HARDWARE REVIEW

SteelSeries Arctis 3 Gaming Headset Review

by Luke Walsh, February 9th, 2018

The Arctis 3, the baby of the Arctis family is a gaming headset with virtual 7.1 surround sound, designed for the gamer with more minimalist tastes. It’s the cheapest in the range if you are on a budget, but there’s also the Artics 5 to consider if you have a little extra cash to splash.

Much like the Arctis 5, Arctis 7 and other competitors are starting to move away from the “traditional gaming” look that usually includes RGB lighting all over and an eccentric design. The Arctis 3 has a more modern matte plastic which a little highlighting in gloss coming in a few colours; black, white, red, blue and grey. We looked at their special edition grey version.

The suspension-band design makes a comeback, taking the weight from the headset off your head and distributing it. This type of design I personally think still makes it one of the most comfortable headset setups on the market. It stops the need to find the right ‘notch’ like other more static designs. Along with the headset earcups being nicely padded with their AirWeave fabric, it makes for easy long gaming sessions as they don’t make your ears overheat. It is probably one of the most comfortable headsets I’ve worn and reminds me of the Siberia V2 which were one of my favourites.

SteelSeries stick with the same microphone design, allowing it to sit neatly within the left ear cup retracting when not in use. The arm of the microphone also allows for you to adjust the position, so you can get it in the sweet spot. You’ll also find a dial for volume control and a switch that turns the microphone on and off.

You can get virtual 7.1 surround sound and the noise-cancelling feature but not without first signing up through the SteelSeries Engine which will require your username, password and product serial. Not surprising as every other company is after your email address but it is a shame that SteelSeries is also asking for a serial number as well before allowing access to features through a “subscribe-wall” effectively. I understand the option for email etc to have cloud-based profiles etc but does not make much sense for a jack connection. It was unexpected though that you could even tweak it virtual surround sound through the 3.5mm jack as the Arctis 3 does not have a USB option.

Arctis have pretty sleek looking headsets, and if you do want to add a little bit more flare, you also have the option to buy different suspension bands. A lot of gaming headsets are becoming something you can actually wear outside the house and not feel weird for doing so, the Arctis 3 is one of those as it looks less “gamer-ey”.

Of course, a gaming headset is not worth its praise unless it can do the job it was practically built for. The Arctis 3 is clearly one of the better sounding headsets in the price band across competitors. Trying it out in Battlefield 1, Overwatch, Prey, Fallout 4 and BioShock Infinite and the recently released mobile title, Lineage 2: Revolution. Overall performance was good being able to work with anything type of game and platform.

Biggest differences in the sound quality were the added control a PC had over consoles. Console audio performance was balanced, with the bass being powerful enough. Voices were clear and background music did not overpower everything else which made for a decent default experience. Using a PC, the SteelSeries Engine offers more control on how the sound is customised through equalisation options and surround sound.

Default settings are perfectly fine and come out fairly balanced like the console testing for an out of box experience. Setting up the different options for each game can take a bit of time but if you want to get the best performance it’s worth the time. Playing games like Battlefield 1 however, being able to adjust how heavier sounds such as explosions worked with lighter sounds such as footsteps was important. The same can be said for Overwatch, where voices can be quite important to listen out for as they shout for their Ultimates. In Fallout 4 and Prey, however, it was more important for a more cinematic soundscape having heavy influences on the sound design for music and foley for a more immersive experience.

Music quality follows the same line as the in-game experience, everything was clear but you can get more improved sound through tweaking the sound settings. I listened to a selection of heavy metal, rock and pop and it all handled well through the 40mm drivers. However, plugged into a mobile phone like the consoles you get a much more automated approach which seemed to favour treble over the more bassy tones.

Microphone performance was very good, delivering really clear and crisp voice audio for multiplayer gaming or VOIP. If you were a professional streamer, however, you’ll probably already have a professional microphone with a pop filter and more power.

Overall, the Arctis 3 is a good headset as it is comfortable with a good audio quality but is more limited than the Arctis 5. As the 5 trades up for a USB connection, takes away the convoluted set up process to be able to tweak the sound and only costs £15 more. It’s strange why you would choose the 3 unless you really want the 3.5mm jack.

If you really can’t afford the £15 extra, you won’t be disappointed with the Arctis 3 but there are headsets out there both through SteelSeries and competitors which offer more in a similar price range.