Steelseries Arctis 5 (2019 Edition) Review

Reading Time: 6 minutes.

Is that my Spider-Sense tingling? Nope. I just heard the henchman behind me to my left load a new clip into his handgun. Quickly, I dodge and attack without needing to look. I know exactly where my enemy is.

I’m not a super hero, honest. But, I have been playing the Spider-Man game on PS4 a lot recently. I stopped playing with my sound bar though. Now, I plug my Steelseries Arctis 5 headphones directly into my controller. I do the same when I’m playing games on my Mac and even my iPhone. I’ve noticed a real difference it makes. Yes, even just playing Fortnite on the iPhone.

That’s because the Arctis 5 doesn’t just slap some RGB lighting on a cheap pair of headphones and call it a gaming headset. The headset has 7.1 surround sound along with a noise canceling mic. I’ve been using it for a few weeks while playing everything from Spider-Man to Borderlands the Pre-Sequel, Gris, Celeste, Overwatch, and, of course, Fortnite. I had been playing games with a pair of headphones attached to my computer or controller for years, but none of those came close to the quality and capabilities of the Arctis 5.

7.1 Surround Sound

For Games

Surround sound is excellent in games. It gives you a competitive edge in online games and makes the gaming experience better for all other games as well. The Arctis 5 is fantastic for this. Take Spider-Man for the PS4. There are these collectable backpacks hidden throughout the city. They make a beeping sound, which you can use to locate them. I have found them before with my eyes closed, using nothing but the my headset. That’s impressive.

I was even able to attach them to my iPhone and hear footsteps approaching in Fortnite. Get this, I actually got the kill! That’s far more impressive if you knew how bad I am at FPS games, let alone playing them on a touchscreen.

Having surround sound is a surreal and immersive experience. I noticed that, even in a 2D game like Gris, these brought out the magic of the soundtrack and helped me become immersed. I remember loving how each footstep kind of echoed in areas, seemingly coming from all around. Before I bought these, I was considering plain old stereo sound. Now I’m glad I shelled out for the additional immersion.

For Music

Don’t buy these for music. They’re incredibly comfortable, which I’ll discuss more below, but they’re not really tuned will for music. For example, I was playing Gris, and when I unlocked the color blue in the game, it reminded me of a Halsey song, Colors. So, I played it. Something felt amiss, so I put in my Audio Technica IM02 headphones and listened to the song again. There it was! There was missing detail and punch. I’d compare the music quality to something closer to AirPods. It’s not the worst in the world, but it doesn’t beat out dedicated headphones made for music quality. These are made for surround sound and games, maybe movies. Certainly not for sitting down and listening to your music.

Noise Canceling Mic

I don’t talk in online games much. In fact, I prefer offline games. People are obnoxious online. Either they’re taking the games way too seriously, or they’re sexist/racist. It’s usually kids making the “go make me a sandwich” comments, but everyone’s a little unsympathetic when hiding behind an avatar in a game. However, I figured I would play more games with my actual friends, so I should have a headset that makes that possible.

The Arctis 5 definitely does that. Check out the mic check video below.

To summarize, if you don’t like watching videos, the sound is surprisingly good. It’s not quite at the level you’d get from a high quality podcasting mic like the Blue Yeti, but it’s still surprisingly clear. What’s more, it has noise cancellation. Despite the noise I was making in the background of this video, like rustling fabric, clapping, and snapping my fingers, you hear my voice more than anything else.

The mic is retractable, so it’s not always in your view, has an easy to press mute button, and you can position it wherever you like, so it’s not always catching you breathing or moving around. I like to keep it far enough away from my mouth that other people can’t hear me constantly swearing under my breath.

Software, Customization, and RGB Lighting

A gaming peripheral without RBG lighting? Does such a thing exist? I use my Steelseries Rival 500 mouse for games and work, so I’m familiar with the Steelseries engine. I was able to quickly match the cycling rainbow pattern of my mouse, ensure my mic sounded good, and play with the equalizer to better balance out and emphasize my favorite parts of the music I listen to.

You can quickly adjust the noise reduction (I had it set to “Medium” for the video above), as well as the volume, and preview it in app. Best of all, you can back everything up to a Steelseries account, so you can take your configuration anywhere.

One of the interesting aspects of this headset is that it’s recognized as two output devices by your Mac or PC. This means you can set up a chat channel through Discord on one output channel, and your game on the other. There’s a knob on the USB cable that lets you switch between the two or listen to both. It’s a nice feature if you don’t use in-game chat.

Compatibility

It was important for me to have a headset that worked with my Mac (macOS and Windows), my PS4, and, as an added bonus, my iPhone. Of course, I have to use a dongle with the iPhone, but it does work nicely.

On the PS4, you can choose to use the headphone jack with a controller or plug directly into the PS4 through USB. The USB connection is a bit louder, and the RGB lights only work with a USB connection, but I prefer connecting it to my controller. Not only does it make me more mobile, but I found a peculiar problem with the Arctis 5 and my PS4. There’s a knob at the end of the USB adapter, which sits in the middle of the overall cable length when plugged in. This sat on my floor, and, as I moved around, would drag on the ground. I had audio cut out more than once because I accidentally moved it from Game and Chat audio over to Chat Only audio. Also, chat and game audio are reversed on the PS4 in comparison to the Mac.

Comfort

I often listen to white noise or music to help me focus while I work. Over the past few days I’ve been off, and I’ve spent a lot of time either writing, doing photo work, or playing video games. I’ve had these headphones on for hours during those sessions. I can honestly say they’re the most comfortable over ear headphones I’ve ever owned. I could see wearing these for over two hours without becoming uncomfortable. The adjustable band is soft, and never feels like it’s pushing on the top of my head too hard. The earcups are large and completely fit over my ears, giving my ears room to not feel squished. It doesn’t put too much pressure on the side of my head either. Really, they’re almost as comfortable and easy to forget as my AirPods.

Flaws

Nothing is perfect. The Acrtis 5 is no exception. The first head scratcher I noticed was the way the headphones folded flat. Instead of rotating down as you take them off, they rotate up. This feels unintuitive, unlike other over ear headphones.

Another issue is the knob for switching between game audio and chat audio. Why is it a separate knob? I assume this had something to do with the fact that they didn’t want people to swap the entire cable when they’re going between the headphone jack and USB, but it feels like this would be better on one of the earcups, like the volume control is.

Also, I noticed that the knob can be a little tricky to lock into place sometimes. It’s strange. Sometimes you can easily lock it in place, game or chat audio, and other times it’s too tough to lock in.

Finally, yes, this has a cable. It’s a long cable, and allows you to route it around your desk with ease, but it is a cable. Some people may prefer Bluetooth. To those people, I recommend the Arctis 7. However, I don’t mind the cable, and, really, I wanted as little latency as possible. Bluetooth always introduces a small delay. If that’s okay with you, the Arctis 5 is the better choice.

If you haven’t noticed, these are, in the end, small complaints.

Overall 4 / 5

I can’t say too many bad things about this headset. I like it a lot. It has made my games more immersive, given me a little edge on the competition in online games (which I desperately need), it has a great mic, and it’s comfortable. It loses some points on some odd design decisions and the fact that the music quality isn’t great, but, honestly, for $99? It’s an amazing value.

If you’re a serious gamer or a someone who just likes playing a few hours a week, you’ll love the Arctis 5. It’s a great value for a surprisingly great product. Steelseries hasn’t disappointed me yet. You can find it on Steelseries’ website as well as Amazon.