Razer are forever expanding their range, with the latest venture into discrete PC speakers. We look at the Razer Nommo Chroma 2.0 set, with RGB lighting and custom tuned 3-inch tweeters.
Product on Review: Razer Nommo Chroma
Manufacturer: Razer
Street Price: £169.99 / $149.99
If you’re currently using the tinny, rubbish speakers built into your monitor or laptop, you’re also likely to want an upgrade. Perhaps Razer have the answer for you with the Razer Nommo.
The Razer Nommo arrives in three different flavours; the Nommo, The Nommo Chroma, with added RGB base-lighting and the Razer Nommo Chroma Pro, with a pair of extra tweeters, a stand-alone subwoofer and in-line remote control. The first two are largely similar with the latter being a whole different ball game, along with a £330 price increase to boot.
Today we’ll look at the Razer Nommo Chroma. This is Razer’s first real venture into the world of PC speakers, featuring a 2.0 set-up with custom woven glass fibre 3-inch drivers, rear facing bass ports, RGB lighting within the base of each speaker, and volume and bass control knobs on the right-hand speaker.
The aim of the Nommo Chroma is to provide accurate, directional, full-range sound, helping to immerse you in the game and provide you the winning edge you deserve.
They certainly talk the talk, but can they walk the walk?
Razer on the Nommo Chroma:
For the everyday gamer, music lover, or film junkie, you need a pair of speakers that are unobtrusive and pack real audio punch. This was exactly what we kept in mind when building the Razer Nommo. With components that optimize sound in a sleek body, you get the quintessential all-in-one speakers that fit perfectly into the rest of your setup—all for your daily enjoyment.
Technical Specifications
At a glance
• Full range 2.0 gaming speakers for PC
• Custom woven glass fiber 3-inch drivers for power and clarity
• Rear-facing bass ports for powerful lows
• Versatile controls for gaming, music and movies
• Easy access headphone jack and volume controls
Tech Specs
• 2 x 3-inch full range drivers (1 x per speaker)
• Frequency response: 50-20,000hz
• USB audio (Nommo Chroma Only)
• 1 x 3.5mm aux input jack
• 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
• Bass and Volume Control
• Chroma enabled (Nommo Chroma Only)
System Requirements
PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS
• PC/Mac with a free USB port
RAZER SYNAPSE REQUIREMENTS
• Windows®7/Mac OS X 10.9 (or higher)
• Internet connection
• 100 MB of free hard disk space
Package Contents
• Razer Nommo Chroma 2.0 gaming speakers
• 3.5mm audio cable
• Power adapter with interchangeable plugs
• Important Product Information Guide
• Full range 2.0 gaming speakers for PC
• Custom woven glass fiber 3-inch drivers for power and clarity
• Rear-facing bass ports for powerful lows
• Versatile controls for gaming, music and movies
• Easy access headphone jack and volume controls
Tech Specs
• 2 x 3-inch full range drivers (1 x per speaker)
• Frequency response: 50-20,000hz
• USB audio (Nommo Chroma Only)
• 1 x 3.5mm aux input jack
• 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
• Bass and Volume Control
• Chroma enabled (Nommo Chroma Only)
System Requirements
PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS
• PC/Mac with a free USB port
RAZER SYNAPSE REQUIREMENTS
• Windows®7/Mac OS X 10.9 (or higher)
• Internet connection
• 100 MB of free hard disk space
Package Contents
• Razer Nommo Chroma 2.0 gaming speakers
• 3.5mm audio cable
• Power adapter with interchangeable plugs
• Important Product Information Guide
Packaging & First Look
Due to the size of the speakers, the box they arrive in is fairly substantial, measuring in at 360mm x 280mm x 250mm. The front of the packaging adequately sums them up, giving some basic details on the features as well as detailed images of the speakers.
The reverse side annotates the image, giving a detailed breakdown of the features you can expect from your new Razer Nommo Chroma speakers.
It’s unusual to be given unpacking instructions when opening a box, but this is genuinely the easiest way to remove them – heed their advice, is our advice.
Along with the pair of speakers is a small instruction manual and a thin rectangular box, housing the power adaptor and 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable.
We can’t help but think the speakers, particularly the left, looks a lot like a Police RADAR gun – ideal if you suffer speeding motorists in your village! The matte black coating looks and feels fantastic, while the shape changes things up from the standard, boxy shape we’re used to with speakers from most brands.
Closer Look
The front of each speaker features a perfectly centred 3-inch tweeter, finely engineered using a custom weave of glass fibre to deliver sharp, clear sounds. The aim here is to deliver a tighter sound with higher frequencies, helping you to hear distinct layers and audio details.
The speakers measure 220mm tall at their peak, with a completely unique and striking design. The base is 140mm across, creating a sturdy platform, with rubber grips on the underside, preventing the speakers moving around. Around the perimeter of each base is 24 RGB LEDs
One both sides of each can, printed in a slightly different shade of black, is a RAZER logo. This can be almost invisible in certain lighting conditions. Each speaker is roughly 170mm from front to back and 110mm in diameter.
Due to the 2.0 nature of the set-up, each speaker contains a rear-facing subwoofer. The bass ports sit inside large chambers, helping to amplify the low end bass.
