We Tried It: DXRacer Master Series Review (Previous version)

DXRacer Master – Pro and Cons List

EDIT:We are excited to announce that there’s a fresh update to the popular DXRacer Master chair! But that’s not all: a brand-new model has also hit the market, set to enthrall both gamers and office enthusiasts alike. If you’re keen on diving into the latest features, design, and ergonomic improvements, you can find the comprehensive review here. Don’t miss out on learning about the newest innovations from DXRacer!

… Master Series chairs to see just what it can do. I couldn’t wait to unbox it and put it through its paces as I challenged baddies and built empires in my gaming sessions.

Read on to hear my thoughts about the chair so you can decide if you want to pick up one for yourself!

Packaging

My DXRacer Master Series chair arrived in a somewhat boring-looking cardboard box at my doorstep. It wasn’t as basic as some gaming chairs I’ve received, as this box at least had the company logo and the name and picture of the chair on it.

Upon opening the box, the packaging consisted of each piece of the chair carefully placed to limit movement with a few chunks of foam mixed in. It’s nothing premium looking by any means, especially for a $500 chair, but it did the job of keeping the components safe.

The hydraulic mechanism was in a box of its own, but the box was a very thin material and ripped apart when I tried to take it out. Still, the mechanism looked to be in good shape. The plastic coverings were sealed in a different cardboard box to keep them from getting damaged.

I always hope for something a little nicer for a premium chair, but I realize the packaging is going to end up in the trash whether it looks nice or not.

Assembly

It wasn’t too hard to start to decipher where everything needed to go with all of the components laid out. Following the instructions that were on the top of the box, I flipped through the instruction manual, but everything I needed to know was in pictures on pages one and two.

I started by attaching the wheels and placing the plastic decorative covers into the aluminum base. In an effort to put the chair together quickly, I failed to notice the five small plastic triangle pieces that were supposed to fit between the aluminum wheel base and plastic covers.

It was my mistake to overlook those triangle pieces, but I don’t understand why the plastic components don’t just get attached at the factory. Anyway, I can’t take the plastic covers back off to remedy my mistake, so I’m left with a slightly imperfect chair. Those pieces are purely cosmetic, so it’s just a minor frustration.

The rest of the assembly process was very straightforward. The armrests were pre-attached to the seat. The screws to attach the backrest and hydraulic mechanism are already in place and easy to locate. It takes a minute to line up the screw holes from the backrest and seat cushion, but it’s not much of a challenge to do.

The headrest pillow slides into a plastic housing on the backrest without the need for screws. A plastic bracket keeps the pillow from coming back off once it’s installed.

Features

DXRacer Master Series Chair

Weight: 68 pounds

Seat Height Adjustment: 20 to 23 inches off the ground

Seat Width: 21.5 inches

Weight Capacity:  275 pounds

Chair Material: Microfiber Leather

Reclining Angle: 90° to 155°

5-Wheel Aluminum Base

Padded 4D Armrests

Comes with a head cushion

Warranty: 2-year for Accessories, Lifetime for Frame

Let’s dive into the DXRacer Master Series Chair’s features and see if any of them are masterful in their design.

4D Armrests

The DXRacer Master Series has armrests that move in every conceivable direction to give you a fighting chance at finding a really comfortable setting that works for you. In addition to just moving up and down, these armrests move toward and away from the body of the chair, forward and backward, and even rotate side to side.

It’s never been a challenge for me to find a comfortable location at a moment’s notice and even adjust the armrests depending on how slouchy I’m feeling that day. Even when my son comes in and plays with the settings, it’s quick and easy to use the three levers on each armrest to get things back to my ideal location.

The Recline

This DXRacer chair is able to recline from upright to 155° past-vertical, providing a lot of room for relaxing. I can safely say the recline works exceptionally well when I need to kick back and take a break from the gaming action. Some chairs only recline back to 130 or 135°, which, at least for me, isn’t enough to feel like I am fully relaxed.

The recline feature for this chair works really well with the built-in rocker. If I leave the rocker unlocked, I can lean back far enough that the chair is almost horizontal, and I can get my feet off the ground. If the need arose, I think I’d have minimal difficulty falling asleep.

The Rocker

As much as I love the rocker together with the recline feature, I find it abysmal by itself. Even at its loosest setting, I have to put my entire body weight into the chair with my feet firmly planted on the ground just to get the back moving. It completely defeats the purpose, as I just want to lean back and let the chair take me to the relaxation zone.

Headrest Pillow

The DXRacer Master Series headrest pillow is easy to install by sliding it down into the plastic housing that’s already stitched into the backrest. Other than that, there’s not much I like about this pillow.

First of all, even at the highest setting, it’s too low for me. I’m 6 feet tall, and my head hits the upper part of the pillow (which slants away from me), leaving my neck in an uncomfortable position. The lower section of the pad presses into my shoulders, pushing them forward into an awkward position as well.

