One of the hardest things to find as a gamer is a headset that works with everything, especially if you own all three consoles and a PC. The SteelSeries Arctis 7X wireless gaming headset is as close as you’re going to get in terms of compatibility across the board.
The headset is Xbox branded and will be marketed towards Xbox Series X/Xbox One owners, with the headset itself having green detailing on the band that compliments the console perfectly. Comfort is a must for me with headsets, and the Arctis 7X delivers. It’s a lightweight headset, and the customiseable band has an adjustable ski suspension design that means that it’s never placing any unnecessary pressure on your head. I really rate all of the SteelSeries headsets for comfort. I use them all day for work, and then game with them and I never feel any sort of tension or headache after long periods of use.
The controls on this headset are one of the main reasons why I love it. It has a volume slider on the left, a chat mix slider on the right, a mute button that you can’t accidentally hit and a simple on/off button that also displays how much battery is left in an easy to read what. Everything you need is within reach with you never having to second guess yourself, due to the volume and chaxmix sliders being on opposite sides.
In the box, you get a USB-C dongle, a USB-A to USB-C converter (for consoles that don’t have USB-C), a Micro USB cable to for charging, and a 3.5mm cord for wired audio. The multitude of connectors in the box is the main reason that it’s compatible with every console that I tested it with.
If you’re wanting to use it with the Xbox Series X, you just need to leave the USB-C dongle in the default Xbox position, plug it into your converter and your Xbox Series X will instantly recognise it as your headset, with your game audio instantly routing through the headset.
Surprisingly, the headset works wirelessly with Nintendo Switch as well. If you’re wanting to use it in handheld mode, you just need to use the USB C dongle straight into the bottom of the Switch. If you’re playing on docked mode, you’ll need to use the converter.
It’s rare to find a headset that’s compatible with both PlayStation and Xbox. SteelSeries says that it’s compatible with the PS4/PS5. At the moment, I could only test it with the PS4, and it worked perfectly. I was able to get game audio and chat with friends. The only feature missing was the fact that the I couldn’t use the chat mix on the right side of the headset to balance my game/chat audio on PS4, but this is because the PS4 handles chat audio in a separate way to that Xbox
Battery life is rated at 24 hours, and I’ve never had a SteelSeries headset that hasn’t been able to meet the battery life advertised. The rectractable microphone is great quality, with the people on the other end telling me that I was coming through crisply. There’s also microphone monitoring that you can manage through the SteelSeries Engine on PC.
In terms of sound quality, everything sounded great. There’s not a whole lot of noise isolation, so if you’re someone who likes everything completely blocked out they might not be for you. SteelSeries Engine means that you can customise everything that’s coming through and it works well as always.
Currently, the SteelSeries Arctis 7X isn’t available to purchase locally in Australia (hopefully that’ll change soon). You can purchase it from SteelSeries.com for about $250 AUD (plus shipping).
