Checking out the new gaming goods with Steelseries at CES 2014

If you’re any sort of a PC gamer, the name Steelseries should elicit some kind of a bodily response. The PC accessory maker is well known for making relatively understated, but very high-quality, products for gamers and has recently started to branch into accessories cross-compatible between PC and mobile devices as well as some devices purely for mobile use. Much like our meeting with them at E3 2013, we meet with Steelseries at CES 2014 to see what was new and what we should be getting excited for this year. Let’s dive in.

First out, we checked out their new Stratus gaming controller for iOS. Unfortunately, seeing as Steelseries already has the Steelseries Free which we saw at E3 as an Android compatible controller, the Stratus will probably not be made for Android. That’s kind of a shame because the Stratus has some cool additions over the Free, not least of all the plastic cover that doubles as both a cover to protect the buttons while travelling but also gives the controller more width if you mount it on the bottom of the controller; if it’s any consolation for Android gamers, we can take solace that Steelseries actually had a gaming controller compatible for Android before iOS. Winning is everything, right?

Next on the list was the Steelseries Siberia Elite. The Siberia Elite was commissioned as the 10 year celebration of the Siberia class of headphones and is the culmination of Steelseries’ experiences in one headset. The headsets go for $199.99, which might seem like a lot, but spending a little time with them, you start to understand and feel the pedigree in the headphones.

Having only spent about 10 minutes total with the Siberia Elite, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that they are the most comfortable headphones I have ever worn in my life. Those “extra-large memory foam ear cushions” may as well be clouds because they felt so comfortable to wear. The sound was great too, though I definitely didn’t have enough time with them to make a true judgement. Steelseries packed the Siberia Elite with all its telltale goodies like a retractable mic, but one other unique thing about the Elites was the fact that each earcup had a dial to control the volume of both microphone and sound; I thought that was super neat.

The last product we got to take a look at was Steelseries’ new H-wireless headphones. Part of the H-series line, from which we’ve had a look at the 5Hv3 before, The H-wireless literally cuts all its cords in favour of becoming a truly multi-platform device, compatible with PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Mac, iOS and of course, Android. With the addition of its mixer box, the H-wireless becomes your living room’s best friend as it delivers Dolby quality sound but with the benefits of Steelseries’ gaming innovations like ChatMix and LiveMix.

Not always in your living room? The H-wireless can of course go mobile with its assortment of cables and accessories. We had a brief demo with the H-wireless gaming headset while playing Call of Duty: Ghosts on the PS4 that happened to be there and they held up incredibly well. While our stay was short, we will be getting a pair of these later on so stay tuned for our full review. The asking price for the H-wireless is $299.99 USD, which might seem like a lot, but for something that can be used anywhere and everywhere and sound great doing so, that might be a small price to pay.

So that was our visit to Steelseries at CES 2014. It looks like they are going to have yet another exciting line-up for 2014 and we can’t wait to see what they have coming up next. Feel free to ask us any questions about the stuff we saw here, or you can visit steelseries.com for more in-depth information about any of their products.