Owning a great gaming laptop, or a great gaming desktop is one thing, but accessories always complete your setup and bring you close to the action. One of the most popular of these accessories was the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro gaming headset. Released in 2020, it’s super lightweight and super sleek, and a favorite of many professional gamers. In today’s days, though, that headset was starting to show its age when compared to the competition. Micro USB-C connectivity, for example, was just one thing that made it look so dated. It didn’t even have Bluetooth connectivity.
It’s why Razer recently refreshed the headset with the new Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) version. This new headset might look similar to the original, but the tweaks to the microphone, new connectivity, pre-set onboard EQ profiles, and improved battery life make the new version so much better to use when playing your favorite games.
BlackShark V2 Pro (2023)
Recommended headset
The Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) brings many improvements over the original version making it a superb gaming headset. The microphone is better than ever, and so is the overall connectivity and battery life. The headset even has onboard FPS profiles, too.
- Microphone
- Detachable unidirectional with 32 KHz sampling rate
- Compatibility
- All major operating systems
- What’s Included
- Razer Hyperspeed dongle, USB-A to USB-C cable, USB-A extender, boom mic
- Brand
- Razer
- Surround Sound
- THX Spatial Sound
- Noise Cancellation
- Advanced Passive Noise Isolation
- Weight
- 320 g / 0.71 lbs
- Battery Life
- Up to 70 hours
- Frequency Response
- 100 Hz – 10 kHz
- Ear Cushions
- Oval Ear Cushions, fabric coated memory foam
- Charge type
- USB-C
Pros
- Excellent microphone quality
- Super long battery life
- Has onboard EQ profiles for FPS shooters
Cons
- No 3.5mm headphone jack
- The ear cuffs do not rotate
BlackShark V2 Pro (2023): Price and availability
The Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) is now available for purchase. You can buy it through Amazon, Razer, and Best Buy. $200 is a lot for any gaming setup, but this is the price to pay for a premium esports headset. The Logitech G Pro X2 Lightspeed, for example, is priced at $250.
Design and fit
A new headset but the same old feel
The Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) isn’t the most impressive-looking headset. It keeps the same design as the previous version. It’s still pretty sleek, though and there’s a lot to like. The headset comes in both black and white (I have the black version).
On the top of the headset is the padded leatherette headband featuring the Razer branding. The side of the headset has a stainless steel headband slider. A change this year to the slider is the fact that it’s reinforced. It seems plenty durable, but I am slightly concerned about how thin the sliders are and that they might bend or warp, especially if you leave it in a bag without a proper case.
The rest of the headset is plastic, including the earcups, the buttons, and the volume dial on the side. In this area, I do like how the earcups feel. It has a pressure-reveling memory foam material, that’s pretty soft. Wearing the headset for more than four hours for work and play didn’t make my ears hurt, and the headset stayed pretty fit over my head, even when I started sweating.
Unfortunately, though, the earcups do not rotate, even though Razer focused on refining the clamping force on the headset. This was one of my favorite features on the Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed, and it’s a shame that Razer didn’t include it on their headset. This makes taking the headset on and off pretty awkward.
Everything else about the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro’s design is great. It’s very lightweight. It comes in at about 320 grams. That’s much lighter than the Logitech Pro X2 Lightspeed (345 grams) and even the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7, which is 325 grams. This is one slim headset, and sometimes it felt so light that I sometimes forgot I was wearing it.
Connectivity and buttons
Gaining something new, and losing something old
The BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) has slightly improved connectivity over the 2020 version. Now, you not only get the 2.4GHz Wireless, (with a newly added USB extender), but you also get Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. That helped me use this headset with all the devices I own. My iPhone, my Mac, my Nintendo Switch, you name it, it worked.
There are two downsides to the connectivity. First, Razer has removed the 3.5mm audio jack, so you no longer can use an AUX cable with your headset. It’s a shame, but considering most devices these days have Bluetooth, it’s not too huge a deal. The second bad thing? The headset only can handle one connection at a time. So if you’re hoping to be on a phone call and game at the same time, you can’t.
