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

I was in the market looking for a new gaming headset that wasn't 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 they're 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, it's 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 didn't wait long enough to get the white ones :(. Other than that! Absolutely A1 headset for gaming!

Wireless Headsets I went through before keeping this one: (problem from memory in parentheses) HyperX Cloud Flight - Bought/Returned (pressed ears slightly?) Corsair HS70 - Bought/Returned (pressed ears) Corsair Void Pro - Tried in-store (pressed ears) Logitech G533 - Tried in-store (clunky, harsh cups) Razer Nari - Bought/Returned (heavy) Astro A20 - Tried in-store (pressed ears) Sony Gold Wireless Headset (late 2018 updated version) - Tried in-store (pressed ears) Bluetooth aptX Headsets (we'll get into why later if you're interested): TaoTronics TT-BH036 - Bought/Returned (latency) Avantree HT4189 - Bought/Returned (latency, clamping force, pressed ears) Comfort: This is the most common reason I returned/did not purchase many of the previously mentioned headsets. I apparently have a very weird head. I'm super sensitive to shallow cups (ears stick out causing pain if pressed for a long time) and clamping force (big head causes headaches if squeezed for very long). Heavy headsets can still "squeeze" my head due to weight on top of my head even if they don't have much clamping force on the sides. Due to this, I feel confident that I am as critical as it gets as far as headset comfort goes. The Arctis 7 was kept because it did not cause discomfort when wearing for many hours. There is a caveat: As it comes in the box, it has too much clamping force for me. Luckily, the headband is made out of "sheet metal" and an adjustable strap. The strap can be loosened to let the headset contact as much of the top of your head as possible (distributing weight to remove pressure points). The metal band can be bent backwards to reduce how hard it squeezes your head. I found a forum post somewhere made by an acclaimed Steelseries employee who advised this, so that is what I did, and it worked great. Just be gentle, do it a little at a time, eventually it will be perfect! There is no padding on the interior of the cups which scared me as I usually need it, but these cups do not touch my ears somehow so it is not required. Latency: This is more of a side note for the bluetooth headsets. Most everyone knows that bluetooth headsets will have higher latency than headsets with proprietary wireless transmitters. What some don't know is that there is a variant of bluetooth protocol that aims to correct this, it is called "aptX". To use it, both your transmitting and receiving devices must be aptX enabled. I will admit, the latency was very low for the aptX bluetooth headphones. When watching videos it was unnoticeable, however when playing an FPS, it was very very soft but it was there. Switching over to my wired headset confirmed this. If you are going for a wireless headset for gaming, you currently must get one designed for it. The Arctis 7 does not have noticeable latency, nor did any of the other gaming headsets I tried. Speaker Quality: I'm definitely not an audiophile but I have higher than average taste in sound. This headset sounds nice. I have not played with the EQ, but I may try to turn up the lows a little bit. Mic Quality: It's wireless, and a gaming headset, so it is what it is. It seems to pick up more depth to the sound than other mics, your voice won't sound as flat, however I suppose this comes at a cost on background noise cancellation as it seems a little more prevalent in this headset than others. Construction: This is one of the more well-built units I've got my hands on. Time will tell how it holds up, but the build quality seems upper-tier. Battery: I can't comment on this, but I highly advise that you get some magnetic micro usb cables. Basically, the cable becomes two pieces. You plug a little micro usb dongle in your headset and then you can connect the corresponding cable any way around. The dongle and cable magnetically snap together. Makes plugging the headset in so easy that you won't ever be conflicted with "should I fumble with the connector or should I skip charging for now and just do it later". Any time I set the headset down, I charge it, because it's super easy to do so now. Therefore I will never be able to comment on batter life. If you too are plagued by comfort issues, and maybe do not want to go wireless just yet (cost being the only reason I can think of), I would highly recommend the HyperX Cloud Silver. They're not cheap but they are worth it. To this day they are the most comfortable headset I have ever worn, with good sound and great build quality.

Bought this headset since 2020 when I decided to build my gaming PC when COVID started. I must say that the quality and comfort of this headset has gave me an amazing gaming and music experience. In terms of build, I'm surprised that they lasted nearly 6 years and that the earmuffs gave out first before the actual headset itself. Sadly the left side audio has cut off, leaving me with little option but to retire this piece of technology from my life and onto another set. Overall, for the value of what I was able to get out of these, it was the best 6 years that these puppies could have provided to me.

