Get insider access
Preferred store
Your browser is not supported or outdated so some features of the site might not be available.
We've recently released our Test Bench 1.6 update for Headphones! Read the Latency R&D Article to learn more.

SteelSeries Siberia 200 Headphones Review

Tested using Methodology v1.3.1
Review updated Nov 14, 2017 at 02:28 pm
Latest change: Test bench update Nov 21, 2019 at 11:24 am
SteelSeries Siberia 200 Picture
6.1
Mixed Usage
8.0
Neutral Sound
5.3
Commute/Travel
5.9
Sports/Fitness
5.8
Office
5.9
Wireless Gaming
7.6
Wired Gaming
7.6
Phone Call

Designed around the Siberia V2 headset, the SteelSeries Siberia 200 are a surprisingly good-sounding and budget gaming headphone. They don't have a lot of features and no software support to customize their sound profile and effects. However, they deliver a well-balanced sound, a semi-open design that's immersive and a low latency, wired connection, that makes them suitable for gaming and watching movies. Unfortunately, they won't be versatile enough to use as casual everyday headphones, and they feel a little cheaply made.

Our Verdict

6.1 Mixed Usage

Below-average for mixed usage. The SteelSeries Siberia 200 are gaming headphones with a semi-open design that won't be ideal for loud environments. It also means that they leak quite a bit, but on the upside, it gives them a decently spacious and immersive soundstage that improves their sound quality. They also have a wired connection so they have practically no latency for gaming and watching movies. They just won't be versatile enough for more casual uses like commuting and sports.

Pros
  • Negligible latency.
  • Good audio reproduction and microphone.
Cons
  • Poor noise isolation, by design.
  • Mediocre build quality.
  • Relatively high leakage, by design.
8.0 Neutral Sound

Good for neutral listening. The SteelSeries 200 are surprisingly well balanced with a good amount of bass and a clean representation of instruments and vocals. Also, thanks to their semi-open design, they have a relatively open soundstage for their small ear cups. However, they're not the most comfortable headphones to wear for extended listening sessions.

5.3 Commute/Travel

Sub-par for commuting. They have a semi-open design that barely blocks any ambient noise and leaks a lot. They're also a bit cumbersome to carry around on your person without a bag.

5.9 Sports/Fitness

Mediocre for sports. They're bulky and unstable headphones that will quickly fall off your head if you use them while running or working out.

5.8 Office

Mediocre for office use. They leak a lot and do not block much noise so you will be able to hear everything that's going on around you.

5.9 Wireless Gaming

This wired gaming headset can't be used wirelessly.

7.6 Wired Gaming

The SteelSeries Siberia 200 are an above-average headset for gaming. They have a wired, low latency connection, a good sound quality, and a mic that filters out a lot of noise and reproduces your voice accurately. Unfortunately, they do not have the best build quality and feel a little cheap at times. Also, since they have a semi-open design, you may struggle to hear your in-game audio in loud environments like a competition. On the upside, if you game alone, then they're a decent budget option.

  • 6.1 Mixed Usage
  • 8.0 Neutral Sound
  • 5.3 Commute/Travel
  • 5.9 Sports/Fitness
  • 5.8 Office
  • 5.9 Wireless Gaming
  • 7.6 Wired Gaming
  • 7.6 Phone Call
  1. Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
  2. Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
  3. Updated Feb 16, 2018: Converted to Test Bench 1.2.
  4. Updated Nov 14, 2017: Review published.
  5. Updated Nov 12, 2017: Our testers have started testing this product.
  6. Updated Nov 10, 2017: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
  7. Updated Sep 07, 2017: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.

Test Results

Design
Design
Style
Type Over-ear
Enclosure Semi-Open
Wireless No
Transducer Dynamic

The SteelSeries Siberia 200 have a pretty basic and straightforward design. They're a bit more compact than typical gaming headsets and could pass for casual everyday over-ears especially since the mic is retractable. They also come in more eye-catching color schemes and an all-black variation that's a bit more subtle. They won't be the most fashion forward-looking headphones, but they're a bit more appealing to casual users than typical gaming headsets.