The buttons are pretty nifty on this headset. The left side has the volume dial, a USB-C charge port, a power button, and a microphone mute button. The right side has a button for toggling between the standard EQ presets (Game, Movie, Music, or Custom), and the pro-tuned FPS presets. You can control and tweak these in Razer Synapse which you will be prompted to download when you connect the headset to your PC. The software has all kinds of neat features like bass and voice boost.
I play Counterstrike Global Offensive a lot, and I love how the headset has a specific sound profile for my favorite game. You also can choose a profile for other games, too. There’s one for Apex Legends, another for Call of Duty, one for Fortnite, and one for Valorant. Single pressing the button gets you to the standard EQs, and holding it for three seconds gets you to the pre-tuned FPS profiles. Pressing and holding this button switches between the 2.4 GHz dongle and the Bluetooth.
Microphone and sound performance
A great microphone, and great sound
The BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) has a really great microphone. It’s a detachable super wideband unidirectional 9.9mm condenser microphone that hits a 32Khz sampling rate. That sounds like a mouthful, but it just means this means quality. I really enjoyed using this headset for voice calls with friends and family over Telegram and other messaging apps when not gaming.
My friends said my voice sounded extra soothing and life-like when we were sharing stories about each other’s day. Even when racing in Forza Horizon 5, my teammates said I sounded loud and clear when I groaned and moaned about being forced into a sandpit. If you remember, I reviewed the Logitech G Pro X2 and disliked the microphone. That has a 6mm cardio unidirectional electric condenser microphone. This one is a condenser mic, and it even has an internal pop filter, which helps make you sound better.
For additional mic controls, Razer Synapse has a few opinions. You can choose the default which is (flat), boost, broadcast, conference, and custom. Bonus features like voice gate help tweak the input threshold. That’s on top of the volume normalization features, as well as voice clarity to make you sound clear, and noise cancelation to mute out background noises.
On audio quality, the Razer TriFirce Titanium drivers are pretty good. The headset is using a 50mm driver, similar to what Logitech has in the G Pro X2 Lightspeed. Though the driver size is the same, the audio quality still isn’t nearly as loud on this Razer headset compared to what Logitech has done with their use graphene drivers. This is especially noticeable when I listened to ARIZONA’s Dark Skies. The background instruments didn’t sound nearly as loud as they did on Logitech’s headset, even with me going in and playing with the EQ settings to better suit the music.
Still, the frequency on this Razer range is decent enough, at 12-28,00 MHz, so heard the finest detail I look for when gaming. Like the footsteps of teammates in Counterstrike: Global Offensive. Passive noise cancelation is excellent, too, and I felt closer to my gun in my game than ever. The noises it made were loud and clear, almost like I was holding it myself, so this is one of those headsets that’ll give you a small edge in gaming. And if you account for the THX Spatial Audio, you get even wider sounds, should your game support and include the profile.
I never had to worry about battery life, either. The headset lasted me more than a week on a single charge, with casual gameplay each day. That 70-hour claim is true, and even if the battery runs dry, you can get six hours of play with a 15-minute change.
Should you buy the BlackShark V2 Pro (2023)?
You should buy the Logitech G Pro X 2 Lightspeed if:
- You want a headset that puts microphone quality first
- You want a headset that’s extremely comfortable
- You want a headset that works with multiple devices
You shouldn’t buy the Logitech G Pro X 2 Lightspeed if:
- You need a headset with top-notch audio performance
- You’re on a budget
At $200, if your budget allows it, the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro is a great headset to buy. It comes with a great microphone, and it’s super comfortable to wear. Small things like the lack of the 3.5mm jack, and the fact that the headset isn’t fully adjustable are the only factors that might hold this headset back for you.
BlackShark V2 Pro (2023)
The Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) brings many improvements over the original version making it a superb gaming headset. The microphone is better than ever, and so is the overall connectivity and battery life. The headset even has onboard FPS profiles, too.