SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X review: A nearly perfect gaming headset

Our Verdict

The SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X sounds peachy, fits beautifully, and works with almost every gaming system on the market.

For

Works with just most every arrangement
Great gaming sound
Comfy fit
Long bombardment life

Against

Music quality could be meliorate
7P model is less versatile than 7X

Tom'due south Guide Verdict

The SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X sounds great, fits beautifully, and works with almost every gaming system on the market.

Pros

+
Works with just about every system
+
Great gaming sound
+
Comfortable fit
+
Long bombardment life

Cons

-
Music quality could be improve
-
7P model is less versatile than 7X

SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X: Specs

Compatibility: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Android
Drivers: 40 mm
Frequency Response: twenty Hz - twenty kHz
Wireless: Yes

The SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X is very well-nigh the perfect gaming headset. On the one manus, that's not shocking, considering that its predecessor, the SteelSeries Arctis 7, was already well on its manner there. But in the iii years since the Arctis seven came out, SteelSeries zeroed in on the headset's few lingering bug, eradicated them, and added a few helpful enhancements forth the way.

The end effect is a $150 headset that's ready for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X, as well as any other system yous own — PS4, Xbox 1, Switch, PC, phone or tablet. With first-class wireless connectivity, a comfortable fit, long battery life and solid audio quality, the SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X has absolutely everything a gaming headset needs to succeed, with no wasted features or confusing controls.

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At that place are a few quibbles that go along the Arctis 7P/7X from absolute perfection. 3 years later, the music quality is still underwhelming, something that other gaming headsets accept rectified in the concurrently. The 7P feels underfeatured, compared to the 7X, despite costing the same corporeality of money.

But otherwise, the Arctis 7P/7X is one of both the best gaming headsets and best wireless gaming headsets I've ever reviewed, and the sooner you can pick one up, the readier you lot'll be for the side by side console generation. Read on for our full SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X review.

SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X design

The SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X is remarkably similar to the original Arctis 7. It'due south notwithstanding a black plastic chassis with a thin steel headband and an rubberband fitting strap. The 7P has bluish highlights on the elastic to match the PS5; the 7X has green highlights to lucifer the Xbox Series X. Otherwise, the two are well-nigh identical.

SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X review — SteelSeries Arctis 7P (Image credit: SteelSeries)

The right earcup houses a sidetone book dial on the 7P and a game/chat balance dial on the 7X, as well as a power push. The left earcup is where most of the activity happens. Here, you take a mic mute push, a volume dial, a 3.5 mm audio port, a micro-USB charging port and a retractable, flexible microphone. There's also a proprietary SteelSeries port for easier three.v mm audio and USB connections.

Every bit with the original Arctis 7, this setup is admirably simple, and putting 2 unlike volume dials on two different earcups is much simpler than cramming them together, as some other hardware manufacturers do. Having a three.five mm audio option is also not strictly necessary, but still nice to have, in case yous run out of batteries while playing a handheld Switch, or if you're withal finishing up some 3DS stragglers.

What sets the Arctis 7P/7X apart from nearly other gaming headsets is in how information technology connects. Instead of a USB-A dongle or the Xbox's built-in wireless protocols, the Arctis 7P/7X relies on a USB-C dongle, with an included USB-A adapter. This substantially makes information technology uniform with whatsoever platform right out of the box — although the 7P isn't uniform with whatsoever Xbox systems (more on this afterward). For the most part, the USB-C-plus-adapter setup works well, although it does create some cruddy trip hazards, depending on where your consoles are situated. Granted, you could e'er buy your own adapter instead, only I wonder whether SteelSeries could have included a dongle adapter rather than a wire.

The Arctis 7P/7X weighs almost 12 ounces, so it sits very lightly on a user's caput. While at that place's nothing fancy about the headset, there's also nothing garish most it, and it would expect perfectly natural out and about.

SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X comfort

I've discussed the SteelSeries "ski goggles" elastic band design in other Arctis reviews, only it's worth reiterating hither. The SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X doesn't have any notches or expandable artillery, relying instead on an elastic band for the perfect fit. You simply put the headset on your caput, and the band conforms to the shape of your skull. Y'all tin can tighten or loosen it slightly with a Velcro strap. That's information technology. Not simply is the procedure effortless, merely information technology's also incredibly user-friendly if you share the headset with a spouse or roommate.

In fact, I handed the headset off to my domestic partner, who used information technology to watch Goggle box while I was working. She said it was easy to wear, and more than comfy than the SteelSeries Arctis 1 – her usual go-to.

SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X performance

Like its predecessor, the SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X works beautifully with every game genre. I tested it with a variety of games across a diverseness of platforms: Age of Empires Three: Definitive Edition on the PC, Blasphemous on the Xbox One, Genshin Impact on the PS4, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition on the Switch (both handheld and docked) and Tales of Crestoria on Android.

Without going into also much detail about each organisation, the Arctis 7P/7X'south performance was strong across the board. Whether it was dealing with colonial gunfire, cheerful anime dialogue or sweeping take chances scores, the Arctis 7P/7X did a great task of balancing voicework and music, with a rich, vibrant soundscape and a good balance between bass and treble.

My only complaint is near how the Arctis 7P/7X handles music. This was something of an issue with the Arctis 7 too, and one of the but things that SteelSeries hasn't improved between versions. Most music has sort of a flat sound that borders on "muddy" when things get loud or complicated. I listened to songs from Flogging Molly, Former Crow Medicine Show, The Rolling Stones and Grand.F. Handel, and while bass, treble and vocals all sounded distinct, there was a distinct lack of punch to everything, even with the "Music" soundscape selected in the SteelSeries Engine 3 software.

Granted, a gaming headset's primary purpose isn't to play music, just Logitech, Turtle Beach, HyperX and other competitors have both improved music performance over the concluding few years by leaps and premises; SteelSeries hasn't.

SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X features

Through the SteelSeries Engine 3 software, users can customize equalization profiles, inactivity timeouts and mic options for the SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X. The mic itself is a retractable design with a carmine light that lets you know when the input is muted. It picks upwardly a little background noise, and can go heavy on "Due south" sounds, only it's clear and responsive overall.

The software and mic work fine, just what'south more interesting is the Arctis 7P/7X'southward wireless connectivity. What sets the Arctis 7P/7X autonomously from most other gaming headsets on the market is that it employs a USB-C dongle for pairing rather than USB-A. This means that it tin can connect with smartphones, tablets and Nintendo Switches in handheld mode. In my stance, it's a cleaner solution than Bluetooth, and works both quickly and seamlessly.

What's odd, though, is that only the Arctis 7X model works with Xbox consoles — even though both the 7P and the 7X price the same. Briefly: Xbox consoles use a different wireless protocol than other systems. As such, the 7X'due south dongle has a small switch that y'all can toggle between "USB" and "Xbox" when you move information technology between platforms. The 7P's dongle, however, doesn't take this switch; its but reward is that the dongle is a little smaller.

In other words: The Arctis 7X works with everything. The Arctis 7P works with everything except Xbox consoles. Unless you are absolutely, positively sure that you'll never go an Xbox panel, the 7X is a better buy all around. The 7P should have offered a bigger advantage than "a slightly smaller dongle," or given buyers some kind of price break.

SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X verdict

Our SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X review covered the headset's excellent fit, sound quality and connectivity — too equally its mediocre music performance, and the odd disparities between the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions.

However, for all of that, the Arctis 7P/7X is a tremendously good headset, and an easy recommendation for PC and panel gamers alike. It's easily the best peripheral currently bachelor in the $150 range — and even if you'd planned to spend $100 or $200 instead, it'south even so worth a await. With a few modest tweaks, any succeeds the Arctis 7P/7X could be as close equally nosotros've ever come up to a perfect gaming headset.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom'due south Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. Later on hours, you tin can discover him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.