7.0
Design
Comfort
Weight 0.5 lbs
Clamping Force
1.2 lbs

The Siberia 200 are decently comfortable headphones with a self-adjusting headband design that accommodates most head sizes. They're also quite lightweight but unfortunately, the ear cups are small and shallow, and the padding is somewhat stiff. They're also a bit tight on the head and the ear cups do not always fit well on all users and poorly distribute pressure. This makes the Siberia 200 a bit fatiguing to wear over long periods of time especially if you have larger than average ears.

5.7
Design
Controls
OS Compatibility
Not OS specific
Ease Of Use Okay
Feedback Okay
Call/Music Control No
Volume Control Yes
Microphone Control Yes
Channel Mixing
No
Noise Cancelling Control N/A
Talk-Through
N/A
Additional Buttons No

These headphones have a basic control scheme for gaming. A volume dial and a mic on/off switch. They have no additional buttons, and they're fairly easy-to-use, but the volume dial doesn't have distinct notches which would have been helpful when setting a preferred volume level. The control scheme also doesn't cater to mobile devices which makes it less versatile than some of the other gaming headsets we've reviewed.

7.2
Design
Breathability
Avg.Temp.Difference 3.6 °C
5.8
Design
Portability
L 8"
W 5.3"
H 3"
Volume 127 in³
Transmitter Required N/A

The SteelSeries 200, like most gaming headsets, are not portable. They have a bulky design that doesn't fold into a more compact format. This makes them a hassle to carry around on your person if you don't have a bag. They also don't come with a pouch or a case to carry them in which is a bit disappointing.

0
Design
Case
Type No case
L N/A
W N/A
H N/A
Volume N/A
5.5
Design
Build Quality

The Siberia 200's build quality is flexible and sturdy enough that they won't break from a couple of drops. Unfortunately, the materials used in their build quality feel a bit cheap. There are a lot of moving parts that do not feel very durable and the cable is not replaceable so if it gets damaged you won't be able to use the headphones anymore.

6.5
Design
Stability

The SteelSeries Siberia 200 are moderately stable for a gaming headset. They're tight on the head and would be stable enough to jog with if they had a detachable cable. However, this means they won't be the best option for sports as the cumbersome cable and slightly bulky design will cause the headphones to slip off your head during more intensive exercises.

Design
Headshots 1
Design
Headshots 2
Design
Top
Design
In The Box

  • SteelSeries Siberia 200 Headphones
  • USB headset adapter
  • Manuals

Sound
Sound
Sound Profile
Bass Amount
0.23 dB
Treble Amount
-1.41 dB
7.2
Sound
Frequency Response Consistency
Avg. Std. Deviation
0.57 dB

Decent consistency performance. Due to the semi-open design, the Siberia 200 doesn't rely heavily on an air-tight seal for bass, therefore, their bass delivery is quite consistent across different users. Their treble range though, is less consistent than the bass range, most likely due to the ear cup and headband design.

Sound
Raw Frequency Response
8.7
Sound
Bass Accuracy
Std. Err.
1.86 dB
Low-Frequency Extension
11.89 Hz
Low-Bass
1.23 dB
Mid-Bass
1.89 dB
High-Bass
2.32 dB

Great bass range performance. LFE is extended down to 12Hz, which is excellent. The overall response of the bass range is virtually flat, but with about 2dB of constant over-emphasis. It makes the overall sound of these headphones slightly bass-heavy.

8.3
Sound
Mid Accuracy
Std. Err.
2.32 dB
Low-Mid
2.28 dB
Mid-Mid
-2.15 dB
High-Mid
-1.15 dB

Very good mid-range performance. The overall mid-range response is rather inconsistent but within 2dB of our target. The 2.3dB overemphasis in low-mid adds a bit of clutter and mud to the mix, and the 2dB dip around 8KHz pushes the vocals/leads slightly to the back of the mix.

8.4
Sound
Treble Accuracy
Std. Err.
2.97 dB
Low-Treble
-0.81 dB
Mid-Treble
0.85 dB
High-Treble
-5.02 dB

Very good treble range performance. The average treble range response is within 2dB of target up to 10KHz. The remarkable feature here is the small dip around 5KHz, negatively affecting the presence and detail of vocals/leads.

