Steelseries offer some fantastic variations to their Arctis Pro headsets. While the wireless version still sounds fantastic (and can be more practical for a lot of gamers), the wired version has been proven to outperform when it comes to taking full advantage of the Hi-Res audio.
The Arctis Pro from Steelseries is a major upgrade from the Arctis 7’s, but can you game comfortably on console with this wired version? Let’s find out…
PC gaming may be pretty straightforward in terms of the Arctis Pro’s cable length (when connecting while sat at a desk), but what about console gamers? Sitting back on your sofa/couch can equal a fair distance from your seat to your games console, so have Steelseries supplied cables to cater for this distance?
Let’s look into the exact measurements of each of the supplied cables and see what this will mean for you and your console setup:
Once you’ve used these cables, it’s clear that the Arctis Pro was designed for the PC gamer first, then to have firmware updates to offer console support
USB Audio Cable – USB end connects to PS4/PS5 and the Micro USB to GAMEDAC
USB Audio Cable length: 59″ / 149.8cm / Just under 1.5 meters
(this is only around 2-3″ longer than your PS5, PS4 or Switch’s Pro Pad controller charge cables)
Main Headset Cable – Both ends Mini USB connecting GAMEDAC to headset
Main Headset Cable length: 59″ / 149.8cm / Just under 1.5 meters
Optical Audio Cable – Connects from GAMEDAC to console (or to TV instead, depending on the console you have)
Optical Audio Cable length: 71″ / 180cm / 1.8 meters
Yup, the two main cables you’ll need to connect from console to GAMEDAC, then from the GAMEDAC to your headset, will add up to just over 3 meters. This could make things difficult if your sofa/couch is quite far back from your TV.
Worry not though, as if you can’t bring a gaming chair closer to your TV (with some other form of small stool/table/chair for the GAMEDAC to sit next to you), there are some upgrades that will help. First, let’s take a look at what you’re connecting to:
Using the Steelseries Arctis Pro with GDAC on a PS4
If you have the original system or PS4 Pro, the manual will advise on connecting both the Optical Audio cable and the USB Audio Cable, from your PS4 to the GDAC. Note that this is to enable Chat Mix and Surround Sound (if you’re not bothered about these, you can just use the USB Audio Cable).
Solution: Purchase a longer USB A to Micro B cable. Keep it to a maximum of 5m as anything over this can jeopardise sound quality.
Lindy’s Cromo Line USB to Micro USB cable (with gold plated contacts) comes in at around £18 and is perfect for our Arctis Pro headset. Make sure whatever you buy has no nylon shieding and is USB 2.0 (as nylon and using USB 3.0 connection, has been known to cause wireless and sound interference)
The next thing you may want to buy would be the longer Optical Digital Audio cable. However, being as I’m currently testing on a PS5, I’m not yet using one and I’m still carrying out tests to see if there are any benefits with this additional setup for console games.
Steelseries Arctis Pro with GDAC on a PS4 Slim and the PS5
Both of these consoles no longer have an Optical Audio port, but you do still have the option to connect your Optical cable directly to your TV. This does beg the question if PS5 functionality has been updated to use all features, just by the use of the USB audio cable alone (as the GDAC now has a PS5 option after recent firmware updates). D4G are currently carrying out more tests with these setups.
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I hope this post has helped your decision for buying the Steelseries Arctis Pro, or has helped in purchasing extensions you’ll need to improve your gaming experience with it.
