SteelSeries Arctis 3 – All-Platform Gaming Headset – for PC, PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X[S] One, Nintendo Switch, VR, Android, and iOS – Black

So from a technical perspective, this headset does what it’s supposed to do: Play sound, wirelessly. The range is decent. The buttons are fine. The mute indicator on the mic is nice. But heaven forbid something goes wrong with your headset like something did to mine, and nothing matters anymore.

My headset stopped charging abruptly one day, so I filed a service ticket through their purposely obtuse service system. Heaven forbid I actually want to speak to a human. After a few back and forth exchanges, they decided my headset was indeed defective and worthy of RMA.

HOO BOY THIS IS WHERE THE FUN STARTS. You want to know what it’s like filing an RMA with the Vogons? This is what it’s like:

SS: “File this paperwork, include your receipt, picture of headset, serial number, PICTURE of serial number, and mail a blood sample.”

ME: “DONE”

SS: “OK, now PHYSICALLY DESTROY YOUR HEADSET, but you have to do it EXACTLY THIS WAY or we void your RMA.”

ME: “DONE”

SS: “OK, now you have to take EXACTLY THESE PICTURES of the front, back, left, and right side of the headset, the serial number must be showing in EVERY PICTURE and you have to also print out this QR code and also have that visible in EVERY PICTURE or we void your RMA.”

ME: “That’s….almost not physically possible due to the location of the serial number but I’ll do my best, here you go.”

SS: “WARNING WARNING WARNING THERE IS A DISCREPANCY IN YOUR RMA. WE CANNOT TELL YOU WHAT KIND OF DISCREPANCY BECAUSE IT IS A ‘SECURITY RISK’ BUT NOW YOU CAN MAIL US ALL THE CUT UP PARTS OF THE HEADSET. ALSO SHIPPING IS AT YOUR EXPENSE BECAUSE WE ARE IDIOTS.”

ME: “Security risk…for an RMA? Now I have to fish this thing out of the trash. Here you go. Sent.”

SS: “Thank you, also we don’t actually track shipments or have any accountability in our receivables department, so it’s UP TO YOU to let us know when the item has been delivered, failure to EMAIL US TELLING WE RECEIVED YOUR ITEM will delay your request.”

ME: “JFC. Okay, done.”

SS:”We received your item, and verified everything but will still inexplicably take another 3 days to email you a coupon code for a new headset, and by the way here’s another 30 rules to follow which, if violated, void your coupon and RMA.”

Look guys – I understand you want to reduce the risk of people abusing your RMA process, but I really, really can’t get behind a company that automatically treats every one of their clients like a criminal. I’ve had better luck helping someone file for social security disability through the court system.

If Steelseries was less insane about their warranty process, I’d give this 5 stars. But as it stands, it COST ME MONEY to replace something under warranty and I’ve been without a working headset for 3 weeks, so sorry you get to stick with 1-star.

Je donnerais 5 étoiles sans hésitation pour le casque si ce n’était du problème que j’ai eu avec les écouteurs blancs.

Le son est excellent et le micro est tout autant.

Je ne suis pas un fan de la strap d’ajustement pour la tête je trouve ca moins confortable mais ceci peut différer d’une personne à l’autre. Mon plus gros problème avec ses écouteurs est dans son choix de matériaux. Le plastique BLANC utilisé est très poreux et se tache ultra facilement. Et croyez-moi lorsque je dis ultra facilement, mon fils a remplacé ses ecouteurs corsair blanc pour se modèle car le mirco ne fonctionnait plus et il voulait essayer yn noyveau modèle. Il est habitué de jouer avec un oreillé derrière le cou pour un meilleur confort. Avec le casque Corsair, nous n’avons jamais eu aucun probleme, mais le plastique de steelseries est tres poreux et semble absorber la teinture de l’oreillé de mon garçon. Meme probleme si votre ado à l’idée de génie de jouer avec un kangourou et mettre sa capuche sur sa tête en jouant, la couleur de son kangourou a taché ses ecouteurs. J’ai retourné le premier casque croyant à un autre problème mais le résultat est le même avec le 2e. Choissez les steel series noirs afin d’éviter se genre de problème.

I’ve been looking at this headset for a long time due to the fact that I really hated the battery life on my 2015 Astro A50s. When they came on sale for $150 I figured, what the heck. After I received them, I really liked the look and feel of them, sound quality is good, the fact that I can listen to music on my phone is also fun, the wireless range is great; but I must say the mic is not as good as my Astro’s (or at least so I am told). The listening experience is fun, but I noticed that the ear cushions were not deep enough as my ears were touching the speakers. At first I thought, no big deal, but after 8 hours… OMG get off my head! These are not comfortable for long periods of wear. I can sometimes have my headset on my head for 15 hours straight, but you have another thing coming if you think I will do it with this level of discomfort.

