SteelSeries - Arctis Pro Wired

Great read, thanks for the review. I'm not in the market for a new headset as I have the Maxwell and some old Hx Cloud 2s as fallback (unless Maxwell 2 IS coming...), but I have been keen to see some reviews on these from actual real-world users, not just websites who were gifted copies and who all seem to ignore the elephant in the room (price) and yet still slap 'editors choice' left and right so as not to be blacklisted from the next review opportunity. I had some of the Steelseries Pros (wired) in the model before the Nova Pro, and I did really like them on multiple fronts, so still keen to hear about their products. These Nova 'Elite' though are just a step to far with absolutely obnoxious pricing. What I'm getting from reviews I'm reading is: \- SQ is great, but not TOO dissimilar to the Nova Pro (already great) \- Microphone is not a huge step up, but still a bit better. \- The multi-device connection point is great - if your use case really relies on you to have so many devices connected. \- Wireless 'Certified HD Audio' is a nice feather in the cap for sure - but incredibly limited in terms of what content is actually output at that bitrate in an accessible manner. What I'm not getting from any single review that I've read is anything even remotely close to a justification on the price. If I were to look at the Nova Pros vs Elites on paper in a comparison list, I would expect the Elite to be more expensive, maybe £100-£120 more expensive based on the marketing aspect that the 'elites' are just a bit better/more feature rich, at which point I'd maybe say fair enough. They seem to have created and priced these in such a way that they are actively just targeting wealthy folk to ultimately take the piss out of them, and a quick look at their social media posts also kind of feels like that too.

For me I like Comtac VI, and Liberators. I use Steelseries Arctics Pro wired.

Steelseries Arctis Pro (Wired) with DAC.

Steelseries Arctis Pro is really good. From Denmark

they do, but only in their online shop. I've been using my old wired Arctis Pro since 2018 and have replaced the pads a couple times and the headband and the wire once. Headset itself still works like day 1

I just got today my artic pro wired... If you ask any AI app what the best 3(5) headset for competitive fps gaming you will see the steelseries arctis pro. I never saw any recommendations for the 7 series. Unless you are on ps5

Can confirm these are amazing got mine recently and the swappable batteries are a game changer. I had to config my router to run a 5ghz frequency though, the 2.4 (I think) seemed to interfere with the audio especially when downloading sometimes but since the fix I cannot fault them.

I absolutely love my steel series arctis pros. I actually love all my steel series stuff. I'm not nice to my stuff at all I beat the shit out of my peripherals but my steel series stuff keep going strong. My sensei mouse made it 7 years of being spilled on and rage slammed and THE only reason I bought a new one one was because the paint started coming off. It's still in the closet as a back up should the need arise.

Steel series. All their products are just good. No complaints and I've been buying them for years

For that price they could’ve at least brought the optical port back. I still use my arctic pros for this sole reason when I watch tv in my room and want it to feel immersive, and also still be connected to my phone. They fumbled that imo

i picked up the arctis pro at best buy last week for $180. i love them

I have owned many, just went from the artic pro to the nova pro, which I gave the old one to my wife. Works with everything, never bugs, sounds awesome, comfortable - and the cherry on top is the swapable batteries. You can stream audio from two devices at the same time, like from phone bluetooth and the pc receiver. Need an aux entry or usb-c? Got that too. Thing is just incredible.

I had arctis pro headset that eventually stopped working (more my fault though) And I have the hyperx cloud alpha wireless now and while they don't sound quite as good they are still good but what I really love about them is the massive battery life like 200+ hours

I got the pro's. The hot swappable batteries are nice, sound and mic has always seemed good to me. Two downsides: 1. you'll probably want to buy wicked cushion ear cups. 2. you'll want to get a couple headband straps from amazon, they tend to stretch out after a year or two.

I own the Arctis Pro, not the Nova Pro. The OG one price on them now is $150. I've had them for since they were released in 2018, and they are still going strong, and not even once have they ever crap out on me. The headband did loosen, but you can get a replacement on their website for cheap. They use a swappable battery pack that you can charge to continue your activities without a cord holding you down. Edit: these are the swappable batteries look like https://preview.redd.it/wzydoeb1ohuf1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f550aeb4e95884025bf53ddc7a80cead3313149

I suggest the SteelSeries Arctis Pro as they have great sound, with ANC, can connect to Bluetooth and 2 to 2 other sources wirelessly, and the swappable batteries means you pretty much never run out of juice. They just launched an elite version which I can only imagine will sound better.

