SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless Headphones Review

The SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless are pretty much identical to the wired SteelSeries Arctis 1, but with a more matte finish. They don't have a very flashy gaming-oriented design, which some may like. You can also detach the microphone for a more straightforward look.

The SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless are decently comfortable for long gaming sessions. They clamp down a bit more than the wired version, but it's mostly to help create a better seal under the ear. The padding is fairly comfortable, while the headband distributes the weight effectively.

The headphones offer easy to use controls. They have a volume wheel, which stops at max/min volume, and a mic mute switch. The SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless also have a power button that can act as a control button when used with an Android device. A single press plays/pauses tracks, while a double-tap skips tracks and a triple tap goes to the previous track.

These headphones aren't the most portable due to their size. On the upside, you don't have to worry about a cable dangling around, and their ear cups swivel to lay flat around your neck and make it easier to slide them in a bag. However, most people won't bring these around as they're aimed to be used with your gaming setup at home.

These headphones don't come with a case.

The build quality of the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless is very similar to the wired SteelSeries Arctis 1. However, they have a sleeker matte finish, and their cable is detachable, which is easier to replace if damaged. Overall, the build is mostly made of plastic, and the hinges don't feel too solid. On the upside, the headband feels decently solid and well-padded. If build quality matters to your and you don't mind a wired connection, check out the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1 instead.

Thanks to the clamping force of these headphones, they're a bit more stable than the wired SteelSeries Arctis 1. Nevertheless, these aren't meant for sports and fall off the head easily with movement.

• SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless headphones
• Detachable microphone
• USB-C dongle
• 1/8" TRRS cable
• USB-A to USB-C extension cable
• Micro-USB charging cable
• User Manual

The SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless have a decently well-balanced and neutral sound profile. They have a bit of overemphasis in the bass range, which adds an extra punch that some may like. Overall, they're well-suited for a variety of content and games. However, they aren't the most consistent across different users, so your experience may vary.

The frequency response consistency of the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless is quite poor, like most Arctis headphones. There's a lot of variation in the bass and treble ranges, which means that your experience may vary depending on positioning, fit, and seal.

The bass accuracy of the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless is good. The response isn't quite balanced as there's a dip in the low-bass while the high-bass is slightly overemphasis. This results in a slightly punchy and muddy bass, while the low-bass lacks thump and rumble. However, note that these results are an averaged response, and they perform quite inconsistently on different users, so your experience may vary.

The mid-accuracy of the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless is excellent. They reproduce vocals and dialogue accurately.

The SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless have good treble accuracy. While the response is a bit under our target curve, it's still pretty flat. It might result in slightly dulled voices and instruments, but since these headphones perform differently depending on positioning and fit, your experience may vary.

These headphones have a good peaks and dips performance. The overall response is pretty well-balanced, but there's a bit of a broad peak in the bass range which clutters the mix a bit. Also, the peak in mid-treble can make certain frequencies rather sharp and piercing, especially on already bright tracks.

The imaging performance of the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless is decent. Most of the group delay is under the audibility threshold, although some frequencies in the bass range might sound a bit loose. Our unit also has a small mismatch in amplitude and frequency, although this shouldn't be audible to most people. Note that these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The passive soundstage of the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless is sub-par. While they show a lot of pinna interaction, it's not the most accurate and since they're closed-back headphones, the soundstage doesn't seem speaker-like and still seems to be inside the listener's head.

These headphones don't have any virtual soundstage features.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance of these headphones is within good limits. These headphones produce clear and pure sound, even at a very high volume.

These settings were used to test these headphones. The test results are only valid for these settings.

Like most Arctis headphones, the noise isolation performance of the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless is bad. The porous pads let a lot of noise seep into your audio. They don't block the deep rumble of engines and won't be suitable for your commute or flights. On the upside, they do a decent job of blocking out higher frequencies such as the humming of an A/C unit.

The leakage level of the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless is good. They don't leak out too much noise and are about as noisy as an average office. This means you shouldn't bother the people around you too much if you raise your volume a bit.

The SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless have a malleable boom microphone that can be fully detached to give the headphones a more casual look.

The boom microphone has decent recording quality. It sounds clear and easy to understand, although voices sound a bit thin and bright.

Update 10/26/2021: These headphones have been updated to test bench 1.5. In this update, we made changes to the way we test noise handling. We now use a subjective evaluation of our audio clips. This new method has resulted in different results than what we had reported in our previous test bench. As a result, the scoring of this box has changed, and we've updated our results.

The noise handling performance of the mic is decent. It's able to separate background noise from your voice well, which is very useful if you play games in a moderately noisy environment.

These headphones have an outstanding battery performance. We measured just about 25 hours of battery life, which is nice considering that SteelSeries advertises 20 hours. They can also be used passively with a wired connection. You can even use the headphones while charging.

The SteelSeries Engine app has a good amount of customization options, although not as many as with other SteelSeries headphones. It has a 6-band EQ instead of a 10-band EQ, like what you get with higher-end models like the SteelSeries Arctis Pro GameDAC. The app also allows for sidetone, or mic monitoring, enabling you to hear your own voice through the headphones.

These headphones aren't Bluetooth compatible.

These headphones have a great non-Bluetooth wireless performance. They connect via their USB-C dongle and have low enough latency for you to play PC games without noticing a delay.

These headphones can be used wired with a typical 1/8" TRRS cable, which is included in the box. Unfortunately, they don't support audio via their micro-USB charging cable.

You can use this headset wired to your Xbox One controller with a typical 1/8" TRRS cable. You'll need to get the Xbox variant if you want to use it wirelessly with this console.

This headset has a USB-C dongle that can be used on PCs and Android phones that have the appropriate jack. It also comes with a USB-A cable that acts as both an adapter and an extender.