SteelSeries Arctis 7X+ – Wireless Gaming Headset – Lossless
SteelSeries Arctis 7X+ – Wireless Gaming Headset – Lossless 2.4 GHz – 30 Hour Battery Life – For Xbox, PC, PS5, PS4, Mac, Android and Switch
30 Hour Battery Life + Quick ChargeImproved 30hr battery + 15min quick charge for 3hr play time means you never have to stop!
” data-position=”triggerHorizontal” />
Tuned To Reveal Every Detail
The soundscape of Arctis emphasizes subtle, critical sounds to give you an advantage.
ClearCast Noise Cancelling Microphone
The retractable ClearCast bidirectional microphone has superior noise cancellation and clarity.
Built For Strength; Designed For Comfort
Lightweight and durable steel combined with a comfortable ski-goggle band for an adjustable fit.
On-Ear ChatMix Dial
Mix your perfect balance of game and chat audio without leaving your game with on-headset ChatMix.
Control At Your Fingertips
Easily adjust mic mute and volume, with additional ports to go wired or even share audio.
Spot Your Enemy SoonerFor the first time in gaming, you can tweak the entire spectrum of sound with a Parametric EQ.
” data-position=”triggerHorizontal” />SteelSeries Keyboards
Every SteelSeries keyboard is built to last. Our top gaming keyboards feature industry-leading mechanical switches, per-key RGB illumination, and are all compatible with PC and Mac.
SteelSeries Mice
Our gaming mice feature advanced optical sensors, RGB illumination, and are compatible with PC and Mac.
SteelSeries QcK Mousepads
Designed for performance and durability, SteelSeries’ best-selling mousepads come in a wide variety of styles and sizes, so everyone can find a mousepad perfectly suited to their needs.
SteelSeries has fueled the gaming industry for over 20 years by creating innovative new products, designed specifically for esports and passionate gamers everywhere.
| Weight: | 376 g |
| Size: | Wireless |
| Dimensions: | 18 x 18 x 21 cm; 376 Grams |
| Model: | 61472 |
| Colour: | Black |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | SteelSeries |
| Dimensions: | 18 x 18 x 21 cm; 376 Grams |
| Origin: | China |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | Wireless |
This is a great quality mic I have really improved with multiple shooting games thanks to it’s amazing audio and by plugging it into the computer you can adjust your sound quality and audio output it’s worth the money
Works great, the battery life is solid, I’ve only charged it twice in two months and I game roughly 3 evenings a week!
The only con, when you plug it in on the front of the PS5, the dongle partially covers the front usb.
Bought these to use with PS5. They look great. Sound great and feel great. Easy set up and linking to PS5. Pull out mic and really stylish. Glad i opted for these over official sony ones.
pleasantly surprised by these, they are light, comfortable and have a very good battery life. The sound has a lot more “treble” than i am used to (coming from razer krakens) so after a bit of EQ faffing with the Sonar software has made it better to listen to, the mic is serviceable but i use a Rode mic so dont really have the use of them i just wanted a decent wireless headset, i did get them on offer for 125 and feel like they are worth that, full price? not so much, would recommend if you are looking for a good wireless headset with decent battery life and half decent sound
I was looking for a wireless headset after using wired for so long. I originally bought the Razer blackshark from amazon expecting the 2023 version but instead was given the 2020 version and the microphone was terrible and the 2023 version was out of my price range.
I bought this headset for less than what I originally spent on the Razer 2020 BS and it is better in every way.
The microphone on this is far better out the box but can be improved once you install the steelseries sonar software. The sound on the headset is fantastic and is very comfortable as well.
I can move about my living space without the headset disconnecting and the battery seems to be accurate to be about 25-30 hours.
Would definitely recommend.
I Bought these, after a lot of indecision & procrastination, over the newer model as the reviews for those were a bit “meh”, to free me from the tangle of cable, and to enable fairly swift change from PS5 to PC.
Over what I was using (Hyper X, these were great too), the sound quality is like listening to speakers instead of headphones – by this I mean there is depth (at least while using the Steel Series Sonar App, haven’t tried on PC without).
