At first we would like to thank SteelSeries for offering the Arctis Pro + GameDAC Hi-Res Gaming Audio System 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!"

Hi-Res Audio Certified

Arctis Pro + GameDAC is the first full gaming audio system to receive the coveted Hi-Res Audio certification. Experience the breathtaking quality of lossless WAV, FLAC, and DSD files, stream from Hi-Res sources like Tidal, and be future-ready for hi-res gaming audio with the GameDAC’s native 96 kHz, 24-bit support.

 

Top of the Line Digital to Analog Performance

The heart of the Arctis Pro + GameDAC is the legendary ESS Sabre 9018 Reference DAC, revered for its unsurpassed audio quality with 121 dB of dynamic range and -115 dB THD+N. This makes bass sound tighter, individual sound effects more distinct, and positional cues pin-point accurate.

 

Customization at your fingertips

The GameDAC’s intuitive OLED menu lets you quickly dial in the perfect balance of game and chat audio with the ChatMix feature

 

Hear everything with high resolution speaker drivers

The Arctis Pro headset features premium speaker drivers with high-density neodymium magnets that reproduce Hi-Res audio out to 40,000 Hz, nearly double what most standard headsets are capable of (22,000 Hz).

 

ClearCast bidirectional microphone

Widely recognized as the best mic in gaming, the Arctis ClearCast microphone delivers studio-quality voice clarity and background noise cancellation.

 

First in gaming to offer DTS Headphone:X v2.0

The next generation of DTS’ renowned surround sound, Headphone:X v2.0 immerses you in the action by delivering incredibly accurate positional cues without sounding like you’re in a tunnel. Lose yourself in the game as the audio comes to life all around you.

 

SteelSeries has recently launched the new Arctis Pro series of headsets, which all feature as a novelty Hi-Res 40.000Hz output drivers, DTS Headphone: X 2.0 surround sound but only the Arctis Pro + GameDAC model is Hi-Res Audio Certified. The Hi-Res Audio certification is possible thanks to the ESS Sabre 9018 Reference DAC included inside the GameDAC console that can deliver very good audio quality with 121 dB of dynamic range and -115 dB THD+N. The product is compatible with both PS4, PC and the manufacturer does ship it inside a medium-sized cardboard enclosure; the packaging style is a bit revised versus the previous Arctis line, in order to give it an even more “professional look”:

 

 

 

On the side of the packaging, we will get to see the usual SteelSeries “Rise Up” motto, along with a product description regarding professional gaming:

 

 

 

The opposite side does show the included cables, a view of the GameDAC interfaces but also the technical specifications:

 

 

 

We can learn more about the product main features if we do check out the bottom packaging area:

 

 

 

After unsealing the box, we will see that now the headset is even better secured inside, with an additional black plastic mold on the top:

 

 

 

The Arctis Pro headset does share characteristics from both Arctis 5 and 7, while remaining comfortable thanks to the AirWeave ear cushions; this type of fabric is found in athletic clothing and is meant to let the skin breathe during long gaming sessions:

 

 

 

The outside of each cup is covered by a rubberized paint; here we can find a subtle SteelSeries logo:

 

 

 

 

The left cup does integrate a retractable microphone, with a built-in activity LED:

 

 

 

The microphone does feature a bidirectional noise-cancelling pattern, a frequency response between 100 and 10000 Hz, a sensitivity of -38 dBV/Pa and an impedance of 2200 Ohms:

 

 

 

The button for muting the microphone is large, easy accessible:

 

 

 

Next, we do have the volume wheel:

 

 

 

Nearby, we do have the proprietary connector but also a jack port for connecting a secondary stereo headset to it, so a friend of yours can listen to the same content as well:

 

 

 

The ear cups can be rotated as well, in order to offer an additional level of comfort:

 

 

 

The Sky Google Headband does share the design with the Arctis 7 and can be adjusted as needed thanks to the Velcro strap:

 

 

 

 

 

The nice addition is the GameDAC, which not only provides the Hi-Res Audio thanks to the native 96kHz/24-bit support but does also come with an OLED screen so you can perform different configurations without the need of extra software. The control wheel on the right can be also pressed down for accessing extra functions, while the smaller button is mostly used for the Back function:

 

 

 

On the right side of the unit, we do not have any other interfaces:

 

 

 

The left side however does hold the connector for inserting the proprietary headset cable:

 

 

 

This is not all! In the back, SteelSeries has placed an Optical port, an USB port, one Line-Out jack port but one Mobile jack port:

