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Updated January 10, 2024·
The Razer Kraken is a cost-effective choice with a strong performance in gaming and a comfortable build, making it suitable for lengthy sessions. However, the Sennheiser HD800S offers a superior sound quality and exceptional soundstage, providing an immersive experience for music listening. It's more comfortable and has a higher build quality but lacks a microphone, so it's not optimal for calls or gaming where communication is key. The Sennheiser is less portable and doesn't isolate noise well, making it less ideal for noisy environments. Choose the Kraken if you need an affordable, all-purpose headset with a mic, or the HD800S if you prioritize top-notch sound quality and comfort for music and home use. 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 Razer Kraken
Very good for gaming
Advantages of the Sennheiser HD800S
Best in class for music
Best in class for TV and video
Very good for podcasts and audiobooks
Key differences
Music
7.1/10
9.9/10
The Sennheiser HD800S is best in class for music, while the Razer Kraken is good.
Gaming
8.3/10
7.5/10
The Razer Kraken is very good for gaming, while the Sennheiser HD800S is good.
Podcasts and Audiobooks
4.7/10
8.1/10
The Sennheiser HD800S is very good for podcasts and audiobooks, while the Razer Kraken is poor.
TV and Video
7.4/10
9.7/10
The Sennheiser HD800S is best in class for TV and video, while the Razer Kraken is good.
Noise Reduction
6.5/10
2.5/10
The Razer Kraken is only fair for noise reduction, while the Sennheiser HD800S is poor.
Cost
$50
$1,390
$0
$100
$200
$300
$400
The Razer Kraken has a price of $50 and the Sennheiser HD800S costs $1,390.
Build Quality
8.5/10
9.0/10
The Sennheiser HD800S has excellent build quality, while the Razer Kraken has very good build quality.
"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."
"The cans offer stellar sound quality, comfort, and good maintenance options—so they're an easy recommendation if you have the cash and the need for the last headphones you'll buy for years."
Get a great deal on the Razer Kraken or the Sennheiser HD800S
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.
About Sennheiser
A family-owned company, Sennheiser is a German, high fidelity, audio equipment manufacturer founded in 1945. Their consumer audio division is now owned by the Swiss hearing aid and cochlear implant manufacturer Sonova. Sennheiser offers a wide variety of, very high quality, audio equipment solutions, from headphones to earbuds, full sets of monitoring speakers, amplifiers and microphones. They also make what is widely regarded as the best, and most expensive, headphones in existence, the HE-1 Orpheus, costing a whopping $59,000 dollars.
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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.