SteelSeries Arctis Pro GameDAC HEADPHONES REVIEW

The SteelSeries Arctis Pro+GameDAC looks very similar to the Arctis 7. They have the same wide metal frame, with an elastic strap reminiscent of ski goggles to adjust the fit. The headband of the Arctis Pro, however, is slightly more curved to better fit the contours of your head. Overall the build quality of these headphones feels as premium and durable as the Arctis 7's and they also have a retractable mic which makes them look a bit more like casual headphones. They are not the flashiest gaming headsets, but the understated look will work for most, especially if you want to use them outdoors.

The SteelSeries Arctis Pro GameDAC are fairly similar in design to the Arctis 7. They have the same headband strap with the ski goggle-like elastic band to adjust the fit. The ear cups are large, spacious and coated with a breathable and soft padding. The headband is also slightly less tight on the head. Unfortunately, the length of the elastic strap is limited by the Velcro latch on top of the headband which doesn't expand further than its original shape. This means they do not extend far enough for all head shapes and sizes and may feel a little tight for some listeners.

The Arctis Pro's control scheme is a little different from that of the Arctis 7 since they're wired and come with a DAC (digital to analog convertor). On the headset, there is a volume dial as well as a microphone mute switch, and on the DAC, you have the channel mixing dial that also acts as a multi-function button when you press and hold. It allows you to switch between presets and EQ modes. All the buttons have great feedback and do not take a lot of time to get used to.

The SteelSeries Arctis Pro + GameDAC have a somewhat breathable design, thanks to the porous padding on their ear cups. However, they are still closed-back over-ear headsets, so they will make you sweat if used while working out. They're not the most suitable option for sports or exercising but should be fine for more casual gaming and listening sessions.

Update: 15/02/2019: We've retested and updated the breathability score. The very similarly designed Arctis Pro wireless had a much worse performance for breathability. We since double checked and can confirm that this is also the case for the wired GameDac variant.

Like the Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 SuperAmp and most gaming headsets, these headphones are not the most portable. They have large ear cups, a rigid headband and do not fold into a more compact format to save space. Also, they come with a DAC that further reduces their portability but you can also use them passively with the provided audio cable and adapter. Overall though they won't be the easiest headphones to carry around on your person unless you have a bag or a backpack.

The SteelSeries Arctis Pro GameDAC do not come with a case or pouch.

The build quality of the SteelSeries Arctis Pro is slightly better than the Arctis 7 but not significantly so. They have slightly stronger hinges/yokes but the same great and sturdy metal design. The ear cups are dense and durable and have magnetic back plates which you can remove. Overall they feel strong enough to withstand multiple accidental drops, and even the mic is well made and flexible enough that you can bend it all sort of ways without damaging it. It also conveniently retracts into the left ear cup so that you can use the Arctis Pro outdoors as a regular wired headset.

The SteelSeries Arctis PRO +GameDac have a decently tight fit on the head that prevents them from moving much once on your head. They're stable enough for most activities but are still quite bulky and cumbersome headphones so they won't be the ideal choice for more physically demanding exercises. Also, since they are wired, unlike the Arctis 7, there are more chances that they get yanked off your head because the audio cable got hooked on something.

They come with 3 cables: a USB power cable for the DAC, a proprietary audio cable, a 1/8" TRS adapter and an optical audio cable.

They have an excellent bass. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is great. Low-bass, responsible for the thump and rumble common to bass-heavy genres like EDM and Hip-hop is flat, but over our neutral target by 1.6dB. Fans of bass may appreciate the extra thump. Mid-bass, responsible for punch, and high-bass, responsible for warmth, are within 0.7dB of our neutral target. Overall, the bass of the Arctis is deep and thumpy, similar to the Arctis 7, but without sounding too heavy or boomy. Also, their bass delivery varies significantly across users, and is sensitive to the quality of fit, seal, and whether you wear glasses. The response here represents the average bass response and your experience may vary.

The Arctis Pro have a great mid-range. The response, throughout the range, is even and flat. However, low-mid is overemphasized by more than 2dB, adding a tad of thickness to vocals and clutter to the overall mix.

