SteelSeries Arctis 7 - Lossless Wireless Gaming Headset with DTS Headphone: X v2.0 Surround - for PC and PlayStation 4 - Black

I originally bought these in mid-2019. 3+ years and 2 moves later, these still look and perform like new (all though I did buy replacement pads to freshen it up last xmas). Sound customization in the Steel Series app works great and lets you make very precise changes to your sound profile. The surround feature is software driven, of course, and allows you to expand or contract your the sound stage to your liking. My single complaint is the lack of THUNDERING bass. Dont get me wrong, it does a good job, but when shells are falling around me I want to feel the boom, ya know? Anyway, Id definitely buy again. For the money, this headset beats out my Corsair and HyperX stuff no prob.

I was a huge fan of these headphones since I got the Arctis 5 in the summer of 2018. Eventually, they started falling apart so I upgraded to the wireless arctic 7s. Ive had them for a few days and the sound is just amazing. The 5s didnt have bass so when I used the 7s the sound was just crystal clear. I listen to music every day and its so amazing being able to move around and do stuff while using these headphones. They are tight on your head and they are comfortable so they dont fall off. I love how the mic retracts in so it doesnt bother you. The sound is amazing, I play videogames all day and the surround sound is excellent, bass can be controlled if you want a lot, little or none at all from the SteelSeries GG app, there are a few more settings you can change on them but I dont know much about those settings so I keep them how they are unless I want bass or not. You can easily adjust them to fit whatever size head you have and they will fit you perfectly without the balance being different on one side or the other. The noise cancellation is good too, my computer is in the living room so its nice not being able to hear my family or the TV all day and be able to focus on either homework or video games. There was only one slight problem I have been having and that is the mic quality. I mean it is a wireless headset so the mic quality wont be as good as many other wire headphones or the big mics on stands but its not really something to worry about its still better than bad? You can still easily use it but your friends or coworkers will need to adjust for a few days. Overall the mic is not something to worry you its still pretty good. I saw other comments about the headphones making contact with your ears and making you feel a bit of pain or discomfort but I do not have that problem and no I dont have small ears. The battery life does last 24 hours and the headphones do charge extremely quickly which caught me by surprise and I am really happy that I dont have to worry about battery life and you can use them while they charge as well thats not a problem. Overall for the price they are. They are worth it. They are slim, tight so they dont fall off, the sound is incredibly clear for all music, games, or just chat. You have 2 volume mixers on the headset so you can easily mute either chat or games or just lower the volume on each one or both. These are great headphones, worth every penny, I cannot wait to keep buying this collection of headphones because they do NOT disappoint and I even know people who got them before me and we love them all.

And ease of use . I am surprised, there is basically no lag that I can find, I play CSGO competitive usually and this thing still lets me find enemies with ttheir steps. A bit of a background: I Used to have a USB dac amp with a studio closed back headphones and a modmic, I wanted to move to a wireless headset and ended up buying this. So lets break down and compare: Sound: Amazingly similar, if not a bit bass boosted, it has some good audio stage and great quality, no lag for wireless. Microphone: is not a modmic, my voice is not that clear compared to it at least and there is a bit of compression but is neglibile, I dont pick up any more background noises with it which is awesome. Features: it has 2 volume sliders which I still dont understand, this headphone once connected to a PC shows up as 2 devices for windows: Arctis Game and Arctis Chat. The slider on the right allows me to set full volume to either one while the one on the left allows me set volume in general. This means I can mute the voice chat by simply moving the knob on the right or mute the game which I find it amazing. Of course on windows you should configure the default communication device to arctis chat and the keep the arctis game as the default one. Not only that but the microphone being retractable is really nice and if you mute it via button there is a red light on the left. Battery: Amazing , of course its been about 1 week and a half , but so far a week of using it (about 2 to 3 hours daily) and haven ot needed to plug it in back. yet. Comfort: it is nice, its not closed back so some sounds might leak but at least I dont get bothered by it , I am not big headed so cannot say much about the pressure but my other headphones are the CB 1 studio and this ones do a bit more pressure than those. They are light so I dont mind using them and walking and range is really good, about 5 mmeters away I was still hearing sounds from my pc. Conclusion: No regrets buying this, if you have a wired studio headphone with a FIIO e10k and a studio headphone with a modmic ( that is my old setup) and you want to move to wireless on a budget. This is it ,Volume might not be that high but the audio quality is there. Again I used to have my windows at 20% volume with the e10k and the cb1 headphones, with this one I must go a bit above to 30%. higher than that and I might damage my ears. I plan to update this should anything happen with the headphones.

