SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless Gaming Headset – Lossless High Fidelity Wireless + Bluetooth for PS5/PS4 and PC – Black

I’ve had this for a couple months now on my PS4 and am quite satisfied. I’m coming from a Gen 1 A50 that I’ve used for a very long time. The main reason I purchased is for the battery life and swapping feature. I typically go days without swapping, but if for some reason I forgot to swap, I can do so quickly and continue gaming. With A50’s you need to plug in to charge. My old A50’s battery life was a couple hours at most even after a new battery replacement. Granted, I know the new A50’s get much better battery life, on par with the Arctis, but it’s a plus nevertheless. I really appreciate never having to be tethered. BTW, swapping batteries on Astros are not easy, so that’s another benefit of swappable batteries – you can just buy new ones if they eventually run out of charges.The sound quality is different than the Astros. Astros were definitely more bass heavy, but I quickly got used to the tighter sound on the Arctis. They definitely sound more crisp. Another difference is that the earcups on the Arctis are much more isolating. Again, it’s different, not better or worse. However, while talking, you can still hear your own voice with the Sidetone feature that let’s you set how much of your own voice you want to hear through your headset. I set mine very low, but you can turn off altogether if you want. Supposedly the mic quality on the Arctis is better than the Astros from what I read, but I don’t really care since I don’t listen to myself. Everyone heard me fine with both. One feature I really do miss is the flip up mic on the A50’s. This is a tactile, binary mute indicator. I always knew I was muted with it flipped up. On the Arctis, there is a red light on the mic that indicates mute, but I have to actually look at a reflection to visually confirm its muted. On the plus side, it’s nice to completely retract the mic so it’s not even there on the Arctis. Not as crisp a design as the flip up/mute mic though.As far as comfort, they both felt good, neither stood out more than the other. For build quality, I prefer the Arctis surprisingly. The buttons and wheels just feel crisper. It seems like a more durable design at the key weak points as well. The two headsets are pretty close in all ways, just different. Aside from the battery swap which I think is the best, most practical feature for a wireless headset, there are a couple other things that made me choose this one over the A50 gen 3. The customizability of sound in the easy to reach mixer is nice but I don’t change settings much myself. I heard the charging stand for the A50 is inconsistent and fussy, which makes total sense if you are trying to line up charging points. Also, it’s a 3 year old headset at this point. Maybe gen 4 will blow us all away, but I needed a new one now. Another thing that’s a plus on the Arctis is the bluetooth capability. I thought I would use it more, but haven’t had the need yet in my setup. I have a dedicated BT headset and I just swap when I need to make a call. It could be useful if you don’t have multiple headsets though.Overall, I am very satisfied with the headset. Sounds great, comfortable, and battery for days (recreational gamer), and quick swapping if you run out. But I would probably also be almost as satisfied with an updated A50.

I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the headset while it worked. I found it to be immensely practical and had good range, allowing me to hear sounds through the headset even if I was decently far away. I had no issues with sound or mic quality or anything of the like.That being said, for a $330 headset the build quality is not acceptable. About 4 months into use the headphones broke from regular usage. The plastic around the part that connects the cups to the band broke while i was wearing it, which lead to the headset coming loose. It was still “wearable” but the cup didn’t make full contact with the side of my head and it was quite uncomfortable. There was also exposed wiring, which I suspect lead to the eventual and full demise of the headset. I attempted to reaffix the broken part with superglue, which worked a little bit but was by no means a permanent solution. After a few weeks the headset would struggle to power on, often taking multiple attempts to power the headset on. A week later, the headset ceased to turn on at all.Perhaps if I had abused my headset I would understand it breaking. But for such an expensive product to break under intended usage is ridiculous. I assume it couldn’t take the strain caused by opening the headset around my head, which is what caused it to break. In some ways that makes sense because I have en enormous head… Oh wait that’s not even true. I have a pretty normal sized head. When I wear adjustable caps usually all but 2 of the pips are connected. Maybe that’s even considered small but regardless, my head is nowhere near abnormally sized.Bottom line: The headset physically breaking after 4 to 5 months of regular usage, and breaking while being used as intended, is unacceptable for such an expensive, high-end device. It’s a good product otherwise but none of that matters if it breaks so easily.