The fabric DXRacer used to fill the pillow is too firm for my taste as well, and all these issues make for an uncomfortable design. It’s possible someone at least three or four inches shorter than me would find it more appealing.

Lumbar Support

Unlike most other chairs, there’s no way to adjust the lumbar support up or down. Even most budget chairs have a pillow that you can shift around. With the DXRacer Master Series, you’re limited to how much support you want by turning an unlabeled, generic knob one way or the other.

Height Adjustment

I’ve yet to find a chair that really wows me with a height adjustment feature, and this one is no different. It does start a little higher off the ground than some but still only offers three inches of movement between its highest and lowest settings. That being said, I’ve never found a chair that I couldn’t set at a comfortable height.

Build Quality

I am consistently impressed by the build quality of this DXRacer Master Series chair. It certainly does look master-class throughout with the aluminum base, large wheels, and sleek-looking microfiber leather.

It stands imposing from a distance, and nothing looks cheap or out of place even up close. The stitching throughout is immaculate, and even the plastic pieces that DXRacer uses to hide some pinch points don’t take away from the design’s overall look.

I picked out an all-black chair which looks really impressive from any angle. If black isn’t your thing, the chair is also available in a brown or red variant.

I’m a huge fan of metal bases for support and durability, and the DXRacer Master Series definitely comes through. In fact, this chair comes with an aluminum base that is known for its strength and longevity.

The chair is very solid to sit in and feels really secure under both my weight and my son’s when he jumps on my lap. Even with a decent amount of weight, the large wheels make it pretty easy to move on the carpet in my office.

Weird squeaks or noises are my pet peeve with gaming chairs, and I am pleased to say that the Master Series has none. Other than the sound of air rushing out when I plop down, I get no noise whether I am doing the boogie or leaning back to decide if it’s time to use a limit break.

Although I don’t care for how the pillow feels, it matches well with the rest of the chair. The black lettering is pretty much lost in the rest of the sea of black, but an eye-catching logo to me is not a necessary feature for a good design.

I didn’t get any broken pieces out of the box, and there wasn’t a single item that I would worry about breaking easily. This is true even for the plastic coverings that exist on either side of the chair. I could see those becoming impact points if I race my son down the hallway, but I imagine it would take a pretty severe collision to crack one up.

Comfort and Ergonomics

Having used the chair for a while now, I’m quite pleased with how it feels whether I’ve been sitting for one hour or five. The padding on both the backrest and seat is several inches thick and firm enough that I ever feel uncomfortable.

I’d love to move the lumbar support up ever so slightly, but that’s not an option for this chair. It works fine when I sit up straight, but it starts to feel weird if I slouch. Unfortunately, the headrest pillow sitting as low as it does tend to push my shoulders down, and I often find myself sinking down before long.

I mentioned it a bit earlier, but the headrest pillow is a big miss for me on this chair. The padding inside is too rigid to be comfortable, and it offers almost no give when I lean against it. Furthermore, I can’t raise the headrest pillow high enough to position it in the right place against my head. When I do try to use the cushion, the result is my head leaning back at an unnatural angle and my upper back inhibited by how low the pillow goes on me.

The armrests are pretty firm as well, but they do an excellent job of supporting my elbows, forearms, and wrists as I game. Since I can adjust the armrests to about any location (thanks to 4D movement), I can lock them and leave them in a place that works best for me. The rubber padding is a standard design I’ve seen on several chairs, but it serves its purpose well.

Conclusion

All said and done, the DXRacer Master Series is a well-designed chair. I really like how imposing it looks, almost like something an executive would use in their office or a diabolical villain would sit on in their lair. Every one of the chair’s components is well-constructed and leaves me with little worry that this chair will stand up to whatever abuse a wayward superhero would throw my way.

I feel the chair backs up its $500 price point through microfiber leather, impressive stitching, and the aluminum base and frame that’s a step up from even steel models. These features set the DXRacer Master Series apart from budget offerings and put it well within the realm of higher-tier chairs.

Although very comfortable to sit in for ages at a time, I wish I could move the lumbar support up or down to accommodate the location I need it most on my lower back. This is actually the first time I’ve seen a chair where I can’t do this, and it leaves me perplexed.

I also don’t care for how hard it is to rock backward in this chair. I would much rather see a more fluid motion that requires less work on my part to get it going. I want to relax when I rock, not use my total weight to keep the chair from springing back to vertical.

I could entirely do without this headrest pillow, and I feel it takes away from the chair’s comfort level rather than add anything to it. While it may be more receptive to your stature, this is something that should be adjustable enough to work with a broader range of body types. I wouldn’t call myself short, but I know several people who are taller and would have even less success with this pillow. I even tried removing the pillow, but the bracket used to attach it really locks it in place. Even if I could take it off, I’d be left with a plastic housing to deal with, which wouldn’t be any better.

Despite some issues, I’d gladly recommend this chair to a friend of mine. I would just make sure it’s not someone taller than me. Unless you’re made of epic proportions, this may just be a good chair for you to try as well.