9.2.2020

TL;DR: A good audio experience (YMMV) once you've done a good amount of tinkering. Some features aren't as well thought out as they could be and a couple of Quality-of-Life enhancements could really have made these standout. They are not as comfortable as I think they could have been, although they're not so uncomfortable that I need to take them off.I'll preface this review by saying I am not the biggest audiophile out there. I do like good quality audio but I'm not somebody striving for the absolute best of the best. These headphones were purchased as a replacement for my breaking down Steelseries Siberia 350's,which were a clear downgrade in audio quality from my previous Turtle Beach PX22's (but a massive upgrade in build quality - the TB's broke apart after a few months!). I went with a higher-end Steelseries set this time around as I'm hoping for that better build quality + better sound quality. I mostly got what I wanted.First impressions of the Arctis Pro was not great, if I'm honest. I'm not sure why headphone manufacturers ship their headphones with the sound set at 'flat and rubbish'. I had the same experience with my Sony WH1000mx3 bluetooth headphones. Sound was terribly flat, lacking any depth, music sound poor and gaming? Yeesh. I loaded up a couple of RPG games and characters sounded like they were talking through a tin can.But OK, into the equaliser. It's a bit easier to manage the EQ via the desktop software but I've found transferring settings to the DAC to be very hit and miss. The DAC is a bit fiddly in that regard. Eventually, I managed to get the sound the way I wanted it - the right depth, good amount of bass, clear vocals, and those peak-range sounds you miss on poorer quality headphones. Very happy in this regard. I've not needed to use a third-party EQ as others have as through the included EQ I've got the sound to match my Sony headphones to the point I can't tell the difference and that's perfect for me.So quibbles? The USB connections to the DAC are very temperamental. You really have to make sure they are properly in. Even if they feel like they're in, and the sound plays, unless you've put a fair bit of pressure to make the connection the slightest knock of the DAC will cause it to reboot - which can also crash your games or cause issues. The DAC does contain rubber feet so you can get a decent grip on the desk, at least. That limits some accidental knocks. I'd also say the proprietary cables that Steelseries use are quite difficult to get to plug in.The microphone, I'd say, is above average but nothing special. It's clear enough that people have no issue understanding me, and doesn't seem to cut out. It is frightfully sensitive, though, and requires a fair bit of tinkering to make sure it's not picking up unnecessary background noise. I will say the ability to have an LED turn on while muted is a very nice feature and far more useful than the rather pointless LEDs on the side of the ear cups (I can only assume they're a thing to help you find your headset in the dark?).The Hi-Res Audio function is nice. I took a free trial of Amazon Music HD and although I don't think 96khz/24bit makes a huge difference to the experience, there are a few tracks where you can appreciate the little "extra" detail in the music. Unfortunately, if you're the 'set and forget' type of person, you'll find that in Hi-Res mode, a number of useful features are locked out. For example, you can't play a game in Hi-Res Mode and use the balance function to lower game noise and increase voice noise while on Discord, Teamspeak, etc.Of course, most games don't support Hi-Res anyway, so you're not missing out on anything by switching modes back to the standard mode (either PC or PS4 mode) while gaming, but it is a few extra button clicks on the DAC to do this - and you have to do it before you load the game. It'd be nice and more convenient if there was a 1-button swap between Hi-Res and standard mode.Gaming in the usual mode is quite good. Once you've tinkered the heck out of the DAC to eliminate the 'tin-can' voice effect I mentioned, game noises are crystal clear. I've especially enjoyed it in horror and RPG games. The surround-sound effect is a bit hit and miss, largely dependent on how much effort the game devs have put into it. In Fallout 4, for example, I personally think it sounds fantastic with DTS on. In some other games, it sounds like you're trapped in an echoey room.Using the DAC prevents you altering volume settings in Windows. That means you can't do per-application volume levels, nor can I use my Roccat Talk setup to control the volume with the mouse anymore. This is to be expected, as you're offloading audio control from the system, but I think it's worth mentioning for those unfamiliar with DAC setups.One other thing I should comment on is comfort. I'll be honest, these are not as comfortable as my 350's. I've loosened the headband strap as much as I can, and they still feel a little tight around the ears. They're not so tight I need to take them off, but I do find I need to adjust them now and again. The 350's, I could forget they were even there but these are more noticeable in that regard. I don't think I have a massive head - but hey, maybe I do?So overall, if you're in the same group as me in that you like to have a good audio experience but don't consider yourself an audiophile, I can recommend these headphones. I think if you're someone who demands the absolute best of the best, then you might be disappointed. As you can tell, there are things I'd change or think could have been done a bit better/more conveniently - but these blow my 350's out of the water, are on-par with my Sony WH1000mx3's in terms of audio quality and clarity. I'm not at all disappointed with my purchase but do think there are a couple of missed opportunities to add some more QoL for the user.