!!NOTE!! The photo is after 5 years of usage. Overall: Purchased in 2019, this was a terrific headset for $120 (on sale). I enjoyed mine so much that when it died after nearly 5 years of very heavy usage. After it died, I purchased the newer model Arctis 7+. The new 7+ has the same or better quality sound. Get it instead if you can find it. The pros: The sound is good. The software allows for lots of tuning. I used it for everything on my desktop, from gaming to listening to music, YouTube, etc. I purchased this headset in July 2019, and it lasted for over 4.5 years before the battery began dying. That's nearly 5 years of countless 8,10,12,14-hour days of hardcore gaming, streaming, YouTube etc. I am not ashamed to admit, I spent a lot of time at my desk. Long time between charges. I could use it for two or three days of heavy usage between charges. By the end, I was charging it pretty much every other day. Charging time was decent. It took approximately an hour to charge from the moment the headset automatically notifies you the battery needs charging. I mainly used my Anker portable battery to charge it. The cons: Regular price at the time I purchased in 2019 was about $150 to $170. I got mine on sale for $120 and there is no way would I pay the new price of $260. That's robbery! Maybe the low availability is affecting the price? Even the newer model Arctis 7+ is far cheaper. After a couple of years of heavy usage, the over-the-ear material began to degrade and flake away. After a while longer, the stitching began to come loose. By the end of it's life, the inner foam was exposed. The elastic headband was miserable. I have a fat head and even though the headset fit my heads' width, the elastic band was adjusted to a minimum length to accommodate me. Maybe it's just me, but the over-the-ear headphones would make my head and ears sweat only from underneath the over-the-ear pieces. Again, Probably just after so many long hours of gaming every day. Conclusion: The 7 is a great headset if you can find it at a lower price then these 3rd party sellers are trying to rob you for. My advice, get the Arctis 7+ instead. I've owned the 7+ for only 4 onths. The 7+ is better quality if only slightly. Even the headband is better. The ear pieces also feel like they are better quality. You also get longer battery usage between charges. I cannot attest to the longevity of the battery after such a short time of using them.

I work from home (remotely for a team based elsewhere), so I'm constantly on conference calls. We use a VOIP app at work (sort of like Skype for Business), so all of our "calls" are through the computer. I've been using a bluetooth headset (Plantronics Voyager 5200) which is great for phone calls, but for conference calls with a bunch of people sitting around a table, it's not great. Some people are close to the phone and are super loud, others are further away and are unintelligibly quiet, and adjusting the volume all the time isn't great. After work, I game a lot. Usually while on TeamSpeak. I've been using a set of desktop speakers and a mic mounted under one of my monitors. With volume detection, I'm able to get TS to pick up my voice when I'm talking, and ignore mouse and keyboard sounds when I'm not, but the speaker audio isn't great (and is only stereo), and the mic is pitiful. So, it was time for a new purchase. I wanted something that would give me great audio quality, preferably with some measure of surround sound, and some good equalizer settings to tune game sounds (accentuate footsteps and weapon clicks, downplay deep explosive bass and such). But it also needed to have clear stereo sound and a good mic, for work. And if possible, be wireless (because I already have too many cables running around on my desk to begin with). After a lot of research, I decided on the Arctis 7, and when it came yesterday, I was completely blown away. My first conference call with them was like I was sitting in the room! Everything was so clear. I turned up the dynamic range compression (which says it compensates for fluctuations in volume), and it was remarkable. The mic worked very well, too, and my coworkers said that the keyboard sounds (which used to be nearly deafening from my mechanical keyboard) were much quieter. They could hear me better, and the keyboard was quiet (though still audible). In the evening, I had an evening of gaming with a friend of mine, and tuning the gaming audio with surround sound settings and such was awesome. The level of detail I've been missing in my games is ridiculous! It sounds great now. The chat mix dial was awesome for adjusting chat levels when needed, but really, all the audio was so clear, I really didn't need to mess with it much. Regarding build quality, packaging, etc., these headphones feel very high end. Great build quality, solid materials, and so comfortable! I wore them for a couple hours during the day, and again for several hours in the evening, and though I can't say I was ever at risk of forgetting they were on and walking away, I definitely can say that they were completely comfortable. The only complaints I have are minor, but in the interest of completeness, here they are: * The cables that come with the headphones don't feel particularly durable. They aren't braided or anything, so I could see them wearing out well before the headphones do. But, they're all standard type cables, so they'd be easy to replace. The mobile audio cable does use a somewhat uncommon 8 pin mini USB, more commonly seen on cameras, but as long as you know what to look for, you can find them for cheap. * The battery indication is pretty disappointing. You have a green light for 50-100%, yellow for 20-50%, and red for under 20% (slow flash for 10-20%, fast flash for 0-10%). Nowhere in the software or on the headphones does it show you a percentage. And, when you're charging them, I really don't know how to tell when they're done charging. All I know is that they're somewhere between 50-100% charged. That's a pretty big range! In summary, I'm blown away by these headphones. I was hesitant to shell out $120 for them, but now that I have them, I can definitely say they were worth it.

