SteelSeries - Arctis Pro Wireless

I know this is an older comment, but I stumbled here looking for good headphones and was curious if these are the ones you were talking about? [https://www.bestbuy.com/site/steelseries-arctis-pro-wireless-dts-headphonex-v2-0-surround-sound-gaming-headset-for-ps4-and-pc-black/6595755.p?skuId=6595755](https://www.bestbuy.com/site/steelseries-arctis-pro-wireless-dts-headphonex-v2-0-surround-sound-gaming-headset-for-ps4-and-pc-black/6595755.p?skuId=6595755)

Awesome. I'm going to buy them. Thanks!

Hey if you’re still looking for a steel series headset bestbuy has a really good deal on the older model arctis pro it’s better and cheaper than the nova 7 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sku/6595755.p?skuId=6595755&sb_share_source=PDP

My experience is steelseries is the best of those. Comfy and good audio with a decent app to modify your equalizer and decent presets. Everyone saying get a nice pair of regular headphones and a stand alone mic aren't necessarily wrong but personally the main perk of gaming headsets is the wireless capability. Standard headphones that I would use for gaming are all wired. I've tried Bluetooth headsets and there always seems to be just that little bit of lag you don't get with the 2.4ghz gaming sets. Also unless you're an absolute audiophile, a decent quality gaming headset sounds good. Especially when you play with the equalizer to get what you want out of it. Edit: steelseries also has swappable battery packs which i personally love.

Yessir. I love mine and 140 is such a good deal

crazy that people dont know that it was one of the main things that made me buy this headset

Steel Series Artics 7 Pro or Logitech G Pro X. The logitech is kind of expensive but the only headset I can use while walking around my house or even parts of my backyard, worth it off that alone.

I picked up a couple of arctis pro wireless (not the arctis *nova* pro wireless) headsets for my fiancée and I recently. They were on sale for $160 or so each at Best Buy. I did not want to buy them, I did not want to like them, and I went through each and every single headset from every other brand there before I even considered looking at them because I’ve heard so many bad things about steelseries customer service. But, we needed new headsets that day and they checked all the boxes at a good price so I bit the bullet anyway. Turns out they’re amazing and I love them. They sound fantastic, are surprisingly light, and the microphones are able to pick up only the wearer’s voice even when we’re playing & talking in the same room 6 feet apart. They’re also extremely comfortable for both of us which is rare - I have bigger ears that stick out and she has small sensitive ears, so most headsets only work for one of us. They don’t sound quite as refined as my old sennheiser studio headphones or even really the AirPods max, but you don’t need or expect them to for gaming. They’re also more comfortable during extended use than my senns/APMs. The product itself is great, just hoping I never need to contact customer service for anything.

I am new to PS switch from XB and I brought over ny Astro A50s to PS, didn't like the performance on PS so I bought Steelseries Arctic Wireless Pro and Pulse Elites. I would return the pulse elites but scracthed them changing out cushions. The Steelseries I really like even better than what the A50s were for me on XB.

For me it'd be a toss up between the steel series Arctis Pro Wireless or the Razer Kraken V4 Pro Wireless.

I have them and they’re fine. You need to buy wicked cushions for them because the ANC bump is annoying. Honestly, I’ve had the older Arctis Pro Wireless since they came out and they’re better in pretty much every way. Pretty sure you can get them for relatively cheap now too.

I use the Arctis Pro Wireless from Steelseries for a few Years now. It’s probably not be the best in Sound Quality and definitely lacks in Microphone Quality. But the Sound Quality sounds good enough, atleast for me and I love that with the „Docking Station“ ( I don’t know how it’s really called ) I always have a fully Charged spare battery, so downtime is only like 5 Seconds to switch Battery’s.

Been using the Arctis Pro wireless for some time now, it's OK but really not a fan of the Sonar feature that keeps changing my audio settings every once in a while.

