Okay, I had to download some drivers using Steelseries' Engine software before I could actually start using them, but that's much less painful than fiddling about with the Siberia 800's box menu and setting up each individual source one by one.Įngine also lets you enable the Arctis 7's DTS X 7.1 surround sound feature, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You just plug it in, and you're more or less off.

The Arctis 7, on the other hand, is much simpler. Not that that really matters, as the Siberia 800 was, in all honesty, a bit of a faff to set up. No special chat cables and certainly no optical S/PDIF. You also get a 3.5mm analogue cable for wired use, plus a micro USB cable for charging, but that's pretty much it. The long cable provides a bit of flexibility, giving you the freedom to place it on your desk to improve its range rather than have it collecting dust behind your PC, but it's still fundamentally a USB dongle. What the Arctis 7 lacks, of course, is the Siberia's fancy-pants receiver box, opting instead for a simple USB transmitter. I certainly couldn't tell much of a difference between them, as everything from soundtracks to in-game audio sounded just as clear and balanced as the other. Indeed, having spent many hours listening to both this and the Siberia 800 in quick succession, its audio quality is nigh on identical. Combine that with two supremely soft ear cups, great wireless audio, a swathe of controls and the fact it costs just £135 (or £100 over at Amazon at time of writing) – a relative bargain compared to the Steelseries' equally good but £200+ Siberia 800 – and the Arctis 7 makes a great first impression. You can adjust the tautness of the fabric with its tough velcro fastening on the side should it prove too small or large out of the box, and you can even buy additional bands to spice up its design should you feel like a change. Instead of cushioning that damnable headband with memory foam and other such gubbins you normally find in online mattress ads, Steelseries' so-called 'ski-goggle' design puts all the weight on a stretchy piece of material that wraps tightly, but snugly round your skull, while the main aluminium frame sits suspended above your head. Thanks to a simple strip of fabric, Steelseries' Arctis 7 is hands down the most comfortable gaming headset I've ever used.

Steelseries arctis 7+