Steel Series Arctis 3
Cool, but by no means calm, audio.
While the Arctis 3 lacks the USB connectivity and RGB lighting of the Arctis 5 and the wireless convenience of the Arctis 7, it’s still toting the lion’s share of SteelSeries’ genius.
So, let’s start with that funky ski-goggle headband. It makes the Arctis 3 very adjustable and, once you’ve set it up, monumentally comfortable. It does take a little getting used to, since it seems to exert more direct pressure across your dome than a traditional padded band would, though.
The modular cabling is long and stylishly grey. It gives you the option of switching between a four-pole and a pair of three-pole jacks in a tidy way. It is also a colossal pain in the rear. Several times during our test, we had the worry of audio dropping out, where the cable had worked its way loose because we’d moved our head slightly.
The slide-out bendy mic is super neat, and among the best we’ve tested in this price range. It’s clear, sensitive and stands up very well to being boosted by software. However, it doesn’t seem to want to stay exactly where you’ve put it, and it’s an absolute magnet for breathing noises. What’s more, the mic mute function is reached through a tiny, lightly recessed button on the right ear cup; finding it while wearing the headset is hard.
Despite a couple of questionable design choices, the Arctis 3 is a wellconstructed, sexy-looking set of closed-back cans, with 90-degree earpiece rotation and pillow-soft velour pads. It’s light, and we found it a lot less tight on the head than many other headsets.
But the audio quality is fantastic. There’s a brilliant, well-balanced sound stage, one that doesn’t fight you with overwhelming bass, or pierce your ears with spiky treble. The middle doesn’t get lost, and the details remain pin-sharp. And while the 7.1 surround didn’t blow us away like we thought it might, this is a definite contender in the audio stakes — niggles and all.