SteelSeries Siberia V2 Heat Edition Headset Review

Introduction

The SteelSeries Siberia headset is pretty much a household name in the PC gaming world. It has been around for many years, had many different versions and many special editions. Now the latest special edition is here and it’s called ‘Heat Edition’.

Headphones

Frequency response: 18 – 28000 Hz
Impedance: 40 Ohm
Cable length: 1.2m / 3 ft.
USB Cable extension: 2m / 6.5 ft.

Microphone

Frequency response: 50 – 16000 Hz
Pick up pattern: Uni-directional
Sensitivity: -38 dB
Active noise reduction: Up to 20dB

Packaging and Extras

If you’re familiar with the Siberia V2 headsets then the packaging of this one will come as no surprise. SteelSeries have found a winning formula for packaging their headsets and haven’t really made any changes for the Heat Edition. The front panel of the box opens like a door revealing the dormant headset inside. This kind of packaging has seen a huge influx in recent hardware sales, there’s something about a door on the front of the box that developers and consumers alike seem to love. Needless to say the box does the headset justice, giving it an almost epic feel like seeing the Heat Edition frozen in carbonite before you finally release it.

The Sibera V2 Heat Edition

After thawing the carbonite…I mean un-boxing the headset, you can immediately feel that this is a SteelSeries headset. The headset feels like it was built to last, feeling both very light but also very sturdy. Opportunities to use cheap, thin plastic haven’t been taken and instead thick, high quality plastic has been chosen to keep the build quality to a high standard. Using real leather ear cups make them feel great to the touch, before even putting the headset on.

When you do finally put the headset on you instantly feel how comfortable it is. The ear surroundings are made of real leather and sit perfectly around you ears without causing any irritation or discomfort like the velour material other headsets use. The head band is different from other headsets out there. Most headsets have a manual adjustment to them so you have to use trial and error until the headset sits comfortably. However the Siberia V2 has an elasticated inner band which adjusts to your head size when you put it on, with the supporting plastic bars giving more than enough room for heads of all shapes and sizes. This means the headset will sit comfortably on anybody and is a very well implemented design by SteelSeries.

In a surprising down side, the Siberia V2 has a disappointingly short USB cable, however this is rectified by a USB extension cord provided with the headset. This also helps with the fact that the headset’s primary cable has a large USB adaptor at the end. This would usually be a turn-off for gamers as it can block other USB ports, but the cable is so short that anyone who buys the headset will almost certainly use the extension cord and therefore not block off their USB ports. The short cable is also not a problem if you have a keyboard with USB ports. While I was using this headset I usually plugged it into the USB port on my keyboard meaning that I had just enough slack to not be held in place by the headset but also didn’t need to use the extension cable. The short primary cable is not a massive issue as the solution has been provided with the headset, but it makes you wonder why they didn’t make the primary cable longer to begin with.

The sound quality is very good, the headset is surprisingly capable of producing very powerful bass frequencies as well as highs. There was certainly a noticeable change in how much I could hear in game when putting the Siberia on. The headset also lends itself to listening to music as well, as it is able to cover such a wide range in frequencies listening to music is much more enjoyable. The noise suppression is better than you may be prepared for (my house mates have struggled to get my attention while I’m wearing it). The small volume controller on the primary cable is useful for on-the-fly volume changes but the volume wheel seems to be 80% quiet, then a tiny bit more movement and you’re blasting your eardrums inside out. This normally isn’t a problem as most headset owners with an independent volume switch will have the hardware volume on full and compensate in Windows for the rest of the volume.

The extendible microphone is another staple feature of the Siberia V2. The microphone can completely collapse inside the left ear cup meaning it is very unlikely to be damaged or bent when not in use. The microphone is also very easy to extend from the ear cup and is completely flexible so you can position it perfectly. The quality of the microphone is also very high, when speaking to

my friends online they could tell that I had a newer headset before I’d even told them. This shows just how good the microphone is. The sound quality of the mic is crisp and clear, problems with older microphones have usually been muffled or distant sounding voices but this V2 has none of those problems, delivering high quality input audio to match the output audio.

Now the most important part of the headset, how it looks (obviously). The Heat Edition gets its name from the orange lighting within the ear cups. It looks fantastic. Black and orange is a really great colour combination and the headset just looks really cool, even when you leave it laying on your desk you can lean back, look at it and think “damn I have a cool headset”. I really like the Heat Edition design and I also hope that the Sensei mouse will get a Heat Edition to go with the headset as I’m sure it would look great too.

Software

The main software support the Sibera V2 comes with is the SteelSeries Engine. This piece of software gives you the options to change the EQ pre-sets between 6 pre-installed pre-sets and any custom ones created by the user. Headset glow intensity and pulsation is also controllable here. I never found myself using the software for the headset, as the headset is fine without the software and I’ve never needed to change the pre-sets of the headset So the software is a nice addition to the headset, but not overly needed.

Conclusion

Overall the Siberia V2 Heat Edition is a great headset. It is comfortable, well-built and designed, easy to use and looks gorgeous. I would highly recommend this to any of discerning PC gamer. The sound quality is perfect whether you’re listening to music, playing FPS games or playing any other game genre, the V2 will never fail to impress.