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

Many Wireless Headsets – Arctis 7 Wins!
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.

Unbelievable audio, full set of features
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.

Vengo de utilizar unos Turtle Beach Stealth 600 para mi PS5 y adquirí estos porque le pasé los Turtle Beach a mi hermano. Estoy muy impresionado con los cascos y su desempeño con mi PS5 hasta la fecha. Comparto una mini novela para todo aquel que esté considerando comprar este producto.***APARIENCIA DEL PRODUCTO***En la caja vinieron los cascos con su cable de carga Micro USB (una de las pocas quejas que tengo ya que los Turtle Beach que tenía utilizaban cable USB-C para cargarlos)Cable adaptador para utilizar los cascos en modo alámbrico (También en micro USB) y adaptador inalámbrico para utilizarlo con la consola de tu gusto o en una PC.Menciono que los cascos NO son Bluetooth; al trabajar inalámbricamente funcionan con la banda 2.4 Ghz y no hay manera de que funcionen con celulares o tabletas de manera inalámbrica. Con celulares y tablets solo funcionan con el cable adjunto.En la orejera derecha se encuentra la ruedita para ajustar el nivel de volumen del chat y juego. Esta función solo funciona en PC y no en consolas. También está el botón de encendido/apagado que a su vez te muestra el nivel de carga de los cascos según el color que se muestra.En la orejera izquierda está el centro de carga, el micrófono extensible, ruedita de volumen y botón para silenciar/activar el micrófono. El micrófono tiene un LED que se activa al cargar los cascos y que también se activa si tienes el micrófono silenciado.La banda sujetadora es MUY cómoda y se adapta a prácticamente todos los tamaños de cabeza. En general la construcción de los cascos me parece excelente y la calidad de la marca se muestra.***COMODIDAD Y RENDIMIENTO***Comienzo con el nivel de comodidad que los cascos ofrecen; es impresionante lo cómodo que son aún después de tenerlos puestos por varias horas. Al fijarlos con la tira de velcro no se salen de posición ni se sienten flojos, pero tampoco te aprietan de una manera incómoda. Utilizo lentes al jugar y aún con ellos puestos me resulta bastante cómodo tenerlos puestos. El único detalle; pero muuuy pequeño es que al caminar y tenerlos puestos se salen un poco de posición. Igual ese es un muy pequeño detalle que supongo no le afectará a muchos.En cuanto a las orejeras también son muy cómodas. El material es de un tipo gel de memoria que no pierde su forma y tampoco se siente muy caliente al pasar el tiempo.Ahora, hablando del desempeño y uso de los cascos, al principio tenía una opinión bastante negativa de ellos; incluso consideré devolverlos y comprar unos Turtle Beach de nuevo, pero después de unos días terminé resolviendo mi problema (tocaré ese punto un poco más adelante)Comienzo mencionando que utilizaré los cascos principalmente con mi PS5 y muuuy de vez en cuando con una laptop con Windows 10 instalado. Sea la situación que sea lo primero que necesitarás hacer es descargar la aplicación “Steelseries Engine” para los ajustes de EQ y como centro de descarga para las actualizaciones de los cascos. Desafortunadamente no existe un app para celular o Tablet así que todo lo tendrás que gestionar desde tu ordenador o laptop.En la aplicación tendrás acceso a los ajustes de EQ para los cascos y así como activar y ajustar la función de sonido envolvente de 7.1 canales (que solo está disponible en PC/Mac/Linux) ajuste de volumen del micrófono entre otros ajustes más.Ahora, los cascos por defecto vienen utilizando un sonido de perfil plano con todos los valores en 0. Es aquí donde tendrás que experimentar ya sea con los perfiles disponibles en la aplicación o modificando tú mismo los ajustes. Es aquí donde yo tuve un problema al NO haber modificado correctamente los ajustes de audio lo que resultó en los bajos sonando bastante distorsionados y con 0 potencia.Dado que cada persona puede llegar a tener gustos diferentes en cuanto a la manera de percibir el sonido si tendrán que hacer alguna que otra modificación para afinar el sonido si es que lo llegas a necesitar.En el caso de la mayoría de usuarios, los perfiles que te ofrece la aplicación funcionarán a la perfección; en mi caso yo experimenté con los ajustes para que los bajos queden exactamente a mi gusto. Anexo una imagen donde muestro los ajustes que le hice al EQ. Como detalle importante te sugiero que actives la reducción de ruido dinámico a nivel “bajo” para que los bajos no se distorsionen. Si no te interesan los bajos asegúrate de apagar esa característica para recibir el mejor sonido. En lo personal me gusta que las explosiones en los juegos tengan profundidad y con un buen toque de bajos en general.Al igual si haces una búsqueda rápida en internet podrás encontrar ajustes de EQ para todo tipo de juegos y gustos.Después de haber hecho todos los ajustes necesarios estoy MUY satisfecho con la calidad de sonido de los cascos. Los bajos suenan súper claros y definidos al igual que los medios y altos. Obviamente no puedo ilustrar la claridad del sonido que arrojan los cascos con palabras, pero detallitos auditivos que otros audífonos no captan son excelentemente presentados por los Arctis 7.Reitero la importancia de elegir o afinar los perfiles de sonido a tu gusto; esta podría ser la diferencia entre un sonido espectacular y uno que te deje decepcionado.La duración de batería es una súper bendición jaja, llevo más de 20 horas sin haber cargado los cascos y me indican que aún les queda un 25% de carga. No los utilizo a todo volumen así que también eso ayuda a ahorrar energía.Como mencioné la función de sonido envolvente NO funciona con consolas, pero como los utilizo con un PS5 el sonido 3D suena de maravilla y prácticamente idéntico al 7.1 de una PC al utilizarlos ahí.El micrófono es excelente, en ajuste medio de volumen y sensibilidad, mis amigos me escuchan con claridad sin que sonidos ambientales se filtren demasiado.Como conclusión estoy bastante contento con el rendimiento de los cascos, comodidad y duración de batería. Me encanta que no tienen ese look de gamer con todas las luces y colores extravagantes como otras marcas. En realidad la única queja que tengo de ellos es que cuentan con un puerto de carga micro USB y no USB tipo C. ¿Por qué? Porque tengo que buscar la posición adecuada del cable al momento de cargarlos. Problema de primer mundo jaja, no es nada grave.Gracias por leer mi opinión, espero y le haya ayudado de algo a alguien.