Does this headset deserve a 1 star: No. It’s not that bad, but for the money and drawbacks, you can do a lot better; and so I find they are completely not worth your time and money. I hate it when people review a product and say that there is better out there, but then leave it to you to find said product, so I will also say, I bought Razer Naris instead. Wireless range isn’t as good, but is very comfortable.

Okay, these SHOULD be pretty nice headphones for $150, BUT there are quite a few caveats that put me off of these. I noticed a few other reviews mention these issues. These issues bothered me so much I returned them. Simply NOT worth the price!

First off, I wear headphones 12-18 hours a day, 7 days a week. For work, recreation, and to help me fall asleep. I know headphones, and have a decent collection of a dozen or so.

1) HOLY DISTORTION, BATMAN! Listening to music at volumes any of my other headphones can handle (including the cheap-o $30 bluetooth units), these units produce massive amounts of distortion. I cannot believe how bad these are at volumes over 50%! Give it one tonal range to cover, and it seems to do okay, but toss in two or three (like bass guitar and a high-hat at the same time…. or, ya know, almost all music) and suddenly you can’t make out what you’re listening to anymore.

2) The volume roller is EXTREMELY easy to accidentally adjust. I mean, unbelievably easy. I am CONSTANTLY messing with the volume when adjusting the headphones or mic, and since it’s so loose it’s almost impossible to dial in “just the right” volume. Very very annoying!

3) There’s no media controls on these. Why? A push-button volume button combination would easily solve the “too easy to adjust” volume, and allow media controls through long presses.

4) The ear pieces are EXTREMELY hot. I wear headphones quite a bit, but these burn my ears up in a matter of minutes, which makes me adjust or remove them temporarily. This also reiterates point #2 in that the volume knob is ALWAYS being adjusted by accident.

5) These block absolutely no out-side sound, and people often can hear what I am listening to or playing. This doesn’t make sense since the ear-pads don’t seem to allow ANY airflow.

6) The mic disable button turns ON a light…….. What? So when your mic is on, there’s no light. When you mic is OFF, such as when listening to music, hanging out, whatever, there’s BRIGHT RED LED on 100% of the time……. Huh???? How does this make sense?

7) the audio volume is easily 1/3 of every other headphone I own. I crank every setting up to 100% just to be equal to 30% on any other headset… Why?

8) mic is garbage!!!! I can’t imagine anyone with any sense of intelligence thinking this mic is anything other than painfully sub par. Everything either sounds tinny, or incredibly digital (like using one of those $5 voice oscillators that make you sound like a robot.

9) while the ear pads do go around your ears, the speaker mesh is too shallow and will contact your ears. This makes it unbearable by itself, but combined with every other issue…..

10) FINALLY the surround sound effect is negligable. Playing the same surround sound tests, I cannot tell a difference between regular 2.0 phones and these. At all. There’s also a VERY VERY VERY specific place you HAVE to position these, or you’ll only hear about 70% of what it’s putting out. Unfortunately the VERY SPECIFIC spot these must be placed is absolutely HORRIBLE. You must bend and fold your ears to position them even remotely correctly.

11) I know I said 10 was the final number, but it brings me to another point. These are so uncomfortable in almost every way. After a short session your jaw will hurt, as the bottoms press right into the hinge of your jaw, your ears will hurt and be sweaty from the complete lack of ventilation (it’s like putting your ears in a wool coat in July in Florida — a swamp!)

From a company that specializes in headphones, these are full of awfully poor design choices! One of the worst overall headsets I’ve ever owned.

Do not recommend to anyone for any purpose!

i dont know where to start with this one…. i bought this to replace my hyperx cloud 2 and was looking for something a bit cheaper. when it arrived it seemed fine but after about 10 mins of use i hated it. It HAS ZERO ADJUSTMENT TO IT comes with only one Velcro spot for the band and the sides dont adjust like most do. ear cups are not deep enough so my ear is being highly crushed. and now for my big ones…. the audio is absolute garbage worse sounding than apple earbuds and about as loud as well, the ear cups swivel but its not loud enough to hear off your head so thats useless. THE WIRE IS THEN AND MADE OF LOW QUALITY RUBBER AND LOOKS VERY EASY TO ACCIDENTALLY BREAK. literally the only good thing about these headphones is the built in mic and the feeling of boxing it back up to get a refund