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SteelSeries Siberia 350 Headset Review

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Siberia 350 Detailed Features

So far, the Siberia 350 appears to be a natural evolution of previous Siberia headsets. Let’s take a closer look at what makes the Siberia 350 headset unique in the lineup.

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Memory foam is used for the circular, circumaural earcups (an upgrade of the foam used in the Siberia 200s). A bright orange interior ring adds a splash of color to both the white and black models, and a printed design dresses up the mesh that hides the drivers. The suspension headband seems quite durable – as the picture above illustrates, it can twist to an unreasonable degree without feeling like something might snap.

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The Siberia 350 is a USB headset and includes an inline volume control wheel a little more than a foot down the 5-foot USB cable. No quick-release connections here, so be careful not to snag it on anything.

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Notice there aren’t any markings on the volume control wheel; this wheel seems to send a “volume up/down” command to Windows rather than adjust the actual volume. This being a USB headset, it’s probably a good way to go – many of these volume control (variable resister/potentiometer) wheels on analog headsets tend to wear out over time or introduce “noise” into the signal.

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Despite the appearance of the “mesh,” the Siberia 350s are a closed-back audio design rather than open-air. The mesh design is simply there to display the LEDs. The headset microphone retracts into the left earcup, making it much easier to stow the Siberia 350s when not in use.

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There isn’t much to the suspension headband – despite its appearance (there isn’t much there!) it’s quite strong and durable while remaining surprisingly flexible. The interior headstrap expands due to an internal spring-loaded mechanism in the flat headband, just enough to cradle your ears comfortably.

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A mute switch for the microphone is cleverly disguised on the left earcup. While I found the switch easy to use while gaming, I was a little surprised that there aren’t any indicators (whether on-screen or on the headset itself) as to the current state of the microphone. Over time I’m sure most users will just learn which position is mute but I can just imagine the scenarios enroute to said learning (my online comrades, for the most part, don’t seem as interested in conversing with my dogs as I am.)

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Given the brilliant lighting effects on the Siberia 350 I find it strange a mute LED was overlooked. Either way, the color range of the Prism lighting is impressive – everything from the typical red/blue/green looks great, and the yellow/orange/teal/cyan/purple/pinks are pleasantly vivid.

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The LED color is diffused nicely throughout the entire earcup.

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The Siberia 350 is a SteelSeries GameSense enabled product, so certain games can display different colors on the headset for in-game events. The only two profiles showing on my installation are CS:GO and Dota 2 (with a mod available for MineCraft); each change the LED color along a spectrum depending on your character’s remaining health/ammo count/round kills/etc. I could see this feature being great for LAN parties or eSports tournaments, since an audience can see at a glance certain events happening even if they aren’t viewing that particular player’s screen/perspective. Obviously, these effects don’t benefit the person wearing the headset at all (they can’t see the colors while wearing the headset), but it’s a welcome feature to assist in informing those around you what you’re experiencing in-game.


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