There is a pretty good deal atm on this headset and been thinking about getting my first wireless headset for a while. Am curious about how it runs on Linux, as I’ve seen some controversy on this headset on website that shall not be named, but that was 3 years ago now. I dont expect to be running their propriety software for equalizing sound - but would like to know if the headset performs as it should out of the box and if the additional sound system works well. If anyone has any experience with this i’d be more than happy to hear about it. Other headset recommendations welcome to (wireless though) :)
I had a set of steelseries arctis 9x (I think) and the Bluetooth module was complete garbage. I spent a lot of money on them because they had great reviews, but they had poor noise isolation and couldn’t stay connected to an audio source to save their lives. I also recall having difficulties pairing them with Fedora, but couldn’t give you specifics anymore.
I got a pair of soundcore i20q’s and put the steel series in the trash where they belonged.
Ive3 used a bunch of steelseries stuff but much like razer they kinda became shittier as they got more popular. I’ve used 3 of their mice and 2 headsets, a friend went through 3 headsets. They all develop weird problems within a year. Meanwhile I just swapped the pads on my old sennheiser 500 something and it sounds excellent. wired but sounds great, essentially no latency vs any wireless method, and works with linux as long as the mobo sound card works.
I know we’re in the Linux Gaming community but I have this exact headset and they’re amazing on Windows and Mac. I have a black and my wife has a white pair. Mine are about 2 years old, still going strong.
Only weird complaint is that the cover for the battery in the headset is difficult to remove without nails. The kind of thing that would be easy with a flathead screwdriver but difficult with your thumb. The battery still lasts forever though.
Only issue I had with the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7, OS wise, was that I had to use their app in Windows to remove the legally-required volume limitting (Tow-boat I was on was constantly LOUD) … but in my book, its a plus it had that ability, and I only had to do it the once. Never touched their app again.
Everything I have bought from steelseries (two headsets, a keyboard and a mouse, all mostly the top of the line models) have broken within some years through normal use.
thanks for the input, have decided to not buy this after the info from the comments.
No.
Do not buy steelseries. Ever.
I bought one of their controllers, once. I really liked it, but it broke. When I RMAd it, they didn’t have replacements in stock. I said fine, I’ll wait.
They said no. Here’s a 60 euro certificate to buy something else you don’t want. Also it expires in 30 days, just to make sure you can’t wait for something you actually want to buy, like the controller, to be in stock.
All complaints ignored.
They effectively stole my controller with zero compensation. Their warranty policies are literally just “fuck you, eat shit”. Everything else I’ve ever used from them has only barely outlasted the warranty.
I recommend Epos headsets. My GSP 370 have now lasted four times longer than the Steelseries Arctis I had before. The battery is finally dying, but you can literally undo just 3 screws and replace it.
When new, the battery lasts 100 hours per charge, and when you finally do get the low battery warning, you don’t need the swappable battery bullshit because “low battery” still means they’ll last two more days. Which means you can just ignore the infrequent low battery sound until you’re done gaming, and then plug them in.
They function flawlessly on linux, and have excellent audio quality for both input and output. Since, you know, they’re by Sennheiser, not a “gaming” peripheral company.
I went googling for the Epos GSP headsets after this comment, only to learn they are discontinued. What a bummer, they seem nice.
To add to this: I currently have the Arctis Pro pictured and while the battery swap system is great, that’s the only thing I see going for it. From an audio quality perspective Sennheiser blows it out of the water. Honestly wish I had gotten another one instead of going Steelseries. Especially for the pricetag they’re charging. Audio quality bass-wise is just not there.
I am regularly the first to identify the presence and location of enemies in multiplayer games with friends, purely based on audio. Using audio to outplay opponents on my 370s has been easier and more intuitive than on anything I’ve used before.
The excuse that “gaming” headsets are “optimized” for footsteps or are improved by the “virtual surround” software they often come with, is bs.
I completely agree. My game go to for this is Tarkov. Audio is so crucial in that game and I could not name the amount of times I could place exactly where someone was approaching from. Can’t say the same since I switched to the Steelseries. This convo is making me want to go buy another Sennheiser lmfao.
I’m not trying to complain, but I have these as well and also agree for the price i paid I feel like it wasn’t worth it from the audio quality side. Don’t get me wrong, they sound good enough, but for the price I was let down. I love the battery swap, and I love being able to use Bluetooth with my phone while also in game chat and game sound all at once.
I have had them for about 3 years now and wish I could a few more years out of them, but my kids got to them a few times and basically destroyed the clip on the left headphone so it just moves around on its own and people keep telling me my mic is in and out and choppy all the time. Not the products fault, but if I do go higher end price again I will probably pass on these and try someone else.
With that said, I also purchased their keyboard and a mouse from them. Keyboard also feels overpriced but I’ve had it about 4 years and is solid and going strong with zero issues. The mouse is by far my favorite purchase from them. It’s the only one I felt was worth the price and is super light but feels great in your hand. I love the mesh shell and never a huge fan of lights, but it is a nice touch here. Bluetooth and 2.4g options make it perfect for any scenario, but I keep it wired if I am home due to the lower than expected battery life, which would be my only complaint. It lasts just under a week with full work hours usage.
thanks for sharing your experience, this is something I’m always afraid of when it comes to these companies.