Going from 1st gen a50s to this headset I’m pretty disappointed .Pros(because maybe its just my set.. I need to try and RMA)Build quality decent. They feel solid not too cheap. Has nice buttons easy to feel without looking at. The volume knob is great. The wireless transmitter is pretty cool. The ear pads are comfy. They don’t make your ears sweat at all really. The Microphone is really good! Comes with two rechargeable batteries.The sound is clear and the bass sounds great.Cons.Crackling. I’m having a ton of trouble with crackling and the audio occasionally phases in and out. Haven’t figured out why. I might RMA them. Seems like a lot of people are having trouble like this on forums I have read.The rechargeable battery slot in the headset feels like I’m going to break it every time I swap batteries.Hope this kind of helps.—————–After having this headset now for a couple of months I can honestly say that its not a very good one. It crackles all the time and the headset cuts out quite often. Would not recommend this headset.

TL;DR “Lossless audio” is definitely a marketing gimmick though better than pretty much every wireless headset available in the sound department, don’t buy these if you have a larger than average head as there is little adjustment.As someone who uses high end headphones for gaming I was hoping to find a wireless rival so I could cut the cord as I’ve done with my other peripherals. I did a lot of research and based of reviews and how these are advertised as “lossless” I was sold. Once they arrived I was only met with disappointment. Now don’t get me wrong, these have some awesome features and do a reasonably good job of creating a large sound stage. I felt that these headphones did not offer a “deep” bass, but that it came out rather tinny overall and sort of muddy much like other wireless headsets. This is likely due to the fact that they are wireless. The DAC is a really cool addition and I think it was probably the largest selling point here. My biggest gripe overall is as many others have reported, the fit. The headset simply has a poorly designed adjustment system. It works well with people who have smaller heads but for someone like myself the inability to adjust the actual height of the ear cups themselves was an instant deal breaker. The clamping force on these is insane if you have a large head, the aluminum band is incredibly durable however so that’s a plus. I found these mostly usable without glasses and fairly uncomfortable with them on.

