The hottest topic in the gaming headset market is whether physical 7.1 headsets are better than virtual 7.1? What better headset to discuss this debate than the Razer Tiamat 7.1 V2. It is important to emphasise that whether physical or virtual surround sound transmitted from headsets is presented in both ears, and even if it is a physical 7.1 headset, the sound position perception of the units in different positions is simulated. For example, the rear unit, the sound you hear is still from the left and right sides units, not from the rear speaker.
The Tiamat 7.1 V2 has 10 independent neodymium magnet units and is no different from the previous generation. The eye-catching acrylic window design makes this headset still a stunning appearance for a gaming headset. The Tiamat 7.1 V2 also supports Razer Chroma Symphony, and it is estimated that many users will like this headset because of the visual appearance.
The Package Appearance
Package Front
Package Back
Package Sides
Opening the box
The headset main body and the accessories
The instruction menu and sticker
The headset additional unit protection cover with Razer logo
This unit protection cover has a matte texture and is magnetically fixed for stability.
The main body of Razer Tiamat 7.1 V2
The overall colour is still black, the head beam is nickel-plated black stainless steel, the inner head beam is made of PU + breathable mesh, the weight of the headset reaches 390g, the overall quality is also up there with Razers flagship gaming headsets. The wiring part uses a total of five 3.5mm interfaces including the microphone, which means it only can be used under a sound card that supports physical 8-channel output
The head beam angle of the headset has a maximum twisting angle of 90° and a 15° longitudinal adjustment, in order to have better sound insolation. Because nearly all kinds of gaming-grade headsets that support surround sound must have some degree of sound isolation. The overall head pressure of this headset is moderate. When you start wearing it, you will feel that the earmuff is thicker, or the earmuffs are deeper, which results in a good fit around the ear
The earmuffs are made of cortical sponges
The transparent acrylic unit cover allows you to see the internal unit housing and support Razer Chroma Symphony
The microphone is designed to be folded, not retracted into the housing
There is no extra button or potentiometer on the headset
After we removed the earmuff, the covers with five unit holes are exposed
The headset central controller
According to the scale thats printed on the panel, this controller can adjust the sound levels of the side unit, center unit, front unit, microphone, subwoofer unit, and rear unit. Unfortunately, there are no backlights for the knobs and scales
The main adjustment knob is printed with the Razer Logo, and is textured
The three buttons located in the bottom side are microphone mute button, external speaker and headset switch button and 7.1ch on/off button
The 5 headset cables and a USB power cable that comes with the central controller
The 3.5mm connectors correspond to the front channel, center & bass channel, side channel, rear channel, microphone input, USB is the interface for power supply and headset lighting module, In the Razer Synapse 2.0 software, only the lighting effect of the Tiamat 7.1 V2 can be adjusted, and nothing relating to the sound quality and effects can be set. All the settings of the sound are either through the sound card mixer software or the central controller of the headsets
The Product Disassembling
After removing the headset unit cover, we found a circus board with an integrated lighting controller
Emmm..we don’t know why the wiring and soldering joints are not protected with an interference shield. As we can imagine, interference could be a problem
The transparent cover has the led light bars integrated
The internal units’ layout
The largest unit in the center is the 40mm woofer, while the front unit is 30mm, so if you switch to 2.0 mode, you must remember to turn down the volume of the woofer and turn up the volume of the front unit, otherwise the sound channel will be limited to the middle and high ranges
The five 3.5mm expansion sockets located in the back of the central controller can be used as expansion interfaces also allowing the user to connect a 5.1 channel speaker and switch between them. We haven’t found a similar function on the other brands’ flagship headsets
Carefully open the indicator sticker on the central controller, there are 4 screws to disassemble
After removing the cable, the top cover has been taken off
The indicator board
The top switch potentiometer
The main switch potentiometer, manufactured by TTC
The potentiometer knobs
The ‘IB0505S-2W’ 2W isolated DC-DC converter manufactured by MORNSUN
The mbed NXP LPC11U24 microcontroller is designed for prototyping low-cost USB devices, battery-powered applications, and 32-bit ARM® Cortex™-M0 based designs
PT2258 is a 6-Channel electronic volume controller IC utilizing CMOS technology specially designed for the generation of av multi-channel audio systems
The rear audio port board
The back of the central controller board, solder joints look messy and the soldering tightness is not very secure
Software Analysis
The headset only can be controlled by sound card software and Razer Surround PRO
Calibration can be set up under ‘Calibration Wizard’
Unfortunately, we cannot find the Tiamat 7.1v2 in the list, instead, we have chosen the Tiamat 2.2
The calibration adjustment panel
Finish the calibration
The ‘Enhancements’ menu, the suggested settings are to enable all enhancement selections to improve the listening experiences
The EQ menu, users can adjust the EQ according to their needs
The Hearing Analysis
MUSIC MODE
Whether it is 2.1 or 7.1 mode, this headset will disappoint you while enjoying music. All frequencies are mixed together, giving the feeling of chaos, nearly no BASS and overly sharp, optimisation will make all the drums and guitars become like metal friction. The vocals in the music are being stretched and tapered like the HAL9000
MOVIE MODE
After the 7.1 mode is activated, this headset finally shows some glimmer of hope. It is awesome to watch HD movies, however, it’s not for the bass lover.
GAMING MODE
This headset was born for gaming with an HQ sound card supported. The performance of this headset in the game can be described as ‘legendary’. After nearly 1 hour of channel volume adjustment and testing, the footsteps in FPS games are very precise, and the spatial positioning is also amazing. You can clearly point out voice comms, the sound of the clip and the sound of firing. Plus, the soundproofing of the earmuffs is quite good, so you can immerse yourself inside the game. The only weakness of this headset is playing music games, the music has been over-analysed and we are not satisfied with the effect.
Overall
The Razer Tiamat 7.1 V2 has improved the quality on the previous generation and still is a physical 8-channel earphone with 3.5mm analog interface. It is necessary to pay for a decent sound card in a suitable movie or game scene, sound mode, and EQ settings. After the proper setting, it did have a very good sound layering and surround feeling, but don’t expect too much for this kind of headset in music playback, mainly because the front unit was designed to cut the size and weight (30mm driver rather than a 40mm). The overall weight of the earphone is around 390g. It’s quite good for a physical 7.1 headset. At the same time, it’s comfortable to wear because the head pressure is not very hard.
Let’s talk about the shortcomings, which is the Noise Floor problem. If the headset volume is reached to the maximum, there will be an obvious Noise Floor. Then you have to use the method of increasing the system volume and reducing the headset volume. Finally, the Tiamat 7.1 V2 is a choice for users who want to use a good 7.1-channel sound card to experience the surround effect, more suitable for people who already own multiple headsets. Another problem for this headset is it cannot be supported by the latest Razer Synapse 3, if you have several latest Razer products that controlled by RS3, you have to install both RS2.2 and RS3 together, which is complicated to control and use.
EPIC PC RATE SCORE: 87/100
EPIC REWARD: EDITOR’S CHOICE & DESIGN AWARD
RAZER TIAMAT 7.1 V2 OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://www2.razer.com/au-en/gaming-audio/razer-tiamat-71-v2