3D Audio is great on PS5 (haven’t tried on PC yet), only tiny downside there is you’ll need to plug in the included transmitter/receiver dongle, which is hardly a problem. I was a bit dubious, although even the PS5 set up app is pretty clear as to where things are coming from, but in Call of Duty Footsteps, gunfire etc. all seem to be coming from where you’d expect in the 3D environment, rather than just left or right.
Gaming is brilliant, Listening to music just blew me away & prompted me to write this review.
PROs:
Audio Quality, well balanced
7.1 Virtual is awesome
Gaming is great
Music listening is amazing
Sonar App is good,
Head strap adjustment was a doddle
all the controls are sensible size & well positioned
CONs:
not sure if I can connect to iPhone (but don’t really care as I have other devices for that)
a tad expensive, but I don’t mind paying for quality when it delivers.
haven’t come across anything yet that has given cause for concern.
Tried alot of gaming headphones over the years and always seem to have issues with battery life. Been using these for 1 month and not yet had an issue of batttery running low when gaming. The Arctic 7P+ tick all the boxes for me. 30 hours battery life, compatable with PS and PC straight out the box, great overall sound – also the comfort of the the ear pads are excellent for long gaming sessions.
Would highly recommend these to anyone looking for a quality pair of headphones and dont want to pay through the roof. Also like the fact the GG software allows you to save a audio preset to the headphones tweak the sound EQ.
so after a few months of using I’ve noticed that the battery is not as good as it used to be maybe getting 10-12 hours use on full charge on low volumes for 200 id expect a bit longer personally also i don’t know why on such an expensive headset they wouldn’t have usb type c it does annoy me a little, although the comfort of these headphones are phenomenal along with the quality of sound although sometimes for in game chat my audio is noticeably poorer than when i use discord all in all a great headset and would recommend if on sale.
The design is very smart; mainly white with a couple of black and blue accents.
The way it sits on the head makes it very comfortable and it can be easily adjusted.
Really good button placements make it fairly quick to get familiar with the headset thus easy to adjust settings without looking.
Audio quality is fantastic: Dialogue being clear, decent audio range, nice bass and 3D audio works very well too (superb for games like CoD).
I got instant compliments when I switched to this headset; my friends said my voice was crisp and easy to understand.
I LOVE the sidetone feature and how easy it is to adjust the sensitivity.
With the battery life lasting around 30 hours, makes this headset very reliable.
Neutral:
Quite an odd shape for the wireless dongle; it’s a bit impractical and I don’t get why they shaped it in such a way.
Cons:
When the dongle is inserted to the PS5, the console automatically thinks a headset is connected even when the headset is not powered on, so you have to manually switch over to TV audio on the PS5 or unplug the dongle.
This review is based on usage with an Xbox Series X via Xbox Wireless Protocol and a PC/Phone via Bluetooth
Pros:
Excellent sound quality
Direct Xbox connection with Wireless Protocol (same as Xbox Controller)
Dual Input via BT&XBWP simultaneously works well
Premium materials
Excellent battery life
Cons:
Can sometimes randomly stutter and turn off, either immediately after turning on or after a period of usage
Cup brackets can snap internally and become flimsy/click, potentially affecting usage while being worn
Ear cups are not too deep, so bigger ears will touch the speaker covers
Honestly the best and most comfortable headset I’ve ever used with the “gaming” label. These are very very high end in every way. For example they make the Sony PlayStation Gold headset feel horrible.
I have larger ears and this headset is honestly the most comfortable one I’ve ever worn. The cups are a good size for a man’s head and also have soft material rather than plastic feeling leather or faux leather. The adjustable strap makes it possible to fit all heads and hairstyles or hats.
Honestly if you need a gaming headset this is up there. I have also used this with my gaming laptop and the audio works perfectly.
Haven’t tried the paid Xbox audio yet as the included software/profile works great but for audio files there is an extra paid service for true 7.1 but I haven’t felt it was needed even slightly.
