Introduction

The SteelSeries Arctis 7 is the most expensive and luxurious member of the entire Arctis lineup. It will set you back a grand total of $150, a full 50% more than the Arctis 5 I reviewed a couple weeks ago. SteelSeries tries to justify the price increase by keeping everything that's good about the Arctis 5, including the amazingly useful ChatMix Dial, and adding a couple extras, with the most prominent extra being the Artis 7's ability to be used wirelessly. You also get a metal headband instead of a plastic one. However, the RGB lighting system is gone, most likely in an attempt to save on battery life, and as you will find out later on in the review, it is quite a successful attempt at that.



In case you came here after reading the SteelSeries Arctis 5 review in an attempt to figure out whether the Arctis 7 offers the same sound quality, let me save you some time: yes, it does. The very same 40-millimeter dynamic drivers are used. The good people of SteelSeries call them the S1 Speaker Drivers and go out of their way to point out that they are the same ones as in the most expensive headsets they ever made. Aside from the standard stereo mode, these also support DTS Headphone:X 7.1 Surround Sound. They're built into a pair of closed-back, over-ear ear cups that are connected by a sturdy and beautiful-looking metal headband. The outer headband is covered with a replaceable elastic material that's usually used on ski goggles, which doubles up as a stretchy inner headband. There's also the very same retractable bidirectional microphone that was found on the Arctis 5. I had some issues with it on the Arctis 5, so it will be interesting to find out if it fares any better in this particular case.


The SteelSeries Arctis 7 is available in black and white. It offers a plethora of dials and buttons in both cases, including the volume dial, ChatMix Dial, and microphone mute button. There are two ways to establish a wired connection with the sound source: via a standard 3.5-milimeter port (cable not supplied) and a fairly uncommon 8-pin Mini-USB. Thanks to that, it officially supports the PC, Mac, PlayStation, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift wirelessly and other VR systems, the Xbox, and smartphones in wired mode.

By going through this introduction, it's quite obvious by now that the SteelSeries Arctis 7 improves every aspect of the Arctis 5 that was on my "cons" list in that review. That makes it a potential candidate for the best wireless headset I ever had the pleasure of using. Read on to find out if that turned out to be the case.

Specifications

• 40-mm dynamic drivers (neodymium magnet)
• 32 Ω impedance
• 20-20,000 Hz frequency response (specified by the manufacturer)
• DTS Headphone:X 7.1 Surround Sound
• Rechargeable li-ion battery (up to 15 hours of battery life)
• Closed-back, over-ear design
• Retractable bidirectional microphone
• Wireless, USB and 3.5-mm connectivity
• 12-meter wireless range
• Built-in ChatMix Dial
• Detachable 1.2 m rubberized cable (4-pole TRRS)
• 1.5 m rubberized USB charging cable
• Weight: 370 g

The Package

The same beautiful box design we saw on the Arctis 5 is also present here, albeit with a slightly different color scheme. It's a great-looking box, and a very sturdy one at that. This is exactly how you want the package of your expensive gaming headset to look.


The front of the box shows us the design of the headset and lists all of its key features. Here, you'll find out that it's wireless (it uses the standard 2.4 GHz frequency band) and that it supposedly offers the "Best Mic in Gaming". The "DTS Headphone:X" sticker is also there, but presented in a surprisingly discrete way, almost like SteelSeries wanted us to primarily view the Arctis 7 as a high-quality stereo headset rather than one that would impress us with its virtual 7.1 surround sound.


On the rear you'll find an in-depth breakdown of all of the features of the Arctis 7. If you're already familiar with SteelSeries' ChatMix Dial feature, you'll be interested to know that this time around, it wasn't implemented as an external unit, but built into the right ear cup. I loved it on the Arctis 5 where it was an external dial, and I love it even more here!


Here are the contents of the box. You get the headset itself, an elegant and extremely versatile wireless receiver, and a pair of cables. One of them is used for charging the headset's battery via an available USB 2.0 or 3.0 port and the other lets you use the headset in wired mode. Like I already mentioned, you won't get a simple audio cable with 3.5-mm male jacks on both ends. However, if you own one or plan to buy it, you'll be able to use it because SteelSeries added the necessary plug to the headset itself. It's worth noting that the Arctis 7 is perfectly capable of working in passive mode with its battery being completely drained, which is great to know if you plan to use it on the go. Its beautiful aesthetics, lightness, and overall comfort certainly make that a completely viable option.