Steelseries Arctis 7P+ Wireless headset review – My new favorite gaming headset

Many know this about me; I’m a gear geek. I love checking out new accessories for my computer, consoles, and tech – it’s a guilty pleasure I enjoy greatly. Writing at Gaming Trend has largely allowed me to dive head first into this indulgence, reviewing plenty of things over the last year or so I wouldn’t have been able to justify on a limited budget. One of my favorite things to check out, even before I started reviewing them – headsets. I’m an audiophile at heart; being a musician does that to you, and I’ve purchased a bunch of headphones over the years. I’ve owned several pairs of the Steelseries brand, in fact, my normal PS5 ones have been the Cyberpunk 2077 themed Arctis 1s, but lately on my PC I’ve used Micrisoft’s Xbox Wireless Headset. In moving to playing Call Of Duty on the PC, I haven’t used my previous Steelseries in awhile, but since being sent the Steelseries Arctis 7P+, I’m not sure I ever want to use anything else.

So let’s get into the box! Right off the bat you’ve got the wonderful Arctis 7P+ headset, the small USB-C wireless transmitter, a USB-A to USB-C adapter cable to use if your device doesn’t have a USB-C connection, a USB-C charge cable, and a 3.5 jack cable to use for mobile. Just accounting for what’s in the box, Steelseries is making sure you’re set to use this thing for any and every device you can. I always speak of versatility (and I will for quite a bit beyond this paragraph), and you can tell the team wanted you to be able to use this headset with just about everything they included.

Of course, the 7P+ itself is the important thing, so let’s change gears to it. The design differs little from previous Artctis headsets, and that’s because it doesn’t need to. The Arctis 3s were my first indoctrination into the brand, and they were as comfy as you can get. Sticking with the build, the oval ear cups, which contour well with your ears and the side of your head, is a decision that allows me to continue wearing these headphones for hours without any discomfort. That’s not the only thing working that the team left on the blueprints, the recognizable ski-band from the headsets of old keep the heaviness of the Arctis 7P+ off of my head and feels almost weightless. This is a design choice I swear by, and it’s why Steelseries is one I’ll always recommend due to its comfort level.

What really makes this headset shine for me is the inclusion of a metal frame. This frame isn’t just a cheap one either; bending this one isn’t much of an option, so don’t worry about messing it up. The only thing I wouldn’t do is leave it on the floor, that steel band might hurt pretty badly if you stepped on it. The good news is that the steel band won’t ever touch your head, thanks to the amazing ski-band allowing this thing to hover above and keep you in the clear.

Beyond the incredible comfort the Arctis 7P+ offers, what the headset contains is quite useful as well. You’ve got your 40mm drivers, the pull out microphone (one of my favorite features), the volume wheel, the charging port, power button, mute button – all the things you expect. Where it goes a little further is a previous property of Arctis headsets in the 3.5 jack along with a dedicated side-tone dial. The 3.5 jack is something unique about Steelseries headsets I’ve not seen with many others. This ability to plug in a second set of earbuds gives you the opportunity to let someone else listen in while you’re playing, or possibly run your sound into a recorder. With the side-tone dial, you can change up your mic-monitoring on the fly, which is appreciated given how loud I know I can get while playing ranked Call Of Duty, and because the microphone on the Arctis 7P+ is a bit hot as well. It’s amazing how just hearing yourself a bit helps you keep your voice down, which certainly comes in handy if you have others in the room.

Connecting the Arctis 7P+ is an extremely easy endeavor, and this is where we get into the versatility of this product. The USB-C adapter is small and will fit nicely into your USB-C product, or into a USB port using the USB-A to C adapter. This makes it extremely easy to use with almost anything, including: my PS4 and PS5 (it even fully supports PS5’s Tempest 3D audio) to quickly get it set up, my Google Pixel 6 Pro to listen to music, and even the Steam Deck and Oculus Quest 2 via their USB-C ports. The last two are the ones that blow me away the most, this miniscule adapter clicks right in and works within seconds. The Steam Deck even recognized it as the Arctis 7P+. Making things work this simply isn’t always that easy, but Steelseries has made this headset usable almost anywhere. Now, this thing works even on the Xbox, you’ll just have to run it the old-fashioned way with the 3.5 jack. You also don’t get the boosted volume and equalized sound as you would wirelessly, but that’s an understandable trade off given it isn’t advertised as compatible.