The rear is also home to some IO ports, on the left speaker is a connection from the right speaker only, carrying sound and information for the RGB lighting. The right speaker features an AUX in, a headphone pass-through and a power connection.
The only hardwired cables protrude from the bottom of the right speaker, connecting the two speakers together and a USB cable for sound and lighting.
The base of the right hand speaker is home to two small knobs, one for volume, the other for bass. The volume button, when depressed, acts as the on/off switch for both sides.
When using the volume adjustment, the right speaker will illuminate with green lighting around the front 12 RGB LEDs, indicating the current volume level; it also turns completely red when muted. The bass adjustment activates a similar feature, with blue lighting under the left speaker to show the current bass setting.
Software
The Razer Nommo Chroma relies on Razer’s Synapse 3.0 beta software to configure the lighting within the base of each speaker, as well as selecting the equaliser preset. It’s not necessary for sound output, though, with the speakers also featuring a 3.5mm input to play from almost any source.
The speakers tie into the same lighting ecosystem as most of the Razer range, being addressable from the Chroma Studio. In each base is 24 completely separate LEDs which can be configured in any fashion you like.
Check out our short video below, demonstrating the usability of the Razer Synapse 3.0.
Performance Testing
Setting up the Nommo Chroma was a doddle, there’s no subwoofer to find a home for, and any permanent cables are kept to a minimum, with only the USB and left speaker connections being hardwired. Razer suggests spacing each speaker equally distant from the flanks of your monitor, allowing the Nommo to provide you with the best spatial awareness in your games; also ensure you are sat in the centre for an optimal experience.Synapse 3.0 provides excellent customisation features of the RGB lighting, with the ability to instantly adjust any of the 24 LEDs completely independently of each other. Unfortunately, the brightness is a bit of an issue for us, being very dim, even in a dark room, as is the diffusion of the light. There’s a clear divide between each RGB LED, resulting in a lumpy, non-uniform appearance to the lighting. Despite this, the ambience it provides is much better than nothing, and when paired with other peripherals under the Chroma Studio umbrella, the effects add up to a beautiful system.
The volume and bass adjustment wheels have a lovely notched feel, making adjustment very tactile and easy to gauge.
We set out to the test the speakers in a range of different ways, listening to a variety of different music tracks, then giving gaming and movies a blast.
The highs, mids and lows were accurately represented by these modest speakers, giving music a special kind of “depth”, with sounds that once weren’t clear now unmistakeably present. We found songs like Snoop Dogg – Drop It Like It’s Hot were especially clear, particularly the opening minute or so.
We tried some music with a heavier bass, to see what impact a lack of dedicated subwoofer has – unfortunately, due to the 50Hz bottom-end, the deep thumping of certain tracks was lacking somewhat, however, for their size, we were impressed by the punch that they could provide; something like a bass guitar would cause the speakers to struggle to give the true experience. The easy access to bass controls, and having automatic gain built-in, helped to find a good balance between the highs and lows, though.
Gaming was a different story altogether – arguably what these speakers have been bred for. The clarity from each satellite provided insanely good directional awareness. Games like Battlefield 1 and Forza 7 provided incredible soundscapes, really helping you to gain an advantage without wearing a headset or headphones. We could hear grenade explosions in the distance and hear bullets whistle past in Battlefield 1, while Forza 7 provided a much deeper sense of how your tyres are faring mid-corner; you could almost feel the rubber losing traction purely from the audio.
Volume was more than ample, perhaps too loud for a set of PC speakers, in all honesty, but it’s nice to have it. Turning the volume up to max didn’t cause any distortion, but the bass did begin to feel a little empty at the higher end, packing less punch – not much the speakers can do at this point, with the lack of a dedicated subwoofer.
Conclusion
The Razer Nommo Chroma, priced at £169.99, offers incredible gaming performance which we felt added a competitive edge, purely because of the directional awareness.The bass was punchy considering the lack of a subwoofer and the mids/highs were great, giving real life to the music we listened to. Definitely a massive improvement over anything your monitor or laptop could ever manage!
RGB lighting has moved into the world of audio, but Razer have found a genuine use for the lighting, even if that use is brief; lighting the right and left speakers with specific colours to signal the current bass and volume levels.
Overall, we’re more than happy with the performance of the Razer Nommo Chroma, they added some real depth to our games and improved music a whole heap! The RGB lighting lacked the proper punch that we’re used to from Razer but it adds to the overall lighting on our system. We also loved the design, being completely different to anything else we’ve seen – it moves away from the standard, square appearance most speakers use.
If you’re buying a set of speakers primarily for gaming, we can 100% recommend the Nommo Chroma.
Pros
+ Easy to set up
+ Excellent sound quality
+ Beautiful design
+ USB + 3.5mm audio inputs
+ Has RGB lighting
+ Volume and bass adjustment on the speaker
Cons
– Bass lacked a proper punch
– RGB lighting was dim and badly diffused
– A little pricey for 2.0
+ Easy to set up
+ Excellent sound quality
+ Beautiful design
+ USB + 3.5mm audio inputs
+ Has RGB lighting
+ Volume and bass adjustment on the speaker
Cons
– Bass lacked a proper punch
– RGB lighting was dim and badly diffused
– A little pricey for 2.0
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