After four years of hard use my old Astro A40 Gaming headset finally needed replacing, and considering how I use my headphones everyday, I needed something that was built to last, comfortable, and most importantly, wireless.
Within gaming Wireless headsets have always been hit or miss. When I deliberated buying the A40's in 2014 there was a wireless option offered by Astro (A50), however the reviews for it were poor and the extra £50 it cost made me go against it in favour of it's wired counterpart.
Nowadays, the market for gaming headsets is broad, and provides a number of competing brands, but for me I needed a headset which provided a connection via Optical cable (to the PS4), and through another mean to connect to my PC, which I would be using a VOIP program with.
The SteelSeries Arctis Pro is the headliner in the Arctis series, which through a Bluetooth connection provides a wireless headset capable of delivering DTS 2.0, which they describe as a truly 3D audio experience.
Setup for the device involves installing the Steelseries Engine on a PC, which includes a customisable equalizer, along with a number of handy presets. The software is good enough at it's role, if a little underwhelming, and can be confusing the first few times it is used.
The headset itself is REALLY comfortable. there are some days where I have had the headphones on for multiple hours, with no pain at all! The cushioning on the ears is a particular highlight, and compared to my old headphones and others I have used, the head-strap is less of a burden for long sessions.
However, while it is handy to have muting and volume options on the headset itself (especially if you are further away from where the mixamp is placed), the buttons are fiddly and almost get in the way while you put the headset on, meaning that you may unknowingly change settings that you do not want changed.
Speaking of the Mixamp, it includes a digital display (good for dimly lit rooms), and has almost all the options as the software installed on your PC. It also acts as a charging dock for the battery pack, which lasts around 10 hours, so you will never be without charge.
The sound quality is excellent, at least on the optical side. The speakers must be more sensitive(?) than the ones included on the Astro headset, as they allow for greater depth of audio, meaning important audio ques such as footsteps are more easily heard.
Overall, I am happy with the purchase almost a month in, aside from a few nit-picky elements on the headset itself. If you are looking for a do-it-all headset/headphone combination, I would definitely recommend this product.