 

 

 

The bottom area of the GameDAC is surrounded by rubber and in the middle, the sticker does hold the product code name, power rating but also the serial number:

 

 

 

Of course, we are not missing out on the Accessories box:

 

 

 

Here we do have a leaflet which shows us the way to some online resources, the Product Information Guide but also the necessary connectivity cables:

 

 

 

 

 

We do get the USB cable to connect between the PC/console and the GameDAC, the cable which goes between the GameDAC and the Arctis Pro headset, the Mobile cable for connecting the Arctis Pro straight to the tablet/smartphone, an Optical cable for connecting the GameDAC to the console or other devices, but also a microphone windscreen:

 

 

 

Here are also some close-ups on the previously mentioned cables:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The supplied microphone windscreen is easy to install and Is meant to reduce unwanted breath noise:

 

 

 

 

After connecting the Arctis Pro + GameDAC setup to our test system, the RGB LED lighting systems of the cups started right away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the GameDAC has been set up in PC mode, we can go ahead and install the SteelSeries Engine 3 unified utility; the headset will be detected right away and we will be also prompted for firmware updates, if necessary:

 

 

 

From the dedicated GUI, we can take care of Audio, Illumination but also some custom Settings; on the left side we can enable the virtual surround feature, work with the EQ but also modify the headset gain:

 

 

 

The DTS Headphone: X setting will take effect immediately:

 

 

 

The 10-band EQ does come with several presets, but we can always define our custom setup:

 

 

 

The Illumination setting does allow us to configure the microphoe light setting when powered on or muted, but also configure separately the lighting for the cups; if needed, we can always link the light setup between the two cups:

 

 

 

We are able to work with different illumination effects, or disable it completely:

 

 

 

Steady Mode

 

 

 

ColorShift

 

 

 

Multi Color Breathe

 

 

 

The Settings area does allow the user to adjust the OLED brightness, but also set a Screen IDLE timeout:

 

 

 

After finishing with the hardware setup, we have started using the system in the regular PC mode; The Forest game is quite atmospheric and the Arctis Pro can assist with its optimized drivers in order to deliver an interesting experience. Next, we did try Mad Max and the large 40mm drivers were able to deliver good lows so the engine sounds and gunshots were represented well, which were a pleasure to listen at higher volumes. We went on and checked out several YouTube music videos and TV shows; at times, we did feel the need to work with the EQ in order to enhance certain frequencies but in most cases, the preset EQs were enough.

 

After switching the GameDAC to the Hi-Res Mode, we have done some research and found out that there is not a lot of 24/96 audio material out there. You would be in luck if you do own a Tidal subscription or you can search 24-bit FLACs in order to benefit from the capabilities of the ESS Sabre 9018 Reference DAC. HDtracks contains a wide variety of albums that can be purchased for later playback at high resolution. Some games such as Battlefield can output in 24/96 so you can enjoy the extra quality and immersion, but our choice was to play some Diana Krall jazz tracks, but also Queen – Greatest hits -> the instruments could be heard clearly and you will feel like you would be right in the middle of the playing band. The virtual 7.1 surround sound is not as impressive as we have seen with other gaming headsets, but it does the job; SteelSeries has not added the DTS Headphone: X v.2 mode in Hi-Res Mode for now, but possibly this will be done later, via firmware update.

 

Thanks to the GameDAC flexibility, we can connect the system to both PC and PS4 consoles, but also offer analog Line In/Out jacks for connecting even more devices. The Control Wheel is easy to work with, while the OLED display does offer various configuration options, depending on the mode we are in; we did really enjoy the live Left/Right signal outputs, but also the Volume/ChatMix GUI. The interface will also display the output mode, but also the mode we are in and if the DTS Headphone: X v2 mode is on or off; we can also adjust the gain, configure the EQ, adjust the brightness and much more, without the need to touch the software component (SteelSeries Engine 3).

 

Arctis Pro + GameDAC does also borrow the RGB feature from the Arctis 5, so we can easily synchronize the lighting with other compatible SteelSeries peripherals.

 

The only minus would be that the cable between the GameDAC console and the headset is not really long enough to be used on your couch, mainly being thought for office use.

 

SteelSeries Arctis Pro + GameDAC is currently available online for about 229 Euros, which is not too accessible for the mainstream crowd, but should be okay for the enthusiast crowd.

SteelSeries Arctis Pro + GameDAC Hi-Res Gaming Audio System is Recommended for:

 

 

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