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

So it clearly states 24h battery, but Ive never gotten more than 14 out of mine. And while granted, 14 hours is enough for all day, Id like to have known that up front. Also the fact that SteelSeries has their own proprietary connection is still kind of annoying, especially with how much they charge for a replacement. Also, I personally hate the Game Chat dial feature. On more than one occasion I have not realized it was dialed all the way to Game and not realized I couldnt hear anyone talking. One time it even happened in a meeting, very embarrassing. There is no indication or alert or anything about it. There could be zero activity and Game and maxed volume sounds in Chat, but if the dial is set to Game, you would never know. I have no problems with clamping or the ski fabric that other users have. But there is one feature that the Arctis 7 has that I really like. The transceiver includes Line In and Line Out ports. This is really great for me if I want to use my computers audio, but also want audio from my PS4 or Switch or phone. Gone are the days of my wearing headphones over earbuds.

First of all, I had to send my unit back because 1) the stock cord never charged the headset (I had to charge with another a micro usb cord). 2) The battery indicator in the application never worked. With that said, I did like the Arctis 7. Sometimes I wish I still had it and it just worked. I play a game that takes forever to get into an online session or I have a long wait if I host an activity. Walking to the bathroom or kitchen and hearing what is going on in the game was very useful as I could head back when the music or atmosphere changes and Im in a lobby. That is about as much usefulness as I lost. It took about 2 weeks for me to really get the hang of the headphones. It was heavier than what it replaced and so my neck and head got fatigued after a few hour-long sessions. The DTS:X v2 I didnt find that much of a difference between the Windows Sonic for headphones. It sounded fine, but I wasnt wowed, especially compared to a pair of $13 gaming 7.1 usb headphones (TT-EP006). So here are the details. Comfort: Heavier because of wireless battery, but eventually you will get used to it. Fit: The clamping force wasnt enough, I move my head up too fast or look left or right, they dislodge a bit. Sound: To paraphrase Zeos: If a your headphones are made by the same company that made your keyboard, the sound is crap Gaming: It has nice features for chat/sound mix, never noticed any lag. Features: Wireless range was nice and auto-shutoff worked well. Battery: Battery life kind of sucked and battery indicator and low battery warning system is terrible.

Overview - the SteelSeries Arctis 7 (2019 edition) has a good quality set of drivers and microphone, plus is made from very high quality materials and includes lots of extras which leaves very little to be desired. The Good: Build Quality - 5 out of 5 These headphones are made from very durable and quality materials, and overall feel very solid. I especially like the ski goggles headband style since you only have to adjust it once for your head and then never have to worry about readjusting it, unlike the traditional telescoping headband that most headphones have. The headband is made of steel and plastic with an elastic band for support, and the earphones are made from high quality plastic. The ear cups are made from memory foam covered with an interweaved material which is light and breatheable, but still keeps external noise out well. There are very few points of articulation in this headset which I like because that means there are less potential points of failure. Sound Quality - 4 out of 5 Overall the sound quality is solid, and these headphones have a generally flat frequency response, with a slight bump in the mid-lows. Its taking me some time to adjust to this flat EQ because the headset that I was using previously was excessively muddy and boomy in the lows (Kingston HyperX Cloud), however the sound is very balanced across the frequency spectrum. Connectivity Options - 5 out of 5 This headset includes a ton of connectivity options right out of the box, and you can tell that the engineers who designed it took interoperability and ease of use into consideration when building it. It includes a wireless dongle which plugs into your computer via USB and is used to sync to the headset wirelessly, as well as a USB charging cable for the headset and a 3.5 mm headset jack to mini usb cable for use with non-bluetooth enabled devices (such as the Xbox One). I especially like that the wireless dongle includes an audio in and audio out headset jack, so you can run an alternate line in (like a music player) or line out (to a secondary set of speakers). The best part is that the wireless dongle will automatically switch over to the line out when the headset is powered down or disconnected, so you can run the line out cable to a set of external speakers and can switch between your wireless headset and the external speakers by just turning the headset on and off. The included configuration software is also very nice and has many options for adjusting the input sound, frequency levels as well as saving various profiles for different uses. The Bad: Comfort - 3 out of 5 Unfortunately, these arent the most comfortable headset Ive ever tried or owned, and due to their design they are very limited in terms of adjustability (more of a 1 size fits all approach). Many people complain that the headband was too tight or too loose for their head, but luckily it seemed to fit me perfectly. My problem lies with the earcups themselves. While the cups are soft and very breatheable, they are quite thin and the inside of the cups dont offer nearly as much padding as other headphones that Ive owned. I also wear glasses and have large ears, which ultimately means that these headphones cause fatigue in longer wear sessions. I have found that I can only wear them for a few hours at a time before my ears start to get sore and I need to take them off for a bit. If comfort is the most important feature for you then you are probably better off looking for a more adjustable headset, however I find these to be as good or better than most so ultimately it wasnt a deal breaker for me.

