SteelSeries Arctis 9X Wireless Headphones Review

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X are very similar to the SteelSeries Arctis 7 2019 Edition Wireless Xbox One variant as they have a green accent color on the headband. The rest of the headphones are all black. They also have a unique ski-band headband design and wide ear cups. Their boom microphone is retractable, and their headband frame is one piece of metal, unlike the SteelSeries Arctis 3 2019 Edition Wireless and SteelSeries Arctis 5 2019 Edition's plastic build.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X are comfortable gaming headphones that have the same design as most Arctis headsets. The ear cups are well-padded, and there’s room for most ear sizes and shapes. The padding material is also soft and porous, which allows for a bit of airflow. However, some people may find the cups a bit shallow. The headphones can also feel a bit tight, especially on larger heads, as the length of the strap limits the size adjustment options.

The control scheme of the SteelSeries Arctis 9X is good. There's plenty of buttons and wheels that are not only well-suited for gaming but also nice to use with your phone for casual listening sessions. You get access to a mic-mute button, a channel mixing wheel, and a volume wheel. Also, there’s a Bluetooth button that additionally offers limited music and call management, such as play/pause and answering/hanging up when pressed. The power button lets you cycle between EQ presets.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X are passably breathable. The porous padding on the ear cups slightly helps with airflow, but you may still feel a difference in temperature when wearing them for long periods. While they won’t be suitable for most sports, they should be fine for casual gaming sessions. If you want more breathable gaming headphones, you may prefer the ROCCAT Syn Pro Air Wireless.

Just like many other gaming headphones such as the Audeze Penrose Wireless, the SteelSeries Arctis 9X have a bulky design. They're not very portable as they don’t fold into a more compact form. However, their cups swivel to lay flat, which makes it easier to slide them in a bag or to wear comfortably around your neck.

These headphones don’t come with a pouch or case.

These headphones have a mediocre build quality. Some users reported that their unit's yoke and hinge areas are prone to cracking. This area can even completely break off, rendering the headphones unusable. If you've encountered issues with the build quality of your SteelSeries headset, please let us know in the discussions.

These headphones are mostly made of plastic. They have dense cups and a metal headband frame, which is sturdy yet flexible. The retractable microphone is also malleable.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X are very stable headphones. They shouldn't fall off your head while you're gaming. However, these bulky headphones aren't intended for use while working out, and they may fall off during high-intensity movements. Consider the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 Wireless if you're looking for gaming headphones with an even more stable fit.

• SteelSeries Arctis 9X headphones
• USB to micro-USB charging cable
• Manuals

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have a pretty neutral, well-balanced default sound profile. Vocals and lead instruments are clear and present in the mix, so they're suitable for listening to different types of audio content. However, they're lacking a bit of low-bass, which may be disappointing for fans of bass-heavy music genres like EDM. You can customize their sound using the graphic EQ and presets available in the SteelSeries Engine software.

Some users have reported that their audio sounds muffled and are unable to fix this via the EQ. There have been several issues with this headset, including clicking and audio stutter, that we've reported in our Non-Bluetooth Wireless test. Although we haven't experienced muffled audio, we have encountered clipping and stuttering when connected via Xbox Wireless to our PC. SteelSeries has provided support for these issues, but we can't verify whether this will solve the issue for all users.

These headphones have a disappointing frequency response consistency. They have an inconsistent bass and treble delivery, so their audio delivery may be inconsistent depending on their fit, seal, and positioning on your head.

These headphones have good bass accuracy. The range is quite neutral, so you feel the punch and body of bass-heavy instruments. However, the low-bass is underemphasized, so you may not feel the deep thump and rumble from action-packed scenes. Their bass delivery is inconsistent, so your experience may vary.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have excellent mid accuracy. For the most part, the range is very flat and neutral, which results in present and clear vocals and lead instruments.

These headphones have an impressive treble accuracy. The range is quite balanced and neutral, so vocals, lead instruments, and sibilants like cymbals are present and detailed in the mix. However, their treble delivery can vary across users, so your experience may vary.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have very good peaks and dips performance. There's a sustained peak throughout the bass range, which adds a touch of warmth, thump, and punch to your mix. The slight dip in the low-treble can hurt the comprehensibility of vocals, while the peak in the mid-treble overemphasizes sibilants like cymbals and makes them a bit piercing.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have a great imaging performance. There are some peaks in the bass range, but it's not enough to affect the tightness of the bass significantly. Also, the L/R drivers of our test unit are well-matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase response, ensuring the accurate placement and localization of objects such as voices, instruments, and footsteps in the stereo image. However, these results are only valid for our test unit, and yours may perform differently.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have an acceptable passive soundstage performance. There's a lot of outer ear activation, but it’s not very accurate. That said, the soundstage is perceived as being relatively large as if it's coming from in front of your head. It's a bit unnatural-sounding, though, and their closed-back design makes them less open-sounding than some open-back headphones like the Astro A40 TR Headset + MixAmp Pro 2017.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have a virtual soundstage feature via Windows Sonic Spatial Audio, but we don't currently test the performance of this feature.

These headphones have decent weighted harmonic distortion performance. Although there's a small peak in the high-treble, it likely won't be audible to most listeners. Overall, all frequencies fall within good limits, which should result in clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the SteelSeries Arctis 9X, and our results are only valid when using these settings.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have a poor noise isolation performance. They struggle to block out bass-heavy sounds like bus and plane engines. While they perform a bit better against higher-frequency noises like voices or the hum of nearby AC units, these sounds may still be audible. For gaming headphones that offer better noise isolation thanks to their ANC feature, check out the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for Xbox or the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have a good leakage performance. They don't leak a lot of sound, and it shouldn't be noticeable to the people around you in an average office setting.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have a retractable boom microphone. If you're looking for gaming headphones with a detachable boom mic, check out the Corsair HS75 XB WIRELESS.

