Razer's CES moonshot is a surround sound-enabled cushion for your gaming chair

[Shawn Knight]

Editor's take: It wouldn't be CES week without a wild concept from Razer. The company has once again delivered with Project Carol, but this year's outside-the-box offering is far tamer than what we've seen in years past. Perhaps that means it'll actually become a real product?

Project Carol is a gaming chair accessory – a head cushion, to be exact – featuring near-field surround sound speakers and high-fidelity haptics. Combined, Razer says it can help gamers experience new levels of immersion.

Razer said Project Carol works perfectly with any PC capable of 7.1 surround sound output and is compatible with all gaming chairs thanks to its adjustable straps. It connects wirelessly via 2.4GHz and can last up to eight hours on a single charge.

Razer argues that traditional surround sound speaker cabling can be messy, and installation requires additional space that some gamers might not have. What's more, audio receivers or control boxes are often required to decode rear-channel signals, the company added.

Does Project Carol stand a chance at becoming a real product? It's hard to say. The concept isn't as "out there" as others we have seen in previous years. Remember Project Sophia, the all-in-one modular gaming desk, or Project Linda, which aimed to close the gap between laptops and smartphones?

Project Carol does have some obvious hurdles. Gaming headsets are quite popular and would not play well with a surround sound-enabled cushion. What's more, the thought of having my head vibrate via haptics seems as if it would be a bit disorienting. Surely Razer would allow this feature to be disabled at will, but I can't imagine a scenario where I'd actually want it on.

I suspect Razer will gauge feedback before deciding whether or not to move forward with production. Pricing could be key as I doubt few would want to pay more for a cushion than a traditional headset or even a chair.

What do you think? Any interest in something like Project Carol or are you content with your current gaming audio solution?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97193-razer-ces-moonshot-surround-sound-enabled-cushion-gaming.html

 

[Burty117]

Ah yes, uses the 2.4GHz band, famous for not having interference issues...

 

[rodb31007]

Nice except for the charging part.

 

[nismo91]

Too much questions on compatibility.

Razer said Project Carol works perfectly with any PC capable of 7.1 surround sound output

first off they said it's gonna be compatible with PC supporting 7.1 output. didn't say anything about having a 5.1 or 7.1 speakers to begin with. didn't even give an example what kind of setup this could work with. oh well razer hasn't even made 7.1 speakers have they.

how are they gonna connect to the existing speakers? does razer have a new sound device that will combine the old speakers and the headrest together as one sound device? you can clone stereo sound device using stereo mix but not split multichannel audio into different devices.

how are they gonna connect if user already has 7.1 speakers, does razer take the wires from the rear channel and distribute them wirelessly (think of wireless subwoofer), if so does it accept low level or high level line?

Razer argues that traditional surround sound speaker cabling can be messy, and installation requires additional space that some gamers might not have. What's more, audio receivers or control boxes are often required to decode rear-channel signals, the company added.

I'm curious what they said about having audio receivers or control boxes. does this project carol come with their own soundcard that sends 5.1 channel to the old speakers and rear 2.0 channel to the headrest? if so how does this avoid "messy cabling" because it doesn't exactly reduce the total amount of wires in the system.

whats more, what will happen when you disconnect the headrest for charging? will the 7.1 speakers have the rear speakers disconnected or will they revert to 5.1 setting so they are not missing the rear channels.

razer knows a thing or two about input devices, but they don't seem to understand sh** about multi channel PC audio.