The GSP 370 looks like something for me, as I am currently rocking the Game One From Sennheiser/EPOS(before they split i believe). These have been wonders for me, but want to move to the wireless space. Battery and comfort are my two main concerns and the GSP 370 seem to be good on this front. I’ll do some more digging - but at first glance they seem more difficult to get hold of due being discontinued in most stores in my country. I’ll have a look around to see what I can find.
The 370 is their best model, IMO, simply due to the bonkers battery life and sleep behavior. The other models require more frequent charging. I hope you can find a pair.
I literally haven’t used the power switch on mine, except to turn them off and on to reset the connection sometimes.
I do not turn them off, they automatically sleep when audio isn’t being played, and they will instantly wake when receiving an audio signal. Like you can’t tell they aren’t just on 24/7, I just put em on like a wired set and don’t think about it, and they will last WEEKS when used this way.
Whenever they notify me that the battery is low, which they do infrequently enough to ignore without getting annoyed for the rest of a gaming session, I plug em in when I’m done playing for the day. After which they’ll be ready for another week (or more) of use without any thought beyond what you’d give a wired set.
Yeah, that aspect of the headset + the comfort seem very good! However, from the digging I’ve done now it seems the microphone quite subpar, not sure what your experiences are with this. In addition, the charging port is not USB-C, which is a slight turn-off as I am trying to keep everything to USB-C these days. Not a massive negative, and fair considering its an older model, but a notable thing for me at least.
I’ve found a pair for $162.76, not a bad price, though from a second hand market but completely unused, box still sealed.
Edit: Watched more videos about the mic now, doesn’t sound as bad as I initially thought…
The mic sounds fine. You can find samples online, ofc, but people have never complained that I’m unclear or quiet. It’s not as good as the wired sets, and I think that’s down to the wireless connection, but it serves the purpose of communication, and doesn’t pick up on too much background noise, either.
The charge port not being USB C is unfortunate, but my G915 keyboard is also still micro usb.
Unfortunately neither peripheral has a newer equivalent that is as good.
Yeah, comes at a cost - I still might get these though, seem exactly what I need, and I really just want something that works out of the box with no additional software needed.
I recommend Epos headsets. My GSP 370
Is it possible to detach the microphone?
Not on this one. It folds up and turns off when in that position. There are other models that apparently allow complete removal.
Ive been using the Arctis 1 Wireless for almost 3 years now and its so fucking good, still going strong and not breaking down in the slightest. Easily the best headset Ive ever owned.
Creative HyperX H5s are better.
I had to do some configuration with pulse audio on fedora to get these at 24 bit, otherwise they’ll work out of the box. I haven’t tried running their app in wine or anything, but it works as an audio device out of the box
They didn’t work out of the box instantly, the sound was pretty “crunchy”.
But, all i had to do was update firmware and set the bandwidth to the fanciest it would go then use third party equalizer to balance it out. (You CAN use the propietary one, but it didn’t seem to really offer me anything third party didn’t. Third party changes the driver too so you don’t have to have a dumb program sitting open in the background like the proprietary requires)
If i was going to spend this money again I’d of bought the Maxwell from Audeze instead. My head is fat and the nova pro barely fits at max space.
Also, get cloth earcups to replace the full rubber grippy ones. Way less sweaty and the sound is more " open" imo. Although audiophiles would be correct that it’s less sealed so therefore less noise canceling and immersive.
Edit: Sidenote. All headsets should have a removable battery as easy as this. Its easily the best feature on this headset.
Are you specifically talking about Linux? Because I’d loooooove to run mine with third party. Hate Steelseries’ bloatware equalizer. Currently Windows.
Regarding the third party software on linux, I’m unsure. When im using my linux boot i just use the equalizer built into the dac itself and mimic what i figured out using third party on windows.
I imagine there’s third party that would interface with it since its just like any other audio software. Something like PulseAudio that sits on top of ALSA. That said id recommend doing your own research as always with your flavor of linux/setup.
Oh I was saying the opposite: what’s the third party software you’re using on Windows? I thought originally you were stating you were using third party on Linux.
Oh! My bad. EqualizerAPO / SourceForge is what i used briefly. I tried a few others but their names escape me.
Was nice being able to control everything more fluidly and import presets from various audiophile testing websites to figure out what sounded best to “me”.
Years of listening to Metal at ‘way too loud’ on the dial has made my ears uh ‘unique’. So i cant just drop in stuff and it sound immediately perfect. Gotta tweak it a smidge.
Gotcha. Thanks for the type up man! Rock on!
I have one. Works perfectly out of the box. It connects through usb to your pc and uses a 2.4ghz band for the wireless audio. It’s expensive but the best headset I have ever had.
Edit: don’t know about the additional sound system, I can imagine that would be windows only. Not something I miss anyway. Noise cancelling works fine.
Thanks for the info!
I use these on debian work just fine note that the chat/game audio wheel doesn’t work on Linux but they sound fine and do everything I need.
I have them and they work well enough for my uses (gaming and video watching) I’m dual booting and honestly found the window of assault. Try to give you the 7.1/virtual surround so irritating I just uninstalled it.
@Sunny
I dont, but I have its predecessor on a windows machine. As much as I love the product, I wouldn’t buy from SteelSeries again.
Their firmware has so many annoying edge cases, and there are improvements to be made on the physical product too.
Instead of polishing all of the known issues that were raised in the community and releasing a new version, they made a completely new product line, with gimmick features no one asked for. From what I heard the issues are still there. Really annoyingHave been reading a lot of reviews and watching endless videos of this headset, and none of them have had any complaints of the physical side of things at least, but not sure about the firmware.
