At first we would like to thank SteelSeries for offering the Arctis 7 Wireless Gaming Headset for testing and reviewing.

 

About SteelSeries:

"From day one, SteelSeries has been focused on making high performance gaming gear used by the most demanding, top professional gamers worldwide and peripherals that provide superior quality and a competitive edge to gamers of all skill levels. We believe, as most gamers do, in winning, not trying!

 

What originally began with two people who recognized the need for superior, high-quality/performance gaming gear that would give gamers a competitive edge, has grown into a global leader in gaming and entertainment gear sought after for their high performance capabilities.

 

Fast-forward to today, and we’ve come a long way since our first glass mousepad. We have global offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, providing an integrated portfolio of products designed specifically for gaming. Fueling our growth is you, the gamer!

 

While we are proud of our technology and product innovation, we are even more excited about how these products are developed to meet the needs of gamers. Many companies may claim to develop superior gaming products but few actually do. Instead, they spend countless hours with lab engineers trying to force fit a new technology with bells and whistles and mediocre functionality for the end-user.

 

At SteelSeries, we develop our products with a small internal team and a vast network of technology partners, channel partners, game publishers, and gaming communities around the globe. We aren’t afraid of being challenged and implementing new ideas. Our main goal is to always to listen to the collective feedback of our professional gaming community.

 

We won’t bore you with cheeky slogans, trying to underline our authenticity as gamers. We fully acknowledge that the best professional gamers in the world know more about what they want and what will make them better, than we do. We are proud to be working with our partners, but we can’t take credit for their invaluable input and feedback. Instead we tell it like it is: they help us. We want to know what works and what doesn’t. For this reason, SteelSeries creates innovative solutions that provide a competitive advantage for all gamers.

 

Critical to our company’s success is also our reinvestment in the gaming communities and the individuals who support them. As a result, our corporate philosophy is to take a substantial portion of our revenue and put it back into the gaming community to help spur industry growth. We support our community in numerous ways, ranging from co-hosting tournaments like Iron Lady and King of the Hill, and supporting gaming competitions of all sizes, to promoting the top and up-and-coming gaming teams/organizations.

 

Put simply, SteelSeries does not claim to invent or reinvent the gaming industry. Nor do we focus on one specific product, copy other companies or follow the crowd.

 

Instead we leave it to you, the gamer, our customer/partner/inspiration, to decide if we are deserving of such declarations and accolades. What we do promise, however, is to remain committed to you. We will continue to work with you and the gaming community to make the best products possible and give you that competitive edge. We will continue to do our best to support the growth of the professional gaming industry and give back to the gaming communities. By doing so, we don’t just talk a good game, we win!"

Product Features:

 

S1 Speaker Drivers + DTS Headphone X

 

The same speaker drivers found in our flagship $300 headsets, the S1 drivers are engineered to deliver a detailed, balanced soundscape with ultra-low distortion.

 

ClearCast Microphone

 

The ClearCast microphone uses an exclusive bidirectional design delivering unmatched voice clarity and background noise cancellation.

 

Ski Goggle Headband

 

The adjustable elastic fabric perfectly contours across your head, evenly distributing the weight, eliminating all pressure points.

 

AirWeave Ear Cushions

 

Inspired by fabrics found in athletic clothing, the incredibly soft AirWeave ear cushions keep you cool, dry, and comfy for hours of gaming.

 

 

Product Specifications:

 

 

 

After trying out the Arctis 5 RGB USB headset from SteelSeries which brought back the great S1 speaker drivers present with their previous high-end flagship models, a bidirectional design microphone for great voice clarity during conferences, an adjustable Ski Google Headband for optimal comfort but also AirWeave Ear Cushions for keeping our ears cool, dry during longer gaming sessions, we do have yet to take a closer look at the Arctis 7 model.

Besides bringing back the goodies from the less expensive model (with one small exception), the Arctis 7 does feature a slightly different, sturdier construction; this model comes with lag-free wireless capabilities, an internal battery with an advertised 15-hour life from a single charge, but also an unique USB sound card. The RGB lighting on the exterior of the earcups has been dropped in order to get the most out of the internal rechargeable battery.

