The PerfectRec Earbuds or Headphones team Learn more
Updated April 11, 2024·
If you're on a tight budget and need something light and portable for listening to music or using during exercise, the JLab Go Air Pop earbuds might suit you as they are more affordable, sweatproof, and provide good portability. However, they offer fair sound quality and can be poor for calls and gaming. The Razer Kraken, on the other hand, would be better for gaming due to very good gaming audio and excellent mic quality, but they are bulkier, not sweatproof, and less suitable for exercise. Both are budget-friendly, but prioritize JLab for casual, on-the-go use, and Razer for a better home gaming or immersive audio experience, keeping in mind their respective strengths and limitations in portability and use case scenarios. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the JLab Go Air Pop
Good for exercise
Very good for air travel
Advantages of the Razer Kraken
Very good for gaming
Good for TV and video
Key differences
Gaming
5.5/10
8.3/10
The Razer Kraken is very good for gaming, while the JLab Go Air Pop is poor.
Podcasts and Audiobooks
5.7/10
4.7/10
The JLab Go Air Pop and Razer Kraken are both poor for podcasts and audiobooks, though the JLab Go Air Pop is somewhat better.
TV and Video
6.1/10
7.4/10
The Razer Kraken is good for TV and video, while the JLab Go Air Pop is only fair.
Battery
9.0 Hours
N/A
The JLab Go Air Pop has 9 hours of battery life. The Razer Kraken does not have a battery.
Cost
$25
$50
$0
$10
$20
$30
$40
$50
The JLab Go Air Pop has a price of $25 and the Razer Kraken costs $50.
Build Quality
9.0/10
8.5/10
The JLab Go Air Pop has excellent build quality, while the Razer Kraken has very good build quality.
"The JLab GO Air POP is a great option for anyone on a tight budget. This pair of true wireless earbuds checks all the boxes for earbud essentials, and performs pretty well in most areas. The microphone isn't great, but that's to be expected for something this inexpensive."
"Generally the Kraken is a very comfortable headset and there’s nothing that really identifies it as anything else. All in, the Kraken performed exactly as I’d expect a premium, designated gaming headset to perform: performing well in game audio, though not quite with the same quality of those headsets further up the price scale."
Get a great deal on the JLab Go Air Pop or the Razer Kraken
About Razer
Razer is an American-Singaporean hardware manufacturer aimed specifically toward the gaming market. They manufacture a very wide array of gaming laptops, tablets, phones, peripherals and, of course, headphones and earbuds both wired and wireless. Since 2016, Razer has owned the THX suite, aimed at quality assurance of audiovisual systems such as speaker sets, video game consoles and even movie theaters.
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This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec earbuds & headphones team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest earbuds or headphones information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the Earbuds or Headphones team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Earbuds and Headphones Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Jason is a staff expert and software engineer that has been making laptop recommendations for 7 years and moderates one of the largest laptop subreddits.
Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Luis Torres
Earbuds and Headphones Expert
Luis is a Mexico-based headphones expert. He’s been making headphone recommendations for five years and has close to 100 pairs in his personal collection.