Steelseries Arctis 7 Wireless Headset Review

Introduction

Steelseries have produced some of the finest headsets ever to grace the market. Nearly all of us have, at one time or another, owned a pair of their 5H headphones thanks to the always attractive combination of robustness, lightness, performance and an extremely competitive price.

In recent times they have moved away from that design into the world of more premium gaming headsets. Their range now begins at the Siberia 100, a mere £45, and there are a few that vary that design including some with RGB lighting, some closed backs and some open backed. The premium models begin with the Arctis 3, around £90, and stretches through today’s review model the Arctis 7, up to the Siberia 800 range with its range-topping Siberia 840 coming in at a hefty £300.

Probably the biggest shift though is in the connection types. Whereas once you were choosing between 3.5mm jacks or perhaps a USB connection, now of the current headsets they sell the three premium options of them are wireless. We’ve reviewed a few wireless headsets here at OC3D and usually they’ve been pretty good. Battery life is a constant worry – and going flat in the middle of a tense battle is nothing short of a pain – and it hasn’t always been easy to find a pair that let you wander around your house with them on without the audio quickly disappearing. What we really want is a headset which gives us the freedom that comes from wireless audio without any of the stress that comes from short battery life, short range and latency introduced by the wireless nature of the connection.

The Arctis 7 promises to eliminate all of those issues by combining a 40 foot range with a 15 hour battery life. Can it live up to those lofty claims?

Technical Specifications