Don’t bother with the official Xbox one’s. Get these and don’t have buyers remorse. Also being able to use with pc and Xbox with Bluetooth without a dongle makes them 10/10 🙂
Previously had a pair of DT770 pro’s which where great however I was getting annoyed with them being wired, finally decided to try out a pair of wireless headsets.
Did a bunch of research and found this pair was pretty much the best mid range headset for gaming, sound quality is great, it has the lowest latency that I could find in a headset anywhere, very comfortable, decent battery life.
I’ve used it for just under a week now and I’m very happy, every forum I looked through regarding wireless headsets was always filled with people recommending steelseries headsets and now I understand why. It feels high quality, the sound is identical, if not better in terms of bass than the DT770’s (I’m in no means an expert in sound stuff, just sounds better to me).
On a full charge the battery easily lasts for a full day of gaming/watching netflix etc. I’d recommend doing what I do though and plugging the charger in whenever you’re away from your PC for more than a few mins so it’s constantly topped up.
Haven’t experienced any real downsides, the headset strap is easily adjustable, and though the velcro part of the strap doesn’t seem to offer much wiggle room in terms of adjusting, the velcro holds on well to just the strap material itself so no issues there.
I don’t really use the mic as I have a quadcast on a boom arm, but I did test it a fair bit and whilst it’s not the best mic, it’s definitely a solid 7/10, you’d have no issues at all with using the mic as a daily driver.
Overall I’d give this headset a hearty 9/10, was a bit weary of the price tag but considering the pure quality and well thought out design it earns it. And from what I’ve read via reviews etc. I have no doubt this headset will last for a very long time.
Battery life is frankly amazing, I’ve owned the headset two months using it daily and I’ve charged it twice?? I believe they may be using magic.
The sheer amount of dials, buttons and wheels on the headset issss a little annoying, you hit the wrong dial a lot. Also for us smaller headed people, the ear cups are m a s s i v e and after a while the headset can feel quite heavy. That said it’s pretty well made and I’ve yet to encounter any issues that others have spoken off. If you wear glasses though this headset will introduce you to a new level of pain, it presses the arms into what feels like your brain itself
The drivers for this headset do ‘drive’ me mad. The ai surround deadens all sounds and makes the headset a mushy sounding mess. The discord/game function means you will have 5 different audio devices in your sound centre and my PC doesn’t run audio through any of them except the bog standard headphone channel. The ability to tune your mic is good though, especially the preset options which can make you sound like a guy, 10/10 less weird comments when I’m using it.
Tldr: if you need a cheap wireless headset, this is a good option. Unless you have glasses, then don’t bother.
in my opinion these are great headphones but im in no way a person who knows much about audio but i think theyre really comfy sound great and have a great battery life. only gets 4 stars due to the scare i had of them breaking but i think it was just user fault but i dont know. i had to hard reset them and they “work” again but they might not have even been broken to start with. personally i love them, just maybe watch them for the first month for refund if needed, i have 5 days left before i cant and im gonna be watching them and see how they do.
Headset is good and comfortable, good sound and all, no issues with it when its working.
The only thing i hate about it, is that when my battery runs out, almost 90% of the time it wont work after, even when connecting it to charging cable, it simply wont start charging, or it will and when i try to turn it on after charging for some time, it will go in random broken mode where the power led isnt on, but the mic mute led will be on and it gets stuck in this. After that i need to spend like 30 minutes fixing it by pressing the factory reset button, but since it wont always work, i need to repeat the process like 10 times until it does. The only thing the customer support were able to help with was “do factory reset” and I’ve opened 2 tickets about the same issue already and after that i just found it pointless. It is really furstrating having to always keep battery in check out of fear that the headset one day wont just turn on and having to remember every time i leave it to turn it off is a drag. Its wireless for a reason and battery running out should break the whole headset. I am wondering if to give 3 or 4 stars just because of this issue i keep encountering.
This issue aside, headset is 5/5 for me (when you get it on sale for at least 120 and under, as earcups are shallow and will need some extra money to buy a replacement, but i already had one so it was no biggie for me), and since this the only minus i have with them is the battery issue, which honestly sometimes just makes me want to throw the headset out of the window and buy something else instead, so I am giving it a 4/5.
