SteelSeries Arctis 1 vs 3 vs 5 vs 7+
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This article will review and compare the SteelSeries Arctis 1, 3, 5, and 7+ headsets. Separate articles will be made comparing the 7P+, 7X, and 9.
The short story on those is the 7P+ and 7X are PlayStation and Xbox specific devices and the Arctis 9 is essentially the 7+ with added Bluetooth functionality.
Differences Summary
Connectivity and Controls
Headphone Audio Quality
Microphone Audio Quality
Comfort and Build Quality
Software (Arctis 5 & 7+)
Verdict
Differences Summary
The Arctis 1 is the budget model. The sound is a bit muffled, but passable. The build is plastic with a bit of metal reinforcement on the frame. There’s a wired and wireless version of this.
The Arctis 3 is a significant step up from the 1 in sound, and has a bit better build with thicker plastic, but no metal. There’s a wired version of the Arctis 3, but also one with Bluetooth.
The Arctis 5 is an RGB lighting enabled headset targeted to PC users. It has a slightly more full sound than the Arctis 3, and its build is nearly identical. Unlike the Arctis 1 and 3 that only connect by 3.5mm cable, the 5 can do that and USB Type-A via the game/chat mixer.
The Arctis 7+ is basically the Arctis 5 with everything upgraded except the sound - which is the same. It can connect by 3.5mm cable, but also wirelessly to PC, Playstation 4 and 5, and even Android using the USB Type-C dongle. The padding is similar to the 1, 3, and 5, but this one has a headband made of steel instead of plastic.
Connectivity and Controls
Arctis 1
The Arctis 1 comes in both a wired and wireless version with a USB dongle. I’ll be focusing on the wired one since that’s what I bought. The wired version connects using a non-detachable 3.5 mm cable. This lets it work with Xbox and PlayStation just by plugging them into a controller.
On a laptop, you’ll need to verify that you have a 3.5 mm combo jack to get mic functionality. On a desktop PC, you can use the included splitter instead.
The only controls on the device are a mic mute switch and a gain slider on the left ear cup. The mic is detachable.
Arctis 3
The Arctis 3 comes in multiple variants as well. There’s a wired-only version, a wired version that also includes Bluetooth (not ideal for gaming), and a console version that’s also wired only. I got the console version - something I wouldn’t actually recommend if you’re playing on PC.
The console version connects through a detachable 3.5 mm cable, but it does not come with a splitter for PC use. To get around this, you can plug it into a PlayStation controller that’s connected to your computer via USB.
The left ear cup has a mic mute switch and headphone gain slider. The mic is retractable, but not detachable.
Arctis 5
The Arctis 5 is a PC oriented headset. It can connect with the included detachable 3.5 mm cable or the chat/game volume mixer which has a USB Type-A end. When connected through USB, the headset gets access to SteelSeries Engine for EQ and RGB lighting adjustments.
On the left earcup is a mic mute switch that turns the mic red when muted and a headphone gain slider. The mic can be retracted.
Arctis 7+
The Arctis 7+ is the upgraded model of the 2019 Arctis 7 and has since replaced it. It has upgraded battery life (stated 30 hours) and a USB Type-C dongle. It still can connect to Type-A ports using the adapter seen above. It’s just a female Type-C to male Type-A cable.
The Arctis 7+ can connect wirelessly with the dongle or with the 3.5mm cable. The dongle is required to use the SteelSeries Engine or Sonar software, and the USB Type-C charging cable is required to update firmware. I tested this with PS4 and PC, but it’s also stated to work with the PS5, Switch, and Android.
The controls include a power button (which can answer calls and skip tracks on Android), a game/chat volume mix slider, a headphone gain knob, and a mic mute button. Like the Arctis 3 and 5, the mic is retractable.
Headphone Audio Quality
Arctis 1, 3, 5, 7+ in order from left to right.
SteelSeries branding consistently touts their headsets as being engineered for competitive play. And the sound reflects that.
Arctis 1
Halo: Infinite with the Arctis 1.
In comparison to the other 3 devices, the Arctis 1 has the worst sound quality, but it’s not bad at all for a budget device. The entire sound is a bit muffled, and the lows aren’t that detailed. The highs can also get screechy at high volumes.
I wouldn’t get these for music, but for games it recreates the most important sounds quite well. Footsteps were very audible, even with Ninja active in Black Ops Cold War. Weapon discharges can get grating, but that just means you’ll always know where they are.