As for how they sound and how the mic picks up, I’m extremely pleased. First, the sound itself. As many know, I play a ton of Call Of Duty, and recently I’ve been absolutely sucked into Ranked Play. In Call Of Duty: Vanguard, the directional audio has been somewhat suspect, but recently started to be corrected. There was one particular moment where I was using the 7P+ while in a 1v1, having just planted the bomb while waiting for the eventual engagement. The excellent surround sound of the headset allowed me to hear the guy stomping around in a building nearby, so once he jumped out of the second story and headed for the defuse, I was right in his face to get the kill. Sure, that may be a long example of how the 7P+ gets sound right, but it’ll make sense to those looking for a headset they can rely on to clutch those 1v1s.

Besides Call Of Duty, music isa pastime of mine, and the 7P+ handles it while barely shrugging, and offers great highs and lows to each mix. The only thing I could even think to point out is it’s not as bass-ey as I’d like, but that’s more of the decision to go with the 40mm drivers as opposed to the 50mms. Overall, the sound quality is wonderful, and for gaming it’s absolutely sublime. It’s also somewhat noise cancelling, and my wife can speak to that fact. She also couldn’t hear what I was listening to, another big bonus given I was playing late at night. If she can fall asleep beside me while I’m shooting up mercenaries as Max Payne on the Steam Deck, you can play about anything without disturbing someone’s peace and quiet.

The microphone is the other half to the gaming headset equation, and this one mostly measures up to the phenomenal headphones. I recorded a few matches playing Call Of Duty as well and asked my teammates how everything sounded. Listening to my own recordings, I was crisp and clear in what I was saying, which of course is important when you’re communicating with your squad. This is largely what I expected from a “Discord-certified ClearCast bidirectional noise canceling microphone”. I was also playing with my dryer on in the background, so the noise canceling did its job with nothing to be heard beside my voice. The only issue that sticks out to me is how hot it can be. My voice somewhat peaks in the recordings, and my teammates mentioned in stressful situations that when I got loud, causing it to buzz. On the plus side, I can keep the mic pretty far away from my face, but I definitely feel more comfortable when I have it decently close.

For the battery life, it’s telling that I’ve not really had to think about it. With wireless headphones, worrying about how long they will last sits in the back of your mind, but that isn’t really an issue with the 7P+. One of the changes this model has compared to the last one is an increase of battery life, along with changing to USB-C charging, and it’s very obvious in the difference it makes. Beyond just the 30+ hours advertised, you can quick-charge this one thanks to the USB-C switch, storing 3 hours of playtime in as little as 15 minutes. This is absolutely a boon to those of us who forget to charge our headset right before an all-night session with the squad, and I’m pretty sure most of us belong in that category.

While it’s only available for the 7P+ on PC, I love the Sonar software available through the Steelseries GG application. First off, the GG application is similar to most you’ve probably used, allowing you to update your headset and other Steelseries accessories as well as make minor settings adjustments. Secondly, Sonar gives you deeper audio customization, allowing you to equalize both sound and microphone for a personalized audio experience. This falls more into the Dolby Atmos category, but unlike that, this doesn’t cost Steelseries owners a dime. I managed to enable 7.1 surround sound, find a Warzone preset, and adjust the tone on my mic, and all of it was as easy as clicking a few buttons.

Before we get out of here, I’ve got one tiny critique to finish up with. It’s a little thing, but the beep you get in the headset when turning the 7P+ on and off isn’t very good. There’s not a huge difference to the tone, so it can leave you a bit confused on if you’ve actually turned your headset on or off. There is a light on the power button to let you know if you’ve done so, but you can’t see that if it’s on your head. I’d have liked it if they made the sound more distinctive than a simple beep.

You can buy the Steelseries Arctis 7P+ Wireless headset now, available at many brick and mortar locations like GameStop or Best Buy, or directly from Steelseries at this link here.

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