JULY 2020 PCWorld 71activation code that came with
your Kraken X, so don’t throw it
out or you’ll need to go fishing in
your recycling bin. (I definitely
didn’t have that happen. Nope.
Not me.)
Anyway, it’s an 84MB utility
that attempts to replicate the 7.1
capabilities of Razer’s USB
headsets for the 3.5mm Kraken
X—or for any speakers you attach
to your PC. You can set the
“Output” field to anything, so you
can technically apply Razer’s 7.1
surround solution to a high-end
pair of headphones or a Logitech
headset or your monitor’s built-in
speakers or anything else that
outputs sound. It’s not magic, and
likely won’t sound great, but you
can do it.
The intended destination is your PC’s
headphone jack though. Plug in the Kraken X,
run the utility, and you’re able to toggle 7.1
surround on and off. And then...not a lot
happens, in my experience. I’m notoriously
skeptical of software-driven 7.1, but I’ve been
impressed by Razer’s past efforts, including
the high-end Kraken Ultimate (go.pcworld.
com/krul). The Kraken X, not so much. It does
broaden the soundstage a hair, and might
give a slight advantage in shooters, but the
stereo sound is probably just as useful in 95
percent of scenarios.
It’s interesting to watch Razer try to tackle
this problem though. As I said, 7.1 support is
almost exclusively reserved for headsets with
built-in USB soundcards. While Razer’s results
aren’t very exciting yet, I’d love to see it
evolve. After all, software-driven 7.1 was
universally panned less than a decade ago.
Now it’s—well, not amazing, but at least
serviceable. Maybe this 7.1 Surround utility
will be just as “okay” one day.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the
Kraken X’s microphone is loud. It picks up a
ton of background noise. Again, this is a
problem that’s typically solved by headsets