Introduction

Last year, SteelSeries came out with their Arctis gaming headset lineup. It consisted of three models simply dubbed the Arctis 3, 5, and 7. All of them use the very same so-called S3 speaker drivers and sound identical. Thanks to that, buyers are able to decide which one to get based on other features, as well as the price they're willing to pay. The $70 Arctis 3 is an analogue headset, the $75 Arctis 5 comes with a USB sound card and RGB lighting system, and the $130 Arctis 7 is wireless and sports a more luxurious design with a metal headband instead of a plastic one. The latter was in fact named "the best gaming headset of 2017" in our "Best of 2017" article.

Even though SteelSeries is well aware that they had produced a terrific line of gaming headsets, they didn't simply sit back with their hands crossed. On the contrary: as of today, the Arctis gaming headset family is officially growing by three new members. They're called the Arctis Pro, Arctis Pro + GameDAC and Arctis Pro Wireless. SteelSeries was kind enough to provide us with two of them about a week ahead of their official launch, and I used that time to extensively test the $250/€280 Arctis Pro + GameDAC. Worry not if wireless gaming headsets are what interests you the most—I will also fully test and review the $330/€350 Arctis Pro Wireless at a later date.



By looking at its name and the $250/€280 price tag, it's quite obvious that the Arctis Pro + GameDAC is meant for very demanding gamers, those who won't hesitate to pay a hefty sum of money if that gets them terrific sound and microphone performance, luxurious build quality, and exceptional wearing comfort. The design of both new Arctis Pro headsets is a direct copy of what we saw on the wireless Arctis 7. The "GameDAC" part of the name of this exact model is the SteeSeries way of telling us that the headset comes with a dedicated sound card it plugs into. The sound card is equipped with a very respectable ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC and works as a one-stop solution that, with a help of a built-in OLED display and two buttons used for navigation, lets us configure every possible aspect of the headset, its microphone, and the sound card itself. It works without any drivers and can be used for both the PC and PlayStation 4. The entire system is Hi-Res Audio certified, which means that the sound card can handle 24-bit/96 kHz audio files with the headset being capable of reproducing frequencies of up to 40 kHz.

Specifications

• 40-mm dynamic drivers (neodymium magnet)
• 32 Ω impedance
• 20-40,000 Hz frequency response (specified by the manufacturer)
• DTS Headphone:X 2.0
• Closed-back, over-ear design
• Retractable bidirectional noise canceling microphone
• RGB lighting system
• Built-in volume dial and microphone mute button
• GameDAC (external sound card) with ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC and amplifier (109 dB SnR)
• OLED display for driverless configuration (EQ, ChatMix, equalizer, microphone monitoring, RGB effects)
• Headset input/output, line-out, optical out, AUX in
• Rubberized, detachable 1.5 m cable (headset to GameDAC)
• 1.55 m rubberized USB cable (GameDAC to PC/PS4)
• Mini-USB to 3.5-mm TRRS adapter (headset to mobile device)
• 1.85 m optical cable
• Microphone windscreen
• Weight: 349 g

The Package

Staying true to their awesome product packaging design, the Arctis Pro + GameDAC comes in a good-looking box that's as sturdy as it is informative. The pictures on its front and back show us what the headset and sound card look like, and what their key features are.


To find out more about the exact specifications of the headset and the sound card, you can look at the left side of the box. The right side contains a bit of inspirational text that goes over SteelSeries' philosophy of making a high-end gaming headset.


Upon inspecting the right side of the box more closely, I noticed a funny Easter egg that reads, "LOL an easter egg. Nosey, aren't you?". SteelSeries is well aware of the fact that gamers eat up details like that with a spoon.


Here are the contents of the box. You get the Arctis Pro headset itself, GameDAC sound card, a set of cables you'll need to connect the sound card to your PC and the headset to the sound card, an optical cable, an adapter you'll need to plug the headset into any device with a 3.5-mm audio output (it's 4-pole TRRS, so you can still use the microphone when you connect it to a smartphone), a microphone windscreen, user manual, and foldable piece of paper that asks you whether you love or hate the product and instructs you on what to do in both of those scenarios. Two additional things I'd like to see included are a Y-splitter for connectivity to a sound card that uses separate 3.5-mm audio in and out (SteelSeries sells it as an $8 accessory) and a simple audio cable with 3.5-mm male jacks on both ends.