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.

I saw a lot of complaints and issues on these online but it seems it was from the early early models of them. Mine have been pretty flawless since Ive gotten them. There was some hiccups early on getting the hang of how it actually charges and not though, and some general use confusion all over online. To clear it up for anyone - It WILL charge with the headset off, light up mic thing as red, just show no charging light. BUT when you then turn them on itll keep the last color it was prior to charge, so if it was dead and you unplug after charging it while its off itll stay red, plug it back in while its off, turn on, unplug, shows green. - Dial on right have it at the halfway notch, this mixes VOICE and GAME, it can be confusing at first and if not done right sound quality is terrible and its quiet. - Get SS engine, you can edit them to simulate 7.1 you can change a whole sound mixer, and a few other things, apply it once it saves it on the headset this works for first time setup for using on a console too. -Last if your headset seems to brick or just go wonky, left ear cup you take the foam off, theres a tiny pinhole for a master reset switch, stick a pin in for a few seconds and itll full reset the headset if it bugs out Steelseries really needs far better instructions to come with this and online. Users online like reddit the answers are terrible and 90% are just flat wrong. Spend the first days getting to know this headset or youll think things are broken that are fully functional..

I want to preface this by saying I literally just got these, delivered 30 minutes ago, and these are my first impressions. I WILL update over time. I looked at reviews for these and were discouraged by the negative reviews. QC is obviously a little lackluster, and I sat on the decision to purchase these for months. Impulsively, I pulled the trigger for these and I hope I got the good stuff, not the defect. tl;dr (will also update this): They sound decent, would be excellent after EQ tinkering. Microphones hot trash, super quiet to my friends, with a constant beeping (not sure why, but it is an occurrence). Theyre super comfortable. I dont feel them on my head, but when I do, they feel like clouds. Clamp force, quiet. They dont clamp hard, just enough to stay on my head, and not enough to make my ears and head hurt from my glasses pressing into my head. Dials on headset are very sensitive. UPDATE: Upon tinkering, the microphone works! My friends said it sounded crisp, although a little fuzzy, too. Its very directional, which makes putting the mic in the right spot really difficult. The ski band, after proper adjustment, holds the headset on my head well, no changes there. EQ tuning made this thing sound amazing, with no harshness, and clear sound all around. All in all, my opinion hasnt changed, and the review still holds merit, and my recommendation of this set. Right out the gate, unboxing experience is really nice, but not premium feeling. I dont really care about this, just figured it should be known to some with pedantics about this kind of situation. Table of Contents (this is a much longer review than I expected) 1. First impressions 2. Clamp force and fit 3. Comfort 4. Materials, durability 5. Sound Quality 6. Microphone 7. The Et Cetera First Impressions - These headphones are literal plug and play. Before opening the manual (I didnt even pull it out of the plastic wrapping), I plugged in the transmitter, and the drivers were downloaded and implemented right away. I simply clicked the power button on the headphones at first, but having no reaction, I simply held the button and right away, the headphones were connected. And in under 3 minutes, I was using these headphones. Thats really impressive. Clamp force and fit - I have glasses, and headphones hurt me in the long run. And the super nice thing about these headphones right away, is the clamp force. Not too much, not too little. They come off if I violently shake my head (but who does that, anyways), but I can look down, look up, or whatever else without these coming off. They do shift a little, but I didnt adjust these to fit me perfectly, and I probably wont. They sit really nice. Back to the clamp force. Its really loose, in a good way. They have enough force to stay in place, but not enough to put pressure on my head with my glasses. Comfort - Right away, these are super comfortable. Theyre not light, but theyre not heavy. I find myself already forgetting these are on my head, despite my excitement about these. The ear cups are really soft and porous, they literally feel like marshmallows or clouds. I dont feel much on or around my ears, but when I do, theyre very very soft. If I could describe a physical contact interaction with an abstract adjective, quiet would be perfect. Materials, durability - I just got these, so I cant say much here. They feel solid, despite the plastic construct. The ear cups, as aforementioned earlier, are soft, and they feel like premium cloth(?). They feel great on my head and in my hands. A little concerned about the hinge connecting the cans to the headband, but we will see. Again, all speculation as of now, but I will be updating this review. Sound quality - Really good, but not great out of the box. They sound balanced, with highs, mids, and lows all in play. A little more bass could be nice, but Im sure I can adjust that, I do read about EQs a lot. Sometimes the highs feel a little harsh, which, again, probably adjustable. At 100% on both PC and these headphones, these are loud. Not extremely so, but loud enough for me to want to turn the headphones down before I lose more of my hearing. At max volume, everything sounds just as they do at 50%. At low, you start losing a lot of the sounds, and they start blending (but who cranks headphones super low). All in all, pretty grandeur. (Note in update with adjusted sound) The ETC. -The volume dials feel super sensitive, but theyre surprisingly not. Deliberate touch will move the dials and nothing else -Theres also a chat mix dial. Super awesome. To think theres a dial that can replace me tinkering with the volume mixer on pc, or adjusting everyones volumes in discord, is mindblowing, and very much a convenience I wholeheartedly accept.

