Sound Quality

The SteelSeries Arctis 3 Bluetooth uses a pair of 40-millimeter dynamic drivers with a specified frequency response of 20–22,000 Hz. The acoustic characteristics of this headset are in line with what I've previously heard from other higher-end gaming products from the Arctis lineup. You'll get a respectable bass extension, balanced mid-range that is slightly boosted in its lower region, and excellent treble, which gives the Arctis 3 Bluetooth a recognizable, sharp sound signature, which works great in games like multiplayer first-person shooters as you'll get a ton of information about your surroundings. Overall spatial awareness and in-game target positioning are definite strong suits of the Arctis 3 Bluetooth.

Similar to its brethren, the Arctis 3 Bluetooth isn't very bass-heavy, although it doesn't sound lean either. The bass is more pronounced in the upper part of its region and rolled off below 100 Hz, so it lacks some attack and bite. It does start to swell above 100 Hz and mostly manages to steer clear of excessive boominess. If you're not a hardcore bass-head (bass isn't the only thing you want to hear), the low-end reproduction should be mostly satisfying. This aspect of the Arctis gaming headset lineup can usually be improved through the system-wide equalizer offered within the SteelSeries Engine software driver. No such luck here, though—being an analog headset, the Arctis 3 Bluetooth isn't supported by SteelSeries Engine. Of course, if the sound card you're connecting it to has an equalizer of its own, you can use it to add a desired amount of punchiness to the bass reproduction of the Arctis 3 Bluetooth, as the built-in speaker drivers respond well to equalization.


With a strong focus on precision and clarity of sound, the Arctis 3 Bluetooth holds its own in many different music genres. The built-in drivers can keep up with fast drums, guitars, and male and female vocals of all ranges. For bass-focused genres, such as hip-hop and EDM, I'd consider other options.

As for the Bluetooth performance, the SBC codec proves to be "good enough" for the Arctis 3 Bluetooth. There's no massive loss of quality when switching from wired to wireless connectivity, especially if you're primarily using Bluetooth for voice communication.

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 plenty of sound, but they didn't.