1.5.2019

this headset is really nice, ive had plenty of headphones but currently use 3 sets so will do a quick direct comparison to those, i use these on pc only.first of all the design, its really clean, minimal, nice subtle use of RGB and fits the head nicely, not much adjustment so larger heads may feel a little tight but with that said i have a rather large noggin and it fits me fine. only let down is the ear pads are soft but not the softest and they keep your ears a little too warm compared to others ive used but its not terrible, just a minor annoyance. the logitech g933 stock earpads are far worse, not for heat but for feel, so rough in comparison, my hyper x cloud 2's are just lush,really nice feel and comfort so they edge it for me here.sound wise, im using the arctis pro with DAC and it sounds really clean and clear, theres a lot of detail there and this is even more true when gaming, i quite honestly noticed immediately i could pick out enemy directions better than both the other two and i think its down to the width in the sound, quite airey for closed headphones. the headphones are a lot lighter on bass than i expected but the bass does extend real low, as a result its actually quite refreshing to listen to music that isnt bass heavy with very little bass and music that is bass heavy it starts to come alive, more often than not bassy headphones ruin music by adding that bass to all your music and you start thinking thats normal but its not designed that way your headphones are adding that in and thats where the term boomy bass or bloated bass comes from, these are not that, bass heads should steer clear.now theres one large issue with the sound and thats the volume out of the box, its just too low, even putting the gain to high its and removing the europeon limiter its just too low.... that was until i figured it out, the EQ plays a massive role in the volume and you really should slide every setting to the max and then reverse EQ the sound to your liking, the wonderful thing is it seems this is how they were designed to be used because theres no distortion at all. using them this way nets you that volume you wanted and you can then tune each setting down a touch to find your desired sound.the headset really does work great when you have it all figured out, lots of options on the dac for adjusting mic and game and chat volume mixing, even surround sound settings, the ''high res'' audio is a nice feature but doesnt do much for the sound unless your listening to a source tuned with high res in mind, some games do such as rainbow 6 siege, alot dont.in comparison to the other two, its a better quality sound but both of the others will give you a warmer sound, they just dont express the same detail as these.

10.8.2020

I ordered this headset to replace a broken pair of HyperX Cloud Stinger's (not an expensive headset) which the leather had completely degraded on and was leaving black leather marks all over my head everytime I wore them - not cool during lockdown with a ridiculous amount of video calls every day!I initially ordered a pair of Turtle Beach Elite Atlas Aero's, but sent them back after a couple of days as the sound was awful without some heavy EQ, and the software has some sort of (widely reporting on Reddit) fatal glitch that causes the installer to get stuck in a loop. This means the EQ doesn't work as the software can't load, leaving you with awful sound.

17.4.2020

Well firstly, lets get the negative out of the way. There was no optical cable to connect the DAC to my PS4 in the box. Fortunately, I'd already done my homework and knew the cable would have been too short for where I wanted to use it anyway, so I'd already bought a 3m optical and 3m USB to micro USB cable in preparation. Good job I did, huh?Secondly, the elasticated ski goggle band is only just about long enough for my head. I have the velcro at its extreme limit but I don't believe my head size is anything out of the ordinary. It could have done with being just a couple of centimetres longer but having said that it does the job.....just, but even so,

24.1.2021

First of all, I got this headset for just £157 which is almost £100 cheaper than the original price, of course making this a bargain and 100% worth the money. I’ve had them for about a month now and I’ve played various games like The Isle. The Isle in case you didn’t know is a prehistoric survival game where you play as a dinosaur, as you might imagine, hearing things is very important especially when the sounds are most likely going to eat you. So I can say this headset, is ideal for any game, I could hear perfectly, the best of the features that this headset has are; surround sound, sound quality and comfort.The elastic band makes the headset comfortable and almost weightless at some times.

6.7.2020

I’ve used several headsets over the years (Astro A40, AKG K550, Sennheiser 598, Playstation Gold Wireless v1 and v2, V-Moda XS) and the SteelSeries Arctis Pro are the most comfortable headphones I have used.The audio has a very good balance and overall frequency response. I have seen it criticised for lacking in bass, however to me this largely seems down to many competitors over emphasising low end frequencies at the cost of overall audio performance.I’m using them as a direct replacement for a Playstation Gold v2 set and when playing The Last of Us part 2 am noticing improved directionality of audio as well as ambient sounds that I didn’t hear previously.The DAC provides improved audio in comparison to directly connecting the headset.

