SteelSeries Arctis 7X review | Laptop Mag

Our Verdict

The SteelSeries Arctis 7X fits great and has amazing battery life, but it requires some audio tuning to sound up to par.

For

Wide array of EQ settings
Comfy
Sounds good after tuning
Long bombardment life
Works with most systems

Confronting

Sensitive microphone
Requires audio tuning to sound adept

Laptop Mag Verdict

The SteelSeries Arctis 7X fits smashing and has astonishing battery life, but it requires some sound tuning to sound up to par.

Pros

+
Wide array of EQ settings
+
Comfortable
+
Sounds practiced after tuning
+
Long bombardment life
+
Works with nigh systems

Cons

-
Sensitive microphone
-
Requires audio tuning to sound good

If y'all're looking to purchase the new Xbox Serial Ten, yous should as well upgrade your headset with the SteelSeries Arctis 7X. For just $149, the Arctis 7X offers a comfortable fit, a long battery life, and the ability to configure the EQ settings, making your headset sound even meliorate with the customizations yous prefer. Bonus: It can likewise be paired with about systems (apart from the PS5).

Yet, the audio doesn't sound skilful right out of the box then y'all'll need to do some tuning. Plus, the microphone is pretty sensitive.

But if you can look by all of that, the SteelSeries Arctis 7X is one of the best gaming headsets around.

SteelSeries Arctis 7X design

Can you tell by the name of the headset what it might be made out of? If you guessed steel, you'd be right. The Arctis 7X headset has a steel band wrapped in a black and green elastic, making it match the Xbox's artful. The band, which features the SteelSeries logo in black safety, features velcro so you tin adjust the ring to make information technology tighter or looser. On the underside of the headset is a dark gray rubber absorber attached to the metal.

The ear cups are matte black and characteristic a blackness glossy SteelSeries logo in the lesser-center. It'southward a nice little pop on the matte surface. To meridian it off, each loving cup'due south cushion is detailed with blackness hexagonal stitching.

The SteelSeries Arctis 7X features a decent corporeality of ports and controls. On the left ear cup, in that location's a mute button, a book dial, a micro-USB charging port, a 3.5mm audio jack and a retractable, flexible microphone. The correct side has the power button and a sidetone rocker that controls the volume of the game vs. game chat.

SteelSeries Arctis 7X comfort

As someone who may take one besides many earrings, I can confidently tell you that the padded ear cups are extremely comfy. A normal prepare of headphones would put as well much pressure on my ears and castor confronting my earrings, making the experience uncomfortable and frustrating. The SteelSeries Arctis 7X does the exact opposite, sitting snugly over my ears with minimal pressure.

The elastic band makes for a comfy feel, as information technology puts picayune pressure level on the top of my head instead of tightly squeezing downward. The elastic band is a loop, and so the metallic to a higher place comes nowhere near your head; rather, the rubberband on the top portion of the headband to class a tight and secure fit. The elastic band also has velcro so you lot can tighten or loosen the band to fit your caput.

Permit'southward not forget, the SteelSeries Arctis 7X acts wirelessly for specific consoles. You don't have to worry about an annoying wire when you lot want to play on Nintendo Switch, PC, Android devices or with a Google Stadia controller. But, if your headset starts to die, yous can plug it in while playing.

SteelSeries Arctis 7X gaming operation

My initial circular of gaming with the SteelSeries Arctis 7X was quite disappointing.

I likewise played Human being Fall Flat and noticed that the music in the background overshadowed much of the gameplay sounds, such as the pats and taps from walking and grabbing things. Fifty-fifty when the narrator spoke, I could barely hear what he was saying because of the lyrics. I had to rely on the subtitles, which took away from the game.

Playing a circular in Noon Legends proved to be quite enjoyable though, with the audio coming through clear. Afterwards playing a few rounds, I learned that there didn't seem to be a good left-to-right ratio. When I listened to people walk near me or shoot nearby, the headset picked up 1 side better than the other. Also, the gunshots and explosions muddled all of the other sounds in the game while I was shooting or being shot at.

Nevertheless, my second round of gaming was different after I tuned the headphones in the SteelSeries Engine 3 app (more on that later). Long story short, the flat setting created the audio above, merely switching to a preset similar Immersion not merely fixed the audio deviation between the left and right side, but the audio sounded deeper and more than clear.

SteelSeries Arctis 7X music performance

I had a similar experience when listening to music; my first go-around was mediocre, but some tuning made the audio sound dandy.

