Sound Quality

The SteelSeries Arctis 1 supposedly uses the same speaker drivers as various more expensive members of the Arctis gaming headset family. They aren't tuned identically, though. In fact, the Arctis 1 doesn't sound the same as the Arctis 1 Wireless either, which I assumed would be the case.

Before going further, it should be mentioned that the Arctis 1 can't be controlled through the SteelSeries Engine software. In other words, unless your sound card offers some sort of a system-wide equalizer, you won't be able to play around with the sound signature of this headset. I consider this important because other gaming headsets in the Arctis lineup are tuned in a very neutral way, but respond very well to equalization, which is why you can make them bassier, brighter, or more mid-present with a simple adjustment of the appropriate EQ slider(s). Since the Arctis 1 can't be taken through the same treatment, SteelSeries sculpted its sound somewhat differently.


Namely, SteelSeries factory-tuned the Arctis 1 to be noticeably bassier than the rest of the Arctis lineup. The bass is pretty impressive for a $50 gaming headset, both in terms of extension—it sinks well into sub-bass territory—and sheer volume. SteelSeries was reasonable enough not to make it annoyingly boomy, although it's not very fast or snappy either, so you do get a certain amount of overhang and mid-range coloration. It works well for various types of games, as massive, rumbling explosions and thunderous gunfire certainly do increase the level of excitement, as well as certain music genres, like EDM and rap. However, if you're after esports level spatial awareness in multiplayer shooters, which is something headsets from the Arctis lineup usually deliver, you might come up empty-handed. While it's still possible to locate in-game targets with a fair level of accuracy, the massiveness of the bass can cover up some of the more subtle auditory cues in particularly heated situations. Also, other members of the Arctis lineup fare better with genres like rock and heavy metal, where a fast, punchy, quick-decaying bass works better than a fat but inert one.

Aside from being boosted in the lower end, the mid-range is actually quite good, with clean, present vocals that don't get lost in the mix and a surprising amount of detail considering the $50 price tag. The upper part of the frequency range is handled decently, too—it's informative without ever being too harsh or piercing.


Overall, the SteelSeries Arctis 1 delivers a significantly different acoustic performance than the Cooler Master MH630 (reviewed here), another inexpensive brand-name analogue gaming headset I had a chance of trying out recently. The MH630 sounds harsher in the high-end, but significantly less congested in the bass region, which gives it a sense of airiness and spaciousness the Arctis 1 doesn't have. There are some other $50 gaming headsets to consider too, such as the HyperX Cloud Stinger and Corsair HS50. As far as I'm concerned, you should be deciding between the SteelSeries Arctis 1 and Cooler Master MH630—they're the best two models of the aforementioned lot.

The passive noise isolation is very good. With the ear cushions being marketed as "airy," I was a bit worried that they were going to leak a lot of sound, but they don't.