large portfolio of accessories, having products in everything from our best earbuds list to our best mobile controllers guide. However, I’ve never been a big supporter of its headsets, whether it’s a problem with the comfort, the price tag, or the audio quality itself.

There’s a small issue for those playing on the best handheld consoles, though. The 2.4GHz dongle, which makes a huge difference in lower latency than Bluetooth, isn’t one that plugs straight into a USB-C port. Instead, it comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable in a dongle, meaning it will hang around if you need the best performance, so you might have to buy a very short USB-C to USB-C cable to avoid it swinging around and potentially flying off.

Of course, design is not the only thing that makes a good pair of headphones – even if it is a major thing that the BlackShark V3 Pro mostly nails. It’s all about how the audio sounds when playing anything from the best Switch games to the best mobile games, and anything in between. Fortunately, I can say that Razer’s latest model smashes it, with detailed audio that is crystal clear and is feature-packed with spatial audio and active noise cancellation, the latter offering some of the best I’ve had in a gaming headset.

For example, playing Delta Force on my gaming phone – it may be through Bluetooth, which does add some latency, but the ringing of bullets flying through in the best FPS games feels impactful. You can then easily switch to other titles with the EQ presets, diving into the swooshing of the wind in some cozy games, for example. Razer’s PC and mobile apps both make this easy to do, and you always have the chance to mess with the EQ settings to perfect that sound. If you do own a PC, the headset will automatically adjust to make the most out of each game.

Not only does the audio offer great clarity, but the actual sound has a fair amount of punchiness to it. The best action games offer a nice amount of bass whenever attacks occur, and it adds a great amount of dynamic sound to games that most wireless headphones fail to offer, especially at this price range.

The microphone is also impressive, giving my voice a natural sound as if I were next to the person I’m talking to online. After using it for not only games but also regular work meetings, there were no complaints about any distortion. Sure, it won’t beat dedicated microphones, but it’s a solid addition to the headset.

Admittedly, I’m not as impressed with using it for music, which is a joint-first reason for buying a pair of headphones myself. The treble sounds quite rough, and it requires a lot of EQ mixing to really get it to a listenable standard, and while that may not frustrate people wanting to solely buy a gaming headset, it may take some work to fix if you want an all-rounder. Otherwise, the sound quality is superb.

It’s not quite the cheapest product on the market, but you’re not going to get ridiculously great quality and plenty of features at a sub-$200 price unless someone is truly undercutting the industry. Even then, Razer’s consistent updates on hardware and software have made it a standout company for years, and for good reason.

If you’re looking for something that will keep you competitive in your favorite games and dominate matches of anything from Call of Duty Mobile to the pounding of the ground in titles like Donkey Kong Bananza, the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro is a big recommendation from me. It may not be quite as solid to make it a mainstay for your daily life, but it does what it says on the box, and for that, it’s a brilliant pair of headphones for the money.