Steelseries have a method – one which they’ve confidently caught with for a number of generations of headphones – and the Arctis Pro Wireless doesn’t change a lot in that regard. What it does ship, nevertheless, is gorgeous audiophile-grade audio, excellent consolation, and unprecedented connectivity.
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The Arctis Wireless Pro is the quintessential wi-fi headset for players. Built upon the foundations of the Arctis headsets earlier than it, SteelSeries have tweaked their successful system to verify they keep in entrance of the competitors.
Premium is the secret with the Arctis Wireless Pro, and it performs it properly. The Airweave ear cushions are ethereal and cozy, and regardless of the wi-fi tech packed inside its aluminium and metal shell, the Arctis Pro Wireless manages to remain pretty light-weight at 371g. The famed Arctis adjustable head assist design manages to maintain any of the additional weight from the wi-fi doodads inside from instantly resting on prime of your dome – though it solely comes with a single plain black ski-goggle band this time round.
The left earcup incorporates a quantity wheel and microphone mute button, whereas the fitting options energy and Bluetooth buttons – which additionally double up as voice and music controls. While the quantity wheel is actually most popular to quantity buttons, it is vitally simple to nudge the wheel whereas taking the headphones on or off, or when adjusting the match, and that may be a bit of irritating after repeat offences.
The proper headphone homes the detachable battery, hidden below a magnetic cowl for straightforward entry. A single battery will internet you 10 hours of battery life, however you get a complete of 20 hours because of the additional battery included within the field. The interchangeable battery design means you’re realistically unlikely to expire of juice even for those who defy sleep for 20+ hours, as one can all the time be charging – though, please do seek the advice of your physician.
Steelseries have made certain to pack in a cable for practically each eventuality – together with a charging cable, 3.5mm audio cable, toslink optical cable, and a USB audio cable – however wi-fi is, in fact, the Arctis Pro’s forte.
For basic use then, lossless 2.4G is offered from the bottom station, which additionally doubles up as a settings hub. Features embody: a quantity dial, EQ controls, chatmix controls, battery monitoring, and a bunch of different minor settings to tweak to your liking. The base station additionally performs because the battery charging station, with a battery-sized slot on the aspect to maintain a battery completely juiced up always.
Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity can be obtainable for all your transportable units, and if all else fails, you’ll be able to wire the headset in with both the proprietary SteelSeries USB to three.5mm jack connector or the usual 3.5mm to three.5mm jack cable included. The 3.5mm jack on the headset additionally has a secondary perform, permitting you to separate the headphone audio to a different system or headset.
The Arctis Pro isn’t merely getting a passing grade as a consequence of its connectivity, nevertheless. The audio high quality simply surpasses what we’ve come to anticipate from many gaming headsets. The Wireless Pro options 40mm Neodymium drivers with a frequency response of 10hz to 40,000Hz. Bear in thoughts that the wi-fi model tops out at a most pattern charge of 48kHz, fairly than the 96kHz of the wired GameDAC outfitted model.
The result’s a crystal clear soundscape that even a discerning audiophile wouldn’t flip their nostril up at. Individual sounds are reproduced with unimaginable readability and accuracy throughout your complete vary.
The Pro Wireless’ crystal replica and distinct directionality does have one harrowing impact, nevertheless. It turns gaming right into a frightfully immersive expertise, with audio cues vividly reproduced in such a means as to trick your thoughts into pondering one thing is happening simply past your periphery.
Most gamer-focused cans and common excessive road headphone manufacturers are likely to give attention to highly effective bass in any respect prices, however the Arctis Wireless Pro focuses way more closely on a flat sound and correct replica. Therefore, bass is usually very smooth and refined, and could be subverted by the mids and highs when much less prevalent inside a observe. This impact does are typically much less noticeable in action-focused titles and FPS shooters that favour exceedingly-heavy bass samples all through, and you may simply enhance the bass by way of the built-in EQ if the steadiness isn’t fairly to your liking.
The Arctis Wireless Pro is equally well-equipped for voice chat. The bidirectional microphone is connected to a retractable increase arm that wraps proper into the headset itself. It options clear audio, nice background noise cancelling functionality, simple chat combine controls by means of the bottom station, and all-in-all is a painless expertise to regulate on-the-fly. It additionally options the little purple LED, similar to different Arctis fashions, that ought to make it excruciatingly apparent when your mic is muted.
But it will be remiss to throw reward on the SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless with out commenting on the worth – which can be a sticky difficulty for some. The headset is on the cabinets for $330 / £300, whereas – spoilers – our earlier prime wi-fi gaming headset, Razer’s Thresher Ultimate, solely value $250 / £210.
But is it definitely worth the value premium? Unequivocally, sure. SteelSeries have created a headset that satitates each my necessities as a reasonably sociable gamer, and my (worryingly) rising audiophile tendencies. And all that with out the wires.
If gaming is precedence numero uno for you, music constancy an in depth second, and value a distance third, then the mix of exemplary mic, flawless wi-fi performance, and tone-perfect audio replica the Arctis Wireless Pro will swimsuit you to a T.
SE7EN.WS verdict: 9/10
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