I had them for like a year and swap them again for the arctis pro, the optical sound is way better on my ps5, I just connect the optical to the TV and pass it through the dac Not a bad product, it's just the sound that is inferior imo

I have a relatively pricey home theater setup worth around $4-5k and 2 pretty solid gaming headsets (astro a50 and steelseries arctis pro), i lean towards my headsets for gaming any time I'm playing solo for two reasons: 1) I can't crank up my stereo at night with my kids asleep upstairs 2) the 3d audio sounds better on games even if I could. Don't get me wrong, love my surround sound and use my stereo for tv/movies/music on the regular. But if I was asked about stereo options purely gaming, I would invest in a solid pair of wireless headphones, its totally worth the investment. Side note if you are playing with TV speakers only you should look into a soundbar, they're relatively cheap and make a huge difference. TV speakers on the whole are shit.

I agree like the Astros more. The arctis are great for the swappable battery and the sound is by no means bad but the comfort isn't as good as the astros. The ear cups aren't as form fitting and the headband never feels quite right on my head. The astros have the edge in sound quality and are more comfortable to wear. I had to replace the battery on them last year which was a bit of a pain. I think it was around 30$ off amazon and I had to dissasemble the headset and solder the connections, which I managed in an hour with no previous experience. The docking station kind of sucks too but I think its better on newer models. I still use both, I moved my arctis to my pc and use my astros for PS5, don't think you are going wrong with either and the arctis I got on a deep discount for almost half the cost of the Astro set. Haven't looked at pricing in awhile though so I might be off base with that.

I just ordered the Arctis Nova Pros, what do you mean they hurt your ears? Like the sound or the way they fit on you? Also, I’ve tried several different headsets over the last year and my OG SteelSeries Arctis Pros have been the best sounding. I’ve tried several IEMs as well, but they always sound too raspy to me.

I’m excited to try them, they get here on the 26th. So just in time for the event! And yeah, those batteries were a huge selling point for me lol. My OG Arctis Pros are basically perma dead because the cable port ate shit.

Absolutely adored my Arctis Pro's, great noise cancellation - exceptional mic.

Hey was wondering if you can give an update on the hd560s with the modmic? I got a Steelseries artic pro and the mic is terrible and people complain I’m too low

For gaming, A50s are king soundwise/comfort for me but have quality control issues, steelseries arctis pro are a better all-rounder and have better build quality

This is wrong, Arctis Pros do have hot-swap batteries, but they do not have ANC.

I used Arctic 7's for like 4 years straight, daily use. Phenomenal in every aspect. Upgraded to the Pro's now. They have swappable batteries which is an incredible feature. Never have to plug in to recharge. Only downside is the faux leather ear foams are absolute garbage out the box. Had to get a cooling gel ones on Amazon for like $15, but they've been great the last year.

Cheers! I will say - the pros aren't like THAT big of an upgrade. They're great, but if your battery is still going strong after a swap there's really no reason to change it up. The 7's were phenomenal

Oh wow did not know you could mod them! I def replaced the ear pads a few times over the years - they get a bit funky when it's hot out. Never replaced the band, but I need to on my Pros already. It just gets stretched out and droops. I've been folding it once over on top of my head to compensate and that's been working just fine fortunately

Have the old artic pros for 3 years now have held up very well! Want to get nova but have to wait till these die and they show no sign of quiting

Decent headphones let you hear things you don't hear on tv speakers. The benefit can be hearing where your opponents are with greater accuracy. I use Steelseries Arctis Pro

If you can find a new pair of Steelseries Arctis Pros they are by far my favorite headset I’ve ever bought. I think they discontinued them, but I recently bought a pair off Bestbuy.com for like half the price I paid 5-6 years ago. They retailed for 300 and I got a second pair for 148. Super great build quality and sound. Comes with a mixer that also charges the included battery packs.

The nova pros are huge downgrade. Search for Arctis Pros

IMO the arctis pros sound like ass without a proper EQ curve. There are many standard industry ones out there re made in steel series sonar so just google it. Without it they sound hollow and tinny and overly bassy for how bad the rest of the audio is balanced.

I'm a fan of Steelseries. Nova pro wireless is good, and there's also the elite which just recently released. It is a whopping $600. Swappable batteries are really nice.

I own Arctis Pro and are the worst I ever have had. Made me quit steelseries as a brand

Yup. Just had my Arctis Pro's break where the little swivel goes into the actual ear piece. I had Razer Kraken Pro V2's that lasted me like twice as long and the only issue they had was a frayed, broken wire connection where it went into the volume wheel If I cut out the volume wheel and spliced the wire together I guarantee it'd work perfectly fine.

'Competitive' and a $40-$45 budget isn't going to happen, you'll need to cross one of those off your list unfortunately. My first ever set of headphones I believe were an entry level 'RIG' branded set, aux cable plugged straight into the PS4 controller. I liked them, as far as performance they were worlds above playing with a TV speaker. Didn't know what I was missing out on until I got a set of wired SteelSeries Arctis Pros with a standalone DAC. Sound quality, volume, clarity, direction, absolutely everything improved by a factor of 100. Footstep audio was so easy to catch and amplify on the fly it was almost like cheating. I've used a handful of wireless headsets and so far I've never heard one that has come close to any hard wired set I've owned/used in terms of volume mainly but sound quality too. Something to consider

I use SteelSeries Pro and love them. Little expensive though.

