Steelseries Arctis 1 Vs Steelseries Arctis 3: What Should You Get?

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This is the comparison of the same brand of Steelseries Arctis 1 and Steelseries Arctis 3. Both the gaming headsets has almost the same points. But, some different features makes them stand out. Check which you should buy for their price-point.

Steelseries Arctis 1

Steelseries Arctis 3

Frequency response 20HZ –20000 Hz 20-22000 Hz
Impedance 32 Ohm 32 Ohm
Driver 40mm neodymium 40mm neodymium
Sensitivity 100 db 98db
Connection 4-pole 3.5mm + Dual 3.5mm PC extension Dual 3.5mm, 3-Pole Plug or Single 3.5mm, 4-Pole Plug via included adapter
 Color Black Black, white, solar red, boreal blue, and slate grey
 Weight  272 grams 272 grams

Introduction

Steelseries Arctis 1

This Steelseries Arctis 1 has both wired and wireless version which retails $50 and $100 respectively. The wireless version also has the USB C adapter which is a big key feature in this particular model. This can be used all the console gaming devices.

Steelseries Arctis 3

The Arctis 3 which is the wired version but the Arctis 3 also claims to be 7.1 surround sound gaming headsets which is best in gaming surround sound.

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Design & Features

Steelseries Arctis 1

The Arctis 1 wireless retails for $100, but there’s also a non wireless version of the Acrtis 1 which retails for $50. The Arctis 1 wireless comes included with a 3.5 to 3.5 millimeter audio cable since you still have to use a wired connection. If you’re an Xbox gamer, there’s a long USB A to micro USB cable used for charging since the Arctis 1 still charges via a micro USB port, you get your USB C wireless transmitter which you’ll plug directly into your computer, Nintendo switch or even your phone, and you also get a USB A to USB C adapter. So, you can plug the transmitter into your play-station 4 or into your computer if it doesn’t have a USB C port.

Now, when it comes to wireless connectivity, I’ve had zero issues with this wireless transmitter. From a performance stand point there isn’t any noticeable lag, and I’ve had zero connection drops of this transmitter. But unfortunately, the Arctis 1 can only wirelessly communicate to anything that’s plugged into this transmitter. Since the Arctis 1 doesn’t have Bluetooth 4.1 like the Arctis 3, you can’t just pair to your phone via Bluetooth.

Steelseries Arctis 3

The headset is soft, matte, plastic, all the way around but solid plastic. You’ve got a volume control, mute button, and USB. Also, this set has proprietory plug and then 3.5 millimeter plug. There’s also some accessories comes with the headphone in the box which are another cable, this is for PC with split mic and audio.

These are stylish enough, if you wanted to you could take them out and use them as regular headphones as well.

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Comfort

Steelseries Arctis 1

The Arctis 1 are still very light weight like the Arctis 3, they’re still using the same plastic body panels, and they still have the same super breathable fabric ear pads that keep your ears nice and cool even after long gaming sessions. But the Arctis 1 just fit much better than the Arctis 3. They fit much more naturally on your head than the Arctis 3 do. For me, the Arctis 3 apply a little more pressure on the top portion of my ears than they do on the bottom, its not uncomfortable but it is annoying where as the ear cups on the Arctis 1 apply an even amount of pressure around your ears so you forget you have them on after while. The ear cups on the Arctis 1 are also a little more roomier than the ear cups on the Arctis 3. So if you’re someone with large ears then you’ll probably really like the Arctis 1.

Something that I do want to point out is that when I first unboxed the Arctis 1 and put them on I did find them to be a little snug. But after flexing the headband a little bit and gaming with them for a few hours, they broke in and now they fit perfectly fine. So over all the Arctis 1 are more comfortable even without their suspension headband.

Steelseries Arctis 3

There is one fabric cloth on the headband or top which made up of air weave fabric and in other places they call it they call it ski goggle fabric. It is nice and it’s not something that you will be see on other headsets. It is just like an elastic band with a nice design on it. In ear pads, inside there’s just a little bit of a fabric layer that’s covering the driver.

This is a little bit heavy but not too heavy. In this band, you’re never going to have any pain on your head up here if you’re using these headsets. They are comfortable I do find ear sweat a little bit. This is great for sitting on your couch in gaming if you’re plugging into the controller but I don’t think that it will be feel good in out too because this is not very long anyway. The fit and finish is great, it’s durable. It feels like it would stand up to a lot.

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Microphone Performance

Steelseries Arctis 1

Just as you’d expect the microphone on this headset sounds great and it does a good job of just picking up your voice and not everything else around you. It will definitely Isolate your voice with any sound surrounded you. The audio comes from the microphone is clear and not too low. So overall I’m a really big fan of the steel series Arctis 1.

Steelseries Arctis 3

You’ve got a retractable mic. The mic retracts, moves around, bends around. There’s a mute switch, when you press the mute switch in it is unmuted, and when you pull the mute switch out it. Steelseries claims that this is the best mic in gaming. The mic stays where you want it to go, so that’s all good.

The microphone sounds pretty much good. You can use it for multiplayer games but I don’t think this will be fine for professional way.

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Sound Performance

Steelseries Arctis 1

From a sound quality standpoint I didn’t notice any major audio differences between the Arctis 1 and Arctis 3. They both get more than loud enough and distortion isn’t a problem. But with the Arctis 1 you can go and connect to Steelseries engine 3 on your computer and adjust the headset’s EQ, dynamic range, compression, mic side-tone, and mic volume. These settings are then stored directly on the headset, so if you were to go from gaming on your PC to gaming on your switch or play-station, those settings will still carry over which is good thing.

But unfortunately, since the Arctis 1 can only be used passively when you used with a wired connection, you can’t use your preset configuration for EQ and dynamic range compression. So, basically Xbox gamers are out of luck and are just better off getting the Arctis 1 Wired version instead.

Steelseries Arctis 3

It sounds pretty good. These are warmer sounding headphones. They are detailed in their own way but they are not crisp and clean in the way that you would want. If you are a footstep whore and you play multiplayer online, these are not the headphones for you because they’re not very crisp and they’re not giving you a lot of detail in that higher-end, maybe you could EQ them in some way if you’re using your computer. But, they sound nice and sound full maybe a little bit of a bass bump but not overly bassy.

The one problem that happens with a lot of headphones that need to get powered by the Dual-shock 4. They were loud enough but if you wanted loud then you need to do something else because the Dual-shock 4 was just not making these louder but loud enough like you won’t hurt your ears and you can hear everything in the game but you can’t really push it any further than that. So, that was a little bit of a drag.

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Conclusion

Steelseries Arctis 1

Its just fits much better than the Arctis 3, they sound great, and you can game with this headset for hours on end. But, if you’re strictly an Xbox gamer I highly recommend you just go with the $50 non wireless version of the Arctis 1. The Arctis 1 wireless plays nice with PC, Play-station or Switch or even your phone. So, if you have more than one gaming console you can easily switch between them and play wirelessly with the Arctis 1.

Steelseries Arctis 3

These have been one of my most requested headsets. They’re well made, they are stylish and comfortable from a fit and finish standpoint. In gaming, I still think these are just sort of casual gaming headphones. These would be a decent $60 headphone that you could use for multiple uses but from a gaming standpoint, they’re just a casual headset.

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Buy Steelseries Arctis 1 

Buy Steelseries Arctis 3