Got this on a like new from Amazon warehouse.
Got a bit of a tangle on the pricing but that is not the point in this review.
Moving onto the review.
Box is easy to get into. In there I found only a headset and a micro usb cable.
My use case is use Xbox wireless dongle to connect to PC for gaming and Bluetooth for work calls.
Xbox wireless dongle connection is simple. Start pairing on dongle and hold power button on headset for 6 seconds. Paired immediately. Zero drop or lag on a 2 hours session on Destiny 2.
Bluetooth connection is similar, but turn on headset first then hold Bluetooth button for 6 seconds. Showed up immediately on my Google pixel. Minimal drops (counted 3 times over 8 hours).
Sound quality wise, there is quite a bit of bass. Good for shooting games I guess. Also pretty good for the RPG music scores.
No report from my work colleagues on not hearing me clearly so I presume mic is working fine.
This ticked all the boxes for me.
I can foresee the hinges on the rotator is likely to break in the future. Time will tell how it long lasts.
For now I ll enjoy the headset.
Hatte dieses Headset als all in one Lsung gekauft leider hat es nach ein paar Wochen die Probleme aufgewiesen das es beim Laden einen Wackelkontakt gab und nicht mehr richtig ging aber der Super Support vom Amazon hat mir direkt weitergeholfen! Ansonsten whrend der Nutzung gab es keine Probleme mit dem Headset angenehmer Tragekomfort und hervorragender Sound gepaart mit einem guten mic. Egal ob pc,ps5, Xbox !
I love these Arctis headsets. I’ve used them for years, and this one has refined everything like the USB C charging, nicer colours than the previous 7X, and longer battery life.
If you have an Xbox Series console these are probably the best you can get. They are also brilliant on PS5, PC and Switch.
Sound quality is fantastic, and I now purchase the velour ear pads from the Steelseries website and they make them even more comfy.
The only thing they lack is a Bluetooth connection, which the Nova 7X does include, though I found them smaller and not as cozy on the head and ears so I sent back and kept these.
I have now had this headset for 4-5 years and its still working strong.
What “bad stuff” happened within theses years:
I had to replace ear cushions once (but thats on me). Quite a big drawback is if you want to buy ear cushions from SteelSeries themselfs and you live in the UK, the Shipping cost is WAAAAY too much, luckily after a couple of emails to SteelSeries support for my first replacement i got a free set of ear cushions with free shipping is so great. I even used this free shipping to buy a another spare ear cushions and cable with my own money just to be future proof.
The right ear hinge did break a bit, making it swivel the ear cup a bit more then usual and volume wheel is not as smooth has it once was but to be fair thats after me dropping it at least 4 times over the years so I think thats way and its still all working.
The head strap is now completely gone out of shape but I still feel comfortable wearing it.
What I liked:
The natural isolation is good enough to keep focus on what you are doing but not so much to block someone across the room saying something to try to grab your attention or the noise from someone knocking on the door (is a good thing in my case).
The volume and mute controls are so good when using discord or in video calls, the professional style makes it look great wherever or whatever you are doing, the retractable micphone has been so handly.
What I don’t like:
You may have a different experience, say that I could only wear this continuously for 6 hours max (or so) until I feel pain around my ears from the pressure of the headset ear cups and I HATE any proprietary anything (unless their is a good reason) and their cable is one from them so to make sure I won’t have a unusable headset because of a broke cable and brought another cable just in case. If they haven’t change it yet CHANGE IT! to a 3.5mm jack (I know it has a 3.5mm jack port but unsure what the functionality of that port can do, this still doesn’t excuse having their own proprietary cable/port in the first place).
Final words:
Great in 2019 and still being great today, worth the money but dislike not being able to buy replacements from the official store due to the 20 (or so) shipping cost. This is still not perfect so I still recommend looking elsewhere and see your options that are out since 2019.
By far the best wireless headset money can buy for the series x . Only downside is the volume wheel and chat mixer wheel are very sensitive.
