Peripheral Vision: Steelseries Siberia V2 HeadSet

There must at least 9,000 different headsets on the market, each with their own style, features and comfort level. So finding the perfect headset is quite a daunting task. Luckily for you guys and girls, I’m here to give you the lowdown on some of the best headsets available.

Today we’re looking at the Steelseries Siberia V2 Headset. Here's a quick run-down of the included features:

• pull-out microphone
• inline controls for volume & mic mute
• integrated USB powered sound card for dirty bass
• customizable frost blue illumination
• easy to use software with full EQ support

The Siberia v2 not only oozes minimalism, but also begs to be picked up and worn. You’ve got a super sleek white finish, faux leather padding, velvet-looking head strap and the Siberia’s signature retractable microphone. Comfort-wise, the Siberia doesn’t share the common headset problem of hurting the top of your head with the headband/weight, but the faux leather will annoy people who are used to fabric padding. (It annoyed me, anyway.)

The Siberia V2 performs very well while listening music (320 or Flac) as the bass, mids and lows all sound great. As for video games, I had to do a little tweaking via the Steelseries engine’s EQ to achieve a similar experience as other headsets for games like Counter-Strike and Battlefield, but for normal gamers who don’t care about hearing small little details, I’d say everything left at default or just using the EQ presents will serve you very well.

As for the microphone quality, well, I never expect much because those are normally bundled into a gaming headset without any care. However, Steelseries took care and thought about the gamer, creating an easy-to-use microphone that slides into the headset when not in use. It sounds like any other gaming headset mic – not much white noise, but you wouldn’t want to use it for real voice work.

I’m once again going to state that the Steelseries Engine is one of the easiest pieces of software to have ever graced my hard drive. Simply download and install, and it instantly picks up whatever devices you have plugged in. Boom, you can start using and customizing your stuff.

Other than that, the Steelseries Siberia V2 Headset is fairly straightforward. It looks and feels great while also maintaining a good quality of audio playback. If you’re looking for a 7.1 virtual surround sound version, the Siberia comes in many different versions and even colors.

I give the Siberia a 9.0 because it looks amazing and performs amazingly as well.

Oh, and I’d like to thank our resident model Jennie for posing with the headset (pictured below).