Ever because the Steelseries Arctis 7 rocked my eardrums on the finish of final 12 months, no different gaming headset has even come near matching its supreme consolation or distinctive sound high quality – till now. Enter its brand-new shiny upmarket sibling, the Arctis Pro.
Borrowing the identical understated design and ski goggle headband as the remainder of the Arctis line, the Pro takes every part up a notch, introducing Hi Res audio assist, a touch of RGB lighting across the ear cups and a few primo construct high quality to make it additional really feel sturdy and opulent.
There are three Arctis Pros altogether: the entry-level USB headset, the top-end 2.4GHz wi-fi and Bluetooth model, and the center one I’ve bought right here, the Arctis Pro and GameDAC. Starting from £179 / $179 for the common USB headset (or £249 / $249 for the GameDAC mannequin and £299 / $329 for the wi-fi one), the Arctis Pro is a correct good little bit of package.
Underneath its stretchy black ski goggle materials, its metal headband feels pretty to the contact, and the gentle, plush ear cups are like two puffy clouds gently caressing your cheeks. Against my higher judgment, I’m additionally fairly keen on the delicate ring of RGB lighting around the ear cups’ gentle contact casing as nicely, regardless that I do know RGB lighting on a headset is totally and totally pointless when you may’t really see it. The wi-fi model, in the meantime, is extra smart, as this comes sans RGB that will help you save battery life.
Still, it’s that ski goggle headband that actually seals the deal for me, as the best way it suspends its metal body above your head means there’s little or no danger of it ever urgent down in your cranium and supplying you with a headache – which is one thing I discover loads of headsets are likely to do as a result of, apparently, my head merely can’t abide your normal headset headband. With the Arctis Pro, nevertheless, I can stick with it sporting it for hours at a time with out the slightest little bit of discomfort. Thumbs. Up.
The Arctis Pro additionally brings a swathe of smaller adjustments that make utilizing the headset a lot simpler day-to-day. The microphone mute button on the again of the left ear cup, as an illustration, is now a lot bigger and simpler to seek out, and its textured grip makes it simply as distinguished as the quantity dial under it. The extendable microphone additionally turns a useful shade of pink while you press it, too, so precisely when its muted and precisely when your mates can hear you slurping a big cup of tea.
What makes this explicit model of the Arctis Pro stand out, after all, is the USB GameDAC. PCs haven’t all the time performed good with standalone DACs (or digital to analogue converters, which convert digital music recordsdata into analogue indicators to be performed by your audio system or headphones), what with sound playing cards all however being null and void as of late and your motherboard usually having one among its personal to take care of, however the DAC on the Arctis Pro has been constructed for gaming from the bottom up, elevating the standard of the sound popping out of your PC whereas additionally offering a one-stop management centre for the complete headset.
Press that massive pretty quantity knob (I really like a very good quantity knob, me), as an illustration, and also you’ll immediately change over the headset’s chatmix settings, which helps you to fade out all background music to focus solely in your multiplayer chat, or vice-versa while you need to silence screaming eleven-year-olds from slinging curses at you). Hold it down, nevertheless, and also you’ll deliver up the remainder of its onboard menu, supplying you with entry to its equalizer settings, sidetone and microphone quantity changes, supply inputs, RGB controls and varied completely different playback choices. The smaller button beside it, in the meantime, is for navigating backwards to the earlier menu display.
It’s a extremely intuitive system, and one which places Steelseries’ convoluted transmitter on the Siberia 800 to disgrace. The DAC’s OLED display additionally means every part’s seen always, no matter viewing angle, and the lengthy USB cables you’ll want to attach it to your PC and headset additionally make establishing and slotting it into your current PC setup extremely simple. Another thumbs up.
I realise I’ve now run out of thumbs for example my approval, however you’ll be happy to listen to that each of them stay resolutely within the upward route in the case of the Arctis Pro’s total sound high quality. Of course, with out the common USB headset readily available to check as nicely, it’s tough to know precisely how a lot of a distinction the DAC is making total.
Still, bass-heavy shooter Doom pulsed and zipped alongside with out ever sounding too overbearing, and I used to be all the time capable of hear the place each final demon rasp was coming from, permitting me to pump them stuffed with satisfying tremendous shotgun blasts with skilled precision.
Likewise, the Arctis Pro gave Hellblade’s 3D binaural audio and the voices inside Senua’s head an actual sense of depth and distance, making me get away in goosebumps each time one among them whispered in my ear behind the nape of my neck earlier than they whisked themselves away once more to the outer edges of my listening to. Whereas some headsets find yourself undermining Hellblade’s voice performances, right here the headset strengthened them, serving to to create a vivid image of Senua’s psychological state alongside what was occurring onscreen.
The Arctis Pro additionally piled on the stress after I gave The Evil Within a run as nicely, making a tense, fraught ambiance whereas I handled molotov-wielding zombies up shut and dodged incoming air bolts from afar. Indeed, I’ve by no means been fairly so glad to listen to its Clair de Lune save room music spill via its dripping corridors, even when there’s a shrieking raise grinding away within the background because it struggles to make its method all the way down to us.
Admittedly, switching the Arctis Pro over to its Hi Res Audio enter didn’t appear to make an enormous quantity of distinction when enjoying video games, regardless that that is meant to focus the headset’s total bandwidth (thereby disabling its DTS HeadphoneX V2 encompass sound and chatmix assist) into delivering a superior audio expertise. Instead, you’re extra more likely to profit from its Hi Res assist if in case you have one thing like a Tidal music subscription or personal correct Hi Res audio tracks.
The excellent news, although, is that the Arctis Pro is unbelievable for normal music listening as nicely. Even on its common PC enter mode, the Arctis Pro dealt with every part from Final Fantasy XV’s delicate piano themes to thumping battles tunes with ease, making a spacious soundscape that gave every part room to breathe and the prospect to be heard. None of this strained highs and overblown bass nonsense; simply nice sounding music.
The similar goes for ‘proper’ music with lyrics and folks enjoying guitars and such. Whether it’s your favorite rock band, indie folks duo or the opening theme from anime Attack on Titan, the Arctis Pro provided loads of stability and crisp element.
Speaking of element, its flexible, retractable microphone can also be wonderful. It’s fairly brief in comparison with different headset mics I’ve examined up to now, however chat was nonetheless crystal clear after I recorded myself speaking, and I didn’t hear an oz of pop or blow-out wind results both. If I had 5 thumbs, they’d all be pointing skywards.
The massive query, although, is whether or not all this pretty headset goodness is price paying for over the Arctis 7? The GameDAC is actually a pleasant contact that beats having to take care of Steelseries’ Engine software program in the case of making settings changes, however I wouldn’t have stated its audio high quality confirmed £90/$90+ price of great, noticeable enchancment – no less than not utilizing its common PC enter.
You’ll in all probability get extra out of it for those who usually take heed to Hi Res audio tracks, though it’s price noting that whereas the Arctis Pro + GameDAC is Hi Res audio licensed, its entry-level sibling is not, regardless of being ‘capable’ (in keeping with Steelseries) of excessive decision playback. As a gaming headset, although, I’m not satisfied you may actually hear that a lot of a distinction between this and the Arctis 7. Or maybe I’m only a half-deaf heathen who merely can’t inform the distinction between common audio and all this Hi Res gubbins. If you’re keen on your audio and need the perfect, then by all means go for it. For me, nevertheless, the Arctis 7 stays higher worth for cash.