My son loves these he goes between gaming computer to Xbox and there also Wi-Fi connected
Chyba najlepsza opcja do Xboxa jak i dla tych, ktrzy nie ograniczaj si do jednej platformy gamingowej.
Purchased these so I would have a dedicated pair of wireless headphones for my XBOX X. Previously used Sennheiser Game One (wired). But time and time again the jack port on the controller would end up cutting out the sound. So wireless it was. I looked at numerous products, bought a set of Plantronics RIG 800LX, they were DOA so returned them. Then I looked at gaming DACS to use with my Sennheiser. No dice as feedback was they were great but didn’t work with XBOX chat (unless using on your phone?) So naturally ended up looking at top of the range solutions. So AS50’s were my next port of call. Numerous reviews with people trashing them and others saying they were interstellar sound. My finger must have hovered over the purchase button numerous times. I thought no, 300 quid for some headphones just not paying it.
BUILD QUALITY & AESTHETICS
So I looked at Steelseries. Various products and many reviews later I opted for the 9x. For my first steel series headset must say very impressed with it. Build quality is excellent, A metal headband frame, with a velcro adjusted elastic support band (this comes into contact directly with your head). Almost like a ski goggle band. I think these can be swapped out for other designs if you like to change things up.
The ear cups are closed cup design (I’m used to the soundstage of open back) I prefer open back but these are great at reducing sound bleed so if playing in a room with other people it prevents others hearing them. The microweave cushion is very very soft and so comfortable long gaming sessions and no ear-ache from headphones pressing on your ears (you can buy velour or pleather replacements) . I imagine that depends on the size of your ears. But as a whole my ears fit within the ear cups. As per the headband you can change up the design on the outer part of the cups (purchased separately). Closed cup also prevent external sound getting in, not completely but enough. The earcups swivel so they can be laid flat on a table/shelf when packed away, which is a nice design feature.
The battery life states 20 hours which is pretty accurate. I do have quite long gaming sessions at weekends, 3-4 hours during the day and possibly another 5/6 in the evening. So a single charge will hold. However you will need to keep on top of it. The XBXOX dash has an icon on battery along with the controller.
SOUND
The sound itself, at least to me is very good. I’m no audiophile but for gaming they work well. I use DOLBY ATMOS (sonic works just as well) with them and no complaints. There are 4 presets; Flat, Bass Boost, Smiley, Performance. I tweaked these to my liking, as we all look for something different in sound. A lot of people say the sound is poor on these until they tweak the profiles. In all honesty the ‘Smiley setting’ is a happy medium. You will however need to plug these into a Laptop or a Computer to adjust EQ within the ‘Steelseries Engine software’. If you don’t have a computer to do so the smiley setting is the all round setting. Nice clarity and not too muddy bass. I have sensitive ears from years of diving so keep the bass quite neutral. Which is also why I prefer open back headphones.
MICROPHONE & EAR CUP CONTROLS
The Microphone has an adjustable wire neck which coils up into the ear cups. Unlike other gaming sets where you flip the MIC boom up to mute the mic you have a button on this set. The mic has a red LED which illuminates once muted. If I am totally honest the MIC works and is very sensitive. However I think it could do with a foam microphone cover as it can be a little too sensitive. You can adjust this in the Software as well as the side tone. The sidetone allows you to hear yourself through the MIC, this is great so you don’t end up shouting whilst using the MIC. As mentioned close cup headphones reduce the sound around you this includes your own voice.
The Headphone volume is a small dial on the right earcup. The layout of the dials is clear and after a few uses you will navigate to them with ease. It is functional and works but from a design point of view, the actual dials could be bigger and less sensitive. More like click on each volume level would be better. Every time I take off the headset it is always at a different volume. So it is easy to move it by accident. A minor gripe but a gripe none the less. The EQ presets are on the right ear cup these are a single click of a button. You get a clear beep in the ear ranging from one to four to indicate the appropriate profile.
