SteelSeries is a well known manufacturer in PC accessory space, and has been in the gaming headset market for quite some time. Today they are launching two new products in their Arctic lineup, and both offer some exciting new features. The first is Arctis Pro + GameDAC, which is the first Hi-Res Certified gaming headset on the market. The second is the Arctis Pro Wireless headset, which requires many features of the cable model, and adds wireless to the mix. We saw a lot of accessory announcements, but when SteelSeries told us about these two new headset models, there were many exciting technologies that they brought to the table, which has always been something fun.
Arctis Pro + GameDAC is really the star of the show. SteelSeries has noticed that most people use onboard audio, and although some motherboards do delivery with high-quality audio components, the majority do not. SteelSeries has an answer to that problem with GameDAC, the USB DAC (Digital Audio Converter) and an amplifier that has been specifically tuned for Arctis Pro headsets. We will dig a little GameDAC, but there are many who like it here.
Both the cable and wireless models of Arctis Pro both have the same drivers, which SteelSeries says are the best quality drivers they used in game headsets. They display neodymium magnets, and can produce frequencies from about 10 Hz to 40,000 Hz, which you will notice both below and above the threshold for human hearing. This gives them the flexibility to set the response.
SteelSeries officially promotes the Arctis Pro model as a headset that works both on PC and PlayStation 4. The Xbox will only work with audio. Both models come with a 3.5mm headset adapter as well, for connecting to almost anything, and assuming you have a newer Xbox One controller model, this will also provide full headset capability.
SteelSeries also offers a ClearCast microphone on both Arctis Pro headsets we're currently seeing. ClearCast is a bidirectional microphone setup that offers active noise cancellation. With a bidirectional microphone, the sounds on both sides of the microphone can be canceled, because of the likelihood of background noise, which makes your voice stronger and clearer, without noise from outside the window has much impact on sound recording. . In practice, this preparation is very effective. Sounded from the silenced keyboard, and the sound is further erased completely.
SteelSeries replaces their older Siberian 800 and 840 models with this new one, and will offer three combinations. You can get Arctis Pro headset only, Arctis Pro + Game DAC combo, and Arctis Pro Wireless. This is not a cheap headset, but the most expensive model. But to see if the price is viable, we first have to check how they fared in a few weeks of testing.