The treble of the Artics Pro is very good. Low-treble shows a narrow 7dB dip around 3.5KHz, which will have a subtle but negative effect on the detail and presence of vocals and leads. The rest of the range is relatively even and well-balanced, with mid-treble being within 0.15dB of our neutral target. Also, their treble delivery varies noticeably across users. The response here represents the average response and your experience may vary.

The Arctis Pro has a sub-par frequency response consistency. In the bass range, the deviation across our five human subjects is quite wide and deep, reaching almost 7dB. This will be easily noticeable. Also, having glasses on seems to increase chances of experiencing a drop in bass. In the treble range, there's close to 9dB of deviation depending on the position of the headphone on our dummy head.

The imaging is great. Weighted group delay is at 0.16, which is within very good limits. The GD graph also shows that the entire group delay is below the audibility threshold, suggesting a tight bass and a transparent treble. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were very well-matched in frequency, amplitude, and phase. This is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (voices, instruments, video game effects) in the stereo field.

The soundstage of the Arctis Pro is about average. The shape of the PRTF response isn't very accurate, but it shows a lot of activation around 4.5KHz. This suggests that their soundstage may be perceived as relatively large, but a bit unnautral. The dip around 10KHz helps with bringing the soudnstage out of the listener's head and to the front.

The harmonic distortion performance of the Arctis Pro is above-average. The overall amount of harmonic distortion is slightly elevated, but not by much. Also, there's not a big change in THD under heavier loads, which is good.

The isolation performance is sub-par. In the bass range, where the rumble of airplane and bus engines sits, they don't achieve any isolation. In the mid-range, important for blocking speech, they isolate by 9dB, which is about-average. In the treble range, occupied by sharp sounds like S and Ts, they achieved 32dB of isolation, which is good. It should also be noted that these headphones produce a considerable amount of self-noise at maximum volume.

The SteelSeries Artics Pro have an average leakage performance. The significant portion of their leakage is spread between 500Hz and 3KHz, which is a relatively broad range. However, the overall level of leakage is not very loud. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage at 1 foot away, averages at 42dB SPL and peaks at 55dB SPL, which is just above the noise floor of most offices.

The Arctics Pro's boom mic has a good recording quality. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 86Hz, which is very good. This means speech recorded/transmitted with this mic will sound deep and full. The HFE of 10KHz is also very good, which ensures a detailed and present speech. However, the 10dB bump in treble, surrounding 5KHz, makes speech overly bright to the point of sounding sharp. On the plus side, speech is very clear and intelligible on this mic.

The boom microphone is great at noise handling. In our SpNR test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 33dB, which means they can separate speech from ambient noise to a great degree even in very loud and demanding situations.

These headphones do not have a battery. They connect via the gameDAC or a USB port for power. You can also use them passively with the 1/8" TRS adapter.

The SteelSeries engine offers a lot of customization options when paired with the Arctis Pro + GameDAC. You get a great equalizer with presets, DTS surround sound, live preview, mic monitoring, volume control for the mic and led settings for the headphones as well as the DAC. You can save your configuration under the config tab so you can quickly switch between your different settings. It's a great app overall that feels useful. It adds a lot of features to personalize your experience with these headphones.

The Arctis PRO+ GameDAC do not have Bluetooth connectivity. If you want a gaming headset that also supports Bluetooth, check out the Turtle Beach Elite 800.

The SteelSeries Arctis PRO+ GameDAC have a proprietary audio cable that isn't OS specific and comes with a 1/8" TRS adapter that makes them compatible with most devices. They will support voice chat if you connect them to your console controllers but via USB they will only have full support for the PS4 and PC.

These headphones come with a proprietary DAC (digital to analog convertor) that has multiple inputs. They have an optical-in, a line-in, USB and a line-out. The DAC is much larger than the wireless dongle of the Arctis 7, but it also provides some onboard controls so that you do not have to use the SteelSeries engine software to change EQs or surround sound settings.

These headphones are wired so they have no wireless range (see our recommendations for the best wired headphones).

These headphones are wired with a DAC that adds a negligible amount of latency. You will not notice any delay when gaming or watching movies.