*Note: I've owned/used these headphones for several months now Sound quality: Great sound quality. Sure it's not the same as fancy noise-canceling headphones... but the quality is still very good and rivals all other standard headsets. The sound quality is at par, but it's not the reason you are buying these headphones, keep reading. The wireless connection is flawless: the reason why we're not using our fancy Bluetooth noise cancelling headphones with our computers, is because the sound quality leaves much to be desired. If at any point, you have two different sounds coming in at the same time, Bluetooth headsets tend to have issues with this. You get sound cutting out, and in other cases the headset will just completely ignore one of the sources. With the arctis headset, you are wirelessly connected via a USB dongle, meaning you won't face the same issues as the Bluetooth headset. THIS, is the reason why you are buying this headset, and in this department, it performs flawlessly. You will get un-interrupted sound in the same way you would with a wired headset. The battery life is okay: compared to other peripherals that need to be charged, like your keyboard and mouse, the headset will need to be charged far more often. However, it's important to note that this is not a product defect. Because the device is outputting sound, it's going to naturally use more power and drain battery quicker. With heavy usage you'll need to charge the headset every 4 days or so and there's a little light that will tell you your battery status. This battery life is on par with other competitors. I highly recommend this product.

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 there's 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 didn't 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 wouldn't 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. It's 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. It's 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 wasn't consistent between games. This also took me 2 months to realize I wasn't using Dts surround because I didn't have the app. After a month of Dts use, it sound okay I've been using turtle beach headphones for so long, that it's a adjustment for me. Overall this headset is feature rich if you can get it on sale. Build quality nice, sound is solid, and it's 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 came from the wired world and have 5-6 well-regarded headsets. But as I was playing more games, I was getting annoyed at the wires so I decided to make the plunge. After a ton of research (and black friday pricing), I purchased these headphones with low expectations. I was wrong. I'm not sure if it's because of the lack of wires, or because the headphones are actually that great, but THESE HEADPHONES ARE GREAT. First, the basics are solid. The sound is definitely NOT top-tier, but honestly just for daily music, gaming, and YouTube, it is great enough that it really doesn't bother me at all. I have other headphones that do sound better but honestly, these are so great that I have not once even LOOKED at them. Yes, audiophiles can hate me, but whatever. My one caveat though is to try not to play music insanely loud in these, as the quality seems to not be as high once you get past the "i want to feel like I'm hugging a speaker at a concert" volume level, and the highs seem to be a bit shrill and painful. Second, the functionality is incredible. As a person who uses Discord, having the functionality to balance Game sounds & Chat sounds with a dial is just... inspired. All the core functionality is easily accessible. The ONE downside of this is that they're placed in a location that is easy to accidentally trigger when you're just putting on / taking off your headphones, meaning your volume levels may be changed by accident. I do this, unfortunately, fairly often. Third, wireless. I've judged you wrongly. I'll never go back. The freedom I felt when I went to another room to get a glass of water while still chatting was surreal (though, admittedly kind of stupid in hindsight). Quality never dropped off, sound seems just as fast, and taking on/off my headphones isn't annoying anymore. The one downside is that the charging cable and port has typical charging cable and port issues, so I wish there were a wireless charging option - that would blow my mind. In summary, get it. It's a fantastic all-rounder with some issues, but overall for me outweighs any of my wired headphones I've ever owned in 95% of situations.