Update: I bought some nova pros while on sale at amazon. As someone that barely uses a PC I found that the out of the box settings were average at best. I did check the firmware was up to date on steelseries.gg and messed around with presets and sonar a little bit but it felt a real unnecessary faff for someone that doesn’t fully understand the expert level stuff. They were comfortable and the adjustable strap and arms were good however the fact that the chatmix feature is a pain to work, the sound I don’t think is high quality? Sounded very stereo, I’m gonna send them back for a refund and stick with my arctis pro wireless. The eq settings are good on my pro wireless like “balanced, immersion, music, voice” etc, they’re quite general but I like them, whereas a lot of the nova pro ones were for specific games like apex legends, fortnite, cod etc.

I have the arctis pro wireless at the minute, I may pick up the novas if they go on a black friday deal :)

I’ve not had any issues with the hinges like people have said on the arctis pro wireless, that being said when I take them off my head I don’t just grab the cups, I kinda support the hinge by holding there with my fingers and thumbs hold the cups. Similarly when putting them on I cover that connection point with my thumbs just incase I guess. I think if you’re generally careful with stuff you’ll be fine.

Depends what you value more/how much you want to spend Alpha hyper x are very practical, 300 hours of battery is pretty awesome. Sound out of the box is a lil off, but with EQ adjustment it's a beast for the price. Your mic quality will be very average, more than fine for discord but not recording/streaming (mic quality is pretty rough with wireless headsets compared to corded) Arctis pro is also a really solid choice, I think the mic is a good improvement over alpha, and while the software is pretty bloated, it is better than hyperx. If you don't want to tweak with EQ and appreciate the mic quality, go with these. You can get a desk mic but that kinda contradicts the point of wireless. I like being able to talk to my mates while I'm doing shit, so I want the mic with me. But this is also an option if this isn't super relevant to you

Just got the nova pro wireless today, coming from a year of using the Arctis pro wireless. The nova's are quite base heavy. Using the base station you can lower the lower frequencies to get some more detail in the mids/highs. From the 3 hours I've had them on, the headband isn't as comfortable, but the ear cups feel... lighter? Over all sound quality is on par with the Arctis pros imho I don't care very much for the ANC. Bit annoyed the screen on the base station can't turn off so eventually it WILL burn in. The Arctis base station had the feature.

Artis pro wireless can do this. On the base hit the button > Options > Screen >Timeout:120 second(or desired time) + Mode: Screen off. The Arctis Pro Wireless base station also allows me to control system volume at all. The Nova pro doesn't and if I use my IEM's in the line out jack and swap to them they're max fucking volume. And I can't change that unless I bypass the base station.

I'd stick with the standard Arctis line, not the Novas imho. there's not a lot between two two, I think Novas as slightly lighter, but their headband wasn't as comfortable. They felt cheaper too. Plus whatever they did to the mic, wasn't as good as my original Arctis 7's. The entire soundstage wasn't as good in fact. I refunded mine to get the Pro wireless, which has its own issues tbf and I honestly considered going back to the standard Arctis 7's, or 9's.

Been wearing my SteelSeries Artic Wireless Pros now for 4 years average of 8 hours a day. The original batteries are still working, the plastic where the ear pieces connect to the part that goes over my head broke but its still useable. I just wouldn't recommend if your husband has a large head. Or get smaller aftermarket ear cushions

Theres a lot of great recommendations in this thread, I personally love Steelseries headsets had the Wireless Arctis Pro for years and they never let me down. But always check rtings.com as they have great reviews

The APW has been my daily driver for YEARS, recently my batteries have started to go and I cannot for the life of me find trustworthy replacement batteries for a good price. And I'm not looking forward to upgrading to the NPW even if its a fine headset.

I can never not have a swappable battery on a headset ever again. I have been using this headset everyday for work and gaming for 5 years now. It gets 4 - 8 hrs of use every day. It has outlast every single audio device in my home. My cushions are still firm enough. The mic is still in great condition. The batteries still hold 8 hrs of charge. There is not a single structural defect. Only extremely minor cosmetic defects around where my nails grab the side plate. The adjustable elastic still has another 5 years of stretch in it. The controller is the only thing that is any concern. It has a very very minor burn-in where "PC" can be seen when its on. Its just been absolutely flawless with quality and performance. I will be utterly devastated if I have to explore replacing it with something different.

