SteelSeries Siberia 200 Gaming Headset – Review

Testing

I was really happy to test the Siberia 200, as my Plantronics RIG headset recently went the way of the dodo when one of the folding ear cups snapped, at a very thinly supported area.

Thankfully with the design of the SteelSeries Siberia 200 this should be less of a problem.

As you are all probably aware, I have an eclectic taste in music with not many stones left unturned in the styles of music I enjoy. I wanted to test the SteelSeries Siberia 200’s chops in this department before moving onto gaming in general which is where it should be at home.

So the testing conditions consisted of the SteelSeries being plugged into a nuForce uDAC-3 (which I reviewed a while ago) with no equaliser changes.

So how do they perform?

Well firstly, they have a good seal and therefore block out a fair bit of background noise which means that you will be able to only hear the things you need to.

From Spanish guitar to some very heavy metal. I was impressed overall with the quality of the sound the SteelSeries 200 were producing. I’ve generally found gaming headsets to be a bit more bass heavy and the SteelSeries Siberia 200 were no different, with a noticeably bass heavy sound. Though overall it didn’t hamper the overall audio quality, the mids and highs from the SteelSeries Siberia 200 were good.

In games? Well depending on the type of game you are playing, the extra bass does help. It makes explosions feel that little bit bigger. The background noise reduction also makes it easier to focus on the audio from the game itself.

I tested the mic in game and with a friend whilst playing online co-op and it was perfectly acceptable. For the size and the convenience of being able to tuck it away in the headset and I am even thankful that they didn’t use an in-line or detachable mic.

During my extended use I have to say I was impressed with how comfy it remained. With my large head, there was a bit of pressure being exerted by the band on each ear cup but with such well cushioned padding it didn’t faze or cause any discomfort at all.

The in-line microphone was a useful thing to have, although the volume wheel is a tad small and sometimes annoying to use. The mic button was perfect however and was easy to toggle on and off when needed.

I like the inclusion of an adapter to use this headset on the go, as they wouldn’t look out of place compared to some of the other gaming headsets available.