If I were to compare these to some other devices, I’d say they’re overall clearer than the HyperX Cloud Stinger which distorts when there are a lot of instruments, but this has a lot less bass than those. The Arctis 1 is definitely worse than the Razer BlackShark V2 and V X though.
Arctis 3
The Evil Within 2 with the Arctis 3.
Now for the Arctis 3. Basically, everything about the sound is significantly better here. Like the Arctis 5, and 7+, this is a mids and highs oriented device. SteelSeries is going for precision for FPS games over being pleasant to listen to. There’s more detail in pretty much everything.
The highs aren’t as harsh and there’s cleaner bass than the Arctis 1, but still not much of it. Ultimately, the device still sounds pretty hollow. You’ll notice that in vocals, and some of the ambient sounds in games like the Evil Within just don’t hit that hard. You hear them, but you don’t feel them.
Arctis 5
Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific with the Arctis 5.
The Arctis 5 is where things get a bit interesting. The tech specs of the Arctis 3 and 5 are stated to be the same, which indicates they have the same drivers inside. However, in my testing of music and games, the Arctis 5 sounds much better. I believe it’s down to the tuning.
The bass is stronger on the 5, and the highs are toned down a bit so they don’t hurt. But don’t get me wrong - footsteps are still loud and clear. It’s just that hearing your armor breaking won’t physically hurt your ears in real life.
There’s slightly more detail in the 5 as well, but it’s not as noticeable as the jump up from the Arctis 1 to 3. This is likely a similar situation to the Razer BlackShark V2 and Kraken V3. They’re similar drivers with very different tuning.
Both the Arctis 3 and 5 have 40mm drivers and a 20 Hz - 20 kHz frequency response. 32 Ohm impedance.
The Arctis 3, 5 and 7+ are very receptive to EQ adjustments. These drivers have very little distortion. You can boost the lower frequencies by up to 12 dB - and in the Arctis 5’s case even pair that with their bass enhancement option on PC - and get a much warmer and fun sound without blaring and crackling.
Still, you’ll never get deep, rich sub bass, so if you’re into that you’re better off with something like the Astro A40. Even the HyperX Cloud II has more bass potential than the Arctis lineup. But if you’re not into thumping lows, then these are a great choice for competitive play.
Arctis 7+
Call of Duty: Vanguard with the Arctis 7+.
The Arctis 7+ sounds... exactly like the Arctis 5. Again, same driver specs. Considering how much the 7+ costs compared to the 5, this is both disappointing and impressive at the same time.
It would be nice to get a sound quality bump, but you’re buying convenience and features with the 7+ instead.
On the bright side, having the same audio quality is alright because the Arctis 5 does sound good. It’s just lacking bass - a lot. What’s impressive is both the wired and wireless modes both match the Arctis 5. SteelSeries says the wireless is lossless over the dongle’s 2.4 wifi and it seems like they’re right.
With other wireless headsets like the HyperX Cloud II wireless and Astro A50, they performed worse than their wired versions in terms of either clarity, volume or both. Unfortunately, just like those two, the Arctis 7+ when used wirelessly does have a subtle feedback hiss in the background. You can’t really hear it when other sounds are playing, but you can hear it during silence.
Headphone Audio Quality Summary
The Arctis 3, 5, and 7+ all have well tuned sound for FPS games. The 1 is a bit lacking, and the 3’s out the box EQ is a bit grating, but they still perform quite well.
Microphone Audio Quality
Speaking into the mic while using the console version of the Arctis 3 plugged into a PS4 controller.
Based on my tests, the best mic is the Arctis 5, followed by the 1, 3, then 7+ being the worst. That’s a strange order for sure, but there are some easy ways to explain this. The Arctis 5 is the only device I connected through USB directly. It had the overall fullest and clearest sound and the noise reduction filter eliminated my PC fan noise when turned on. It’s still not a great mic, but it works.
The Arctis 1 sound has much weaker power in the low frequencies, and because it was connected with a splitter, the feedback static from my PC was very apparent.
I bought the console version of the Arctis 3, so to record audio on my PC I couldn’t just use a spare splitter. The volume was way too quiet. I had to plug it into a wired PS4 controller first. It worked, but it sounds like that added some compression.
And the Arctis 7+ was connected wirelessly to the dongle which seemed to add the most compression. Ultimately, it sounded the worst. If you really need a good headset mic, I’d look into the Corsair HS80. Otherwise, I generally use a dedicated standalone mic.
Software (Arctis 5 and 7+)
Viewing the chat/game mix volumes in Sonar.