Big fan. Used for tarkov and many games for years. Great positional audio

No. I have the Arctis Pro Wireless, and Nova Pro Wireless. I BABIED both of them. They've never been dropped, hit by anything, or even bumped up against anything other than my headset stand, or my wife/kids when they leaned in to give me a kiss. The Arctis Pro Wireless lasted around around 2 months of constantly having to mute/unmute the microphone (I have kids) before it started acting up and wanting to "beep" (activate/deactivate tone) any time I bumped it, moved my head, or even tilted my head. The Nova Pro Wireless lasted 6 fiscal Months before the sidetone would activate even though the microphone button wasn't depressed, and would require me finicking with it for five minutes to get it to stop allowing sidetone only for it to come right back on if I turned my head too sharply, or tilted my head, bumped it, etc. This, of course, came after only muting the microphone on the Nova MAYBE a total of 50 times. The ANC is "ehh.." It's okay, you can tell it's there, but it's definitely NOT as "good" as they market it to be at all. The sidetone doesn't even get HALF as loud as the Arctis Pro Wireless did, and has a noticeable delay compared to it (I'd say around 10ms). Then there's the connection issues - The headset would randomly restart, disconnect from the base and cause a loud distrotion sound to come across until I BOTH powered down the headset AND disconnected the USB cable from the back of the hub. Pair that with the headset just randomly disconnecting at times (typically when critical to HAVE it) and you have a recipe for disaster. I'm not even going to TOUCH the discomfort of this headset compared to the Arctis, but I will say this - For the price difference the Arctis is a MUCH better option for ANYONE that has ears, even if the soundstage is fkn piss poor in comparison. I actually JUST finished the RMA process for my Nova Pro Wireless which required me to quite literally snap the damned thing in half just to get a new one sent out. It uses the EXACT same faulty mic switch that the Arctis did, and I FULLY anticipate that in 6 months I'm going to be taking apart the new one, and either a. Soldering a new 6-pin switch onto it from Mouser, or B. Desoldering the microphone's switch entirely, wiring it into a CONSTANT off circuit, and using a second microphone/boom arm because I already know it's going to fail.

A slight necro, but I have the Arctis 7, Arctis Pro Wireless, and Arctis Nova Pro Wireless - They're all (except the 7's) complete and utter GARBAGE. The Arctis pro broke twice in 6 months, (mic mute button, frequent disconnects, and occasional issues where it refused to connect to the DAC at all.) The Nova pro is no better, with the first one's 6-pole mic button dying in less than 6 months with VERY minimal use of the button itself, and the new headset they sent as a replacement under warranty does 3 beeps when toggling the mic on/off, has "digital compression lag" from interference, picks up my G502x+ if the USB receiver is on the same HUB, constantly disconnects from the DAC, and reconnects, occasionally refuses to perceive a newly swapped battery as charged, occasionally won't turn on...and more. I honestly can't believe that their "high end line" is worse quality than their mid-range, but it DEFINITELY is. My experience with these headsets has turned me off steelseries COMPLETELY, and I doubt I'll ever purchase another product of theirs.

I will never understand people complaining about the software. Sure, it's difficult to understand what's going on, but spend more than 15 minutes looking around and fiddling with settings till you understand it and it becomes an amazing program.

Same. Big fan. I did replace the ear cups with some better ones though and that made a huge difference as well.

The only issue with the headset is the fragile construction. The arms holding the earcups aren't the strongest, and if your headset falls on the side, it will be the point of failure. Don't ask how I know.

Love it. Never had any issues with it. Don't think it's the best case fit for this scenario, but it'll do.

I stream with the headset and people are surprised when I tell them it's just a headset mic, they think I have a proper condenser mic.

For what it's worth, I've had the Arctis Pro Wireless and the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless and found the latter to be pretty a worthwhile upgrade.

I have steel series arctic pro wireless, which can be found for pretty heavily discounted prices, and they feel pretty good to me. 

Ohhhhh any custom settings you use? I’m pretty useless with PCs. Also I always have to reset my default audio devices on boot - do you have that issue too?

