In the world of gaming peripherals, seeing new iterations of products we’ve seen time and again isn’t the most exciting thing. But it is a chance to see good ideas become fully formed ones. When it hit a few years ago, our BlackShark V2 Pro review said it was, “a great headset for those who care about their audio experience,” and it definitely proved to be a contender among the better gaming headsets out there. With finer tuning on upgraded audio drivers for robust sound quality and a number of meaningful new features, the new BlackShark V3 Pro makes enough of a step forward to stand out in a crowded space, making it one of best high-end gaming headsets I’ve used in recent years.
Specifically with Razer, it also has the luxury-style line with the Kraken and a more straightforward series in the Barracuda. Having reviewed the latest in the Kraken V4 Pro, I felt its feature set to be extraneous and didn’t exactly justify its ballooning price tag. Meanwhile, the Barracuda continues to be a solid choice among our recommended budget-level gaming headsets. But if you were to ask me for my full recommendation if pricing wasn’t as much of a concern, Razer or otherwise, the Blackshark V3 Pro is certainly in that conversation.
Razer BlackShark V3 Pro – Design and Features
If you’ve seen the BlackShark before, the V3 Pro doesn’t stray too far from the V2’s design principles. It sports thin wire-like aluminum yokes that branch outward to also act as telescoping arms for adjusting the fit. The headband itself is a flexible aluminum wrapped in a leatherette upper stitched with a padded sports mesh cushion underneath to rest comfortably atop your head. Don’t mistake its unassuming look for a lack of quality, the BlackShark V3 is among the well-built gaming headsets out there. And at 376g, it’s not heavy yet still feels lighter than its listed weight because of its approach to comfort.
Along with the oval-shaped earcups, it looks a bit like a pilot’s headset but with a slim-enough profile and sleek rounded edges so it’s not heavy or bulky. The earpads are a major highlight, too – they’re made with a dense memory foam and wrapped in a velvety sports mesh for breathability. Since the headset doesn’t have a strong clamp force, the BlackShark V3 Pro’s earpads provide comfort throughout five or six hour gaming sessions without fatigue. And unlike leatherette upholsteries on equally comfortable headsets, the sports mesh here kept sweat around my ears to a minimum. A small, but effective touch is that the innards where the audio drivers are have a thin padding in case your ears come in contact, which can help those with bigger ears since the earpads themselves have a somewhat lower profile.
Along the right earcup are buttons for cycling through different EQ presets, the chat volume mix wheel, and the active noise cancellation (ANC) / ambient toggle. It’s a minor detail, but I appreciate how snappy the headset swaps through these settings, so you don’t have to hold a button or wait for the change to kick it. On the left side is the mic mute toggle, the power button, the USB-C charging port, and the microphone jack. Master volume is controlled by a knob that protrudes out of the left earcup for easy access, which adjusts volume digitally on the platform you’re using it on.
Pitched as the “esports” lineup of Razer’s headsets, the BlackShark is made with competitive gaming in mind, but it’s nice to see that it doesn’t skimp out premium features that weren’t on previous versions of the BlackShark. For one, it has a 45-degree inward swivel for the earcups, letting them sit a little more naturally around your neck when it’s not in use – while it’s not the full 90-degrees of most other headsets that swivel, it’s nice that the V3 Pro swivels at all.
The Razer BlackShark V3 Pro is an easy recommendation for those looking for their next premium-grade headset.
Other features new to this lineup is ANC, simultaneous audio, and wired analog input. While the natural closed-back sound isolation is solid, the V3 Pro ANC is very strong at its highest setting and gives it more versatility for noisy environments (although I wouldn’t use it unless I had to since it can affect overall sound tuning). While you’ll primarily use the BlackShark V3 Pro with the 2.4GHz HyperSpeed wireless dongle for a super-low 10ms latency, simultaneous Bluetooth lets you take an additional audio feed, which would typically be convenient for those who use this headset with a mobile device, too. And a USB-C to 3.5mm analog converter comes packed with the headset in case you want to plug it into a controller or directly into Switch audio port, for example.
While you’ll see extravagant features like Chroma RGB lighting and Sensa haptics on the Kraken V4 Pro, the BlackShark always meant business – so there’s no RGB, which is perfectly fine for a headset since I’m not seeing it anyway. And given its performance-focus, the BlackShark’s customization lies in fine-tuning audio performance.
