Long known for button-heavy, RGB-laden gaming keyboards and mice, Razer has painted itself as a bit of an innovator within its niche in recent years. Through forays into things like audio and gaming furniture, the company’s expanded its reach, and its latest announcement just so happens to bring those two categories together for something even more unique – a chair-mounted head cushion that doubles as an “immersive” wireless speaker.
Dubbed the Razer Clio, this idea is actually one we’ve seen from the company in the past, at CES 2023 to be precise. There, it was in the form of Project Carol, which carried the same speakers-in-a-head-cushion idea as well as providing haptic feedback not unlike Razer’s Freyja haptic gaming cushion.
The final consumer product might not do anything with haptic feedback, but Clio is otherwise the same basic idea. It’s a cushion that straps to the top of any suitable gaming chair and wirelessly provides sound through a pair of meaty 43mm drivers nestled in either side of its angled wings. These near-field speakers are tuned and positioned to direct the sound right into the user’s ears, promising to deliver a richer and more “intimate” listening experience than with traditional desktop speakers.
If you do happen to have any kind of speaker setup at your desk, be it traditional speakers, a soundbar or even just your laptop’s internal noisemakers, you can also enable a neat Combo Mode in Razer’s Synapse 4 software that syncs them up with the Clio to provide a surround setup powered by THX Spatial Audio.
There are a few things worth noting about this announcement. One is that the battery life on the Razer Clio is rated at around 14 hours, whether you’re connecting via a HyperSpeed Wireless dongle or plain Bluetooth. Charge time is around six hours, and there is no USB type-C cable included with the product – something Razer suggests is in line with its “Go Green With Razer” movement in promoting sustainability.
For those wondering, this one is compatible with PS5, PS4, Switch and mobile devices on top of PC, though the Synapse software on PC will no doubt be the sole gateway to the full feature set.
You’ll be able to pick one up starting today, for the crisp asking price of $349 AUD / $399 NZD. Having not tested out the Razer Clio, I can’t tell you whether or not it’ll be worth that kind of dosh, but hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to let you know soon enough.
So is the Razer Clio something you’d be keen to introduce to your current gaming setup? Let us know in the comments or over on social media.