Ive had both the new astro a50x and the steelseries pro. Astros sound quality is by far better, but i hated that I had to connect all my devices to an hdmi switch so I stayed with the steelseries. They aren't my favorites but after dropping 200 dollars each in headsets that retail over 350 that dont have a direct connection to my console it was starting to get frustrating. I also heard mixed reviews about the audeze so never got them.

Iv had so many headsets cheap 10$ ones to 350$+ ones and to be honest none compared in comfortability and sound quality to my 50$ Astro A10s. I have Stealth 700 gen 2 rn and before these I had steel series pros and I still think the A10s are better in every way besides the wire.

The Arctis ones do it with a cool little dedicated box where you can also control other things. I had some years ago and it was a very handy feature...though yes, windows now does much better, channel-based volume control. Still not as cool as a dial on a box though :)

I live and breathe by the steel series arctis series. They have lasted me a LONG time and has withstood a lot over the years with zero damage.

steelseries arctis are as good as it gets for me. I've tested every major headset over the last year and they've been the best sounding and by far most comfortable. they suffer from some software issues when using in pc but outside of that i will be sticking with steelseries offeringsbfor the foreseeable future

I’d look into a hyperx headset. Those usually are good quality and last quite a while. I haven’t found one I’m not a fan of but I’m also not an enthusiast although I currently bounce between the alpha and a Steelseries arctis headset.

Steelseries and something in your budget in the arctis series. I am on my 3rd model. I love the headband part that doesn’t press on my head, and the material on the earpads are so comfortable.

Just got these. I can recommend them. Not tested mic yet. As for comfort: I have a large head, and am finding the clamping a bit tight however, and the earcups just fit around my ears - it's a bit snug. Nothing bad, per se, but not quite in the super comfort zone of some other headphones. They'd be fine for gaming sessions, but not something I'd want to wear all day. I'd have preferred a bit more of a relaxed fit. On the other hand, a relaxed fit means very big headphone that can turn some people off.

Having owned the arctis, and now just picked up the Scape, I can tell you that it's in a different league to the Arctis. It's very good. Not quite as good as my high end audiophile headphones, but very, very good compared to most gaming headsets. I'd rate them in the same class as the Audeze maxwell. Happy to listen to music on them. Excellent controls too. And very nice looking in person. I have a large head, and am finding the clamping a bit tight however, and the earcups just fit around my ears - it's a bit snug. Nothing bad, per se, but not quite in the super comfort zone of some other headphones.

I love my Steelseries Arctis. It's a touch out of your price range but the features are top notch.

My steelseries Arctis headset is still going strong after 7 years. I had a hyper x one that didn’t even last a month.

I use the Steelseries Arctic for 3 years. Still solid

What headset you recommend? Currently have a hypercloud 2 and it´s breaking down as I´ve got it for 8 years now lol, bought the hypercloud 3 and it´s whack, literally feeling pressure on my ears and the microphone is bad. Tried arctic steelseries and even that one felt like pressure on my ears.

Audeze Maxwell - Considered one of the best wireless gaming headsets. Popular with music creators as well as for gaming. Mic is reasonably good, though can clip a little. Comes with leather earpads, but they can be replaced easily. Drop + EPOS PC38X - One of the best wired gaming headsets for sound clarity and mic quality. Bass reproduction is a bit muted, which is common for older style EPOS / Sennheiser headsets, and common with open back headphones in general. The mic is essentially the best of any consumer headset you can buy. Generally can only be bought directly from Drop's site. Comes with both cloth and velour earpads. [https://drop.com/buy/drop-epos-pc38x-gaming-headset](https://drop.com/buy/drop-epos-pc38x-gaming-headset) Steel Series Arctis headsets are generally a decent middle ground in terms of decent bass and mic quality. The overall audio quality isn't as good as either the Maxwell or PC38X, but they're closed back so their bass response is more like the Maxwell. And the mic quality is generally better than the Maxwell, but no where near as good as the PC38X. Most (maybe all?) use cloth earpads. Nova Pro Wireless and Nova 9 are both quite good, with the Nova 9 being slightly better in terms of audio clarity and mic quality, but the Pro Wireless has better bass and noise cancelling.

The Arctis steel series ones that are marketed for Xbox work with PlayStation too and I see now they have some PlayStation branded ones too

Arctis steel series. I can hear more than my teammates typically with incoming cars etc

This is the best answer. I went steel series arctis until i upgrad