Arctis 7 is shipped in a similar looking box as the Arctis 5, with a signature color theme on the top:

 

 

 

Here SteelSeries has also placed here small pictograms representing the main product highlights:

 

 

 

On both sides of the packaging, we will be able to spot abstract box art:

 

 

 

If we need to find out more about the headset components, we are invited to check out this information on the back side of the box:

 

 

 

The Arctis 7 enclosure can be easily opened after we do remove the two adhesive seals:

 

 

 

The headset is further secured inside custom-molded plastic, with the SteelSeries logo in the middle:

 

 

 

While the cups might look similar at first, the top headband is now built from a lightweight alloy material, which does not increase the overall product weight by much, but adds to the overall sturdiness:

 

 

 

As we have mentioned before, the Arctis 7 does integrate the signature S1 40mm speaker drivers, which do have a frequency response between 20 and 20000 Hz, a sensitivity of 98db, but also an impedance of 32Ohm. These are covered by some very comfortable AirWeave Ear Cushions, which fabrics are mostly found in athletic clothing and these are meant to let the skin breathe during intense gaming sessions. For even more customization, SteelSeries does have available as separate accessories a leather model but also a velour one, sporting the exact same shape as the original:

 

 

 

 

As with the Arctic 5, the external earcup area is covered by a black rubber paint which is of good quality and does not seem to pick up lint or skin oils easily. The SteelSeries logo is also printed here, but no RGB LED or single-color LED lighting is present here:

 

 

 

Do you remember that the Arctis 5 headset had a ChatMix Dial available on the USB sound card chassis? Well, this time it has been relocated to the side of the right cup, for an even easier accessibility:

 

 

 

Further down we can observe the Power Button, which does also integrate a RGB LED for signaling the charge state of the battery ( Green = 100-50%, Yellow = 49-20%, Red 19-10%, Red (fast blink) = 9-1%):

 

 

 

 

Let’s move along to the left cup and see what we’ve got!

 

 

 

We are dealing again with a retractable bidirectional microphone, which does come with a frequency response between 100Hz and 6500Hz, a sensitivity of -48db and an impedance of 2200Ohm:

 

 

 

On the top area of the microphone, we do have a red Mute LED, which is handy to work with during gaming tournaments or Skype conferences:

 

 

 

 

Moving on, we can spot a microphone mute button, but also a Volume wheel:

 

 

 

Further down, we do have the Mobile Cable port, but also one Headphone share jack:

 

 

 

Finally, we will get to see the Micro-USB Charging port, which is also used for performing firmware updates:

 

 

 

The Sky Google Headband is noticeably longer versus the one we have seen with the Arctis 5, since it extends on both sides of the alloy layer:

 

 

 

 

Thanks to the Velcro material, we can adjust it properly depending on the head size:

 

 

 

After we have fully removed the Sky Google Headband, we can see that SteelSeries has also used a layer of black rubber on the inside of the alloy headband:

 

 

 

Near the plastic hinge that does allow the earcup to rotate about 90 degrees, we will also see the Sky Google Headband routing orifices:

 

 

 

 

Here is how the stock Sky Google Headband does look like after it has been removed from the headset:

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the original version is not your style, you can always purchase one of the available replacements:

 

-Artist Series: Lauren Asta

-Artist Series: ThankYouX

-Crushed Dusk

-Crushed Dawn

 

 

 

We have received the extra Artist Series: Lauren Asta for trying it out on our Arctis 7:

 

 

 

Lauren Asta is a San Francisco-based artist specializing in illustration, oddity art, doodle art, street art and murals; the SteelSeries custom headband does go well in-line with her work:

 

 

 

 

 

 

After carefully following the installation of the new headband, the Arctis 7 looks really awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

This is not all! We do also receive a small, but packed accessory box:

 

 

 

 