The boom microphone has a great recording quality. Your voice sounds full-bodied, clear, and detailed. However, the mic is noticeably bright, which could help with cutting through the game audio, but it won't sound neutral.

Update 09/09/2021: These headphones have been updated to test bench 1.5. In this update, we made changes to the way we test noise handling. We now use a subjective evaluation of our audio clips. This new method has resulted in different results than what we had reported in our previous test bench. As a result, the scoring of this box has changed and we have updated our results.

The boom microphone has a great noise handling performance. It can separate speech from moderate ambient noise such as a car passing by an open window.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X's battery performance is great. The battery offers about 28 hours of continuous playback and only takes about two hours to fully charge. You can also still receive audio while they're charging, which is convenient. However, while they can be used passively with a 1/8" audio cable, there isn't one included in the box.

These headphones have great companion software called SteelSeries Engine. To use it, these headphones need to be connected via a USB cable. You won’t be able to use them wired via USB on PC. This easy-to-use software has a 10-band graphic EQ, four editable presets, and microphone level adjustment as well as sidetone control. You can also save different profiles and switch between them. Also, you can disable the Bluetooth auto-startup when the headphones are turned on. While these headphones support Xbox’s native Windows Sonic Spatial Audio, you can’t control it inside the app.

Note: Some users have reported an issue with the headphones' volume decreasing when EQ settings are applied. We did a test and can confirm that when connected via Bluetooth or USB and EQ changes are applied, the volume decreases. We aren't sure what causes this but will update if we get more information. Please comment in the discussions below if you have experienced a similar issue.

Update 09/22/2021: We've changed Multi-Device Pairing from 'No' to 'Bluetooth + Console/Non-BT Wireless' as these headphones can connect to an Xbox console and a Bluetooth device at the same time. You must first press the 'Pair' button on the Xbox console and then press and hold the headphones' power button for six seconds; this pairs the headphones to the console. Next, you press the headphones' 'Bluetooth' button to pair them with a phone. Once paired to both devices, you can hear audio from both devices simultaneously. As a result, we have updated our review, and the scoring of this box has changed.

Update 09/09/2021: We now measure negative latency values in test bench 1.5 and have extended our scoring curve accordingly. Negative latency means that your audio comes before your visuals. Previous to this test bench, we gave a score of 0ms when the value was negative. However, using test bench 1.5, we measured -8ms on iOS and 13ms on Android. These headphones still have a good latency value, though, as a good value falls between -55ms to 150ms. You also shouldn't notice a delay in audio or visuals. However, the scoring of this box has changed from 6.7 to 7.0 to reflect these changes.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have great Bluetooth connectivity. You can use them to stream music from your phone when also gaming on the Xbox One, which is convenient if you like to use your headphones for more casual use. However, they don't have multi-device or NFC pairing. They also have quite a bit of latency on PC when streaming videos. While their iOS and Android latency are a bit lower, it's worth noting that some apps and devices compensate for lag, so your real-life mileage may vary.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X have decent non-Bluetooth wireless capabilities. With their Xbox Wireless Adapter, they have a slightly higher latency than most wireless gaming headsets, but the delay shouldn't be that noticeable. If you're looking for a dedicated Xbox headset with lower non-Bluetooth latency, try the Xbox Wireless Headset or the SteelSeries Arctis 7X Wireless.

Unfortunately, some users have reported that their headset disconnects on its own and that the audio stutters or sounds clicky. After using the headphones for a couple of days, we noticed this issue, even when using two different dongles. The headphones were also still showing as connected, even though they had disconnected, and we would have to turn them off and on again. SteelSeries has put out a troubleshooting guide to address this issue, noting it could be caused by minor interference. However, we are unable to adjust our router or turn off other devices in order to test for interference. Instead, we followed the steps to reset the headphones and Xbox, and this didn't solve this issue for us. If you have experienced this issue, please let us know in the discussion section below.

Although the SteelSeries Arctis 9X don’t come with a 1/8” audio cable in the box, they support audio over their 1/8” jack. However, you won't be able to use the microphone, even if you're using a TRRS connector. If you're looking for similar SteelSeries headphones with an included audio cable, check out the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X Wireless instead.

Update 05/25/2021: Some users have reported that their headphones disconnect on their own or that their audio stutters or clicks. We have also experienced this issue, even after using two different dongles. SteelSeries has put out a troubleshooting guide to address this issue. However, it didn't solve this issue for us. If you have experienced this issue, please let us know in the discussion section below.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X are fully compatible with Xbox One Wireless. You can also plug these headphones into your controller with an audio cable, but you only receive audio.

Update 06/19/2019: We've updated the Xbox One compatibility value to reflect support for both mic and audio. It uses the same proprietary wireless connection as the Xbox controllers and the Microsoft wireless adapter. Although the wireless adapter doesn't work with the Xbox One, the headphones work without it, so the score has been adjusted.

The SteelSeries Arctis 9X work with the Xbox One thanks to the Xbox Wireless Technology, which is also available on some PCs, meaning a dock isn’t necessarily needed. However, since our testing PC doesn’t have this technology built-in, we purchased an Xbox Wireless Adapter to better represent the headset's performance on the Xbox One. With this adapter, you can fully use the headset on PC, but it won’t be compatible with the PS4, and obviously won’t be needed on the Xbox One.