Wireless Headsets I went through before keeping this one: (problem from memory in parentheses) HyperX Cloud Flight - Bought/Returned (pressed ears slightly?) Corsair HS70 - Bought/Returned (pressed ears) Corsair Void Pro - Tried in-store (pressed ears) Logitech G533 - Tried in-store (clunky, harsh cups) Razer Nari - Bought/Returned (heavy) Astro A20 - Tried in-store (pressed ears) Sony Gold Wireless Headset (late 2018 updated version) - Tried in-store (pressed ears) Bluetooth aptX Headsets (well get into why later if youre interested): TaoTronics TT-BH036 - Bought/Returned (latency) Avantree HT4189 - Bought/Returned (latency, clamping force, pressed ears) Comfort: This is the most common reason I returned/did not purchase many of the previously mentioned headsets. I apparently have a very weird head. Im super sensitive to shallow cups (ears stick out causing pain if pressed for a long time) and clamping force (big head causes headaches if squeezed for very long). Heavy headsets can still squeeze my head due to weight on top of my head even if they dont have much clamping force on the sides. Due to this, I feel confident that I am as critical as it gets as far as headset comfort goes. The Arctis 7 was kept because it did not cause discomfort when wearing for many hours. There is a caveat: As it comes in the box, it has too much clamping force for me. Luckily, the headband is made out of sheet metal and an adjustable strap. The strap can be loosened to let the headset contact as much of the top of your head as possible (distributing weight to remove pressure points). The metal band can be bent backwards to reduce how hard it squeezes your head. I found a forum post somewhere made by an acclaimed Steelseries employee who advised this, so that is what I did, and it worked great. Just be gentle, do it a little at a time, eventually it will be perfect! There is no padding on the interior of the cups which scared me as I usually need it, but these cups do not touch my ears somehow so it is not required. Latency: This is more of a side note for the bluetooth headsets. Most everyone knows that bluetooth headsets will have higher latency than headsets with proprietary wireless transmitters. What some dont know is that there is a variant of bluetooth protocol that aims to correct this, it is called aptX. To use it, both your transmitting and receiving devices must be aptX enabled. I will admit, the latency was very low for the aptX bluetooth headphones. When watching videos it was unnoticeable, however when playing an FPS, it was very very soft but it was there. Switching over to my wired headset confirmed this. If you are going for a wireless headset for gaming, you currently must get one designed for it. The Arctis 7 does not have noticeable latency, nor did any of the other gaming headsets I tried. Speaker Quality: Im definitely not an audiophile but I have higher than average taste in sound. This headset sounds nice. I have not played with the EQ, but I may try to turn up the lows a little bit. Mic Quality: Its wireless, and a gaming headset, so it is what it is. It seems to pick up more depth to the sound than other mics, your voice wont sound as flat, however I suppose this comes at a cost on background noise cancellation as it seems a little more prevalent in this headset than others. Construction: This is one of the more well-built units Ive got my hands on. Time will tell how it holds up, but the build quality seems upper-tier. Battery: I cant comment on this, but I highly advise that you get some magnetic micro usb cables. Basically, the cable becomes two pieces. You plug a little micro usb dongle in your headset and then you can connect the corresponding cable any way around. The dongle and cable magnetically snap together. Makes plugging the headset in so easy that you wont ever be conflicted with should I fumble with the connector or should I skip charging for now and just do it later. Any time I set the headset down, I charge it, because its super easy to do so now. Therefore I will never be able to comment on batter life. If you too are plagued by comfort issues, and maybe do not want to go wireless just yet (cost being the only reason I can think of), I would highly recommend the HyperX Cloud Silver. Theyre not cheap but they are worth it. To this day they are the most comfortable headset I have ever worn, with good sound and great build quality.

I tried many wireless headphones from other brands before I decided to stay with this one, including some Sennheisers and Plantronics Backbeat Pro 2. Im glad that I bought this headset. The material for the ear cushions is a soft, breathable fabric, not the pleather that is typical of so many other products. This means that your ears will avoid temperature extremes much better than they would with that material. The fabric also allows the cushions to more successfully mold to your head and create (in my experience) less pressure. The sound the Arctis 7 delivers meets my expectations. Im coming off of owning a set of Audio Technica studio monitor headphones so I definitely expected something more true to sound than what you typically see in a gaming headset, which often have overbearing bass boosting. These sound great, honestly. The bass hits when it should and you dont lose your mids or highs in the process. Unfortunately I cant speak to the quality of the microphone as I use a standing mic. The headband was something that I was skeptical of at first, being that I had only ever had traditional padded headset bands in the past. I think this might honestly be a better solution. It doesnt cause the pressure you can feel from a traditional band so you can wear it for hours and hours on end without any discomfort. The battery life isnt something that Ive measured directly, but I can go a full days use (heavy use) on a single charge at the very least and the charge time seems to be very fast so it really isnt an issue. The only negative I can leverage against the headset is something that Im not even entirely sure is the fault of the headset. I had an issue of it not putting out any sound after I tried to use it after putting my pc to sleep and then waking it. Power cycling the headset didnt fix it and changing settings in the SteelSeries software didnt fix it. Id have to either restart my pc or unplug the receiver and plug it back in. Very annoying though. All in all, I feel like I can safely recommend this headset to someone wanting a good pair of wireless headphones for home use.