The headsets works on the same tech as the XBOX X controller and pairs the same. It also powers the XBOX X on when the headset is powered up. The bluetooth works parallel to it so you can receive calls or listen to music via phone or ipad. This is a feature I didn’t think I would use much but have actually really started to use it more with Lockdown. I stream music from my phone whilst training. Works really well, connection wise it is seamless and have no issues at all.
The Chat volume/Game volume ratio is on the left earcup and this is a great feature. You can adjust the balance of the two on the fly. So if you have someone in your chat who is really quiet you can increase the chat bias or vice versa.
Overall I would say this is a really good headset, now and then when powering on the connection can be a little funny. But nothing a headset restart doesn’t fix. This isn’t all the time maybe one every ten times I use it. The sound quality has a fair bit of depth and can be adjusted to your liking, coupled with Windows sonic or if you wish to buy ATMOS. There isn’t much between them really. But they do make a difference and some games specifically support ATMOS. The price point, hmm I would say yeah maybe a little steep but they do have some decent features and wireless is great coupled with bluetooth. If you can pick them up for 150 even bette
I own several pairs of superb headphones for music, and reference – and every time I don a set of “gaming” headphones they tend to feel like a toy – that said, I felt these warrant a review.
The build quality on the Arctis 9X are great – the sound quality is also very nice, but at this price point – you expect that. Different pre-sets subtly change the sound from more natural, through to some that are more bassy which are good for movies – but on the whole, they don’t have any gimmicky features like my old turtle beach set, which branded “saturated midtones that make my ears bleed, as a trade off for hearing footsteps louder” as “Superhuman hearing” or something similar.
Connectivity:
On my Xbox One X – I don’t think these have ever dropped out other than one time I forgot to charge them.
Whilst my One. was being repaired, I temporarily re-used my old regular Xbox one. I noticed a fair few dropouts, needing me to turn the headset off and on again.
– This was an issue I had read in some reviews after buying the headset, and I was concerned – I was never able to recreate the issue until I used an OG Xbox One, so in my personal experience. Perfect on the OneX – frustrating on a standard Xbox One.
Volume: 10/10
They are not deafeningly loud, (except in COD – which has the worst sound mix of a game ever.) but they definitely dont suffer with being too quiet. If they don’t go loud enough for you, then you’ve probably already done some damage to your hearing.
Sound Quality: 8/10
Comparing them to a set of high end reference headphones is unfair, they don’t reproduce a huge wide soundstage, with intricate highs mids and lows, however… after burn in – ive found that they perform better than most closed back headphones I own, the mids are far clearer on these for example, than on HD25s, HD280Pros, or aiaiai DJ headphones.
Overall – I was surprised at how good these sound.
Comfort: 10/10
Aside from a pair of AKG702s i own – which is like wearing a pair of pillows on your head – these are the most comfortable headphones I own. I can play games in them for hours on end, and then settle into a movie before taking them off. Being over ear they are comfortable as they dont put pressure on you, the elasticated headband makes a clever snug fit to your head, without being tight – and they are heavy enough that you trust them not to fall apart, but not so heavy that they induce fatigue.
Sound isolation: 8/10
No complaints here, the isolation is really good, so if someone is sleeping next to you, and you are watching tv – you probably wont disturb them unless you have it cranked right up, or take them off to break the seal to your head.
Battery Life: 10/10
Incredibly long battery life. Since covid kicked in and we’ve all been working from home, ive had these on all day every day almost – as they pair to your phone to be a bluetooth headset too. There is an indicator light that changes colour depending on how much battery you have left.
Connectivity: 9/10
Being able to play games and listen to music off your phone, or take phone calls whilst gaming is almost seamless (with 1 caveat ill address in the downsides).
Microphone: 10/10
I’ve had several people join parties and query what mic I have because its so clear, they assume im using a dedicated mic like streamers use. It’s also very easy to mute the mic with the button just behind your right ear, and the mic has a light on it so you can see in your peripheral vision if you are muted.
Price: 6/10
I paid 130ish for these on Amazon in the sale. There are better “headphones” available for that pricerange, but in terms of gaming headsets, I dont know. they are feature rich, with a long battery life, and great reliability, but for 190 that they are currnetly listed at, Id rather they were more than just a gaming headset, which they could have done with some aesthetic changes – which would have pushed this score up to a 9 or 10.
