Member-only story
Razer’s HyperSpeed Wireless May Not Play or Work Well With Others
Yesterday, I was recording some voice samples with the adequate-but-aging SteelSeries Arctis 7P. Or at least, I was trying to. Every recording was plagued with weird digital interference noise and popping sounds, something I hadn’t experienced while writing my review. I also noticed that my overall audio quality and range weren’t what I normally expected.
My brain couldn’t let this go, so I launched into troubleshooting mode. I tried a different wired headset to make sure that it wasn’t my Windows 11 install throwing a fit. No issues. I tried using the Arctis 7P wired to make sure that it wasn’t something wrong with the microphone itself. Again, no issues. Then, on a whim, I unplugged the Razer Orochi V2 USB receiver that was sitting three ports away from the headset dongle on the front of my case.
The issues were fixed instantly. Here’s a short sample I recorded to demonstrate the difference.
“Huh. That’s strange. I thought that these new wireless systems weren’t supposed to interfere with other devices, so that they’ll work in competitive settings?” I plugged the mouse dongle back in, and the issues returned. This happened whether or not the actual mouse was active and connected at the time.
I walked over to my infamous parts closet and pulled out a selection of other wireless mice, and tested their dongles in the same USB port one by one. I tried the SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless, Logitech G305, and Roccat Kone Pro Air. None of them caused interference issues with the headset.
Then I tried the Orochi V2 once more, and once more the noise returned. I also tried the Razer Basilisk Ultimate, and while it wasn’t as bad, the noise was still present. I’ve had mic noise and small connection issues like this with other wireless headsets from time to time, including Razer’s own Barracuda X, but I had never pinned it down to Razer’s HyperSpeed mouse dongles before. Is it possible that my Orochi V2 has some sort of one-off issue? Or that an update I had to install to improve its connectivity…