7.6
Sound
Peaks/Dips
Peaks
1.53 dB
Dips
1.29 dB
8.6
Sound
Imaging
Weighted Group Delay
0.26
Weighted Amplitude Mismatch
0.42
Weighted Frequency Mismatch
2.17
Weighted Phase Mismatch
4.84
7.3
Sound
Soundstage
PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.)
3.51 dB
PRTF Size (Avg.)
6.41 dB
PRTF Distance
15.21 dB
Openness
7.4
Acoustic Space Excitation
5.2
7.9
Sound
Weighted Harmonic Distortion
WHD @ 90
0.288
WHD @ 100
0.109
Isolation
3.1
Isolation
Noise Isolation
Isolation Audio
Overall Attenuation
-7.87 dB
Noise Cancelling No
Bass
0.37 dB
Mid
-2.07 dB
Treble
-21.86 dB

Poor isolation, which is expected of their open-back design. The SteelSeries Siberia 200 doesn't isolate any noise below 900Hz. Above that frequency, they achieve more than 21dB of isolation, which is about average.

5.8
Isolation
Leakage
Leakage Audio
Overall Leakage @ 1ft
46 dB

Sub-par leakage performance. The significant portion of leakage sits between 500Hz and 6KHz, which is a relatively broad range. The overall level of leakage, however, is not very loud.

Microphone
Microphone
Microphone Style
Integrated
No
In-line
No
Boom
Yes
Detachable Boom
No
Mic Yes

Great microphone performance. Speech recorded with the microphone of the SteelSeries Siberia 200 will be relatively neutral, full, and easily comprehensible, but lacking slightly in airiness. In noisy environments, they are able to separate speech from noise to an amazing degree, making them ideal for very loud situations such as a metro station.

9.1
Microphone
Recording Quality
Recorded Speech
LFE
20 Hz
FR Std. Dev.
3.09 dB
HFE
20,480 Hz
Weighted THD
0.39
Gain
34.74 dB

Excellent recording quality. LFE is extended down to 20Hz, and HFE is extended up to 10KHz making speech recorded with the Siberia 200 full, detailed, and easily comprehensible. However, because of the dip in the high-treble range, they may sound slightly airless and lacking in brilliance.

8.8
Microphone
Noise Handling
Speech + Pink Noise
Speech + Subway Noise
SpNR
39.99 dB

Outstanding noise handling. The microphone on the Siberia 200 achieves a speech-to-noise ratio of 40dB which is excellent. This makes them suitable to be used in very loud environments.

Active Features
not tested
Active Features
Battery
Battery Type
N/A
Continuous Battery Life
N/A
Additional Charges
N/A
Total Battery Life
N/A
Charge Time
N/A
Power Saving Feature
N/A
Audio While Charging
N/A
Passive Playback
N/A
Charging Port N/A
0
Active Features
App Support
App Name N/A
iOS N/A
Android N/A
macOS N/A
Windows N/A
Equalizer
N/A
ANC Control
N/A
Mic Control N/A
Room effects
N/A
Playback Control
N/A
Button Mapping N/A
Surround Sound N/A

No compatible app.

Connectivity
0
Connectivity
Bluetooth
Bluetooth Version
N/A
Multi-Device Pairing
N/A
NFC Pairing
N/A
Line of Sight Range
N/A
Default Latency
N/A
aptX Latency
N/A
aptX(LL) Latency
N/A

Wired connection, negligible latency.

0
Connectivity
Non-Bluetooth Wireless
Non-BT Line of Sight Range
N/A
Non-BT Latency
N/A
9.0
Connectivity
Wired
Analog Audio
Yes
USB Audio
No
Detachable No
Length 5.8 ft
Connection 1/8" TRRS
Wired Latency
0 ms
Connectivity
PC / PS4 Compatibility
PC / PS4 Analog
Audio + Microphone
PC / PS4 Wired USB
No
PC / PS4 Non-BT Wireless
No
Connectivity
Xbox One Compatibility
Xbox One Analog
Audio + Microphone
Xbox One Wired USB
No
Xbox One Wireless
No
0
Connectivity
Base/Dock
Type
N/A
USB Input
N/A
Line In
N/A
Line Out
N/A
Optical Input
N/A
RCA Input
N/A
Dock Charging
N/A
Power Supply
N/A