Imagine a Razer-branded peripheral, and no matter what it is, it’s probably covered in glowing lights. Until recently, one of the company’s most popular headsets featured no lighting whatsoever, something it has remedied with the Razer Barracuda X Chroma.
Razer Barracuda X Chroma
The Razer Barracuda X Chroma finally brings RGB lighting to one of the company’s most popular headsets, but the slight upgrades to the microphone and wireless speed are welcome additions as well. Turn off the lighting for maximum battery life, or let your headphones light up the room around you.
- Six-zone RGB lighting looks fantastic
- Sound is good from gaming to music to videos
- Detachable microphone is handy
- Near-universal connectivity
- Only 35 hours max with RGB lighting
- Volume wheel is imprecise
- No 3.5mm connectivity, wired audio over USB-C only
Price and Availability
The Razer Barracuda X Chroma headset is available in black or white base finishes, and retails for $129 direct from Razer or from other retailers. The company also sells an optional Chroma-enabled base station charger for $79.
The Razer Barracuda X is the predecessor to this headset, and is functionally close to identical, aside from the lack of RGB lighting. This headset is still available and retails for $99.
Same Headphones, Now More Colorful
If you’ve seen the original Razer Barracuda or the Barracuda X, you’ll know what to expect here. Not much has changed when it comes to the overall look of the headphones, except, of course, for the lighting.
New to the Chroma are six-zone LED light rings around each ear cup. While the lighting gives the updated headset its name, you can turn it off using the included software or the Razer mobile app (available for iPhone and Android). This is handy if you want to use the headset at the office without annoying your coworkers.
The ear cups use the same design as the previous model, meaning the level of comfort should be unchanged. I found them quite comfortable, and they stayed that way for hours, so the slight increase in weight (285g compared to the Barracuda X’s 250g) doesn’t seem to be a problem.
All the buttons are located on the left ear cup, giving you easy access to the power button, SmartSwitch button, microphone music, and a button to switch between onboard EQ presets. This ear cup is also where you plug in the detachable microphone.
The buttons feel relatively solid, but the microphone wasn’t always easy to attach, even though the shape is keyed so it should be impossible to fit incorrectly. The volume wheel was also imprecise and easy to accidentally move.
Alongside the microphone, you get a a USB-C HyperSpeed 2.4GHz wireless dongle, a USB-C to USB-A adapter, a USB-C charging and interconnect cable, and a simple bag to carry everything.
Solid Audio Performance and Voice Quality
The relatively large ear cups on the Barracuda X Chroma make room for some spacious drivers. In this case, the headset uses a pair of 40mm Razer TriForce drivers. Razer flaunts the three-part design of the drivers, and to the company’s point, they do sound pretty good.
Listening to “Emergence” by the Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, both the guitar and saxophone have prominent midrange, which can often be underrepresented on gaming headsets. For this, I used the Music EQ preset, which is more V-shaped in profile than the Gaming preset, but was well-balanced with all the tracks I played.
The headset worked well for movies and YouTube videos as well, but the bulk of my testing was with gaming, as that’s the focus of this headset. Overall audio quality was good, though you may want to switch between presets depending on the game. Razer recommends the Movie preset for RPGs and other less competitive games, for example.
The Barracuda X Chroma supports virtual 7.1 sound, though it takes a little extra work to set up. You’ll need to register the headset and then use a code Razer provides you with to enable virtual 7.1 sound in the Razer Synapse software, which we’ll look at more in the next section.
Whether you actually use the virtual 7.1 surround sound is up to you. Personally, when playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, I preferred to use the built-in headphone mix. You may prefer Dolby Atmos for Headphones, Windows Sonic, or some other form of spatial audio.
While the headset wasn’t the best sounding I’ve tried, positional cues were all accurate, regardless of the sound mode I was using. Moving over to the Nintendo Switch, the headset proved just as handy in a round of Splatoon 3.
When it came to intra-team communications, the headset worked well. Voices came through clearly, and my voice had no issue carrying through the mic. Razer’s website notes that the microphone is improved from the Barracuda X, but I haven’t tested that headset, so I can’t make a direct comparison.
Tweaked Connectivity and Revamped Software
While the Razer Barracuda X Chroma typically adds features, it removes the 3.5mm jack found on older Barracuda headphones. You can still opt for wired connectivity using the USB-C cable, but this does still limit what you can connect the headset to.
The good news is that you can still connect quite a few different types of devices. Between the HyperSpeed connector and Bluetooth connectivity, you can easily connect to PC, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, your phone, and plenty more devices.
Swapping between devices is easy too. Using the SmartSwitch button, you can quickly toggle between Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless.
The headset doesn’t support multipoint Bluetooth, but it has a useful workaround. If you’re connected to a PC via 2.4GHz wireless and your phone via Bluetooth, calls will come through automatically, meaning you don’t have to worry about missing out.
A built-in switch on the left ear cup swaps between four EQ modes: Game, Movie, Music, and Custom. The first three are largely self-explanatory, but to edit Custom and to tweak the EQ curves of the other presets, you’ll need to download Razer’s Chroma software, available for Windows 10 and 11.
As the name implies, this software lets you adjust the built-in lighting on the headset, or disable it entirely. This is also where you’ll go to sync the headset with other Chroma-enabled hardware to keep your lighting in sync.
You can also use the Chroma software to install Razer Synapse, which gives more fine-grained control. For example, this is where you can adjust the EQ presets or add sidetone to the microphone, letting you hear your own voice through the headset.
Battery Life or RGB Lighting: Take Your Pick
At least technically, you get more battery life with the Barracuda X Chroma than the original Barracuda X, but it all comes down to how you use the headphones. If you enable RGB lighting, you only get 30 hours to the originals’ 50 hours of playtime. Turn the lighting off, however, and that number soars to 70 hours.
If the lighting is a main part of your attraction to the Barracuda X Chroma, that 70 hour figure won’t impress you much, but there is good news. A full charge of the battery will take four hours, but just 15 minutes will get you up to six hours of play time.
Should You Buy the Razer Barracuda X Chroma?
Even ignoring the fact that you can get its less flashy predecessor for even less money, the Razer Barracuda X Chroma is a great headset for the money. The lighting won’t be for everyone, but it’s handy for finding the headset in a dim room, and you get more battery than the originals if you turn the lighting off.
The headset can also fill in for a set of Bluetooth headphones, depending on your needs. Having to plug in the microphone for calls could be an issue, but on the other hand, if you spend your days on calls mostly at your desk, the Barracuda X Chroma may be a more comfortable alternative to a traditional headset. On the other hand, streamers will still likely want a standalone microphone setup.
Near-universal compatibility was the factor that made the original Barracuda X headset so easy to recommend, and that is fully intact here. If you’re looking for a headset you can connect to almost anything, and look good doing it, this is a great pick.
Razer Barracuda X Chroma
The Razer Barracuda X Chroma finally brings RGB lighting to one of the company’s most popular headsets, but the slight upgrades to the microphone and wireless speed are welcome additions as well. Turn off the lighting for maximum battery life, or let your headphones light up the room around you.