No sound card, and yes to everything else. 

Ohhhh so not the pubg setting? And do you mean even all the weird virtual devices steelseries set up? Theres like 12 or something? And do you mean settings or control panel? Why does windows have two places to do the same thing? Why windows why?! P.s thanks. 

I just went nuclear and hid them all. Not sure how to get them back. Will google. Cheers! Will also try that preset. 

Same mine started making a weird buzzing noise and it randomly cuts out and my batteries last like two hours instead of 5-6 hours like when I first got it. I actually gave mine to a family member so I’m going to need a replacement. I might just go back my good ol arctis pro wireless, what I had before this Nova pro crap. I was so excited when I heard steel series was coming out with a new wireless headset to replace the Arctis pro, and then the nova pro happened and I bought it and I was seriously unimpressed and was sad I sold my arctis pro wireless to make of for the funds I spent on the nova pro

Yes! I have had nothing but issues with mine and am looking to replace it!

Steelseries arctis pro wireless

I'm pushing 4+ yr on my pro wireless. Only thing that has sucked is the elastic strap I keep needing to extend the velcro to make it tight again lol

Same! I love them.

Yes. Use Apex Legend sound profile. Open windows sound settings. Deactivate all devices that are *not* the pro wireless. Et voila you don't have to switcheroo anymore. This might get reset with a windows update. Just remember this.

Yes not pubg preset. Windows settings. Keep the virtual devices. Steelseries software will select the proper one.

I must've gotten a defective pair because my pro sounds terrible. I've tried a lot of different EQ configurations that people have said were good and they still sound muddy and flat. Are you only using the dac for adjustment or sonar?

Yo sick. Thank you for the set up. I'll have to try it out sometime because the GG software is making me lose my mind

I got the steelseries arctic wireless pro several years ago and they're still holding up. Mic is perfectly good for games.

Abso-fuckin-lutely right about burn-in. Same with my Arctis Pro Wireless.

In addition, when i press the front button to access the menu it resets and cannot get into the menus on the base station. But other than that, I love these bad boys.

Yes the wheel button. I've had this set since the PS4 days and I've contacted Steelsseries regarding that issue but they out of warranty and been waiting for them to die to upgrade but they're still amazing and nothing wrong with them. Lol. I made video years ago when I sent customer support the email. https://youtube.com/shorts/jU9G7Cp5r0U?si=1n9YQOdYfPaXAIqH It just resets and nothing happens.

Upgrading the firmware caused this and I dont think they've released any more since.

Handle your equipment better they arent garbage. Ive had my Arctis pro wireless ones for 5 years and my Xbox generation before that for 5 years as well. Just because you once had a bad experience at a bad food restaurant doesn't automatically make it bad.

Are you talking about Nova Pros? Although still quite decent, Arctis Pros do not have hot-swap batteries nor ANC.

I have pretty much the same experience with mine. It's been amazing and I just looked the other day and they were only like 139 at best buy. pretty much a steal for such a great product

Yup. I answer phone calls while gaming all the time

It's 139 at best buy right now. I paid 399 I think for mine 5 years ago

Oh I just realized you are talking about the nova. I meant the arctic pro wireless that OP is talking about is that cheap at the moment

Nova pro wireless is virtually the same as the arctis pro wireless. Both are standard steelseries cheap quality, both have alright sound quality, both aren’t that comfy, and both have software issues. But the nova pro wireless has less features than the other. I’d still say that nova is slightly better, just slightly

Cheap quality as in the plastic they use and overall build quality. It’s alright, it works but don’t expect it to be a tank. Steelseries is a hit or a miss experience. And I don’t really have any other recommendations, sorry. Unfortunately, I think steelseries is the most affordable to what you’re getting for in the market right now

Nothing wrong with using plastic, it’s the garbage plastic they use that snaps if you breathe on it. And yeah, like I said before they’re a hit or miss experience

You should read what the rest of this sub has to say about that. You kinda just said it yourself, for the price they aren’t good. You can buy a wired headset for a third of their price and it’ll last much longer. They’re not high end, I wouldn’t fanboy over them

At the hinges, depends on headset to headset but that’s where nova pros, arctis pros commonly fail. And again, steelseries is a hit or miss experience..