I love a deep bass response in my headsets — for that thumping feeling you lot go in your chest. The SteelSeries Arctis 7X's low-terminate is decent, yet unfulfilling. Despite its muffled bass, the vocals and instrumentals are beautifully translated. Some other pro is that I couldn't hear anything as well what I'm listening to (which can be a bad thing when you're singing and don't realize how loud you're being).

While listening to "Snowman" by Sia, I couldn't assist just shiver at the intro with the pianoforte playing vividly, and when the cello striking me with a deep rhythm, the headset made me experience like I was in a personal concert. Withal, unlike some more premium headsets, the Arctis 7X couldn't capture the deepest pitches from the cello (you know, the ones that make your headset practically vibrate). Despite that, Sia's beautiful phonation was then clear and intense, and the instrumentals and vocals seem to be quite counterbalanced, making information technology a very enjoyable heed.

Contrasting with the previous song, "Sign of the Time" by Harry Styles had some overlapping between the instrumentals and the vocals. The beginning started melodic, as the piano and soft vocals breathed through the headphones. And so in the centre, the crush dropped and things started picking up. Still, the banging of the drums overpowered everything else in the song, making it hard to enjoy certain portions.

There appears to be a consequent departure between when bass instruments play in a song and when the drums pick up. In "Moby Dick" by Jakey, the vocal is completely reliant on the deep bass sound that erupts periodically. Similar to Sia'due south song, the bass plays wonderfully side-by-side with the vocals. However, I've noticed a muffled effect with the bass that takes all of the enjoyment out of the music.

SteelSeries Arctis 7X microphone

The Arctis 7X's retractable ClearCast bidirectional microphone made my voice sound articulate and crisp, just I can't say much nearly the noise-cancelling attribute, as everything in the background was picked up through the microphone.

The microphone picked up my voice well, from loftier and loud pitches to depression and soft tones, and fabricated information technology so each song cue was audible and well-balanced.

Still, the lack of noise-cancelling is disappointing, especially for the toll. While typing on my laptop, which already has a pretty silent keyboard, I could still hear the little borer of the keys. I could also hear my fiance from beyond the firm laughing in his office.

SteelSeries Arctis 7X features

Don't allow the colour scheme of the Arctis 7X fool you, though information technology's blackness and dark-green to lucifer with the Xbox, it can pair with well-nigh every device. Past using the 2.4Ghz USB Type-C wireless receiver, you can utilise the headset wirelessly with the Xbox Serial X, Nintendo Switch, PC, Android devices and a Google Stadia controller.

I can't argue with the battery life either, as SteelSeries advertises 24 hours of endurance, and the headset seemed to survive during my mean solar day-to-mean solar day activities. The but downside to it is that you tin can't meet the battery life on the headset to tell if it's dying.

By using the SteelSeries Engine three software, you can customize the equalization profiles, inactivity timeouts, and fifty-fifty configure the mic options for the Arctis 7X. After testing both the gaming and music portion with the default settings, I decided to take some fun to see if it improved at all, and allow me tell you, it did wonders. When changing the Equalizer settings to music, it became much more enjoyable, fixing virtually every problem I encountered. I tested the immersion setting for Noon Legends and again, it seemed to accept stock-still a lot of the bug I had.

The headset likewise has an onboard mute button, and you lot can tell information technology's muted with an LED lite built into the tip of the microphone. Improve nevertheless, the mic is retractable and flexible, allowing the user to move the mic to whatsoever position they prefer.

The SteelSeries besides comes with a whole array of wires, including a female USB Type-C to male USB Type-A adapter, a USB Type-A to micro-USB cablevision for charging and the Share Port cable, which is a proprietary audio jack that feeds into a male three.5mm sound port.

Bottom line

For $149, the SteelSeries Arctis 7X looks quite charming thanks to its great EQ software, a comfortable blueprint and its adjustability with many devices. Even so, it'south not perfect out of the box, and you can't connect it to the PS5 wirelessly.

If you're looking for a PS5 wireless solution, expect no further than the SteelSeries Arctis 7P, which offers some of the same great features except tailored to the PS5.

But overall, if you lot desire a comfortable headset that also has peachy battery life, and you don't heed modifying the sound to fit your needs, then the SteelSeries Arctis 7X may be the headset for y'all.

SteelSeries Arctis 7X Specs

Battery Life	~24 Hours
Connection	Wireless/3.5mm
Noise Cancelling	Aye
Drivers	40mm
Compatibility	Xbox Series X\|Due south / Xbox One / Windows PC / Switch / PlayStation four / PlayStation 5 / Google Stadia

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Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/steelseries-arctis-7x

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