The provided leaflet does come with instructions regarding more resources that can be accessed from the web:

 

 

 

 

The Product Information Guide does describe the product in full, but also suggests how the headset should be connected to other devices such as PCs, consoles, smartphones and tablets and so on:

 

 

 

We do also get a Wireless Transmitter (sound card), the mobile/console cable but also the regular, Micro-USB charging cable:

 

 

 

 

 

The Wireless transmitter is quite complex, despite its small footprint; on its top we will be able to spot the SteelSeries logo along with the LED light which does show the operating mode:

 

 

 

 

 

If the Arctis 7 is not correctly paired with the transmitter, we can use the dedicated pair button on the side:

 

 

 

In the back of the transmitter we do have not one but two jacks ports: Line Out and Line In; Line Out can be used for connecting a speaker set on analog, which will be active only when the Arctis 7 is turned off. Line In can be used for connecting other analog audio sources and STILL use the Arctis 7 wirelessly, which is a great thing!

 

 

 

 

The back side of the transmitter does come with several other serial numbers, along with the power rating:

 

 

 

In order to utilize fully the advanced Arctis 7 features, we do have to make use of the free SteelSeries Engine 3 Software; the detected hardware will be listed in the “My Gear” tab, and will also prompt to perform firmware updates when necessary; one other aspect we need to take care of manually is the Windows Sound Settings. In order for the sound to be rendered properly, we have to select the SteelSeries Arctis 7 Game as the default, while the Recording tab should have the SteelSeries Arctis 7 Chat device selected as default:

 

 

 

In order to perform a firmware update, we will need to have both transmitter and headset connected to our computer via USB:

 

 

 

The progress bars will show the update progress:

 

 

 

After all the setup procedure has been completed, we can clearly see the main Arctis 7 GUI, with plenty of stuff to work with on the right area:

 

 

 

First we do have the DTS Headphone:X feature, which can be enabled or disabled at will for simulating the 3D environment of the audio’s original mixing stage:

 

 

 

 

An Equalizer is available with six bands; while we can fully-configure it as we desire, we can always choose from one of the available presets:

 

 

 

Next, we can adjust the Dynamic Range Compression level:

 

 

The microphone settings are also plenty:

 

 

As we have seen with Razer Chroma, some games do also support this platform and adapt the LED lighting system accordingly; also, with Prism Sync we can synchronize the RGB setups across all our connected SteelSeries devices:

 

 

Custom configurations can be added from the Library section of the SteelSeries Engine 3 GUI:

 

 

With the launch of the Arctis 7 Gaming Headset, SteelSeries goes one step further and integrates wireless connectivity, long-lasting autonomy from a single charge but also a more advanced USB transmitter for connecting 3rd party sound sources or playback to other stereo devices. By manually adjusting the provided equalizer, we can fine-tune the output in order to fall in line with our preferences. Thanks to the proven S1 40mm speaker drivers, the headset can produce a decent amount of bass, which is beneficial when playing lots of action games.

 

Besides gaming in titles such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, Black Desert Online, Heroes of The Storm and Prey that sounded just great while using medium volume levels, we have also watched several TV shows and movies. The DTS Headphone:X 7.1 is more interesting to be used while watching video content, since many times we could imagine we were at the cinema thanks to the created surround effect. The same good quality microphone we have found with the Arctis 5 is also found here and several options can be configured from the SteelSeries Engine 3 utility such as Mic Sidetone or Mic Volume.

 

SteelSeries has no longer used the RGB setup we are seeing with the Arctis 5 in order to save battery life as much as possible; after a full charge, we have succeeded to use the product for about 14 hours, so pretty close to the rated manufacturer battery life of 15+ hours.

 

Besides the customization levels we have mentioned previously via different material ear cushions and headbands, we can also purchase separately a carry bag, but also a cool looking headset stand.

 

Arctis 7 can be purchased online for about 152 Euros.

 

SteelSeries Arctis 7 Wireless Gaming Headset is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to SteelSeries for making this review possible!