As someone who had it, i can say feature wise it was great. Design and durability are TOTALLY unacceptable and fcking garbage to point of it being scam. Also it having massive issues with its own brands software features is fcking problem, no directional audio if using sonar. It didnt last 3 years before it broke and clearly the design was flawed af, metal joint held in place by plastic that were thin af and there was no extra reinforcement to support it. Fck steelseries

Reminds me alot like a steelseries arctis headset with those... cracked hinges. Seriously I don't really understand the trend of single sided hinges. Both my arctis 7 and pro wireless cracked at the hinge area. My nova pro wireless held fine after 2 and half years but still make me worry every time I put them on.

I've spent a fair bit of time researching headsets, and I found that the SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless really stands out in terms of sound quality and build. It can stretch your budget a bit, but the clarity and comfort have made it a reliable choice in my research.

I can agree. The killer feature for me is that it has optical audio support, my TV S90C supports it too, so TV audio passtrough DAC, i can play with wireless audio with any console (PS2, PS3) i have. It's kinda a niche thing, but the best for me.

It sounds same good

Okay O have never ever used the software. What am I missing? I really like the headphones and never felt the need to use any software for it...

Surprisingly not really. Some do, but only a handful support simultaneous connections, meaning you can play both audios at the same time rather than having to switch back and forth. AFAIK, this headset is the only one to support that functionality AND be able to connect to multiple consoles (specifically referring to the Xbox version where I have it hooked up to both ps5 and xsx consoles).

Lots of random issues with Sonar. I personally don’t have a lot of experience with it since I use the headset on my ps5/xsx but I’ve seen plenty of posts with people absolutely tearing into how awful the software is. I also agree with the complaints about the short mic. It took me a while to get my mic sensitivity set up in a way where people could consistently hear me but not so bad I had to monitor my breathing. Overall it’s still (probably) the best general use headset out there, but there’s definitely room for improvement. Buggy software aside, there are still concerns over the joint durability, mic issues, and that weird stubby thing stabbing you in the ear (wickd cushions solve this). Also the headset is a bit tight for those of us with larger noggins.

I absolutely adore Arctis Pro Wireless and Nova Pro Wireless! But I have an annoying noise when BT is on and noting is playing through it. Also on Nova you need to have the Sonar app to use the game-discord volume thing. On Arctis it worked right out of the box. That really sucks because my daily PC experience started to look like I’m a live sound engineer

Im using steelseries arctis pro wireless

SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless. Hot swappable battery means you never have to switch to wired.

SteelSeries Arctis Wireless Pro (and the new version which name I can't recall) has been using swappable batteries, where one is always in the charger while the other one is in use. So keeping something constantly charged on 100%, doesn't affect much in the long run.

I haven’t touched any settings (PC) for mind and they’re great

just adding to that as I had both 2 APW and tried to upgrade to Nova, Nova is... not user-friendly. \-If you get one of the earlier models the thubs inside of the ear muffles are too big and they will be uncomfortable to wear \-If you're low on battery (15% and less) it will start beeping every minute but 15% is like 1-2 hours of lifetime for this headset. \-Changing the battery is a nightmare, there's a hot-load function where it automatically turns back on when you switch batteries fast enough but you have to be fast and it's not designed to be easily interchangable (battery facing the wrong side compared to the hub, hard to insert, etc) \-I've been using it for a little under a year, my microphone suddenly got quiet and now people hear me 30% less well Next time I get a headphone I'm just buying an APW with it. Just make sure you do not sleep with it AND most importantly, do not play with the button to mute too much as it will wear out quickly if you are not careful.

For wireless, I’d recommend the Logitech G Pro X (Wireless). I used them in many FPS games. If your budget would allow, the sound and mic quality from the Steel Series Arctis Pro Wireless is great from my experience.

