SteelSeries Siberia V2 - The Sound Of Victory | Personal Review

10:21 PM gaming , headset , review , siberia , steelseries , tech 2 Comments

Just got my SteelSeries Siberia V2 Special Edition Red sometime back. Been using it as long as I'm on my laptop (which is basically 8 hours/day). So here I am, writing a personal review on this SteelSeries gaming headset. Product link here.

I will be writing my personal review from more of a general consumer viewpoint instead of a audiophile point of view (well, because I'm not an audiophile) This review will be separated into a few segments: Design, Build Quality+Comfort, Audio Quality and Mic Quality. I will also write a simple Pros and Cons wrap-up at the end of the article.

KEN, WHAT COMES IN THE BOX?

The headset, user manual, extender cables (female) and a sticker.

DESIGN
What's good about the Siberia V2s are obviously that they come in multiple colours. I personally got mine in red because it is my favourite colour. The Siberia V2 comes in Black, White, Red, Pink, Orange, Green, Blue, Frost Blue, Purple and not to mention the licensed Siberia V2s for games and pro teams.

sexy red one

the logo

So enough with the colours, lets start on the real design. The headset as you can see uses a fixed length flexible rubber (I think) double bend. It is a free-size headset with the stretchable band on top with a SteelSeries logo on top. The earcups are designed with noise cancellation in mind so they are big enough to cover the average person's ear pretty easy. Glossy plastic is a plus too.
So you might be wondering, where the hell is my mic??? Good news for those people who like to wear their headsets anywhere, the mic is retractable! Those who want to make a fashion statement when they are out of their basement :hehe: can just hide the mic and wear it like a pair of normal headphones.

Sidenote: There is volume control available along the cable and a mic mute/unmute alongside the volume control.

BUILD QUALITY+COMFORT
The build quality is quite rigid for a headset. Been throwing it into my laptop bag when I go to work and it managed to hold up till now (and hopefully for the coming 1-2 years) The headset doesn't flex as easily as other headsets which is a good thing in my opinion because as much as I hate my headsets getting broken, I hate it even more if its bent in some kind of way.

The headset is mostly made out of plastic which contributes to the lightweight aspect of the headset. Comfort wise, with the retractable band sitting on the top of head, you might think it is kind of straining but it is actually quite comfortable because of the padding included. The earcups also have some kind of memory foam on top which after long hours of using won't make your ears hurt.

comfortable earcups

Personal streak, I wore the headsets for 5 hours until I had to take it off to get business done. This headset will serve well for those clocking long hours in front of their computers.

big driver

AUDIO QUALITY
Sporting 50mm drivers, the headsets sounds pretty good. As like all gaming headsets, the Siberia V2 gives clear direction of where the sound is coming from while you are in game. The noise cancelling structure of the earcups also helps a lot for true immersion in game.

For music listening, do note that this is marketed as a "GAMING" headset so the bass isn't as deep as audiophile headphones from Sennheiser/V-Moda. There is also a usb soundcard version of the Siberia V2 in black/white.

hidden mic???

MIC QUALITY
and finally its the mic's turn for the spotlight. Really nothing special about this retractable mic, it records audio pretty good and someone on YouTube even used this particular mic on the headset to record a song which is almost on-par to studio recording mics... but still studio mics have a greater advantage than this included mic. Compared to normal desktop mics, this retractable mic holds up pretty good (and being retractable is a plus)

retractable mic in action

KEN, WHY SHOULD I BUY THIS INSTEAD OF BEATS?
well for one, you can buy 3 Siberia(s) at a price of Beats headphones. no.2 the one disadvantage of  the Siberia V2 is the weak bass, which Beats doesn't really do any justice for itself as Beats headphones also have sub-par bass for a 'claimed' audiophile headphones (more like mainstream now). Where Beats shine is in the studio with supplement of high end equalizing equipment, it was made for that purpose.

CONCLUSION
Is the Siberia V2 worth the money? I would say yes. And then someone on the other corner of the Earth would go "Gaming headsets are crap! Grab a Sennheiser,a desktop mic and the ASUS Xonar sound card and it would be better than this piece of crap!!!" Well, sorry to disappoint but not everybody has a full tower gaming desktop, there are people who are on the go, on a laptop and need proper audio solution. The Siberia V2(s) retail at RM399 in major hardware stores near you. Definitely grab one especially if you need a space saving but yet good audio solution.

Thank you for spending time on this review, do leave a comment if there is anything in this article I can improve on! :D

TL;DR
Pros:

1. Multiple colours
2. Sturdy build
3. Good immersion
4. Retractable Mic