DXRacer Master gaming chair review

You know a gaming chair is good when you can sit in one without getting sore for a week of 14-hour gaming sessions as you scramble to review Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. That’s what I’ve been doing with the new DXRacer Master gaming chair, which serendipitously arrived around the same time as Ubisoft’s sprawling (and very big) action RPG. 

In my previous chair, that kind of sit-down review marathon would’ve been disastrous for my poor ass—not to mention my knees, neck, and back—despite studiously taking the time to stretch and move around. But DXRacer’s latest chair is something special: It’s an extremely comfortable and luxurious gaming chair that can be easily customized with modular parts. Parts, such as a rotating bracket that can hold a laptop, for example.

Those modular components are a big part of the Master’s sales pitch. It’s a chair that’s meant to be tailor-made to your specific needs—whether you want a cup holder for your drinks, breathable mesh cushions, or a leg rest that converts the chair into something more akin to a La-Z-Boy. 

If you’re like me, though, these extra addons (which are sold separately) will probably feel superfluous and even a bit silly—especially when I just want a place to park my butt, not a throne that looks like it belongs in a corporate executive’s corner office. 

If you go all out, the Master can end up looking like a Swiss Army Knife of chairs. But it doesn’t feel at all compromised if you, like me, decide to skip all that in favor of having just the chair.

DXRacer has become known for its flashy racing-inspired chairs, but the Master is clearly designed to appeal to people who want something more elegant and sophisticated. It’s still got the general look of a racing chair, but the microfiber black leather and absence of flashy logos or a sharp silhouette make it feel elevated and modern. If it’s a racing chair, it’s one you’d find in a BMW or Audi instead of a Subaru.

It’s a big chair too, but I like that the Master is every bit as sturdy as it looks. 

The wide base keeps it feeling stable even if you’re sitting on the edge of the seat or reclining it—I never felt like it might tip over—and I particularly like how spacious the chair feels when sitting in it. As someone that’s over six feet tall, I sometimes feel like I’m too big for certain chairs, but the Master is so damn comfortable to sit in. 

My biggest complaint, however, is that the rail-mounted, adjustable headrest doesn’t quite have the full range I want for my head and feels just a little too low. Maybe I just have a long neck. If you’re on the smaller side, though, the Master might feel a bit too large.

For a high-end gaming chair the Master is wonderful. I love the small details of its design and how durable the plastic and metal parts feel. The microfiber leather is soft and never abrasive—even after sitting in it for hours on end. 

And it’s great how adjustable everything is. There’s built-in lumbar support that’s controlled by a knob on the right side, which I like so much more than having to use a pillow. The armrests also feature four degrees of movement, so you can perfectly tailor their rotation, height, and distance from your body. These features combined with the firm cushions make the Master feel like a chair that cares deeply about the posture I’m in and works to support that. 

It’s easily one of the most comfortable chairs I’ve ever sat in.

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Assembly was fairly easy aside from some hiccups. It took about 45 minutes to put everything together because the clip-on plastic plates for the chair’s legs took a lot of muscle to pop into place and screwing the backrest to the seat took some extra fiddling. Putting those together was frustrating, but practically everything else came together without much work—though I did require a helping hand when getting the chair slotted into the base as all that metal and leather is actually pretty damn heavy. Fortunately, everything you need (and some spare parts) are included and the instructions are easy to follow even if I was sweating more than I’d like to.

But once it’s all put together, the DXRacer Master is a thing to behold. I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now and I’m surprised at how much affection I feel for this thing. It’s become one of the most beloved parts of my entire gaming setup. It’s not just that it’s extremely comfortable, but the whole experience feels luxurious in a way that I’ve never really felt from a chair before. The fact that it also has modular parts is just a little bonus, if they even appeal to you.

As you might expect, though, this all comes at a stiff price: $500. That makes the DXRacer Master one of the most expensive gaming chairs you can buy—and the price goes even higher if you want those mesh cushions for hot, sticky summers. That puts the Master well above many of the best gaming chairs, which definitely makes it harder to recommend if you're on a budget.

That said, it's not like the Master series doesn't justify its $500 price tag. The high-end materials, sturdy construction, and loads of ways to customize it—both with modular parts but even just built-in features like lumbar support—make this one hell of a chair.