Steelseries refresh Siberia headphones with new v3 and redesigned Elite Prism

Last week Steelseries came by the office to show off a line-wide refresh of its Siberia headsets: the Siberia v3 is replacing the Siberia v2, and the Elite Prism is replacing the Siberia Elite. Steelseries is also adding a couple new headsets to the line: the Siberia v3 Prism, which is just like the v3 (with fancy lighting!), and the Raw Prism, which adds an entry-level $60 option to the mix.

The Siberia v3 and Elite Prism are the important headsets here. Steelseries upgraded its audio drivers from the v2 to 50mm drivers in the v3, and in a quick listening test they sounded great. Steelseries also adjusted the leather earcups and their spacing to add a bit more distance between ear and driver. The v3 is a $100 headset, though the Prism alternative, which adds programmable RGB lighting around the earcups, tacks on an extra $40.

The $200 Elite Prism has seen the most dramatic upgrade. Steelseries’ original version of the Siberia Elite looked like an incredibly comfortable headset, with huge, inch-thick puffy earcups. It looked like a headset that cost $200. It even felt comfortable at first, too, but that didn’t last long. The headset was too heavy, and the non-adjustable headband was too tight, which turned those big marshmallows into sweaty, painful head clamps. Strangely, the Elite’s microphone also sounded cheap and tinny, not like something that belonged on a $200 headset.

I used the Siberia Elite for a few days before abandoning it, but I noticed an immediate difference when I put on the redesigned Elite Prism. Steelseries made the earcup padding thinner, but also enlarged the earcup so the pads wrapped around my ears instead of resting on top of them. Most importantly, they loosened the headband to give the Elite Prism a more relaxed fit. Steelseries also switched out the microphone, which I didn’t get to test out, but promised it’s an upgrade over the previous mic.

Siberia is Steelseries’ all-around headset line, so they’re not as tuned for gaming audio as the H-Series. I didn’t get a chance to play games with the new headsets, but I did listen to music on them, and the v3 and Elite were both pleasingly bassy without sounding overdone on the bottom end.

We’ll be testing out the new cans more thoroughly in the next few weeks, so check back soon for more detailed impressions.

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).