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

I was on the hunt for a new headset after the one I had which used a flip up to mute system stopped working. I work fully remote, and generally wear headphones for 6-8 hours a day for music/meetings. I needed a pair that would meet my needs, all day comfort, quality mic and audio, a physical mute button, and wireless. It took me three tries, with different brands before I finally decided to bite the bullet and spent what was previously an unimaginably large sum for headphones for me. This model had by far the most reviews of any other, it had solid reviews across the board and I figured it was time to pay for some quality. I could not be happier. The fit is perfect (although it takes a few tries to get used to adjusting with this particular strap mechanism), the sound is great, the retractable mic is convenient and works well, its comfortable for long periods of time, and the wireless range is great (I can move from my office, through multiple walls into the kitchen without losing signal). Ill never go to another brand. Pay for quality, its worth it.

I was in the market looking for a new gaming headset that wasnt going to break the bank. I was able to snag these for around low 100s and pulled the trigger on them! I have heard many great things about this headset, but I wanted to really try them for myself and see if I liked them. After a year of using these bad boys, I can definitely say it was worth all $100! I think the sound quality is good enough, especially for the price of $100. My favorite thing about this headset is the simple/easy bluetooth connection. I leave the dongle connected to my PC and anytime I want to use my headset I just turn them on and theyre prepared to go! The headset is built pretty nicely, very sturdy & strong build. The ear cushion is pretty cozy, I have definitely worn this headset for 4 hours straight gaming. Absolutely no complaints, its really well-built and nice! The only issue I would have with this headset is that sometimes it loses connection on initial set up & the battery life is aite... I use this headset pretty often so I can see why the battery life has been diminished. I charge mine after every use because I like the portability aspect of it being wireless. If this is a deal breaker for you, the Arctic 7 pros comes with an additional battery for you to swap while the other one is charging. Only regret I have on this headset is that I didnt wait long enough to get the white ones :(. Other than that! Absolutely A1 headset for gaming!

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 enjoyed this product for the first couple of weeks I used it, save one or two small complaints, but as time has progressed it has become more of a hassle. They aren’t bad headphones and they work flawlessly with my PS4, but have given me persistent issues with my PC. The good: -The software on PC allows you to customize profiles for different listening applications which is nice (and necessary). -These headphones worked super well with my PS4, which has been super cool. -when they work on my PC I love being wireless and the battery life is pretty good and the headphones are super comfy. The Bad (long because I want to be fair and specific): -out of the box, the sound quality is ROUGH. I mean, sound profiles for headphones are definitely a matter of taste but out of the box I found the high frequencies to be PAINFUL, and there was a severe lack of bass. Any budget Bluetooth headphones is going to struggle to achieve wired levels of sound quality but the shrill and piercing highs almost made me immediately return them. (Definitely had to alter the sound profile with the software in order for them to be usable) -for PC, these headphones have so much happening in the audio drivers/devices side of things that your computer will become confused and stop delivering audio correctly. Sometimes these headphones work perfectly but for me it’s been a coin flip. It creates a proxy “discord” audio device for the discord volume dial feature which is fine if you are only running game audio and discord. I had to disable this feature because I would often listen to music while I listen to discord and game, the discord dial can sometime start effecting volumes of programs you don’t want it to, or may not work at all. Aside from The discord features, of these headphones die while your playing a game, sometimes you have to restart the game for it to re-register the headphones as the appropriate audio device, but sometimes it works fine. Sometimes, my Spotify won’t recognize the Arctic 7 audio device as a valid output and won’t play music through them unless the headphones were on when booting Spotify. Sometimes game sounds just stop and for seemingly no reason. Sometimes your computer wont recognize the Arctic’s 7 at all and aside from restarting your computer there’s not much you can do. There’s all sorts of fixes online for stuff like this online, but unless you enjoy uninstalling and reinstalling drivers and making sure weird caches are cleared it’s been easier in my experience to just restart my computer. Maybe it’s from windows updates, or bad software updates, my own personal setup, or whatever, but I’ve checked most of those things and sometimes there’s no clear reason for a glitch. All that being said, if it is working, it will work great for, usually, an entire session (keep in mind, never had ANY issues on PS4). If your audio setup on your PC is super basic (no speakers, no alternate outputs, just running game sound and discord through these phones) then maybe this is perfect for you. Overall: - I use these headphones all the time, but the 3/5 star rating is ultimately because I still have to keep my wired headset around for when these start to glitch out. The sound quality is rough at first but can be evened out, and I bought these headphones to try out a different sound profile then normal. I knew they would be kind of shrill with less bass, and I don’t ultimately fault them for that but with that in mind, if you like bass heavy profiles, look elsewhere. The directionality is spot on and the mids and highs are so sharp it makes in game sound cues like footsteps or gunshots stand out like crazy. However the highs are so powerful that gunshots are so loud you have to active the sound compression algorithm on the headphones in order to keep your ears from (bleeding?) ONLY hearing explosions or gunshots. These headphones have been a joy at times and a source of frustration as well. For 110$, your expectations can’t be too crazy, if you were to buy a high end mic and high end headphones, all with with a built in high quality Bluetooth DACs with software support for listening profiles you would expect to spend 10x that amount. So it’s a solid deal, but what your buying is wireless-ness not audio quality or reliability. If I had to buy another Bluetooth headset I’d probably spend a bit more money and try a different brand, with less features, more reliability, and better ootb sound quality but that’s my personal preference. TLDR: 3/5

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.