I just received my Arctis Pro Wireless a day ago and have been testing it against my Siberia 800/840/H Wireless. Here are my few quick impressions after testing mostly on my PS4. I will try to provide an update after further testing.Look and build: I prefer the look of the Arctis Pro Wireless. It is a bit more modern and sleek looking than the Siberia 800. Build quality wise, I feel the Siberia 800 feels more sturdy and more durable to scuffs. The Arctis Pro Wireless has the exposed metal headband and and the matte finish which feel more delicate. I have to handle it with care compared to the Siberia 800 which I can pretty much toss around anywhere.Comfort: The earcups of the Arctis Pro Wireless are more comfortable. They are shaped naturally around your ears unlike the cylindrical shape of the Siberia 800. However, I’m not a fan of the ski band on top. I had to adjust it by loosening the velcro which is prone to lint. Also, it tends to pull the headphones up causing a little discomfort on the bottom of my ears. I much prefer the headband of the Siberia 800 with its plush memory foam and traditional way of size adjustment.Connectivity: This is pretty much the same. I had no trouble with the signal when walking downstairs with both headsets to get something from the kitchen. Also, there is no lag while playing games. The bluetooth range is also great and there is no noticeable lag when watching a video from my phone.Usability: The base stations are pretty much identical except for a few tweaks. The 3.5mm chat out and analog in from the back on the Siberia 800’s base station are now replaced by line in and line out which is good for passthrough to speakers. The volume knob on the Arctis Pro Wireless base station is a little more grippy and concave, but they operate the same way. The batteries are exactly the same also. I interchanged them and they work perfectly. The menus have a few more options on the Arctis Pro Wireless. You can now have sidetone and adjust its sensitivity. However, your voice tends to sound distorted when speaking a little louder or yelling. Luckily, you can set it to 0 to turn it off which is what I had to do unfortunately. You can now set the screen to timeout or have a screensaver which is just the SteelSeries logo. I had issues with burn-in (due to being OLED) with the screen on my Siberia 800 base station so this is a welcome option for prevention. There is also a volume limiter option which you can turn off if you require louder volumes. The Arctis Pro Wireless can also connect to the SteelSeries Engine to access more options, but it is currently not available yet.On the Arctis Pro Wireless, the volume knob and mute switch is on the left side of headset, while the power buttons are on the right side. This is a change I didn’t like. On the Siberia 800, all controls are on the right side and you only need to use one hand to do everything. It will take some adjustment to get used to it, especially if you’re coming from the Siberia 800. The battery is now stored on the right earcup on the Arctis Pro Wireless and you just pop off the magnetic plate to swap it out. On the Siberia 800, you just twist the plate off to swap batteries. Both ways are pretty much the same. When you power on and off the Siberia 800, there is a beep tone letting you know it is either on or off. It can be heard clearly. The Arctis Pro Wireless beeps when powering on. When powering off, there is a tiny tone letting you know. It’s basically inaudible if your not listening for it closely. The weird thing is there is a loud beep tone when you power off while connected through bluetooth. This seems like an oversight.Microphone: The mic quality of both are on par with each other. They both glow red when you mute them and are adjustable and retractable. The mic on the Arctis Pro Wireless however, is a bit larger and bulkier. I prefer the look of the mic on the Siberia 800. But, it is no big deal. The biggest issue I have with the Arctis Pro Wireless is the mic output volume is extremely low when I tested it on my PS4. My friends could barely hear me. There is also no way to adjust the mic sensitivity at all at the moment. This is odd since the Arctis Pro with GameDAC has an option to adjust mic output volume. The only way for my party to hear me a little better was to crank up the mic sensitivity to max through the PS4 system settings. Still, it was still lower than the Siberia 800 which I always keep at default sensitivity on the PS4. When I switched to the Siberia 800, my party could hear me comfortably. I hope SteelSeries can fix this through a firmware update.Sound: My Siberia 800’s are dead silent when there is no sound playing. The Arctis Pro Wireless has a very subtle hiss, but not to the point of being annoying. When there is sound playing, you can hardly hear it, if at all. I was concerned about this, but it definitely not a deal breaker. The sound signatures are slightly different. I wouldn’t say the Arctis Pro Wireless is better sounding than the Siberia 800 which is a disappointment. I tested both with my custom EQ settings and with surround on and off. The Arctis Pro Wireless sounds a little more airy. The highs are a bit more detailed, but more harsh. The bass response for the Arctis Pro Wireless sounds toned down and slightly less full. The focus is more on clarity and separation, but it comes off as a bit synthetic. This causes it to sound more tinny and thinner than the Siberia 800 overall. On the Siberia 800, the treble is warmer and easier on the ears, but still has great clarity. Also, the bass has more punch and depth. I feel the sound signature on the Siberia 800 is more natural and accurate. Overall, they both sound good and will definitely give you an edge competitively. However, I prefer the Siberia 800’s sound as of now, but I will have to put more hours in and tweak the EQ settings to get a full impression of the Arctis Pro Wireless.Conclusion: These are both great wireless headsets for gaming. I’ve had the Siberia 800 for about three years and absolutely love them. If you are looking to upgrade from the Siberia 800/840/H Wireless to the Arctis Pro Wireless, I would hold off for now. The sound is not any better and the mic volume output is definitely a major issue. Also, it has not been fully integrated into the SteelSeries Engine which makes it feel kind of rushed and half-baked. However, these impressions are just based on one day of usage. I will try to update later after some more extensive usage. Let me know if you have any questions or if you want me to test anything else. Thanks for reading!UPDATE (4/29/18): SteelSeries Engine 3.12.3 has been released which allows customization of the Arctis Pro Wireless. Also, this included a firmware update for the Arctis Pro Wireless. The update fixes the mic volume output on PS4! Now, I do not have to put the mic sensitivity at max through the PS4 system settings. My party can hear me loud and clear without any adjustments. Also, they fixed the power off tone which can now be heard loudly. It was nice to have these issues fixed, especially the mic volume output which was a big problem for me. Thanks to SteelSeries for listening to feedback.