Razer BlackShark V3 Pro – Software and Battery Life
The story of Razer Synapse remains the same; a finicky software suite with too many moving parts, but works well enough to bring out the best in your peripheral. It’s pretty important to have so you can make small adjustments to get the most out of the headset, and once it’s working, Synapse is easy to figure out. Customization mostly lies in EQ settings, which are crucial to getting the most out of the BlackShark V3 Pro. Synapse has built-in profiles for the most popular competitive games – Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, and Call of Duty Warzone. It’s not nearly as robust as SteelSeries, which has hundreds of built-in profiles for games, but it’s simple enough to make your own adjustments along the 10-band frequencies. This is also where you enable THX Spatial Audio on PC, and it runs on its own set of EQ settings that you can change here. (You can also use Tempest 3D audio on PS5 and Windows Sonic with Xbox as well as Dolby Atmos, if you have a license).
Other settings include ANC / ambient noise control strength, simultaneous audio mix, audio enhancements (like bass boost and vocal clarity outside of EQ), and a slew of microphone tweaks. Features like sidetone to hear your own voice and noise gate levels are here in addition to adjusting the microphones 10-band EQ. All settings are saved onto the headset itself so you’ll have your preferences even if you don’t have Synapse running or use it on a different platform.
Battery life remains solid with the BlackShark V3 Pro, rated for 70 hours like the previous iterations. Many factors feed into the actual battery life you get, like how much you use ANC, HyperSpeed ultra-low latency, or simultaneous audio. From my experience, I got about 50 hours of total usage from a full charge over the course of a full week before it dipped below 20% (according to Synapse). Considering I used HyperSpeed anytime I was playing games and used ANC sparingly during the workday, this is more than sufficient in my book and not too far off Razer’s own claims.
Razer BlackShark V3 Pro – Sound Quality and Performance
A gaming headset is nothing without proper sound performance, and from using the BlackShark V3 Pro across different applications, I’m happy to report that sound quality is one of the clear highlights of the headset. Such is expected for a premium-level headset in the $250 range, but even then I was impressed with its punchy, yet balanced sound and its spatial audio performance.
The BlackShark V3 Pro isn’t exactly bass-heavy like the Kraken V4 Pro or Audeze Maxwell, but it’s a well-balanced headset on the default EQ settings that still has good bass response. It gives a bit more wiggle room for the audiophile types to tweak it to their liking, offering flexibility for specific games. Personally, I took the bass up a little bit and treble down since I wasn’t too hot on the slight harshness and found a good universal profile for music and games.
I played several rounds of Call of Duty: Warzone on PlayStation 5 and swapped between the profile specifically made for Call of Duty and my own EQ tuning – regardless, I felt like I had a wider soundstage, helping certain audio cues stand out more prominently. Sure, this might provide a competitive edge, but for me, the more enjoyable audio experience was more important for a game that can get audibly cluttered and busy.
In Counter-Strike 2 on PC, I bounced between the custom-made profile and my own and felt very competitive in both modes. My own EQ gave a more natural sound while still letting me pinpoint footsteps, gunshots, and enemy actions like reloading to give me the edge when making crucial tactical decisions in ranked matches. In a complete 180-turn, playing something like Deltarune on the Nintendo Switch 2 is a much different kind of experience where the layered soundtrack came through beautifully even with the high-pitch of its chiptune-esque soundfonts.
It still rocks a no-nonsense look, yet comes packed with meaningful new features that previous BlackSharks didn’t have.
That positional audio and overall sound quality speaks to the adjustments Razer made to the design of its 50mm audio drivers, which sanded off distortion and brought out the finer details in both games and music – and I’m not sure if I was able to fully say that about previous Razer headsets.
Having reviewed so many headsets at this point, the microphone sometimes feels like an afterthought. Given that being able to communicate clearly through in-game chat, you don’t necessarily need standalone mic quality, but it’s nice that the BlackShark V3 Pro’s is better than most even at the premium level. In Audacity recordings, my voice came through fairly clean and warm without much of that “digitization” you hear on lesser mics, rivaling the Audeze Maxwell and SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro, two of which we often recommend. Oddly, though, the BlackShark V2 Pro’s mic was noticeably closer to the quality of a standalone mic, so while I’d call the V3 Pro’s a slight downgrade, it’s still no slouch – a minor disappointment, if anything.
Like many top-of-the-line Razer products, the BlackShark V3 Pro costs a pretty penny, but it still manages to impress even with its $250 price tag. Its well-rounded audio profile is elevated with strong bass, although you’ll need some EQ adjustments to stave off harsher treble that may creep in. However, it separates itself from the rest with outstanding positional audio and solid microphone clarity. It’s one of the most comfortable gaming headsets with dense earpads wrapped in a smooth sports mesh and doesn’t clamp too hard, too. It still rocks a no-nonsense look, yet comes packed with meaningful new features that previous BlackSharks didn’t have like swiveling earcups, ANC, USB-C to 3.5mm audio, and simultaneous Bluetooth to add versatility to what’s pitched as an “esports” headset. Any shortcomings I have are fairly minor, making this a finely crafted iteration – the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro is an easy recommendation for those looking for their next premium-grade headset.
