With Borderlands 3 out today, we are now in the gravitational pull that is the fall release schedule. You know what that means! No, not that your wallet is about to be burnt to a crisp from entering Planet Q4’s atmosphere. That’s besides the point. No, it means that it’s gaming headset buying season! You don’t usually think of that, but with games like Borderlands 3, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep (EXCITE!), Gears 5, Ghostbusters (Yeah, I said it!), there are many gamers out there digging headsets out of their drawers realizing they’re busted or they need an upgrade.
It’s been a long time since I reviewed a headset! I’d link to my previous reviews but that site no longer exists. That’s how long it’s been. I’ll try my best to do my SteelSeries here justice. Remember, I’m not a super ultra tech savvy audiophile headset guru, analyzing stats and wavelengths and decibels or whatever. I’m just your regular ol’ generic gamer who happens to have a blog to share my thoughts on. So let’s go.
Oh, and I hope you enjoy the pictures. They are rehashed from when I unboxed the headset back for my old gaming site Future Monkeys, which sadly, also does not exist anymore, hahaha! Geeze I hope that isn’t a trend… Glad I preserved all those posts right here on my trusty ol’ blog. *pats hood, hears screws and bolts falling to the floor*
Alright, moving on with it! The Arctis 3 Bluetooth headset is by far the best headset I’ve ever used. I know, I know, that’s letting the cat out of the bag. I guess you can stop reading the review now.
Seriously, it’s great. And SteelSeries has a hefty line of headsets out right now, which all seem to have their own area of expertise. For example, the Arctis 9X is specifically for Xbox One, while the Arctis Pro Wireless is for the PS4. Then you have the brand new Arctis 1 Wireless headset, which, my goodness. I wouldn’t mind it wrapping around my head. It uses a dongle to connect to PS4, Switch, and PC, and has this gaming-grade 2.4 GHz wireless for lossless, ultra-low latency audio that-omg, I need to stop. FOCUS. I’m not talking about the Arctis 1 that has now found its way on my wishlist. I’m talking about the.. what am I talking-oh yeah. The prices for their sets range from $49 to $349, so there plenty of choices and ranges to fit for you.
I ultimately went with the Arctis 3 Bluetooth for a few reasons, but it was mostly because of its versatility. You’re able to use it for whichever console you’d like – Xbox One, PS4, PC, and even the Switch. How? We’ll get to that in a minute.
I knew that versatility is what I needed. See, for a long time I was primarily on the PS4. And because of that, my headset of choice was the PS Gold. Which, in all honesty, I had absolutely no problems with… Until I put this baby on. But, thanks to a little game called Anthem (yeah, remember that gem?!) that I picked up on the Xbox in an attempt to show it some more love, I knew I needed a more well rounded headset. Yeah, the Golds are capable of being used on the Xbox, but it wasn’t the same. Something was really off and it was more of a pain than anything to get it to work good. Before I bought these I thought maybe I’d be ok with a cheap $17 set from Amazon. Holy crap. I quickly learned you get what you pay for. And if you want something decent, you have to be willing to pay a little more than $20. I still feel cheated, every time I look at those things.
For the gamer that loves to listen to music or podcasts while doing mundane quests or stuff like that, it’s a godsend of headsets.
But in order to have versatility, I had to sacrifice a feature I was hoping to keep, which was wireless use. In order to be able to use the headset for all 3 systems, the 3.5mm jack had to be utilized, and not a wireless dongle like the PS Gold had. I held on to that desire for a wireless headset till about 5 seconds after I started using the Arctis 3’s. I quickly forgot anything about wireless because it turns out, having to use the 3.5mm cord was perfectly fine. I’m attached to a controller or the Switch, but there’s no issues whatsoever with it. PLUS I don’t have to worry about charging any batteries. So the days of coming back to gaming after a few weeks to find a dead headset are gone.
I know I may be jumping the gun here, but I’ll feel confident to say SteelSeries earned themselves a customer for life.
Another feature sacrificed to the headset gods was surround sound. I know earlier I said I’m not an audiophile, but that may not have been entirely accurate. I’ve gone to great measures to ensure there is good sound to be enjoyed. I would absolutely adore a 7.1 surround sound headset, sure. But my price range laughs at such a feature. All that said, I’ve been using the headphones a lot and I found I don’t really need surround sound. I’m certain if you were to slap a surround sound headset on me I’d be singing a different tune. But on its own, the Arctis 3 is doing a superb job at getting things done and I can’t complain about the sound quality.
Good bass, stereo sounds dance from ear to ear, and with the right source these are downright impressive! I was using the bluetooth feature to listen to “Portals” from the Avengers: Endgame Soundtrack. My goodness, was that the wrong thing to do at midnight. I was so hyped I wanted to run aimlessly in the street while yelling battle cries. The bass drum was deep and powerful, the crescendo building up to the big moment with the heroic air instruments playing that goosebump inducing melody. The choir, the percussion, I just freaking can’t with this song. I’m a complete sucker for soundtracks, but this song.. this moment in the movie.. it’s the most epic and spectacular moment I’ve watched in a film in a long, long time. Guess I have to review Endgame now! Haha. But anyway, the headset was great with it and it immersed me in the music completely. Another song I tried it out with was The Prowler from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack. Another great piece of music to use for headset testing. My goodness, I can’t imagine how it would be with an even better sounding headset. Yeesh, I need to stop.
