Its a fact: the SteelSeries Siberia V2 is one of the most co-branded headset in the gaming industry and with numerous designs, styles and revisions it ultimately needed an upgrade. Enter the new Siberia V3 line from SteelSeries. Developed once again to deliver an exciting audio experience designed around SteelSeries Siberia legacy, the Siberia V3 is intended to continue to success of the SteelSeries Siberia family and today we’ll look at one of the more exciting new designs for the Siberia V3 lineup, the Siberia V3 Prism with customizable LED lighting. Let’s find out of the Siberia V3 Prism sounds as good as it promises to be.
The Siberia headset series from SteelSeries is one of the most iconic headset designs ever and as we’ve mentioned the Siberia V2 is the most co-branded headset in history owning numerous designs and partnerships with multiple franchises and brands over the years. The later evolutions of the Siberia V2 saw the arrival of LED illuminated models such as the Diablo III headset and the later iterations of the Frost Blue and Heat Orange. Somewhere along the way SteelSeries thought they needed to improve on the Siberia V2 and that was last year when we saw the ultimate release of the Siberia V3. The Siberia V3 is complemented by what we’ll be look at today, the Siberia V3 Prism colored-LED illuminated headset.
Specfications
Headphones
– Frequency Response: 10 – 28000 Hz
– Impedance: 35 Ohm
– Sensitivity: 80 dB
– SPL@1kHz, 1V rms: 102dB
– Cable Length: 1.5 m (5 ft.)
– Connection Type: USB
Microphone
– Frequency Response: 50 – 16000 Hz
– Pick Up Pattern: Unidirectional
– Sensitivity: -42 dB
Compatibility
– Windows and Mac OS X®
– Playstation®
Closer Look
SteelSeries’ modern packaging features a full-cardboard box unlike the older clear-window style packaging. The new box even without the see-through window, feels much more premium and sturdy. A full color print of the product along with the model name is highlighted on the front of the box. The back of the packaging lists feature highlights and marketing bullets amongst others.
Inside the packaging is the basic bundle of the SteelSeries Siberia V3 Prism headset and documentation.
First observation we have about the Siberia V3 aside from the fact that it bears a striking physical similarity with the V2 is that its not entirely in black bearing a grey frame headband reaching over both cups whereas the box features a darker shade of grey. Nothing much has changed in terms of construction and design from the Siberia V2
Making a not-so-welcome comeback is the unsleeved cable. For some reason, SteelSeries hasn’t been consistent in its sleeving practices and since the release of the Siberia Elite and have kept the cables vanilla for most of the V2 designs. The same still goes for the new Siberia V3 and Siberia V3 Prism featuring a light but still still prone-to-kink cable.
Some of the new features in the new Siberia V3 frame though includes an inline mic-mute toggle on the left earcup along with partial swivel on the part that holds the earcup to the headband.
SteelSeries still retains the leatherette pads for the ear cups for the Siberia V3 and Siberia V3 Prism. To give it a more premium look, colored lining dresses the inside of the pad with the SteelSeries logo on the foam interior.
A stretchable interior suspension is still the primary support system for the SIberia V3 clamped by strings to the main headband and secured by a metal ring in the inner headband for structural integrity.
SteelSeries has extended the horrid look of the unsleeved headbands to the microphone boom, ditching the classic spring-protected look with this rubbery stick that looks plain boring. Still, the classic flexibility of the mic is still here and it can be retracted inside the earcup when not in use.
Siberia V3 Prism Illumination
And here we have the Siberia V3 Prism’s defining feature: its variable color LED illumination.
Siberia V3 Prism – SteelSeries Engine
SteelSeries joins the party of unified driver software with its SteelSeries Engine 3. All supported devices will be fully configurable in this interface and you can use various profiles to mix and match your configuration. Going to the dedicated Siberia V3 Prism we’re presented with simple configuration for our headset including microphone input balancing and an equalizer.
One of the extra configuration option that is unique to the Siberia V3 Prism versus its V3 vanilla counterpart is its glow options. While we’ve seen some nifty features from past iterations like the audio sensitive lighting of the Diablo III Siberia V2, the Siberia V3 Prism features single colors and ColorShift which cycles through the colors selected.
User Experience & Conclusion
Let’s start off with the design and feel of the new Siberia V3. As we’ve mentioned already the design hasn’t really changed much and overall focus hasn’t shifted radically with forward-angled earcups and stretchable headband for a snug-fit for most head sizes. The earcups are made of memory foam lined leatherette. This give the Siberia V3 Prism an excellent seal and a comfortable fit. The pad feels really and doesn’t heat up quickly which really reduces sweating around the ears.
The illumination feature is more on swag and making a statement more than anything functional. The ColorShift feature is nice and gives the Siberia V3 Prism a real dynamic feel to the illumination but we sure do miss the Trigger Mode on the Diablo III Siberia V2 which lets the light bounce to the sound playing. The Siberia V3 Prism though features color modes with pulsating and breathing effects for shifting between colors.
Finally we have sound, as this is intended to be a gaming headset we will judge it as such. That said, you can use the Siberia V3 Prism or any other USB Siberia mobile phones supporting USB via OTG which means you can use the Siberia V3 Prism, lights and all, on the go. Sure does make a statement on the train when I used it. Going back to sound, we’ll focus on gaming performance but we’ll still share overall audio performance in a bit. In games where it tends to be a bit bassy due to explosions and firefights, the Siberia V3 is alright. If you’re mostly a gamer and don’t step out of this usage scenario much, you’ll appreciate the soundstage of the Siberia V3 and its dark, bassy audio character. On a general listening experience though, the Siberia V3 is too dark and isn’t really something I’d go for as it tends to grumble a lot compared to the older Siberia V2 USB models. Playing with the equalizer managers to loosen up the sound but doesn’t really take it away from its supposed house sound that seems to be the focus of the Siberia V3 line which is really optimized for gaming.
In closing, its really a mixed bag for us for the Siberia V3. We can stick to let it be just a gaming headset and score it as such but it’d be unfair to ignore the relevance of overall listening wherein the Siberia V3 really falls flat on. As a gaming-only headset, its feature set of lightweight, comfort fit and bass-oriented audio feels right at home giving it that macho feel but as an audio listening peripheral, it just falls too short unless you really like dark sounds which should play well with heavy rock although that could really tiring in a while. Not so peachy also is the seemingly lack of premium touches on the cable and microphone on the Siberia V3 Prism, with the naked rubber coated wire and microphone not exuding the premium feel of previous V2 models, some of which aren’t even heavily co-branded or stylized.
All in all, the Siberia V3 and Siberia V3 Prism are good for gaming provided you aren’t too picky with your audio experience. What the Siberia V3 is focused on, it is very good at and that’s gaming so if that is your sole purpose for it then it is by all means a good pair of cans. On a wholistic view though, the illumination is gimmicky at best and lacks the refinement of most RGB models and specifically the lack of a Trigger mode found on an older model. We still would recommend the Siberia V3 Prism if you’re into the street style of an illuminated headset that is light enough to wear around.
SteelSeries backs the Siberia V3 and Siberia V3 Prism with a 1 year warranty. We give it our B2G Recommend Award.
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bat parang tinipid tong headset na to?
Nakikita mo pa ba steelseries ngayon? huehuehue