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. 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. 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. To summarize, if you don’t like watching videos, the sound is surprisingly good. Now I’m glad I shelled out for the additional immersion. Before I bought these, I was considering plain old stereo sound. I remember loving how each footstep kind of echoed in areas, seemingly coming from all around. I noticed that, even in a 2D game like Gris, these brought out the magic of the soundtrack and helped me become immersed. Having surround sound is a surreal and immersive experience. 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. I was even able to attach them to my iPhone and hear footsteps approaching in Fortnite. I have found them before with my eyes closed, using nothing but the my headset. They make a beeping sound, which you can use to locate them. There are these collectable backpacks hidden throughout the city. It gives you a competitive edge in online games and makes the gaming experience better for all other games as well. 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. 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.

The headset has 7.1 surround sound along with a noise canceling mic. 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. Yes, even just playing Fortnite on the iPhone. I do the same when I’m playing games on my Mac and even my iPhone. Now, I plug my Steelseries Arctis 5 headphones directly into my controller. I stopped playing with my sound bar though. But, I have been playing the Spider-Man game on PS4 a lot recently. Quickly, I dodge and attack without needing to look. I just heard the henchman behind me to my left load a new clip into his handgun.

Steelseries headset arctis 5