First, yep Razer's a gaming company specializing in non audio[size=x-small] peripherals, and it would explain why NO ONE reviewed this pair of headphones here. But seriously? For around $40-50, (later found out that she got them on sale, they average 60-70$ now, and for that price I would probably recommend something else, but if you can get them on sale around $50- worth it) they're pretty good. Are there better headphones for that price, for music you bet! But for gaming the sound stage, the bass, the clarity, they are DAMNED good for they're price, and a solid recommendation for gaming paired with a decent sound card.[/size]
Being naive to headsets vs headphones, thinking I HAD to have a built in mic. about a year and half ago I bought a pair of [size=small]Razer Carcharias. [/size]I heard them in a sound booth paired against some Turtle Beach's and other brands, it sounded the warmest, clarity was great and they seemed like a good buy at the time.
I recently got a pair of Orcas from my girl friend. Seeing me use the Carcharias all the time (when I am not deployed I do allot of gaming, fps mostly) she thought I would like them. they are a good notch in quality above the Charcharias, not tons more, but better.
Over all I am pretty happy with with them. For music (Nice bass for electronica, trance, and metal, would recommend for those genres) their great, but compared to my Audio Tech M-50's, there not in the same league, but for gaming they're over all pretty damned fun. Nice and immersive, COMFY. 6+ hours, no prob. Circumaural cushy ear pads big enough to go all the way around my ears with out touching.
I recently got a Titanium HD, with a pair of M-50s, Turns out the M-50s didn't have a very good sound stage for gaming, but for music, FANTASTIC. I plugged in the Orcas and I loved them for gaming, the bass on explosions, clarity, sound stage all great. thinking how awesome the M-50s were to music, and reading how the ATH-AD700's get rave reviews for sound stage, I got a pair of ATH-AD700's.
Vs the Orcas the ATH-700's had a better sound stage, it had... well that was it other than having better build quality as well (the Orca's are made of a light but thick plastic, they are so light they feel as if they're going to snap in my bear paws).. The Orcas sound stage wasn't as wide (that being said they are wide, but the AD700s were REALLY wide, let me clarify a bit, on a scale of 1-10 they're a 12) but everything else was better. I was shocked. BF3 being a PERFECT example, explosions, explosions, EXPLOSIONS, structural damage, tanks sound 1000x different while driving, much more immersive with the Orcas. Also I don't know about you but when my hearts racing and I am stalking my enemy stealthily to get a knife kill, finally get close enough and POW I get killed by one of his damnable teammates, I yell a bit and jump around a little as-well. With the AD700s they would start slipping off my head every time I moved suddenly. Being 6'2 I am not small. On the AD700's the bass was so lack luster compared to the M-50s AND to the Orcas I was almost pissed. Overall the sound is better in the ATH-AD700's, but the Orcas are close behind, but the immersive factor, NO comparison, the Orcas were WAY more enjoyable, and on a competitive level they are GREAT for positional audio, (the AD-ATH700's were better there, so if it's just an edge your looking for and not overall enjoyment buy them you won't be disappointed. Just don't expect to watch movies and TV and bass heavy music, with complete satisfaction if you enjoy lows, the quality is great in them but without bass it's.. just not the same playing games with explosions, deep sounds in general, and to top it off if your into MMO's it takes a WHOLE lot of immersion out of it, I mean I would ONLY recommend the AD700S for competitive gaming, for that they excel) Needless to say I returned the ATH-AD700's, For gaming and movies I use the Orcas and I picked up a mic from Deal Extreme for like 4 bucks. ( http://dx.com/p/mini-clip-on-microphone-7080 ) for Music I love my M-50's and will not look back. But I am looking forward. Some Fostex T50RP's look awfully tempting.. May Have to give them a try with my refund from the AD700s.
The cord on the Orca is my BIGGEST complaint, I have all ready had to fix the line. The audio in the left cup, started going in and out, and I am not the only one that has had connection problems, the left ear cup seems to be fairly common. Took about 5 minutes to fix though.
On a side note, I never would have went out of my way to buy these, they were a gift, I HATE RAZER GAMING KEYBOARDS AND MICE, Logitech G13 game pad, a nice Cherry switch keyboard, and a mouse of your choosing and you can't go wrong. just not a razer mouse, the damned things break in like 5 months if your any sort of a man with any sort of man like grip.