[PACKAGING]Nulla da eccepire nell’imballaggio e spedizione fornita da Amazon.Per quanto riguarda lo scatolo delle cuffie è molto minimal senza troppi fronzoli a livello di grafica. (foto 1)All’interno troviamo le SteelSeries Arctis 7 dotate di connettività wireless, trasmettitore wireless USB che permette una volta accese le cuffie, di muoverci in un certo raggio d’azione senza problemi (questa è la vera chicca di non avere il collegamento con il filo), cavetto microUSB per la ricarica, jack da 3.5 mm e libretto istruzioni. (foto 2)[QUALITA’ COSTRUTTIVA]Queste cuffie sono di fascia alta, pesano circa 350 gr e sono costruite con materiali robusti!Sono provviste di padiglioni con memory foam e non stancano neanche dopo 8 ore.Se vogliamo trovare il pelo nell’uovo è che per me i padiglioni stando a contatto diverse ore con le orecchie fanno leggermente sudare se portate a lungo.In più hanno una fascia elastica che si adatta ad ogni tipo di testa che si regola come una maschera da sci.Sono dotate poi di un microfono retrattile che con il bottone lato sinsitro si accende e si spegne (quando è spento si accenderà un led di colore rosso).LA CHICCA: le cuffie in modalità wireless hanno un’autonomia di 24h, posso confermare ciò perché le ho utilizzate 2 giorni per circa 20 ore totali e mi dava ancora circa 20% rimanente di batteria.Ma quanto ci mettono a caricarsi? Sorprendentemente in circa 20 minuti non saranno cariche al massimo ma il led si colorerà di verde il che significherà una percentuale alta di autonomia, quindi TOP![QUALITA’ AUDIO]Queste cuffie hanno una qualità veramente alta, ovviamente si consiglia di scaricare il programma annesso “SteelSeries GG” per ottimizzare meglio i suoni e farle diventare 7.1.Oppure potete scaricare direttamente “Dolby Atmos”, un programma simile a quello sopra ma molto più performante.Il microfono ha una qualità ottima, il suono è chiaro, non ha fronzoli nè si sentono fruscii forse uno dei migliori provati su un paio di cuffie.Con questo vi consiglio di provarle perché sono cuffie veramente ben costruite con qualità audio definita e chiara.