Arctis 7 issues.

[Picklerick]

Hi! So i just got my Arctis 7 today and I was really excited to replace my 3-4 yr old Logitech G430, I really thought everything was gonna be significantly better but boy was I wrong.

 

Out of the box the headset sounded like a really bad recording of whatever sound is playing and it's way too loud which is understandable I guess. But, even after tweaking eq settings + using peace equalizer etc (found this on reddit) still no luck the sound is basically the same for me. I am by no means an audiophile and I know nothing about audio devices etc or anything of that sort. I just bought the Arctis 7 in confidence thinking they were supposed to be one of the best "gaming" headsets out there as they were marketed to be. My old logitech g430 sounds much muuuuch better and cleaner in every single way compared to my Arctis 7's. The Arctis 7 made it unbearable for me to play any sound on my pc because of how bad and muffled they sounded which makes my head hurt, sounds were all over the place if it's not too loud, it's too low. Everything sounded like a mess and it's either I couldn't hear the game  and my teammates were too loud or the other way around (yes I put the game/chat mixer in between to balance this but each time a teammate talks I always have to lower game volume). I'm pretty sure it's not just a bad unit because I saw a lot of the same issue on reddit. On wired mode the headset sounds a teeeeeeny bit better but still not good enough and not even close to the clarity of my old g430.

 

Is there any way that I could fix this? I just want good and clean audio just like from my trusty G430's (rip). I'd really hate to replace or sell this as I don't have any extra's around. I'm scratching my head over this and I haven't even used this headset for half a day yet, I'd really hate my $160 go to waste.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[flibberdipper]

A good starting point would be making sure Windows is using the right audio device. The Arctis headsets have two outputs: Chat and Game. You (obviously) want to have Game set as the default device, with Chat being the default communication device. This is most easily done by hopping into the playback/recording control panel, easily gotten to by right clicking on the volume icon in your notification tray and hitting sounds.

 

 

Something else I would highly recommend doing while you're there is going though each device and set them to their highest quality. It makes a particularly noticeable difference in your mic/chat audio quality.

[Picklerick]

5 hours ago, flibberdipper said:

A good starting point would be making sure Windows is using the right audio device. The Arctis headsets have two outputs: Chat and Game. You (obviously) want to have Game set as the default device, with Chat being the default communication device. This is most easily done by hopping into the playback/recording control panel, easily gotten to by right clicking on the volume icon in your notification tray and hitting sounds.

 

 

Something else I would highly recommend doing while you're there is going though each device and set them to their highest quality. It makes a particularly noticeable difference in your mic/chat audio quality.

Hi! Yes it's already set to the correct settings

[flibberdipper]

59 minutes ago, Picklerick said:

Hi! Yes it's already set to the correct settings

The only other thing I can think of is to install/reinstall SteelSeries Engine and hope that fixes it. There really shouldn't be any reason for it to be muffled with it set up right.

[Picklerick]

So far I've tried:

 

- using wired mode (sounds a teeeeeny bit better but still bad compared to my old cheapo g430 and sounds quieter)

- switching to a usb 2.0 port

-using peace eq/apo sounds a bit better but still bad in game

 

Ill try your suggestion of reinstalling SSE and see if that works for me if not I'll try a factory rese maybe.

 

[Picklerick]

Bump. Really hope I can get some help here

 

I've been scratching my head over this for a day, is it just me or does audio sound too muffled especially in games. I seriously can't hear properly with these headsets the sounds are too loud and unbalanced and they make my head hurt because of the loud unbalanced sounds I cant hear both comms and the game properly. I'm no audiophile by any means but I'm really disappointed with the sound quality on this headset (unless I may not be doing something right).

I've tried a lot if things including:
- peace equalizer/apo gui with presets from a reddit user. A bit of an improvement but still BAD.
- using wired mode. Sound is weaker still bad.
- making sure the default audio is arctis 7 (game) still bad
- 48k quality still bad
-transferring the transmitter to another usb port still no luck.
-flat settings
-turning off dts

I feel like this headset is being overhyped by youtubers. My 3-4 yr old logitech g430 sounds way better than this. At this point I feel like steelseries just robbed me. I just want clean and crisp sounds (like you would hear from a pair of apple earphones. Yes ik they might be crap to some of you but like I said Im no audiophile and I'm not picky but holy sh** the arctis 7 is horrible.) which this headset can't seem to produce.

 

If anyone could help me and change my opinion regarding this that would be really great. It''s a shame it is such a comfy and good looking pair and I don't want to have to return/sell it. 

[Heisenberg2347]

I picked up these headphones yesterday and I agree 100% these are very garbage.