Ergonomics: 7/10
On either headset cup at the back,there is a jogwheel, the left one changes chat+game mix (very useful when your super loud friend crashes the party) and the overall volume on the right one. The chat mix also has a marker point for the mix at 50:50 that you can feel without looking. The power button is convex, and the bluetooth/answer call buttons is convex. Without looking, you can easily feel exactly what is what.
In principle – everything about the design is perfect.. Until you lean back against the sofa/pillow, and the jogwheel catches the seat/pillow behind you, and either turns the sound off, or cranks the volume to the max.
Placing these controls under the earpieces, or on top of them instead of at the back would have made them perfect.
Aesthetics: 6/10
They nearly got this perfect, the earcups are minimally styled, and the matte black looks sleek – however they have a truly gharish green pattern to the headbands that makes them look a bit childish. It is also a real shame that the microphone doesnt sit flush when it retracts into the headset. This would be the difference between them being a set of headphones that never leave the house, and being a set of headphones that never leave my side… I just dont want to be on the tube in a set of headphones with a boom mic, and a gharish pattern on the headband.
Charging: 7/10
The problem I have with the charging isnt that it takes long, they seem to charge really fast! The issue is that if you are using them and put them on charge without turning them off, I dont really understand what they do.. but it doesnt seem to charge. Ive found that once i finish using them I either have to turn them off, then plug them in, or plug them in, and immediately remove the charger, and plug them in again. This could be by design so that when you first plug a usb in it works to connect to a PC or something, but it does mean that occasionally if you forget, you can plug your headset in – but it doesnt charge. Once you realise you need to see the slow pulsing light to know its charging, then you’ll probably be ok.
Overall: 9/10
My first headset from this company, due to the build quality I cant see myself replaceing them any time soon, and if in the same position again I wouldnt hesitate to get these. If you are looking for a great gaming headset thats comfortable to wear, these are my shout.
If you want a set that doubles up as something you would use as wireless headphones out and about – the non-detachable/hidden mic might put you off, as it did me. If you are less vain than I am, then youll have a nice sounding set of headphones for your travels too. 🙂
PHYSICAL OVERVIEW AND IMPRESSIONS:
Out of the box I was impressed with the look and feel of the headset, the ear cups feel very comfortable and I appreciate that they’re fabric covered and not imitation leather which I’ve found tends to disintegrate rather quickly.
The adjustable top worked great for me, I was able to find the perfect level of comfort with only a minor adjustment out of the box. It maintains the size you set the headset at perfectly so you won’t need to keep altering it.
The Microphone being retractable and also adjustable to any position around the left side of your face is really a nice feature and the Microphone includes a light visible in your peripheral vision which only shines when you have the Mic muted (using the tactile button on the rear of the left ear cup) this is a nice touch.
The headset feels quite light considering it contains two large drivers, batteries and no doubt a lot of electronics. SteelSeries have done well to choose construction materials and methods that are light so that there is some weight budget left over for those heavier electronic components.
With those good aspects out of the way there are a few downsides to the physical parts of the headset which I will now list.
1. It doesn’t have a USB-C charging port and instead opts for Micro USB.
2. There are so many buttons and dials on the ear cups (both sides!) that you will almost always click a button or move a dial inadvertently when putting the headset on or off. This is annoying especially if you put them back on only to have the volume now set much higher than before.
So with that out of the way lets get to the meat and potatoes. How do they sound, what’s the battery life like and how good is the wireless performance.
OUTPUT SOUND QUALITY:
Firstly sound, out of the box these sound like garbage. And I’m not mincing words here, they sound very tinny and everything you listen to sounds like it’s coming through an FM radio. I’m no audiophile and I only own one other pair of headphones which are strictly intended for music but even I can tell that these sound very poor out of the box.