Comfortable for long periods. 24+ hour battery life. The clearest mic Ive ever used short of prosumer/professional grade kit. All of that, and somehow the sound quality is also amazing. I could gush on end for an hour or more about these. I recommend them to anyone whos budget would afford them. I even bought a second pair because my girlfriend liked mine so much. Ive got 5 different sets of wired cans that are far more expensive than these. Audiophile-grade stuff. For most, there will be very little difference in sound quality. I actually prefer these over the others because they are comfy as well. The only set that actually rivals them is my Sennheisers, but those are on my desk at work. Before I got these and for a while after, I was using a Blue Yeti (one of the ones from before Logitech bought them) for comms with my friends and family. One day, the USB port broke off the Yeti so I started using the mic on these. Everyone said it was better. Said I was clearer than before and there was less background noise despite noise gates and filtering software used with the Yeti. I still bought a replacement, but only for table usage... for one-on-one I still prefer the Arctics mic. Did I mention theyre comfy? I have a fat head and mid-size ears. They fit and cushion perfectly. My Sennheisers feel better, but both of my Fostex sets are lacking in comparison. This is comparing to other, more expensive over-ears mind you. I make the above comparisons because if you go to a bunch of gaming enthusiasts and ask them what kind of gaming headphones you should get, they will ALWAYS tell you to get a good set of cans without a mic. Something youd listen to an album with. My observation is that before I tried these that was indeed what I would recommend. But now Im a believer. Ive use sets from Kingston (HyperX), Razer, Corsair and a few others and none of those could stand up to halfway-decent audiophile targeted cans paired with a standard desk mic. Steelseries made me a believer with the Arctic 7.

For those looking to purchase a good headset at a reasonable price (I managed to get these while they were at 99.99), you will be hard-pressed to do better. I have used it for quite some time now and feel comfortable reviewing it so heres some pros and cons: Pros: - Excellent sound quality. When I first purchased them the sound quality was excellent and hardly ever had any issues with it. The only thing I ever got which could be attributed more to the wireless connection rather than the actual sound quality is static that comes up very infrequently, Id say maybe once a month. - Incredibly comfortable. I have had a a lot of headsets and this one is by far the most comfortable I have ever had. The way it fits around my head is great and even when doing incredibly long sessions of having it on (8 hours +), my ears dont feel like theyre being crushed as I have had with other headsets. Whatever youre doing to keep these comfy SteelSeries, keep it up! - Easy to use. I have enjoyed the retractable microphone, the mute button and the adjustable volume dials on the sides of the headset. The only knock I would have on the design of this part is it has been very easy for me to accidentally adjust the volume dials while putting the headset on and make it too loud or too quiet. Not sure what could be done about that from a design perspective as I prefer it over buttons but maybe slightly adjusting the positioning to make it less likely. Cons: - Consistently turns itself off. So the biggest con I have experienced while using this headset is that it will fairly often just turn itself off. Sometimes I can go for a few weeks and not have a problem. Other times, I go a whole month of it randomly shutting itself off while audio is going through every half hour or so. It could just be my headset as I havent looked at other reviews prior to writing this but it is incredibly annoying. - The software for it is bad. Given the issue I had above with my headset, I had done my due diligence and made sure I had the latest software, the latest firmware and double checked any settings on the headset to make sure I wasnt causing the issue. At least, thats what I had hoped to do when I was having various issues with it but the SteelSeries software that ties into a lot of their other products just doesnt work consistently. I have had it constantly crash and bug out when attempting to use it and despite spending several hours trying different fixes both on their forums and not, I have been unable to get it working right. While it could just be my computer, during my research I saw a lot of other people having the same issues I described in regards to the software so I reckon it is more likely just bad software. That being said, I would be wary of that part of the product if you tend to dive deep into configuring settings for products such as headsets that you purchase. All that said, I would still highly recommend this product for anyone looking for a pretty reasonably priced headset (assuming you can get it at the 99 price point I did) but just be wary of it turning itself off every so often and the bad software. If you can get past that, its a great headset!