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 was a bit hesitant to spend the money on these as in my experience a lot of gaming headsets are over priced and low quality hardware/software. I really like the software has so many options to tune your sound and create different profiles which I used for testing what worked best for each use (Gaming, Cinema, Music and chat). The quality is great as far as im concerned, even though I was hesitant that Ive seen some pictures of broken parts but after owning these for a few months, Im starting to think it is the user that is mistreating the headphones. I dont treat them like glass but I definitely dont throw mine around in anger or carelessness, mine are on my head or hanging from a stand when not in use. All in all I wouldnt hesitate recommending these to friends and there are so many options out there id say this is definitely worth the money and up there with higher priced headphones. Now for downsides of what ive found so far. There is no documentation on recommended tips for fine tuning your headset, it would be nice to have an explanation of how the features in the software benefit certain sound. For example when gaming in Warzone it is nice to hear footsteps but not have it so loud that when youre in a car or gunfight you cant hear your team mates cause the chat is so low. It took some testing to get this ironed out. There needs to be better documentation on how to optimally configure your headset on different platforms whether it is PC or a consol. Secondly Ive noticed my battery life isnt measure correctly in the app, although I havent tried to uninstall/reinstall or much troubleshooting, It is something Ive seen others mentioned. I have a feeling I could fix it, just havent put time to it but thought it was worth mentioning. (Battery life is great btw)

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.

Have had about a week. Bought to replace my Hyperx Cloud Flights (which I bought to replace my Corsair HS70s!) As I review these I just finished a 5 hour gaming session, no usually my longest but the comfort is there. Still waiting to see if they give pain in my ears/face/jaw area like the two previous sets did but I think the outlook is well. You are required to install Engine 3 from SteelSeries to access battery meter and equalizer settings, no surprise there. Engine 3 uses a purely 3 bar battery for means of telling you how much charge is left.. % would have been better as 1 bar can mean anything from 5-30%! The ski band is kinda quirky but I can appreciate them trying something different. Despite it looking strange its actually quite comfortable to wear. The earphones also have a nice swivel that my previous headphones did not.. I think these two niches really set the headset apart from others on the market. Microphone is somewhat a mixed bag. You get a giant red led letting you know its off.. okay. While fully extended it doesnt seem to go right near your mouth so youre kind of talking out the side of your mouth to make sure its working. Sidetone users REJOICE! This headset has Sidetone from None, to Low, Medium and High; very good to include! I believe these are worth a try and if you like them definitely keep. The price is a bit high but I understand SteelSeries is a solid peripheral manufacturer.

I have been eying wireless headphones for a while. I love the sound quality of my current setup, but I wanted to have a little more freedom to move around while casually using my computer or gaming. When I saw these on sale, I decided to go for them. Sound Quality: The sound quality on these is pretty cool. At first, they sounded a little iffy, but I was able to go into the Steel Series software and tune it to how I liked it. This was really easy. I gave them a 4/5 because they work great for gaming and for casual use for YouTube and stuff like that it is closer to sounding good than great. I briefly tested the microphone so I could include it in this review. I would call it passable. If you are using it for chatting in-game or over discord, I do not think anyone would think it is bad - but I wouldnt do any sound recording with the mic. Comfort: These are some of the most comfortable headphones I have used. I love the headband design and wish it was used everywhere. It is super easy to adjust to fit your head and is barely noticeable while wearing. You can definitely wear them for multiple hours without fatigue. I have tried them with both glasses and without and have not noticed it being much, if at all, more uncomfortable with the glasses on. Miscellaneous There isnt much else to put here. I think the position of the controls is all right. I have been using them for a bit and still have a hard-ish time finding the power button or the mic mute button without looking. The software seems pretty robust (this is used to change the sound settings and all of that). The bright red glow on the microphone when it is muted is a little annoying. When I wear glasses, I can sometimes catch the reflection of it in the corner of my eye. I would have also preferred if it just muted when you slid the microphone into the hidey-hole rather than using a toggle/button. The wireless is amazing. My setup is on the second floor, and I can go literally anywhere in my house without it dropping. Even the basement. The only time the signal got iffy was when I was standing next to a microwave. Verdict Overall, I would 100% recommend these at the price point I got them ($100) if you are looking for a wireless headset with a microphone. Once you move past $100, you start to get into the territory of other headsets that also have good reviews. I have not personally used any other wireless headset for almost 6 years, so I cannot speak to that. I can say I still would have been mostly happy with these at their retail of $140 (as of writing this review). But my complaints about the controls would have been more substantial at that price point.