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

I absolutely loved these headphones. They worked amazing for 4 years, but unfortunately, the charging port literally fell out of them today. I feel that the port is a big enough issue where i cant give this 5 stars, but Ill give it 4 for the years of excellent sound quality. The charging port was noticeably loose and didnt connect well after one year, but I made due with adjusting the position of the cord for a while. Wish I could afford a new pair now, but will keep an eye out for a sale.

I had my headphones for one year and today, the microphone snapped off, I tried to detach the microphone and only use the audio function because I have a mic on my PC but the wiring is all connected and I pulled the ear apart. This is great for audio but poor for talking. Keep that in mind when making this purchase.

I really like this headset. I wear it for 10+ hours a day and it stays super comfy. The sound quality is great and I love the game/voice dial, its super useful. Plus the wireless is perfect, it has great range (about 40-50 ft) and they arent too heavy. However, the mic audio could be a tad better, according to people listening. Its not a deal-breaker though; the mic input audio is still miles ahead of airpods and other built-in mics, and only a couple steps behind a standalone mic, like the Blue Yeti. The biggest drawback is the confusing battery indicator. Its got three levels -red, yellow, green- but how much time is left on each of the levels is always inconsistent. Could be hours or minutes left on yellow, even if they were green a second ago. You can wear and use them while theyre charging, but you hear a faint buzzing noise that gets pretty annoying. Also, if the battery is red (bad, apparently) and then I charge them for 5 minutes, theyll turn green again even though there is no way theyre even close to that level of charge. Theres even more battery nuances than that, but those are the biggest issues. Overall, I think the utility of the headphones outweighs the cons, so Im happy with my purchase.

Alright so this review will be a little bit lengthy as I try to detail as much as I can. Just to be clear, this review is based on my experience with PC ONLY. I dont use this for my PS4 but because it uses its own wireless connector, I would imagine the quality is almost no different than that of the PC. So for starters, the packaging was alright. Nothing extraordinary and it had everything you need for it. The software available for the headset is a MUST, in my opinion. Its not actually needed but its sure as heck a huge boost to audio quality since you can modify it to your hearts content. It has different presets to choose from or you can mess with the equalizer yourself. You also have a wheel on each cup. One is to control the volume and the other to adjust the audio between chat and the game, so the chat volume is louder than the game or vice versa. This has NO LED lights, so if you thought it did, for some reason, youd be dissapointed. I bought this on December 1st and at the time of typing this review, it is December 6th and I have only needed to charge the headset 1 time. I have used it quite extensively. Livestreamed 3 times for 6 hours each and listened to music for another couple more hours and while it still didnt need recharging, it had finally gotten to the lower side. So I recharged it and its quite high in battery life still. Second is the clasp and the ability to adjust the size. The cups are SO soft and are made of this really comfortable fabric; its like a cloud. The clasp isnt so hard and with soft cups, you wont even want to take them off anyway. Now to adjust the size of the headset, you use this ski goggle band...thing. Its basically a strap and im still not too sure how to feel about it since it is my first time using something like this. Im used to simply extending the cups down, but I think im liking the strap a bit since it feels a little more comfortable and its one less component that can break on the headset. Just dont be trying to take it off or youll lose it. Next is the microphone. The microphone extends and retracts into and out the headset, which I always felt is the coolest way to have a mic on the headset. You can press a button on the back of the cup to mute/unmute the mic and you can change its volume on the software. The mic quality is...audible. You can understand what a person is saying clearly, but its sounds closer to potato quality, kinda like a webcam mic but slightly better. Personally I use my Blue Snowball, enhanced with VB Audio software. Finally is the bass. In the software you can increase the amount of bass in the headset. I increased it to the max and you can indeed hear the bass very nicely. Some would say the bass is great. But if you are like me and you know that bass isnt so much about sound, but feeling, then this headset is lacking. You can hear the bass in the music but you cant FEEL it vibrate the cups nor your head. I have an old PlayStation Pulse headset and THAT has bass. I increase the slider to the max on the cup for the bass volume and the headset begins to massage my brain. This headset does not do that in the slightest. Dont get me wrong though, the overall sound quality is exquisite as I can hear things in games in such detail, I never even knew those sounds were ever in there to begin with. The directional audio is very good too as it gives a pretty good idea how far something is as well as the direction its coming from. Final verdict 4/5 stars. Just missing the brain massaging bass for a 5 stars. Oh also this thing uses micro usb as a charger, which we all know is a poop version of the usb, so be gentle when charging.

