SteelSeries Arctis 9X Wireless Xbox Headset

*Updated July 2023. 4 stars updated to 5*

A few days in and here’s my thoughts:
Note: using this on an Xbox Series X

Pros:
• Great neutral sound. Coming from the ATH-M50x this has a part similar soundscape. Just a tad bit lower on the bass in comparison. There are 4 EQ modes: flat, bass Boost, smile, and focus but I stick to the flat as I don’t like to alter tone at all.
• Easy to adjust. Going with the ski band setup makes it easy to get the best fit
• Comfortable in long periods. I’ve worn them for hours on end with glasses and experienced no discomfort.
• Long battery life. I charge my headset and controller every night just because I’m wary of having to swap out but they definitely last for long periods of time even with Bluetooth connected
*** 2 years in and battery is still going strong. Still haven’t had it die on me except one time where I didn’t charge overnight.

• Bluetooth connectivity. Honestly maybe the biggest selling point for me. The ability to hear phone audio and game audio is a game changer. Before I’d try to work out a setup using a headphone splitter to get both audio to my headset at the same time but this is as simple as can be.
• Clear mic. I haven’t been able to test out things like background noise cancellation but you will definitely be heard loud and clear with this one.
• Visual indicator for mic on/off. A little point to be made but one I love, the mic will glow red when the mic is muted.

The cons:
• Power integration with Xbox is very weird. If you turn on the headset it will turn on your Xbox. If you turn off your Xbox before turning off the headset it will wake your console back up. There is just no need for either of these to happen.
*** It no longer turns your Xbox back on when you turn it on after your Xbox but it still wakes up your Xbox when powered on, which actually turns out is usually the way I wake up my system. So maybe not so much a con anymore.

• Lack of controls on Xbox. I’m used to being able to control headset and mic settings visually and this doesn’t work due to the physical buttons on the headset. Things like game-party volume, overall headset volume and turning the mic on and off have controls on the headset, but apparently to control mic monitoring volume I have to configure it on PC.
*** Turns out this isn’t as important to me 2 years in.

• Not the best fit for my head. I just have a weird shaped head which makes many head accessories difficult. This headset in particular wants to slope back and sit very close to the back of my head.
*** This is still an annoyance honestly.

• Micro USB port. Come on, there’s no reason to be using anything but USB-C now. This is the only device I own now that I need a micro usb cable for.
*** Still true. Would have been nice to have USB-C as I only have a micro usb cable around to charge this.

• Lays flat the wrong way. When I take the headset off my head and put it in front of me I’d expect it to lay flat that way. Instead I need to turn it 180 to lay it flat. I don’t see the point in this.

• Lack of spatial sound options on Xbox. This is more a dig at the other companies but Windows Sonic seems to be the only option for spatial sound, as DTS and Dolby Atmos require a wired connection as it seems.
*** I think this has been fixed?

• Narrow room for volume control. It feels very hard to get precise amounts dialed in for the voice/game volume audio and I find myself fiddling around trying to dial it in while playing Apex Legends while in party chat.
*** Still find myself fiddling around with it cause it’s not intuitive which direction is game audio and which is chat

I’ll probably have to come back to this in a while to see how they hold up long term but they have been worth it for me so far.

*** New notes July 2023:

• Sometimes will partially disconnect itself and requires you to press the home button on the Xbox controller to reconnect. Can’t seem to figure out why this happens.

• Just sometimes powers back off after you turn it on. Doesn’t seem to happen while gaming for a while, only when powering on randomly.

About a half year ago I broke the right ear cup off while in a, uhhh, heated gaming session. I ended up screwing it back into the arm after attempts to glue it with multiple methods all failed. In that time I never considered a different brand or model of headset and would have bought this again if it were unfixable.

Great headphones. To get the full experience from these headphones I’d recommend pairing it with Xbox – Dolby Atmos plugin. Pairing to the Xbox happens in a click of a button, no adapters, Bluetooth connectivity is great for taking calls and listening to music while gaming. Comfortable for long gaming sessions, solid build quality, crystal clear microphone.

Heads up for Apple Mac users: the headphones Bluetooth/USB does not connect with Mac Computers/Laptops which makes it impossible to tune & update your headphones firmware without a windows PC.

I purchased these despite the reported issues with connectivity. And I noticed when I purchased it I had no offer to add a protection plan. This was concerning.

I received my headset and charged them, but they appeared fully charged. I then hooked them up to my laptop to adjust the settings and check for firmware updates. Surprisingly, there was no update and I appear to have the same version that has been out with reported issues.
Knowing that I didn’t want to use the Bluetooth feature and after reading about others experience. I decided to disable the Bluetooth auto connect feature in the steelseries engine.

I synched my headset to my Xbox and viola! They certainly sound great. The volume isn’t excessive, but that’s probably for the best. They sound fantastic and I noticed directional audio was very good.

After one match in the new COD MW. I was in the menu when I noticed the first sign of crackling.

I grew concerned considering the price tag.
But I continued. The crackling would occasionally occur, more commonly with the menu soundtrack.

Then in game there were a few instances of the audio momentarily dropping.

I was trying anything I could think to determine the cause. I tried turning off Bluetooth devices around me.

It was then I notice it happens more when I move abruptly. This made me fear it was a hardware issue such as loose parts.

After giving up to find the cause of the issue, I continued playing.

At some point the headset disconnected entirely despite still being powered on. I was sure I was going to return them at this point.

But I wanted to game. So after reading guidance I found online. I shut off the headset. Hard reset my console. And smoked a cigarette.

Since I turned it on after this, I have had no issues. Even if I move my head more than I naturally would.

Now this was about 18 hours ago. I’m about to use them again and hope there are no issues.

If it’s a firmware issue I don’t mind waiting for an update. Because if I have no more issues, then the troubles I had in the first few hours after initially connecting no longer occur. Then these deserve 5 stars.

I may update my review of anything changes. I bought them with confidence the connectivity issues have had ample time to be addressed and resolved. However I did have the same reported issues initially.

If they don’t have anymore connection issues, these are hands down 5 stars.

This may be the most comfortable headset I have ever worn. And they sound great.
For the price, I expect the quality. And if the connection issues persist then the headset is unbearable to use. I hope they last and I don’t run into many more issues.

I definitely recommend them. The only caveat is the present connection issues that commonly occur. If you get a pair, try what I did and troubleshoot. Because now that they have been working, I’m very happy with them. I’m hoping they continue to work well because it would be sad for such a great product to become useless due to one significant flaw.