10mos, then 2yr review/update – A Fantastic Value to Performance Ratio!
2 YEAR UPDATE! I just want to add something, as there are a lot of people complaining that the hinges are weak and that they break easily. There is a simple fix for that – don’t pull on the earcups when you put em on. Grab the metal band above the earcups, stretch it and put it on that way. I’ve had my Arctis Pro for 2yrs now and they are in excellent condition and the hinges are perfectly fine even tho I only started opening em this way recently. I bought the Arctis Pro + GameDAC around Black Friday 2018 for $200. I decided to give myself at least 6 months with them before writing a review. I mean you really can’t write a fair review of a headset on the day or 1st week you get them. I can now say that this is the best gaming headset I’ve ever had the pleasure of owning. I also currently have the Sony Platinum headset and previously the Astro A40, TB Stealth 700, HyperX Cloud Revolver, Sennheiser Game One, and a few others. The Arctis Pro is leagues ahead of all of them imo. The sound signature is not like most gaming headsets and is tuned a bit more neutral and not heavy on the bass as many gaming headsets are. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any bass, it’s very crisp and punchy but doesn’t distort or get muddy at higher volumes like lesser headsets would. It’s a much more natural sounding bass, not exaggerated the way a lot of headsets are these days. If you’re on PC though, you can realllly crank the bass up with their software if you want. It’s probably the easiest peripheral software I’ve used tbh.The sound is excellent and very clear/crisp sounding with zero distortion at high volumes. The volume is also more than adequate; I’ve never felt that I needed them to go louder than they are capable. I suggest going into the GameDAC audio settings or SS Engine 3 and turning the gain to “high” if you find the volume lacking and make sure the dial on the headset itself is turned up, as well as on the DAC. I find the sound on these to be pitch perfect for positional audio, I can really pinpoint where the little animals are that I’m hunting in Red Dead 2 or exactly which direction an enemy is coming from in Warzone. I almost feel like I’m cheating sometimes because I’ll be able to aim at where a person will be right before they get there…but I still get killed cuz my reactions are getting too slow to keep up with these kids 😂 The soundstage and imaging are the best I’ve heard in a closed back headset. Overall, when it comes to gaming headsets, I think these are one of the best out there. The sound is just so clear, full, and natural. They’re extremely comfortable and don’t give me a headache after wearing them for hours. You can easily find replacement ear cushions for them. They feel very sturdy, like they’re made with quality materials (update: they’ve held up great for 2yrs now) and there don’t appear to be any particularly weak points to worry about aside from the joint where they swivel but mine feel just as solid 10 months later as they did on day 1. The RGB lighting is really subtle and well done as well. I’m not usually a fan of RGB lighting on a headset cuz it’s often gaudy but that’s not the case with these. There’s even a customizable RGB light on the microphone which tells you when it’s active or muted.The GameDAC is awesome and gives you plenty of options to customize the audio to your liking, incl an EQ with 10 separate sliders so you can really dial it in to the smallest degree. It’s worth noting that the wireless version only has 5 sliders for the EQ (on the transmitter base), but you have all the same features for both in their software. I’d also like to mention that the virtual surround sound, DTSx 2.0, is by far the best VSS I’ve heard on a headset. It widens the soundstage, provides excellent positional audio and it doesn’t sound tinny or hollow the way many others do. It doesn’t overemphasize the bass or the treble, it just makes everything sound more full. The SS Engine 3 software is very user-friendly, far more than programs like Icue. Setting up multiple profiles or “configs” took me just a few minutes, and each one genuinely sounded very different. It’s a great piece of software imo.I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Hi-Res audio that these are capable of, especially now that I’ve finally experienced it 2 years later. In 3 words…IT’S A REVELATION. Seriously, it’s absolutely incredible, like hearing songs for the first time. I recently built a PC and signed up for Amazon music so I listened to some of their “Ultra HD” tracks. I kid you not, I sat there listening to music for literally 5 hours. And I am not the kinda person who listens to music when I’m in my house, I’m usually watching, playing or reading something. Everyone should experience hi-res music at some point. I would also recommend getting an extended warranty on these since SS warranty is only 1 year. The extended warranty is only around $18 and it covers pretty much everything incl normal wear & tear. It’s worth paying the extra $20 to safeguard something of this quality. Overall, I would absolutely recommend this headset and I think it’s well worth the $220 I spent. Great sound, solid punchy bass, really good sub-bass and crisp, clear highs and mids. The GameDAC is an excellent piece of hardware that really helps these headphones shine, the comfort is great and the surround sound is the best implementaion I’ve heard in a headset.

Headset top, qualidade, conforme sem comparações! Vale a pena cada centavo!

Headset realmente é muito bom som excelente limpo e brilhante para games é incrivel ouço muito mais sons do que com meu antigo fone, para músicas também dá para distinguir todos os instrumentos é muito bom, tive que fazer alguns ajustes no aplicativo para aumentar os graves de acordo com meu gosto, como falei sinto falta apenas de graves para ouvir músicas pois usava o HS60 da Corsair e o grave dele é muito presente.O som com o DTS:X ativado fica incrivel e tem um ganho de grave e agudos também para música e filmes não tem comparação é um home theater no ouvido.Em questão de pontos negativos fica o tamanho do cabo que vai do gameDAC no fone, pois é muito pequeno ele fica por cima da mesa e do teclado o que acaba atrapalhando. No site da SteelSeries tem um cabo maior de 2,50m mas não entregam no Brasil e não achei em nenhum outro lugar para vender.o GameDAC é bem legal dá para instalar um aplicativo que mostra a temperatura da CPU e GPU.De resto é um fone bem leve bonito, achei um pouco maior do que imaginava mas de resto vale a pena um produto de primeira classe.

Sound quality is great and headphones look nice with RGB. GameDAC is also excellent. However, build quality is very poor-the earcups startes breaking from the hinges after a year of use. The headphones were well taken care of, never fell down, etc, but it seems to be a fault of poor quality materials/manufacturing processes. The 3rd party seller also ignored requesta to honor the warranty.