15.10.2020

The sound quality of this headset is immaculate. I can hear all my enemies in FPS games before I can see them. I've played Apex, Valorant, Fortnite, Warzone, Arma3, Paladins, Smite, world of warcraft, War thunder, Holdfast, cuisine royal, BF V and many more games with this headset and they have never let me down. They are really easy to setup with the Steel Series Engine Software. The DAC is a great addition, I have all my system stats showing on mine, so I can see all my temperatures / usage of my GPU, CPU, RAM. You can use it to see discord messages and all sorts of stuff, really awesome!. Everybody is pleased with my microphone quality, there is no background noise that comes through,

20.3.2021

I was debating between these and the Razer blackshark v2 but these definitely have a better microphone. There is nothing in it otherwise, I’ve tried them both.I’m a little hard of hearing, so the gamedac is really beneficial to me, it means I can bump up the mids (where my deficit is) in a click and have a separate profile for games where I need to hear chat clearly (like Phasmophobia)They fit really well, although I guess my head must be quite large because the the band is nearly touching the top of the headset.The only bad point I have is that if you have a phobia of polystyrene being rubbed together then you might not like this because that’s exactly what it sounds like as the earcups move

20.2.2019

Quite simply, the best headset I've used. On my PC setup the sound quality is excellent. Directional/positional sound is very accurate. I found the game/chat balance very easy to manage. Other headsets I've used the balance hasn't been great, either game or chat is deafening while the other is barely audible. Being able to change it with the dial on the DAC makes it easy to find the best setting for you.I also used it on my ps4 and was equally impressed. I did have to turn the DTS off when using on ps4 as it distorted the sound. But even without it I was very happy. Clear sound quality and again, positional sound was excellent. Certainly helped while playing pubg!The build quality is good and I found the buttons on the ear cup easy to locate.

26.10.2019

The Arctis Pro Wired With GameDac is an amazing headset. Its comfortable, the build quality is phenomenal almost all metal and the sound is superb with the microphone sounding like a studio microphone! The only problem i had with this headset was the surround sound. It sounds extremely tinny and poor when 7.1 surround is enabled. After some tinkering i created a good fix for this issue if you experience this as well follow my guide below...1. Download steelseries engine 32. Once your into the arctis pro configuration change the following settings...3. Set the equaliser preset to smiley and turn dialogue enhancement to high and bass enhancement to none.The sound should be much better and sound better than without surround sound.

22.12.2020

I’ve had a few headsets over from budget ones costing £30 all the way up to mid level ones at about £100This was the first time I’ve paid close to £200 for a headset and it hasn’t left me disappointed. The sound quality is brilliant. And the DAC for in game control really adds another level especially for those who stream.The microphone is very well positioned and picks up voice chatter unbelievably well maybe a little too well especially if you have any loud background noises.All in all I’m very much delighted with the purchase the construction is very high quality and the RGB a subtle touch. Software doesn’t take a phd to get the basics off ( unlike icue )

4.1.2020

Really good. The quality of the sound is fantastic AFTER doing some adjustments e.g. messing with the equaliser and downloading Equaliser APO to adjust it further. They are comfy but after a while they hurt my ears which is why I will use different ear cushions. RGB is fine on them and the microphone is a little quiet so you do need to adjust it in Windows after turning it up on the GameDAC.But...The software for them is fine HOWEVER downloading the critical update broke them. The sound remained the same but the it kept making awful noises through the microphone. To fix this, you need to go to the GameDAC and go to the information section of it and perform a factory reset.Overall, amazing.

22.9.2018

The sound quality is out of this world, both for music and with the microphone. People said I sounded like a radio broadcaster with this mic. However, I found the cloth strap (underneath the hard plastic connector between ears), to be annoying. The ear cups felt really tight and I wear eyeglasses, so that was uncomfortable. In the end I had to return these because the microphone mute/unmute button stopped working. It worked great at first, then started only working intermittently. For a set of headphones at this price, the quality should be extremely high and these should least for years. The switch that controlled the mute button obviously gave out well before its intended wear-out date.

25.2.2021

I received these as a Christmas present and be aware that with effectively two sound outputs (game and chat) to choose from on your system plus the mic you might need another USB card if you run a lot of USB devices which I found.That aside and when plumbed into your computer the sound is transformational and I mean not only the headset but running line out to your speakers from the GameDAC device. A complete step up from on board sound and my motherboard is an Asus high end gaming MB.The only feature I would like is to be able to disable line out / headphones from the GameDAC device in software however that is minor compared to the transformational sound quality difference.

22.3.2020

Over all a brilliant quality headset. Good materials used very comfortable to wear and sounds amazing. The software steel series engine is great and easy to use and i have had no trouble with it so far.Some minor things come to mind when i think of other people wearing this, is the size.If you have a very large head i could see you having some trouble as the headset does not have adjustable sides like most, instead there is this tension strap that can be adjusted slightly for different user’s although not as much as a sliding sides are able to.Perfect for my needs and i would recommend to anyone.

SteelSeries Arctis Pro + GameDAC - Reviews

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