I've owned the pro wireless and I have to say, they are a great headset. I upgraded to them from the nova 7s which turned out not to be an upgrade at all. I totally understand why the pros are great for some people but for myself, I mostly game on xbox these days, I have no use for the dac or sonar as I use atmos. I returned them and continued with the 7s. To be honest, I would just cut sonar out and use atmos regardless of what you play on. Save some money and just buy the 7s. I've heard people say they sound different but through atmos they both sound the same to me. Just my 2 cents of course but if anyone's on the fence between the pros and the 7s, buy the 7s. Dolby atmos is far better than any preset or eq you can make in gg or sonar.

I just received a pair a couple days ago. Devastated to hear a constant white noise / hissing on them. Tried everything I could find online for fixing it and the support teams suggestion. Its a shame their isn't better quality control on these as this is clearly a common issue with them. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone after my experience.

This is the goat headset. Wireless with swappable batteries is so clutch. Plus I like having the desktop hub thing to adjust setting without having to download more software.

For anyone coming back late, I've had 3 pairs of these: Arctis 7x, Arctis Pro Wireless, and Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. If you're looking between the two pros I really recommend the Nova, even with the price bump. I loved the Arctis 7x and had them for over 5 years. I tried replacing them with the Arctis Pro Wireless but after three weeks I ended up returning them. Issues included constant white noise, poor bluetooth range, crackling noises on every connection, and an uncomfortably tight fit. The Arctis Nova Pro was $120 more but so much better in every way, it feels totally worth it. It's super comfortable, has a smaller profile than the Arctis, and has a better bluetooth range. Most importantly it's completely silent: for the Arctis Pro I was part of the minority who heard the white noise and it drove me crazy, but the Nova is as silent as a pair of Airpods. Other improvements like the mic, build material, and replaceable batteries were all great too.

Bought mine in 2018, still going strong! Best headset I've ever used as well. The battery swap and being able to take the battery out is insane since everything has built-in batteries. Mine came with a cover bag, and it still looks brand new.

Read about those issues when I bought it. Ended up super gluing the weak points. It looks hideous on the back, but that thing has been going strong for YEARS

Most people argue between Audeze Maxwell, A50x and SS Arctis Pro. Get whichever has the features, quality you prefer. I went with the Arctis since it is the only one with a receiver base that works with my GoXLR and RodeCaster Duo for mic monitoring.

Old but maybe help someone. I’ve had the Arctis pro wireless for 5 years now. Great headset, but mic quality is not great & the clamping force is immense. It was actually very uncomfortable until I “stretched” the metal band a lot lol. Compared to the arctis nova 7, the pro wireless is not comfortable out of the box IMO if you have a bigger head

I loved my APW, but I ended up loving the ANPW after upgrading as well. Actually, just last night, I connected it via bluetooth to my LG C3 and the audio I was getting listening to Andor was blowing my mind. There was no way I would have been getting Dolby 5.1 or even simulated surround, because I wasn't using the base station, but still somehow I was hearing background noise behind and all around me. I had to check to make sure my partner didn't walk into the room and start making noise. I don't know what was going on, but I was impressed, even after owning them for a couple years.

I'm still using my Arctic Pro Wireless model, which work perfectly fine, but somewhat tempted to upgrade, lol. I just am not a fan of gloss black.

I’m at like 7 years or so with my Arctic Nova Pros. Swapped for Wicked Cushions for a little extra comfort and got 2 extra batteries off Amazon. Only have had some software issues over the years they hotfixed.

Yea. Sorry. Can never remember if Nova was in the name when I try to type out what model I have. But yea,Arctic Pro Wireless.

Just went through this same battle myself and ended up paying 25$ MORE for the Arctis Pros for comfort and allegedly better sound quality. Just came from hyper X Cloud 3 and these def bring the "wow" factor. Still recommend these over the Nova pros for music on phone and PC and story games?

I had an Arctic Pro Wireless and it was just fine, but the Nova Pro has those issues too. Still love the features and the in headset Bluetooth audio mixing which is why I still use it

If you’re happy keep your money lol. I’m just a sucker for trying new gaming headsets lol. Honestly I was pretty happy with my Og arctis wireless pros from many years back. Felt that the nova pros were not a worthy upgrade. The elites are definitely an elite upgrade but not a $600 upgrade lol. I’ll take the hit on this one. Def recommend those who want them to get them on sale when they inevitably go on sale.