The parabolic EQ settings in Sonar.
The Arctis 7+ with Sonar has the best software... in theory. Right now Sonar is in early access, so there’s a good chance it just straight up won’t work at all. For me, sometimes it loads. Sometimes it doesn’t.
When Sonar works, the parabolic EQ is really cool. It’s not as magical as they hype it up to be; it still works within the confines of increasing and decreasing the volume of certain frequencies - not boosting or eliminating specific object sounds directly. But the precision available when you get the hang of it is cool.
The mic EQ and filter options looked amazing. Noise gate, noise reduction, EQ, the works. But by the time I got around to testing them Sonar just stopped working. and I couldn’t use them at all.
So for now, the 7+ is stuck with just a basic EQ slider in SteelSeries Engine if you want something that works consistently. I might update this article when it’s out of early access and works consistently though.
RGB settings and more with the Arctis 5 in SteelSeries Engine.
The Arctis 5 has an interesting feature set, though I’d like to see it get cleaned up a bit if/when it gets access to Sonar. There’s the basic 5-band equalizer that works pretty well, a dynamic range compression slider, mic volume, and sidetone slider.
To change more settings like bass enhancement and vocal clarity, you have to turn on the 7.1 virtual surround sound effect. It makes the audio sound more spacious (by adding varying amounts of reverb and some sort of EQ).
I wish these weren’t tied together, but at least the SteelSeries virtual surround sound is the least obnoxious of all the other iterations I’ve heard. It’s more subtle and makes immersive games sound even fuller.
Tactically, like all these fake “surround sound” filters, it’s a waste. You can’t magically turn a stereo signal into a surround sound signal while also still having two sound drivers. If you want real surround sound, you need a dedicated multi-speaker system for that.
Using Custom EQ Settings on Console
I successfully used my EQ settings from all the pictured headsets on the PS4 and Switch.
The EQ and sidetone settings (and even the lighting settings in the Arctis 5’s case) save to the Arctis 5 game/chat mixer and 7+’s transmitter. This means as long as you save your configuration in SteelSeries Engine, you get to use those same custom equalizer settings on your PS4, PS5, or Nintendo Switch.
Comfort and Build Quality
Top row: Arctis 1 and 3. Bottom row: Arctis 5 and 7+.
All 4 of these devices have the same type of mesh fabric cushioning for the ear pads. The Arctis 1 is an outlier with a fake leather padding strip on the headband and traditional adjustment brackets.
The Arctis 3, 5, and 7+ all have a ski-goggle style suspension strip under the headband frame itself. It takes some getting used to and it’s not terrible, but you’re trading vertical adjustment brackets for this so I don’t like the trade off.
Arctis 1.
Arctis 3.
Personally, I’m way more into fake leather than this sports weave and floating headband stuff. I don’t find any of these headsets uncomfortable per se, but I can only play about 2 hours max with all of these. With devices like the HyperX Cloud II, I can play all day.
In terms of durability, none of my devices have broken, chipped or anything though I’ve read a lot of users with those complaints. I will say the frame of the Arctis 1, 3, and 5, are pretty thin plastic that doesn’t flex that well. The 1 has a sliver of metal on it but I don’t know how much it will help if dropped.
Arctis 5.
Arctis 7+.
The Arctis 7+ has the best build quality and honestly it’s the only one worthy of the company name “SteelSeries” as it actually has a steel headband that doesn’t scare me to flex. So in order the best build is the 7+, then the 3 and 5 are tied. The 1 is similar to the 3 and 5 but I give it last just because of the really thin plastic.
Verdict
Left to right: Arctis 1, 3, 5, 7+.
In order, the best performing devices are the Arctis 5, 7+, 3, then 1.
The Arctis 5 best overall performing headset. Its headphone audio is tied with the Arctis 7+, but the 5 has a way better mic due to being wired and getting SteelSeries Engine’s noise reduction filter.
The 7’s advantage is its convenience due to being wireless and its steel build. The 3 is an excellent budget option, and if you’re a console gamer I’d just get that since you won’t be utilizing SteelSeries Engine anyway.
I don’t recommend the Arctis 1, because there are better budget headsets on the market such as the Razer BlackShark V2 X.
Product Links
SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wired: https://amzn.to/3octDjw
SteelSeries Arctis 3 Wired PC: https://amzn.to/3KYaV9b
SteelSeries Arctis 5: https://amzn.to/38Aawrw
SteelSeries Arctis 7+: https://amzn.to/3HhBW5f