This headset good for gaming. The audio is clear and I never had any connections drops using this. Battery life is great, usually lasting me 2 days before it needs a charge. Software is fairly customizable using the steelseries engine and dts can be unlocked via their separate software as well. Wireless is achieved through their receiver which uses usb. It even has an option to make a wired connection wireless through a Line In and Line Out connection. If you lose connection theres a pairing button on the side. You can even run your speakers through the Line Out for a seamless headset to speakers transition. The Build design is minimal with a mostly plastic body. You cannot adjust the ear piece length as it is designed much like a ski mask. It will have a little weight to it. I didnt find any issues with comfort or any signs of wear over 3 months. Your options on the headset range from your usual power, volume, charging port and even an option to use the headset wired. Battery life is also indicated by leds as well. Now this is where it became a hit or miss. Using this wired for Xbox would only work with their proprietary jack, the 3.5 option wouldnt pickup the microphone. It still worked fine as long as you used their proprietary connection limiting its versatility. Otherwise Volume controls are easy to adjust such as game and chat. Last is microphone mute button, no problems their. With that said the microphone is okay for chat. Its not the best in quality, but it is very easy to adjust both physically and through the software. Mute works as intended, even has a red led indicator when your muted. Its not in the way and picks ups with no problem. The software is fairly customizable. Nice features like a Equalizer, profiles, Microphone monitor levels, dynamic range levels, and this is where you can enable the 7.1 Surround. Dts surround will have it separate app, I founds this on the Windows app Store, and it automatically picks up as Dts enabled device. With the Dts Surround, it was another hit or miss scenario at least in gaming. It was noticeably more spacious than windows sonic, but it would also sometimes completely mute directional sound in games but this wasnt consistent between games. This also took me 2 months to realize I wasnt using Dts surround because I didnt have the app. After a month of Dts use, it sound okay Ive been using turtle beach headphones for so long, that its a adjustment for me. Overall this headset is feature rich if you can get it on sale. Build quality nice, sound is solid, and its quite versatile for a wireless set. Its does seem better suited for Windows 10 in my case, but a solid choice for decent audio quality.

Id definitely recommend it to someone but minor caveat. Wireless version, used on PS5: Pro: -Its easy to set up, you plug the USB receiver into the PS5 and thats about it. -It sounds great, and mic is much better according to friends. I had the razor kraken prior. -Battery life seems excellent. Ive gone a couple days of heavy gaming without charging it and it was fine. Its comfortable, my ears dont sweat like crazy. Big plus there. -Dual volume dials for in game and chat audio. Helpful! -Used it in COD warzone and its definitely easier to detect footsteps. If you know what Im talking about itll make sense, if youve never played it it wont make sense. Con: Aside from the price the biggest CON is that Its not intuitive at all. Ive had it for 2 weeks and I cant tell if it turns itself on automatically when the ps5 turns on or not. I dont understand its charge level AT ALL. Instructions say its green for 80+%. yellow for whatever percentage but that doesnt exist. The mic turns red when its charging and turns off when its full.

My SteelSeries Arctis 7 died way too quickly for a $100+ headset. I purchased a set in October 2019, and they broke during June 2021. When they broke, I heard rattling in the left earpiece and no sound from the right. The U.S. warranty expires after a year so I had no luck with customer service reps. Its a fine headset while it works, but clearly the quality is not worth the price tag. The audio output is fine for general usage. Now I saw in other reviews that there may be distortion. Im no audiophile, but I couldnt notice any issues while watching movies or playing games. The mic isnt great, but I really only had issues with it picking up some background noise. Most VoIP services will cut out that noise that the mic picks up anyway. A very convenient feature is that the mute toggle is a well placed button on the left earpiece. Speaking of buttons, the On/Off button needs more documentation as it must do something more than just turn the headset on or off. Sometimes if you dont hold the button long enough to turn it off, I think the headset would go into some sort of sleep mode - I dont know. I never could figure out a consistent way to turn it off after that - I would then keep pressing the button until the light disappeared. It was really strange and quite frustrating if this happened while you wanted to listen to something. The headset also has a physical volume control wheel and Chat/Game audio volume control (cannot speak to how that works). The main volume control wheel is fine, but I noticed after a couple months that it was already loose in its fittings. By far my biggest issue with the headset was the comfort. Wow, its bad. Instead of an adjustable earpiece that retracts into the headband, they use a Velcro strap that is supposed to sit atop your head. My head is fairly thin so the headband would fall in front of my eyes if I moved my head too much. It just could never be tight due to this terrible design choice. The final issue must be the design of the connection from earpiece to the band. My headset broke due to normal use and it must have been from how fragile the wiring and connectors are at least in the left earpiece. As you put on and take off the headset, the earpieces will wobble. So I guess after a year and a half of use, this internal connector for the left earpiece must have snapped which leads to stressed wiring which leads to no sound. I had this headset for a year and a half, and as I stated earlier, I did try my luck with seeing what SteelSeries would do after the warranty expired. They took 2 days to respond to the ticket which felt reasonable, but after I immediately replied back to their email, it took another week and a half and multiple follow-up emails to hear back from them. Just dealing with this ticket was irritating.

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.

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 bought this headset to replace my Wireless Turtle Beach PX3 and it went far beyond my expectations. I originally planned on buying the artis pro wireless but this was way more affordable and turned out to last a long time. I used this headset and included mic for awhile before switching to a different mic. Here is what I took away from using this headset for over 2 years now. Pros: ~Wireless works really well with little to no interference (basically anywhere in my house) ~Retractable mic and mic quality works great for discord, phone calls, etc. (way better than those detachable mics you might lose and need one day) ~Can use as a wired headset (cable included) ~light weight and comfortable over long periods of wearing Cons: ~Charging port (micro usb) after 2 years or so does not charge anymore. I only use it as a wired headphones now (mic cannot be used) ~Ear cup fabric starts to crack tear over time (had to replace mine) Overall Great headset for the price and its wireless capabilities. If your looking for a wireless headset with mic this is definitely worth buying as it will last a long time.