I have the Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless (not the Nova) and are pretty happy with it! It's very comfortable and you can have it on you for many hours. A little bit cheaper than the Nova Pro too. You can get it for under 200$

100% couldn't agree more. Funny I found this thread after Google hit me with the best buy promo on the APW and I'm gonna pick up two of them. I've been daily driving the APW since, and I checked this date from my Amazon order history, March of 2020. That's over 5 years and the only things I've fixed are I replaced the stock band and ear pads. 100% agree on the Audezee Maxwell comment as well- I tried upgrading to that set and it was a huge waste of money.

I just got the arctis pro wireless and they are great if you have a small head. They won't feel loose for you. I don't have experience with the Nova Pro Wireless, but the arctis are only 179 at best buy right now.

I have the same one, no complaints.

I'm in the exact same boat. Admittedly the software for PC is fucking atrocious, but the whole reason I love it is the connectivity. I originally had my APW as my wireless PC headset, but for work I tend to not need my microphone on at all times and only use it for the occasional meetings. I ended up getting incredibly frustrated having to turn on my headset for each time I needed my mic, and then have to either turn it back off or just end up eating the battery up when all I'm using it for is audio. I ended up installing an XLR mic and just using my ATH-M50Xs as my main headset, so decided to try using the APW as my console headset and it's literally perfect. My TV doesn't support 3.5m out and only has TOS link Optical out so it's literally the only headset I have found that I can have ALL my TV audio (including PS5 and Xbox) pass through my headset, and then straight to my speakers whenever the headset is turned off. I've also been debating on picking up a spare set of these so when they do eventually die, I can continue watching TV with a headset for those times when I need to keep the TV quiet for the neighbours.

Yeah I went with the Arctis Pro Wireless instead a lot of people told me to stay away from the buds. Potential, but not executed right.

I like the swappable battery and the sound quality. However, the mic insulation tore so it can't retract anymore, and the GG software is the worst of all peripheral software I've used. Even razer synapse is more stable. I've had to reinstall GG, constantly restart it, sometimes it forgets all my audio devices, sometimes it swaps my L/R audio balancing. Moments is cool in theory but half the videos record super loud static for audio. The hardware is decent apart from the shabby mic, but if you need software to take advantage of it then that software needs to be good too. I wont be buying steelseries again.

Mine is also working like a charm, but now it seems like the base station just broke 😭

ive had mine since 2020 and so far no issues but just had to replace the micro cable from the DAC to headphone. my only gripe is after 2 hours it starts to hurt the top of my head. I dont like that ski goggles thing

I just got the arctic steelseries and they are amazing. Wireless lasts a long time, two rechargeable batteries, has its own dock/hub. Very happy with that purchase

I second steelseries. I have the pro wireless, the previous gen. Still great after four years

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.

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 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

> Artics 7 Pro Too bad they've been out of stock for years. The wireless ones, anyways. I got my last set on ebay refurbished and they've been totally fine though.

Came to say this. Love my series 7.

I had these and they were very comforatable and light. Lost sound on one ear tho and recently replaced with newest logitech lightspeed and they are superb with the cloth pad that come with. Also better battery. Can’t go much wrong with either.

Good thing the batteries in the steel series are swappable so it takes only 20 secs to change the battery and the 2nd battery goes in the dock to charge. You can even buy a set of replacement batteries if needed

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.

Wireless the way to go. I have a wired Razer Kraken 3 which has good sound and comfort but not so much a quality build. Headband snapped, wire wore out, pleather wearing out. Good thing I got it as a gift. +1 for any Steel Series Arctis wireless as well. I ended up buying cheap $30 wireless from Amazon which works fine but not the same as a headset that has software to go with it. Even with Razer Kraken, the sound quality is better if you have a Dolby Atmos license (~$10?) for the virtual surround sound enhancements vs the Windows Sonic which is built into Windows.

It is ! I’ve just upgraded to the wireless one and it’s so easy to set up and have really good sound quality and noise cancellation :)

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