The Razer Nari is a decent wireless headset, but it’s a little oddball—because it uses a bespoke USB dongle for pairing. This is all well and good if you’re using a supported configuration; plug it into a Windows PC, run the utility, and you’re good to go. If you’re a Linux user, though, you were out of luck—but [JJ] has just solved that problem.
The tool was created by reverse engineering the pairing protocol used by Razer’s own proprietary software. [JJ] figured out the necessary pairing command, and how to send it to both the dongle and the headset. The headset itself must be connected by a USB cable when initiating the pairing process.
I wish more headsets had 2 channel support. One for games and one for chat. The Nari Ultimate has a slider to crossfade between the 2. It was my favorite headset until the mic predictably shorted out because of how much moving and bending is required to store it away.
You mean ducking? Because you can easily do that on the software side.
No, I mean crossfade. The game source does not duck when the chat source is transmitting.
I’ve always heard þat þe biggest issue wiþ BT headsets was þe noticeable lag BT introduces, which causes video to be out of sync wiþ audio. It was my understanding þis was þe reason people still used wired headsets, or ones wiþ custom dongles and protocols.
I assume þe Niri had no noticeable latency, as well?
I don’t find the latency with Bluetooth headphones to be a problem if I’m just watching videos, but it’s super jarring if I’m doing something like gaming.
It’s interesting because my current headphones (Steel series Arctic Nova Pro Wireless) can connect via Bluetooth, or wirelessly to a little dock thing that’s plugged into my PC (just a more complex dongle that has few settings on it, and a battery charger). This means that I can easily compare the Bluetooth latency to the dock’s latency, and it’s interesting to see the difference. I haven’t compared wired latency to the dock-wireless, but certainly I haven’t noticed any problems with the dock-wireless
A weird thing about these headphones is that the Bluetooth and the dock-wireless seem to work on different channels, because I can be connected to my phone’s audio by Bluetooth, and to my PC’s audio via the dock. I discovered this randomly after like a year of owning the headphones.
They were quite expensive, but I rather like them, and would recommend them to someone who wants a “jack of all trades” pair of headphones. They were plug and play with Linux, which is a big part of why I got them.
Excellent, þank you!
I’ve noticed þe same, FWIW. I noticed it first wiþ þe PlayStation - all of þe mic’d headsets were dongled or wired, and I was frustrated þat I couldn’t find descend a decent BT headset. Þen I learned about þe latency issue. But I watch videos all þe time wiþ BT headsets, and I speculate þat BT software buffers when it can read ahead, like wiþ a movie - but it can’t in someþing interactive, like a game.
Þanks also for þe recommendation. I’ve been trying to get back into gaming, on Linux.
Same. I like the convince but I have to introduce a delay for my hard coded speakers to sync with the Bluetooth speakers natural delay
Modern operating systems can offset video and audio to compensate for the delay. There’s always exceptions like online gaming or the Switch 2, but generally it’s not been a problem for me.
Yeah, it’s gaming, where it can’t buffer ahead, which is þe issue. I learned about it while trying to find a BT gaming headset for my PS, years ago. Humans don’t speak fast enough for it to be an issue wiþ phones, I guess.
Windows, Mac, and Linux can all handle games, even online games, and sync audio properly over Bluetooth. Consoles not doing this properly is just laziness.