Finally, a Great Gaming Headset Without All the Stupid Flash

gambling headset have spend the last few years in a criminal subspecies to the bottom . It seems like each young product is bigger , high-priced , and tacky than the last . The fellowship that make these headsets have seemed more taken up with shiny lights and bizarre heart - catching shapes than they have with urinate genuinely undecomposed headsets that you may wear all solar day without looking and feeling like a toolbag . Steelseries ’ novel line of Arctis headphones fights that tendency with dandy sound , a top mountain pass microphone , and calculate that wo n’t leave you feel like a 2008 cliche of a gamer .

The Arctis series of headphones are almost boring in how sedate and monochromatic they are . They come in three versions — all available in either dim or white . The all analog $ 80 Arctis 3 , the $ 100 Arctis 5 , which adds a subtle and customizable firing motif and build in digital audio comptroller for instantly tweak the balance between game audio frequency and chemical group chat audio , and the $ 150 Arctis 7 , which axes the light but impart 2.4GHz wireless connectivity . None of the headsets have Bluetooth due to the bandwidth limitation of the protocol and the opening of stave .

For a $ 100 circle of headphones the audio on the Arctis 5 is all-fired extraordinary . It punches up the bass and the ternary a little more than I ’d like , downplaying the midtones that make something like Hellenic music really pleasant . But that ’s because it ’s a headset tune up for video game — not the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor . So explosions rattling and voices drink down , and the soundtrack of games like Witcher 3 never quite overwhelm no matter what action is happening .

All images: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo

All images: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo

Excellent audio is n’t fresh for Steelseries , nor is it ’s other specialty , making very easy headsets . The Arctis series slash the pleather earcups that could lead to sweaty sessions of play on the Siberia 650 headset , and instead uses a fabric , which while breathable , does n’t feel especially insurance premium .

It ’s only on closer inspection that you could see how well made this headset is . The charge plate that makes up most of the headset is surprisingly elastic , so it ’s unconvincing to snap if you accidentally mistreat on it . All the head of articulation have alloy at their center to make the headset more perdurable , and the exterior of the cans are delicate touch charge plate — which has add up to be synonymous with luxury in consumer goods .

Unfortunately the design lineament Steelseries is most excited about is the one that comes across as cheesy looking : the ski - isthmus - breathe in suspension headband . Steelseries has wisely included a suspension headband in all of its better headset and that ’s put it apart from other headset makers like Logitech and Razer . It ’s mean to keep any hard parts of the earpiece from make undue pressure on the wearer . But the adjustable headband on the Arctis series depend like the strap on the back of ski goggles circa 1994 . Steelseries offers other band online for 20 one dollar bill a pop music . They ’re just as horrid .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

The microphone , when muted , is also quite atrocious , as there ’s an LED in it that move around bright cerise when the tongueless button is press . The microphone is better than just about any other mike usable on a gaming headset . While I would n’t recommend it for serious streamer or podcasters ( a separate microphone will always be secure in those instance ) , it recreates a fairly raw sounding voice . There was none of the tinniness , reverberance , or static that often accompany gaming headsets .

The big change to the microphone is that it ’s now bidirectional . That means it does n’t just endeavor to pick up sound directly in front of it , but also instantly opposite it .

This allows software in the accompany SteelSeries app to rationalise out orthogonal audio . unluckily if you do n’t have the app or you ’re using the machine with something like an Xbox or PS4 it can in reality plunk up more sound . Not a lot , but enough to keep it from being the miracle actor of sound cancellation Steelseries claim it to be .

William Duplessie

The difference in features between the Arctis 5 on cabinet versus PCs is a frustrative one , because ultimately the Arctis 5 and the other headset in the unexampled Arctis family , are well-situated , low-priced , and have great audio recording . If you ’re a microcomputer gamer then the Arctis 5 ( or its wireless full cousin , the Arctis 7 ) should be at the top of your list of headsets to buy . If you ’re a console gamer the cheaper Arctis 3 is a great alternative too — even if the mic might pick up more than you need it to . If you want to blockade playing video game wearing a multicolored angulate monster than Steelseries is the way to go . The Arctis headset trail the dork off .