The design is so sleek and sharp, it makes them feel like the most affordable premium pair of headphones you can buy.
Ok, I’m done reviewing music. Back to the headset. I just mentioned it, so let’s go on with the bluetooth functionality. This is the selling point of this particular set. It’s the reason why it’s heavily marketed towards the Nintendo Switch. See, because you use the 3.5mm jack in order to listen to all the game audio. You can also use it for chatting on the PS4 and the Xbox One. But the dear old Switch and how it’s structured, you can’t chat in most games with just the jack, so all you have to do is turn on the bluetooth and connect to the Nintendo Switch Online app via your phone in order to talk with someone in your game. But who does that?! Like many gamers probably do instead, you can also connect to a voice channel in Discord and communicate there.
This works because the game’s audio is going through the 3.5mm jack, while the bluetooth functionality is completely separate, allowing you to utilize both at the same time. So if you’re the type to do so, you can even be playing a game listening to the audio, while also connected to your phone listening to music or podcasts. Or even a helpful YouTube video to walk you through a part you’re stuck on, like I have done a few times while playing Destiny 2. It’s a fantastic feature and it comes in handy a lot. For the gamer that loves to listen to music or podcasts while doing mundane quests or stuff like that, it’s a godsend of headsets.
Speaking of godsent features, let’s talk about the comfort. If there is one thing that really stands out about the Arctis 3, or any other SteelSeries headset for that matter, it’s that the comfort and design is beyond compare. The ski goggle adjustable headband fits your head perfectly. And the AirWeave Performance fabric ear cushions are like the pillows of angles. They’re so soft and comfortable to have on your head, you forget you’re wearing a headset. Even with my glasses on – because I can’t play without them – there’s not aching or irritation after long periods of play. Honestly, when I first got them, I had to stop myself from just wearing them around the house. Like not even listening to music or anything, I just wanted to wear them. The design is so sleek and sharp, it makes them feel like the most affordable premium pair of headphones you can buy.
Last thing I’ll touch on is the mic, since I think that’s all that’s left from this. I’ve been blabbering for so long I almost forgot to mention an integral part of the set. The mic is retractable and is bidirectional. They call it ClearCast noise cancelling, and as far as I know it does a pretty good job. I tend to game at night with sleeping family members in range of voice, so I try my best to keep it down. And even whispering I’m heard well enough to not have to repeat myself. I love the fact that it’s retractable too, so in the case that I don’t need it, it’s always right there, out of the way, ready to be pulled out and used.
I think those are the major points of the Arctis 3 Bluetooth headset by SteelSeries. The only functionality that requires charging is the bluetooth. If you never used the bluetooth, then you wouldn’t need to ever charge them. Heck, even if you used the bluetooth, you still hardly have to charge them. The description says the active listening time is 28 hours and it isn’t lying. I had these for months, hardly using the bluetooth feature, and when I turned it on they worked just fine. Other headsets I feel would’ve needed a charge boost from sitting unused for so long.
By the way, if you didn’t need the bluetooth functionality at all, and feel like it’ll go wasted on you, you’re in luck. They offer an Arctis 3 right here that is identical to this bluetooth version, only without the bluetooth. AND for $30 less to boot! It also comes in a drop dead sexy white which gets me all hot and bothered. I’m telling you, they have a bunch of options, give their site a glance and see what tickles your fancy.
If I had to say something negative about them, it’ll probably be the mute button. Just because it isn’t clear whether or not the mic is muted from the button being pushed in, or released. It’s a feature that I see they’ve upgraded on the newer models of headsets, with a clearly indicated switch showing mute and unmute. Still though, the gripe isn’t a deal breaker at all.
Alright I’ll reel it in there. If you’re in the market for a headset, check these out. I want to say they’re on display in my local Best Buy, so feel them for yourselves (after a nice pass of a clorox wipe). Not to toot my own horn here, but since I purchased them and sang their praises, I’d say about 4-5 people in our gaming community went ahead and purchased a pair as well. All of them agreeing with all the pros I’ve laid out here.
I know I may be jumping the gun here, but I’ll feel confident to say SteelSeries earned themselves a customer for life. The quality of their sets is unlike anything I had before, and I’ve tried quite a few big name headsets in my time that I won’t name here, but that’s where the confidence comes from. Other headsets always left something to be desired or died way too soon for how much they cost. While I love the Arctis 3 Bluetooth set I have, I kinda sorta can’t wait to be in the market for another pair just so I can try out the newer sets they have. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Arctis 1 Wireless.