But it is mostly fixable. Firing up an application like EqualizerAPO (Free and Open Source) and searching online for an appropriate Equaliser profile (or dialling one in yourself if you’re feeling adventurous) changes the sound quality on these immensely. It’s like a night and day difference. They really do go from sounding bad to sounding great. Not excellent or perfect, but great.
MICROPHONE SOUND QUALITY:
The microphone is the main reason that I needed such a headset to begin with, to be competitive in online games you need to be able to converse with your team mates. I play my games in quite a noisy room and so a Microphone close to my mouth with some kind of noise cancelling was paramount.
In this regard the headset delivered exactly what I wanted. I recorded myself speaking and it sounds to me crystal clear. It will of course pickup wind noise if you have a fan blowing directly at your face but that’s to be expected. Overall I’d give the Microphone audio quality a solid 8 out of 10 and the noise cancelling is more than adequate.
Something to note here is if you install the SteelSeries 3 software you can set it so that the headset will broadcast what it hears on your Microphone directly into the headset so you can hear yourself talking. This is a must-have feature for a closed back over-ear headset like this one which will assist you in talking at a normal sound level to your team mates. I found this worked without any kind of discernible delay, it’s a faultless implementation.
The last thing to mention about the Microphone is that the headset does have a dial on the right ear cup which allows you to adjust the mix between the system/game sounds and the chatter from your team mates. This feature relies on the game or software you’re using being able to send game/software audio to one audio source and the chat audio to another.
For the games I play we use Discord chat which is able to send the voice chat to the chat channel of the headset and then any game I’m playing can target the game channel. These audio channels are clearly defined in all the software you use once you install the SteelSeries 3 software and this is a clever feature for quickly adjusting your audio balance without having to minimise a game to alter audio settings and it too works faultlessly.
BATTERY LIFE:
The headset boasts 24 hour wireless battery life and I’ve found that to be a completely accurate statement. The battery life is great and if the headset does happen to run out of power you can simply plug it in with the included cable and keep using it while it charges.
The headset doesn’t get noticeably warm even while being used during charging so the only inconvenience to charging it while playing is the cable dangling down your left side.
WIRELESS PERFORMANCE:
Whenever purchasing a wireless anything (Keyboard, Mouse, Headset etc) it’s often been the case that the manufacturers stated performance and range estimates are wildly optimistic. It seems most companies idea of testing consists of placing the product in an open field with no other wireless transmitting devices or perhaps any trace of civilisation at all.
So it will come as no shock to say that the stated 12 meters is likely only possible with a direct line of sight between the headset and its transmitter/receiver unit. I found through obstacles (one floor or a single wall) the range is about 3 to 4 meters.
But I will say if you’re staying in line of sight of the transmitter/receiver or you’re within those 3 to 4 meters the sound quality (when adjusted as noted above) is perfect. It suffers from no drop-outs or quality degradation. That is to say the bitrate remains high and the latency low.
So I have no concerns about the wireless performance of the headset for any of its stated usage scenarios (PC or Gaming Console). If you’re in the same room as your gaming machine you shouldn’t have any problems at all.
CONCLUSION:
I like this headset a lot when taking its cost into consideration and while its out of the box sound quality is poor after a few tweaks to your audio equaliser it does sound great. I think the price at 119.99 (as of review) is about right for this headset. Just keep in mind you may only be able to adjust your equaliser settings on a computer. You may not have that capability on a games console like an XBOX or Playstation.
Now if you were to spend that same amount of money on a wired headset you will definitely get better sound quality (especially out of the box) but the convenience that the wireless feature provides is to me at least, worth the sound quality sacrifice.
If there was one addition I would like to see in the package it would be some kind of carrying case. Just a drawstring cloth bag to store the headset in when not in use to keep it from getting dusty would be a nice value addition in my opinion.
PROS:
+ Good value for a wireless headset with Mic
+ Great sounding microphone
+ Tactile buttons that are easy to feel for
+ Quite light and feels comfortable for extended play sessions
+ Great wireless performance
+ Great battery life
CONS:
– Out of the box sound output quality is very poor
– Volume dial placement can lead to unintended adjustments
– No USB-C port on the headset for charging