Your ears are sacred portholes of auditory experiences – protect them at all costs. I was raised to firmly make sure I never put anything smaller than my elbow in my brain canals, so looking at the Razer Hammerhead HyperSpeed (PlayStation) earbuds had me approaching carefully. If I was going to be jamming something into my head, I wanted to know it had good intentions.
The Hammerheads immediately promise to be a premium gaming accessory that delivers exceptional audio quality and a seamless wireless journey – which I can confirm early on is a check on both counts. With the Sony partnership, these earbuds are designed especially for PlayStation gamers, but that absolutely does not stop them from being used with other devices that support Bluetooth connectivity. They are rock solid to the touch, and while I can’t say I threw them around like an ape, they are robust enough to survive many a dalliance with a case of the old butterfingers.
The full kit, ready for auditory assault
Initially in the ear, I had concern whether they felt at home, but a quick change to one of the other included alternative in-ear tips had me far more confident. A big reason for me shying away from earbud audio options was always my concern that I perhaps had a disastrously weird ear shape, but the ideal size and weight of the Razer Hammerhead earbuds meant they felt surprisingly comfortable. Long audiophile sessions would fly by with nary a thought of issue or discomfort.
The audio quality of the earbuds is excellent, with decent bass, clear midrange, and crisp treble. I am no professional audiophile, but I have trawled through enough cheap options to clearly know what garbage sounds like – and these are far from it. I sank a swathe of different sources through them, sweeping through a variety of gaming options, podcasts and music of various genres, deliberately targeting stuff I was overtly familiar with. While the discerning metalhead may struggle to feel bone shuddering bass tracks, the output far exceeds expectations of what a set of earbuds may be capable of. Layered sounds are all stark and recognisable in your game of choice, with ambience feeling enveloping and genuine. Listening to some of my favourite albums had me happily bopping, because my eclectic range of musical tastes all came through in gorgeous clarity – whether it was nu metal, old school hip hop or weird experimental shit (love me some Dark Disco).
Conversational quality is also fantastic, including when you’re chatting to friends online, making a phone call or listening to a podcast. I genuinely used to wear my wired Sennheiser headphones to listen to podcasts, but have since made the move to entirely enjoy the wireless experience offered by the Hammerheads while letting my phone charge in another room, allowing me to branch out and do further productive things. At one point my phone rang during one such occurrence, and I instinctively tapped the earbud to see what would happen. My podcast was paused, and I found myself talking to my wife – who had no idea I was talking through a set of earbuds. An impromptu testing phase was entered, as I navigated various environments and even trekked outside to a windy Tasmanian afternoon. Surprising no one, environmental noise and garbage made the talking experience less than stellar – but overall still a very highly rated experience. A few phone calls later and the jury was unanimous: the audio quality was above and beyond just ‘good’. The touch controls were serviceable, if a little delayed – enough to discourage me from wholly relying on them, but did the job in a pinch when a quick pause might be desirable.
Even the weirdest ears on weird ear street will keep these suckers safe
The listening experience also benefited from a reasonable amount of noise cancellation. I say reasonable, because it does the trick at a level that I would describe as such – you are not going to get away with a 14-hour flight in absolute silence with these nodules in your noise holes. I was surprised at the amount it managed to cut through, just not blown away; any exterior environment with aggressive ambient noise will still pierce through, which I arguably appreciated on walks where I needed to navigate traffic.
Let’s talk about portability. Whether you’re on a run, commuting to work, or just lounging around at home, you can easily slip your earbuds into your pocket or bag and have access to your favourite tunes at all times. The Hammerheads come with a signature charging case that is made of the same premium material that you’d expect from their modern range of gorgeous gaming accessories, which genuinely feels awesome in the hand. I will always champion anything that shies away from a glossy finish, and the coarse matte look of the buds’ home is a right winner for me.
The HyperSpeed USB-C dongle
A stumbling block, however, is the lack of direct storage for the 2.4GHz HyperSpeed dongle accessory. This goofy USB-C doodad is already awkwardly shaped, but obviously serves a critical purpose in getting the noise from non-native Bluetooth devices to the earbuds, which oddly enough includes the PlayStation itself. When plugged into the PS5, you are all good – but if you need to move this thing around, I hope you are comfy with it living in your pocket, because the aforementioned sexy charging nub has no fixed address for it to reside. This actually did a lot to condition me to only using the earbuds with native devices, and leaving the dongle to reside within the PS5 eternally, if only to avoid the anxiety of possibly losing it. A simple outcome, but it may be grating to people who want to swap between their PS5 and a different dongle-dependent device regularly.
Away from that single aside, the charging case does provide up to 16 hours of battery life. While the earbuds tout up to four hours of continuous use, I actually struggled to reach this endpoint. Even on a day where I combined both gaming and the odd podcast when I was walking to pick my daughter up from school, I’d slip the earbuds into their case while making small talk with other parents and they’d be juiced up and ready to go before I knew it. Not to mention the charging case is that ideal size where it can easily fit in a pocket without causing discomfort, so it’s unlikely you won’t have that reservoir of juice ready to roll at a moment’s notice. If you were really worried about it, turn off both the Chroma lighting and noise cancellation and bam, you got even more time to rock out.
Like all Razer products, a quick jaunt to the app store of choice will give you the full breadth of customisation options via the dedicated Razer Audio app. While the buds paired immediately with my phone, it took the app a couple of presses to actually pick up and allow me to manage them – so make of that what you will. Once everything was up and running however, I had full control over every tweakable knob offered to me. With a number of EQ presets and even a fully customisable mix option if you wish to self-diagnose your audio experience, you’ll be able to wring a pretty tailored sound out of these nuggets.
Dare to EQ your way to audio victory
Final Thoughts
Effortless to set up across a range of platforms and a joy to use, you’d expect some great Achilles heel to rear its head (or whatever heels tend to rear) – but honestly the Hammerhead earbuds, with their slick white veneer and official PlayStation partnership, deliver a rock solid set of noodle plugs that will have you jamming, blamming and chatting with minimal fuss. The flaws are fantastically minor, and do not impact the overall enjoyment to be had for the price point – an extremely easy recommendation.
Review unit supplied by the manufacturer
Click here for information on WellPlayed’s review policy and ethics
