HARDWARE REVIEW

SteelSeries Arctis 5 Headset Review

by Luke Walsh, May 27th, 2017

SteelSeries have a long line of headsets, most of which we have reviewed over the past few years but recently headsets for gamers are starting to change. Disappearing are the headsets which are full of lights, bells and whistles to grab the attention of “gamerz”. The Artics 5 is a wired headset for PC that costs £109.99 but can also be connected via a headphone jack to use on mobile devices, Xbox One or PlayStation 4.

SteelSeries wanted to create a new range of headsets with a completely distinctive look from their previous lines and they have pulled it off pretty well. The Artics 5 is neither overly flashy nor heavy coming in black or white with a smooth ear-cup finish and an upgraded take on their “suspension headband”, which personally I am an advocate of.

The Artics 5 has taken on the competition such as the LucidSound LS40’s which try to be a headset that is able to sit on your PC desk at home and while you are on your way to work. Not many headsets at the moment are trying to be traditional in their aesthetics like their more music orientated counterparts (think Sennheiser). Everything that makes the headset a gaming peripheral is hidden away until you need it, the microphone sits within the left earcup with the volume controls and mute button on the back.

The default colour comes in black or white but if you want a little more colour there are other straps for an extra £11.99 This really only changes the fabric band but the choice is yours if you want something a little different.

Connecting up the Artics though can be a bit of a fumble which is one thing I’ve noticed with some of their more recent headsets. SteelSeries do a lot of things right but wires and cable management they still seem to lack. The headset connects up via USB or 3.5mm jack but regardless of your connection, it must be connected to their proprietary jack into an adapter.The USB connects to an amp to control chat volume but is way too light to sit on the desk properly and the 3.mm adapter could get lost easily as it is small.

The Artics 5 could have easily got away with no chat amp and a little bit of a shorter cable to work well with most set ups.

Comfort

One thing that is common that you’ll find in all of our SteelSeries reviews is that they know how to do comfort better than most other manufacturers in the scene. The suspension headband they use is just pure genius and the best way to make sure if fits heads of all shapes and sizes. Unlike their other headsets which feature this great design decision, the Artics range has included velcro straps that allow you to adjust the headband.

The ear cups are breathable which allow for long gaming sessions without making your head feel too warm, but also soften the binding to your head so you never feel ‘squeezed’. This is particularly useful if you wear glasses, gaming glasses or just have a lot of hair (like me).

Gaming Performance

In the Arctics 5 there are a lot of potential audio settings to play about with, finding the right setting for each game took a little bit of time as the presets were never 100% accurate but once you get it right, the sound is phenomenal.

I decided to try out the recently released Prey, which has a beautiful soundtrack, a lot of environmental noise and tense sound effects. Switching on the 7.1 DTS surround sound and the Immersion option, the music was fantastic but voice logs were not as great, it was due to the low bass frequencies being more overpowering. Playing about with the equaliser settings I managed to get it at a happy medium which kept the background noises rich and plentiful, while at the same time being able to hear dialogue without it sounding too deep. Turning off the surround sound was another quicker way to get the voices to sound better but as you lost some of the distinct power from the other audio, tweaking the settings a little more was a better fit.

As someone who plays a fair bit of Overwatch, my usual competitive test is either that or Battlefield. Both require the directional sound to be top notch in headsets, so you can distinguish between footsteps which are far away and the ones that are right on top of you. The SteelSeries Arctis 5 headset is a good companion for eSports players as it picks up the noises from weapons and footsteps much clearer than the other noises in the game. While it does still pick up dialogue from players and music, this is less distinct for good reason that makes sure you only hearing what you need to.

By default a lot of games will work fine out of the box with the headset set with initial settings, not every game will require you to delve into the presets or equaliser settings. These defaults are more useful when connecting up the headset via the 3.5mm jack for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as you can not tweak like you can on PC. The sound if serviceable on consoles through the jack but the full use comes from using the amp adapter.

Music Performance

The Arcits 5 will do a decent job for your music needs over the 3.5mm jack but if you have a decent pair of music headphones you probably won’t find yourself replacing them. The sound is clear and vocals are not lost in the sea of background music or instruments but without the equaliser, all music can sound the same. The bass was fine as there was not amp to increase the power, but was not anything to shout about.

On the flip side, using the Artics 5 for listening to music on your PC it works amazingly. The SteelSeries 3 Engine offers different presets for both music and movies, both work very well to deliver a good audio experience for your ear drums. Bass tunes on PC are powerful, loud and pack a real punch without overtaking the higher tones if they are mixed in. If you prefer the former though, tweaking the audio settings can give you any range of audio you desire.

While watching a movie on my PC with the Artics 5 headset, music was superb but did not have the issues of drowning our the actors when they are speaking. The same in action movies where there is a lot of explosions and the sound volume seems to jump up. The presets worked well to create a very balanced listen across a range of different movies.

Similar to the games, the default setting also works quite well for movies and music so you don’t need to be an expert audio technician to have a nice audio adventure.

Software and Features

Much likes their other distant brothers and sisters, the Artics family all work under the SteelSeries 3 Engine which as far as peripherals software goes it has come a long way to offer a decent user experience.

You can use the software as mention above to tweak a lot of the audio settings for the headset from selecting the equalisation options to adding your own tweaks or customising the microphone and noise reduction from external sounds. There are quite a lot off of options and if you are like me and tend only to tweak a few things, you might not use everything but it is always better to have the option and not use it.

Of course, it would not be a gaming headset without some lighting controls. The Artics has toned a lot of its lighting down compared to other SteelSeries products. Only a slight ring of light on the ear cups is exposed to give it a more subtle and clean light effect. Lighting on gaming peripherals is all down to personal taste but the Artic range have managed to pull off lighting which does not look tacky and if you don’t want to use it, then it can be turned off.

The Engine also allows for you to create custom profiles and connect them to your app or games, so when it is loaded you will automatically have your saved settings. This makes switching from different games easier as you can set up custom profiles for each one to match their sound requirements.

Microphones on headsets are very hit and miss, some can be great while others can be a mess of fuzziness and unclear voice chat. SteelSeries have mentioned that the Artics is promised to deliver exceptional quality and testing it out via Discord and recording the audio I can say it is very clear. You’ll want to position the mic not too close to your mouth however, the pickup range is very close and can “pop” your voice like you would find on standalone professional microphones which you a pop filter.

Final Thoughts

SteelSeries have created an excellent headset with the Artics 5 being able to deliver very precise sound with a range of different options in the SteelSeries Engine to customise it to your needs. The connections and cables are something which could be worked on and seem to follow each new product they bring to market. The proprietary connection seems a little odd, more so when you need to use it for 3.5mm jack connections.

More pros than anything else though the Artics 5 which is the mid-range headset in the family offers great quality, a decent look and more options than you should need. If you want just the 3.5mm jack version to Artic 3 is probably your best option and if you are looking for a wireless headset, the Artics 7 is the one to have a look at.