I love my Arctis 7s, theyre incredibly comfortable and the sound quality is very good (from a non-audiophile). I wear them almost every workday for the whole day while Im on meetings, in addition to using them for PC gaming. It was plug-and-play on both Windows and Linux, and they have become my go-to headphones for being on airplanes (using the included wire to connect to my phone). The charge lasts for a long time, though I typically charge them whenever Im not using them anyway. They arent noise cancelling, but they muffle it pretty well (I often get snuck up on by my family when I am wearing them). I dont really use the included mic, since I have a better usb mic, but when Linux resets to using the headset mic my coworkers can immediately tell because of the decrease in sound quality. The adjustable ski goggles strap is nice, it makes the headset feel lighter and helps it sit at exactly the right height. That said, the headphones are a bit lose and will fall off if I lean too far forward or backward.

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.

well, after 3 years I recomended this to a friend that is fially building his PC it has served me well, It is a must have in games like PUBG for example, I do not play games without these, it being the experiece from 6 to a 10 instantly you just dont know how much you are missing when you dont have these on and the steel series driver, not the windows driver.

I spend multiple hours researching wireless over-the-ear headsets and finally came down to the Arctis 5 and the 7. I however did not put the 9 or Pro series in the mix due to my use-case and cost. From a gaming perspective, the audio switching from game to discord voice chat is amazing, given that I select the correct audio option (there is a Game and Chat option for audio to make this work correctly). Its so convenient to fade out the game audio to hear voice chat a little better rather than digging through game options mid game and wasting time, especially when seconds matter. Same with when my friends are talking too loud and I need to focus on the game. From a music/audio perspective, this headset offers a very good audio mixer to adjust playback to the exact way I like to listen to music. The 7.1 surround makes movies sound exactly as they were intended to be watched. Battery life is amazing, Im able to use the headset all day and then some on just a single charge, which was a huge deal for me. I had a pair of wired Razer Megalodons before this and was worried that battery life was going to be an issue, but so far Ive been blown away by the 7s performance. Ive used the mic one time during a voice chat session and was immediately told it sounded terrible when compared to my Blue Snowball. So if you do not have an external mic, do not expect perfection from this headset. But, this is common among headset mics.