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Razer Adaro In-Ears Analog Earphones Review


     Razer has always been known as the innovator in the gaming peripheral industry and it seems they are constantly expanding into a lot of different industries in the same horizon. While Razer has been no stranger to the audio side of things especially audio geared for gamers, the Adaro series seems to be their take on providing a satisfying audio experience for people other than gamers. Without further ado, let's get started with the review.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX

The earphones itself, 3 interchangeable ear-tips, a carrying case and product documentation.

TECH SPECS
  • Drivers: 10mm Neodymium Magnets
  • Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz
  • Impedance: 32 Ω
  • Sensitivity @1kHz: 96dB ± 3dB
  • Input Power: 10 mV
  • Connector: Gold-Plated 3.5 mm Audio Jack
  • Cable Length: 1.3m
  • Approximate Weight: 22g

REVIEW
     Taking a quick look around the box, I notice there isn't a single 'Razer' branding around it other than the Razer logo on the front. It seems Razer is confident enough that the logo alone will allow people to recognize what brand of earphones the Adaro exactly is; or maybe at the same time establish Adaro as sort of a subsidiary brand itself. Of course, people acquainted with the Razer brand would instantly notice their signature Neon Green colour of the cabling from looking at the packaging itself.


     After the usual struggle while unpacking Razer products, we get to see the Adaro In-Ears in its entirety.The body housing the 10mm drivers are precision-milled out of aircraft grade aluminium and have rough diamond-cut edges. As much as the previous sentence sounded like something right out of a marketing handbook, I have to say, the earphones do feel very premium. The diamond-cut edges also gives the earphones a very nice accent compared to the renders shown on Razer's site. Of course the body also feels very robust and could pretty much stand any pressure applied in normal conditions eg. accidentally sitting on it.



     Moving along, we find the straight flat cable of the Adaro In-Ears. This helps with the tangling issue that users face with a lot of audio products. The flat cable make it easier to untangle after storing it and won't create 'loops' when users are using the earphones. At the end of the cable we find a right-angled 3.5mm audio jack (duh). I like the right-angled jack because the jack protrudes less and I use the Adaro In-Ears more frequently with my phone and pockets aren't exactly spacious with skinny pants these days. The audio jack is also gold-plated, slowing down the corrosion process of constant plug ins and outs, extending the usable lifetime of the Adaro In-Ears.


     The Adaro In-Ears also comes with 3 interchangeable ear-tips for the users to switch to their desire. The ear-tips have a range of sizes to fit different kinds of ears. For me, the default ear-tips already attached to the earphones fit me perfectly. Always nice to see interchangeable ear-tips, other than providing the perfect fit, these also extend the product's usable period for one can switch to another set of ear-tips when the other wears out.


     Let's get into the most important part of the review, the audio quality. As I have mentioned before, this particular pair of earphones sports 10mm neodymium drivers. On Razer's site, under the part where they talk about the drivers, they claim the Adaro In-Ears delivers "rumbling bass and crystal-clear highs". Fortunate to say, the earphones are what they claim to be. The entire music listening experience while using this pair of earphones is very immersive too as the ear-tips fit seal my ears pretty tight without being uncomfortable. One comment about the earphones would be the mids fall a bit flat but that is to be expected from earphones which I presume was geared towards bassheads/gamers. Talking about gamers, gaming with this particular pair of earphones is entirely possible with the added immersion that I've mentioned before. Unfortunately the Adaro In-Ears doesn't come with an in-line microphone like the Hammerhead Pro, so do be aware of this.



     Before I end this review, let's look at the carrying case that comes alongside the Adaro In-Ears. The case is what I consider as a hard carrying case but still one can push it in if large amounts of pressure is applied; if you are wondering if that will leave a dent in the case, the answer would be no. Anyhow, the case still presents itself as a much more secure way to bring your earphones around compared to throwing it straight into your pocket/bag. One side of the carrying case also has netting included, which I presume is used to store the extra ear-tips, so careless people like me can stop worrying where I misplaced them.

CONCLUSION
     In a nutshell, seeing from all the points I have written above, the Adaro In-Ears presents itself as a pretty decent pair of earphones for bassheads and gamers on the move; however, that is before we look at the price tag. The Razer Adaro In-Ears retails at MYR 319.00 according to Razer's online store but I got mine for MYR 299.00 at Low Yat Plaza. In my opinion, that's a very premium price for a pair of wired earphones; I could have gotten one of Plantronics wireless offerings at that range. Unless you absolutely love the aesthetics of the Adaro In-Ears, I suggest that you check out offerings from other brands as I believe you can easily find such audio quality within the sub RM250 range of earphones too.

Razer Synapse 2.0 Overview


If you didn't know already, Razer requires you to run their software dubbed "Synapse 2.0" if you desire to fully utilize the fact that you bought one of their premium-ly priced products. Today I will do a brief (or maybe long) overview of what Synapse 2.0 truly adds to the product you just purchased.

the login prompt you get after starting the software.
  As you can see above, you get a login prompt as you start the software for the first time. No fright, its only a one time procedure as you can stay logged in afterwards. This part of the software is where it got a lot of flak for because of it's "always online" behaviour. In the past you could not reprogram your macros or change whatever else if  you were not connected to the internet. That is nothing to be worry about now because the software now also works without an internet connection provided you were logged in the last time you were connected to the internet.

main interface
  After logging in, you will be prompted with the main interface. Depending on what devices you have connected to your computer, the main interface will show the devices on the bottom left. In my case I have my Razer Deathstalker and Deathadder connected to my laptop.

  Once you are in the Synapse interface, there is a ton of stuff to figgle around in here. For instance, you could rebind literally every key on your Razer keyboard! Beat that!

wait for it......
the default key
the abundance of options you could choose from

  And of course with gaming grade peripherals, of course you get the option to record macros. If you have no idea what recording a macro is, it is essentially recording a sequence of keys you press to enable quick access while you are gaming. For an example, I recorded how I usually fetch items from my stash to courier in Dota 2, and binded it into one of my sidekey of my mouse, so instead of pressing the sequence, I have access to my items in one click.

the macro recording screen

I don't think there is anything more to add at this point, but if you have any opinions, feel free to drop me an email or comment below.