The SteelSeries Arctis 7 has some massive boots to fill, that’s for positive. At $150 (£151), the Arctis 7 isn’t going to hit your pockets as exhausting as its $348 (£280) stablemate, the Siberia 840, however can the Arctis 7 topple its pricier sibling from the most effective wi-fi headset podium?
There are as many gaming headsets on supply as grains of sand within the desert, however which one fills your wants? Check out our information to the best gaming headsets to search out out.
Gamers arguably want extra from their headphones than the typical consumer. Your run-of-the-mill audiophile will possible focus purely on audio high quality. But on prime of this, players want a cushty and durable construct that may stand as much as hours upon hours of play, a top quality microphone to document their rantings, handily positioned controls to scale back fiddling time… the listing goes on and on.
How can a headset priced equally to a good set of studio headphones presumably hope to fare within the midst of all these necessities? Let’s discover out.
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SteelSeries Arctis 7 specs
Unlike SteelSeries’ Arctis three and 5 headsets, the Arctis 7 is wi-fi, which you may anticipate to imply setting it up eats up extra of your time, however that isn’t the case. Once you’ve plugged the small transmitter right into a spare USB port and turned the cans on, you’re good to go – the 2 are paired proper out of the field. Just be certain that the batteries have juice in them, in fact.
Speaking of juice, the battery life is stable – the SteelSeries web site claims a 15hr+ battery life, however constant use at an inexpensive quantity means they’d truly run out of juice across the 12-hour mark. That’s not fairly the 24hr+ lifespan some higher-end headphones brag, however it’s nonetheless lots sufficient to not need to continually fear they’re going to conk out.
If you’re operating low, although, the included charging cable can comfortably attain the headphones, so you’ll be able to nonetheless pay attention whereas filling up these energy cells. You undoubtedly received’t have an issue with efficient distance when going wi-fi. SteelSeries declare the vary on the headset is 40ft, which is straightforward to consider. The energy of the two.4GHz radio connection between the transmitter and the cans meant that I bought half manner out of the workplace constructing and the sound hadn’t stuttered one bit.
The headset is constructed from a light-weight metal alloy and has a trendy simplicity, quite than the ‘child’s toy’ aesthetic of another equally priced headsets. The Arctis 7 additionally feels sturdy to the contact, perfect for these of you who wish to deal with your gear with a little bit of gusto. Optional interchangeable ‘ski goggle’ headbands have the bonus of including visible aptitude and increasing the lifetime of your headset.
For these with a giant head, you’ll be happy to know the scarf will accommodate you, with its adjustable velcro permitting for many head sizes. Still, as is commonly the case with elasticated headbands, in lengthy play periods you’re more likely to want to regulate the place of the ‘telephones resulting from a sore scalp. The ear cushions on the over-ear cans profit from a delicate, but durable-feeling texture, and sufficient room for bigger ears. These, too, finally trigger a bit of soreness, however the softer texture could attraction to some players greater than the extra inflexible cups on the Siberia 840s.
At 281g, they’re lighter than the 840s by 37g too, inserting them on the lighter facet of our pick of the best wireless gaming headsets. For our cash, the match of the cans is of a lot better significance than the load, as a well-fitting set of headphones that weighs 400g goes to trouble you a lot lower than a lighter set that doesn’t sit proper in your head. The hassle is, I’ve but to make use of an elasticated headset that really sits comfortably on the pinnacle – the strain of the band pulling in opposition to your cranium makes positive of that. The Arctis 7’s is certainly among the many greatest elasticated bands on the market, however the issue nonetheless stays, even when it’s not extreme.
A quantity dial and ‘chatmix’ dial to combine the audio of the sport itself with voice chat sit on the backs of the closed-back earcups. The positions and low resistance of those wheels make adjusting the sound a breeze, however make it equally straightforward to mess these settings up when placing the headset on and taking them off. Seriously, get used to re-adjusting the volumes each time you don this stuff prepared for a match – it’s the most important annoyance these headphones trigger.
The Arctis 7’s 40mm S1 drivers are pumping out frequencies between 20-20,000MHz, an unremarkable vary it shares with all the opposite wi-fi headsets we’ve examined. It’s potential to purchase wi-fi cans with a wider frequency response, however this could find yourself being extremely costly, so it’s robust to mark the Arctis 7s down an excessive amount of for this.
They do, nonetheless, make use of SteelSeries’ ‘Engine 3’ software program, which provides some instruments for sound modifying. Basic EQ and compression options provide you with a bit of scope to play about with the audio (it’s straightforward to image bass junkies cranking the decrease frequencies up after they get their fingers on this), whereas DTS 7.1 surround-sound functionality, a dwell mic preview, and a mic quantity management additionally make appearances. Users can save their favorite settings as profiles – for instance, one for movies, one other for gaming, and a 3rd for music. It isn’t essentially the most spectacular set of sound modifying options we’ve ever seen, however as an added further it’s a simple method to get a bit of extra out of your headphones.
The microphone stalk tucks away within the left earcup and slides out easily when it’s recreation time. The stalk itself is definitely malleable and feels prefer it might stand as much as prolonged tweaking, and it conveniently sits to the facet of the face, leaving your mouth free for Doritos and Mountain Dew.
SteelSeries Arctis 7 efficiency
Enough concerning the specs, how do the rattling issues sound? Well, er… they sound tremendous.
Don’t get me flawed, sound high quality is certainly stable sufficient for the overwhelming majority of gaming setups. The 40mm drivers have a good quantity of oomph – engines roar, bullets whiz, and burly protagonists growl with an appropriate punch, however in case you like your music bassy you could not get your required cathartic thump from the S1 speaker drivers. The cans might be turned as much as ear-damaging volumes and, as an added bonus, you’ll have to have the quantity up fairly rattling excessive earlier than noise begins to bleed via the cushions. So you received’t have any worries about carrying them to your subsequent silent disco.
The drawback is within the distinctly middle-of-the-road frequency response. Ranging from 20-20,000Hz they cowl a great practical vary, however us people have been recognized to detect frequencies on both facet. You can inform the distinction while you change these out for a pair of cans with a wider frequency vary just like the HyperX Cloud II [set up an anchor to this on the best gaming headphones article], the place their 15Hz-25,000Hz superiority provides scoring and textural sound in video games like Skyrim a presence the Arctis 7’s merely don’t have.
The headset’s ‘ClearCast’ microphone is bidirectional, permitting it to choose up and eradicate background noise whereas holding your voice intact. This characteristic works extremely effectively, and is able to eliminating noise from the opposite facet of the microphone, even when the offending sound may be very shut by.
SteelSeries Arctis 7 verdict
The indicators of care and high quality building are right here, from the easily working controls to an influence gentle that flashes up completely different colors relying in your battery degree. The Arctis 7 headset is clearly the product of headset engineers who know what they’re doing. It undoubtedly leaves us questioning why the hell they’d put sound modifying wheels proper the place your thumbs will mess up their settings, although…
Given the first rate sound high quality and spectacular all-round efficiency, it’s a worthy, extra value-oriented successor to SteelSeries’ personal Siberia 840s. The 840s do get pleasure from versatility, extra concerned sound modifying, and swappable batteries, however the Arctis 7 headset is certainly supplying you with worth at a lower cost level. Having used each and realizing they share the identical 40mm driver I’d go for these and save the cash each time.
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