So I purchased this just weeks ago and I was so excited because this was my first foray into wireless headsets. Furthermore, I did my research and was deciding between Razer, Steelseries and Logitech. Most review websites were raving about the superior sound quality of the Steelseries Arctis 7. Well guess what? The sound is crap. Fresh out the box, I updated the Steelseries Engine 3 software and patched the headset, but the soundstage in my ears was skewed around 30 degrees to the left. That means that everything I hear in my ears seems to be coming from the left. Sometimes, there was nothing to the right. Whether I was listening to music or playing games, the sound was skewed to the left. I tried tweaking different settings in the Engine 3 but to no avail. So I did what any logical person would do -- I contacted the Steelseris customer service on 30 September 2018. Every reply from them takes around 2 - 3 working days. Slow responses notwithstanding, the customer service representative did not seem to know why the issue was happening. He only suggested 2 options. Firstly, he told me to reset the hardware via a magical button hidden in the left earcup. I had to peel off the cushioning, find one of those iPhone pins, and then hold the button for a certain amount of time, at which point the headset should reset. There is no indication anywhere so I had to just hope it worked. (It works when you realise you have to re-pair the headset to the USB receiver that came with it.) After re-pairing with the receiver, the issue was improved by maybe 5 degrees but the soundstage was still skewed to the left. The issue becomes more apparent at lower volumes. The customer service reps next solution was to go straight to the RMA process. After asking me to send in my receipt, they agreed to RMA the product conditionally if I send in evidence (screenshot) of the destroyed product - i.e. breaking off the left earcup and showing the serial number. Which I did on 14 October. Its 16 October and my reply from them was that my RMA is declined -- with NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER WHY. So basically, lets recap -- Steelseries sold me a product that has some weird issue, took 2 weeks to correspond with me, agreed to RMA my purchase, and then after I had destroyed it, proceeded to screw me over and tell me the RMA is rejected. Take this as a lesson learnt -- DO NOT BUY THEIR PRODUCTS. WONKY. FAULTY. PATHETIC CUSTOMER SERVICE. AND WILL ABSOLUTELY SCREW YOU OVER FOR NO REASON AT ALL.

I could wear these all day and practically forget they are on. The headband cushions the weight wonderfully, and despite my big head, I havent had a problem with the limited adjustability. The biggest complaints in terms of build I have are the two volume dials being a little too easy to accidentally adjust, and that I would prefer a flip up mic rather than roll out style this has, but that hasnt cause any actual problems. Sound quality is quite good, the best wireless Ive had. Im sure for several hundred more I could get better sound quality, but I think these are already at the sweet spot. Battery life is quite decent, enough that I havent really paid attention to how long they last before needing a charge. The signal strength is really where it shines. I can not only go anywhere in my apartment without interruption, I can walk out the door (on the far side of my apartment, with two walls in between) around the corner and down the hall about 30 feet before it finally begins to cut in and out. Other features I appreciate are the line in and out on the wireless transmitter, which is also on a long cord to allow for optimal placement. I also love the 3.5mm output on the headset themselves, allowing me to easily share sound. I actually find this quite useful for linking to my partners headphones when we watch streaming video while chatting with friends over discord, allowing us to cast to our TV without the sound coming over the microphone. Will most people use those features? Probably not, but they are also just the icing on the cake.

I came from the wired world and have 5-6 well-regarded headsets. But as I was playing more games, I was getting annoyed at the wires so I decided to make the plunge. After a ton of research (and black friday pricing), I purchased these headphones with low expectations. I was wrong. Im not sure if its because of the lack of wires, or because the headphones are actually that great, but THESE HEADPHONES ARE GREAT. First, the basics are solid. The sound is definitely NOT top-tier, but honestly just for daily music, gaming, and YouTube, it is great enough that it really doesnt bother me at all. I have other headphones that do sound better but honestly, these are so great that I have not once even LOOKED at them. Yes, audiophiles can hate me, but whatever. My one caveat though is to try not to play music insanely loud in these, as the quality seems to not be as high once you get past the i want to feel like Im hugging a speaker at a concert volume level, and the highs seem to be a bit shrill and painful. Second, the functionality is incredible. As a person who uses Discord, having the functionality to balance Game sounds & Chat sounds with a dial is just... inspired. All the core functionality is easily accessible. The ONE downside of this is that theyre placed in a location that is easy to accidentally trigger when youre just putting on / taking off your headphones, meaning your volume levels may be changed by accident. I do this, unfortunately, fairly often. Third, wireless. Ive judged you wrongly. Ill never go back. The freedom I felt when I went to another room to get a glass of water while still chatting was surreal (though, admittedly kind of stupid in hindsight). Quality never dropped off, sound seems just as fast, and taking on/off my headphones isnt annoying anymore. The one downside is that the charging cable and port has typical charging cable and port issues, so I wish there were a wireless charging option - that would blow my mind. In summary, get it. Its a fantastic all-rounder with some issues, but overall for me outweighs any of my wired headphones Ive ever owned in 95% of situations.