Razer HP-1 Barracuda 8-Channel Gaming Headphones

by Razer

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 10.5 x 5 inches ; 13.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000H89E20
• Item model number: RZ04-00130100-R2M1
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,241 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 24, 2006

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer

The Razer Barracuda HP-1 Gaming Headphones features eight discrete audio drivers to enable pinpoint positional accuracy essential for gaming. It features advanced noise cancellation capabilities and a built-in microphone designed specifically for in-game communications--ideal for frenzied in-game communication.

True In-Game Surround Sound for Enhanced Positional Audio A 5.1-channel surround audio enables accurate positional audio in gameplay.

Optimal Sound Quality Expect better sound quality with three dedicated mid/high frequency drivers and a low frequency woofer for each ear.

Audio Clarity with Built-In Amplifier Hear better and louder audio with a built-in amplifier in gaming and music environments.

Technical Specifications

• Razer Fidelity gaming audio engine
• Eight discrete drivers (six for mid-high frequency, two for sub-woofer)
• Six-channel analog input
• Individual volume controls: front, rear, center, bass and master
• Detachable uni-directional noise-cancelling microphone
• Razer High Definition-Dedicated Audio Interface (HD-DAI connector)
• 2m cable

Product Description

Razer Barracuda HP-1 Headphones

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good positional sound for FPS games, September 7, 2006

By 

Jacob (Kirkland, WA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Razer HP-1 Barracuda 8-Channel Gaming Headphones (Personal Computers)

This headset is built pretty well, and is pretty comfortable to wear for long periods. The fit is tighter than most other headphones, but I found that this did not lead to any discomfort even after a few hours.

This headset is able to go extremely loud. It has its own amplifier, and I recommend setting the volume knob quite low until you've balanced all your sound sources.

That being said, this headset is remarkably clear sounding, and the clarity remains the same even if you crank the volume way up.

I am using this headset with my motherboard's onboard SB Audigy, and it was pretty easy to switch to the "5.1 speakers" setting to get the surround sound working.

The positional sound works great for FPS games (I tried it out in Day of Defeat: Source), though after being used to stereo headphones it takes a bit to get used to hearing the sounds from different directions. The positional sound is much less useful in games like World of Warcraft where the camera and the character are in different locations. No matter which you pick as the center for the sound, the positional sound doesn't help as much as it does for the FPS games.

The microphone is not particularly sensitive. My old Plantronics headset picked up my voice very well, but the Razer is very quiet. I have to turn my microphone input up to full and crank the outbound volume in Ventrilo up to the max to be heard.

The bass response is also a bit on the low side. However, I find if you set the crossover point on your sound card's subwoofer control to be about 90 Hz and use an EQ to boost frequencies below 100 Hz (the SB Audigy can do both), the bass response is much improved.

Some other minor issues with this headset are found in the cord and volume control. The cord is only about seven feet long, so you better have your computer pretty close to where you sit. The volume control brick is about two feet down the cord from the headset, and is pretty heavy (it has an amplifier in it). For some reason, they made the clip point upwards, so if you want to clip it onto your shirt, you have to turn it 180 degrees, so the cord going to the headset comes out the bottom and the cord going to the computer comes out the top. The distance between the headset and the volume control brick isn't quite great enough to clip it onto your belt, either.

Also, and I am not sure why they did this, but the ear cups are suspended through their center axis by a half-circle yoke, so that they can swivel 180 degrees (some call this DJ style since you can rotate the earcup outward and listen without putting them on). This makes the headset harder to move around with one hand.

Pros:
- Comfortable
- Good positional sound
- Can go very loud without distortion
- High quality construction
- Easy to set up

Cons:
- Low microphone sensitivity
- Goofy volume control brick orientation
- Short cord
- Bass response less than expected at this price
- Expensive

If your primary usage is voice chat, you'd probably be better off going with a much cheaper Logitech internet chat headset. However, if you want a pretty good set of headphones for listening to music, and to have positional sound for FPS games, then one does the trick.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good and bad, March 12, 2007

By 

Isaac Salas "=CRBF=gB^link" (Costa Rica) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Razer HP-1 Barracuda 8-Channel Gaming Headphones (Personal Computers)

i purchase these mainly for gaming and music, ive use them at least 8 hours a day since i received them.

first set came with defective lights and the mic didnt work. i contacted Razer support via email after 12 emails in 4 days including an escalation to a supervisor they agree on sending me a new pair and i didnt even had to return the defective ones!!! i live in Costa Rica so returning something to the US is kind of expensive around $80 or more.

new set came in and its been working perfectly Lights work great same as the mic!! i used this thing to hear music play games and do conference calls with SoftPhone software Skype and some other my company uses.

if you are going to use these for music only!! get some other brand sennheiser would be my recomendation, music just sounds much better on sennheiser than on these.

for gaming these are the absolute BEST headphones outthere!! love the fact that you plug into a USB for power no need of an external adapter.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing., December 27, 2006

By 

Kush (Bay area CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Razer HP-1 Barracuda 8-Channel Gaming Headphones (Personal Computers)

So, I bought this a couple months ago. At first, I was in love. Great sound quality, and the surround sound aspect works well in FPS games. Also VERY comfortable, much more so than any other 5.1 headphones I have owned. The initial favorable impression wore of pretty quickly, though.

First of all, the microphone *sucks*. I've seen better microphones on 20$ radio shack headphones. These are GAMING headphones, and expensive ones at that. You would think the microphone would be at least passable. It isn't.

Secondly, the build quality is pretty bad. Within a few weeks, the control brick started giving me problems. The sound would go off on one side or the other. A bit annoying. This only happens sporadically, and can be "fixed" by squeezing the sound controller. Not quite bad enough for me to seek a replacement, but annoying nonetheless.

I've also discovered that the headphones are assembled with screws - screws that aren't properly inserted, and they have a tendency that fall out. Now I have a washer flopping around inside the right headphone, and I can't find the tiny screw. So I'll have to either try and repair it myself, which means trying to find somewhere I can buy tiny rare screws, or have to send it in for repair. I might as well send it in for repair, because maybe they could also fix the volume controller...

Really kind of disappointing for supposedly "premium" gaming headphones. The microphone is bad enough to almost make it worthless for ventrillo or TS. And the problems with build quality are really unacceptable for headphones of this price. I bought some 5.1 headphones for 40$ a few years back... they only lasted a year, but they had none of the issues that the Razer has. Kind of sad that a cheap Chinese imitation is actually of better quality than this expensive crap.