Gadgetory

(loud screech) - We've talked before about how the Switch is an amazing system. It's got a lot of great games on it, but it is not without it's technical problems. A lot of those have to do with it's approach to audio. We've talked before about how it doesn't support any kind of built-in wireless, you don't have Bluetooth or anything, and another huge issue is it's approach to multi-player chat, which is a massive headache. And that's something that SteelSeries has possibly fixed with a really interesting and honestly kind of simple way with the Arctis Three Bluetooth headset. Now for those of you who aren't aware of the problems the Switch has with multi-player chat, it mostly comes down to the fact that there is no actual chat support on the Switch itself. If you want to do certain matchmaking procedures or talk to friends, you cannot do that on the Switch directly and instead have to rely on a separate app that Nintendo's released for phones, and currently the only real game that it pushes for is Splatoon 2, but the issue is, is that if you want to use in-game chat and listen to the game audio at the same time, like well, most people, you have to rely on, well this contraption. First off, the headset in and of itself is not great, but an even bigger issue is the adapter. The fact that you actually have this whole setup rig where you're plugging in to your phone and your Switch all the same time, which makes just a headache of a mess when you're playing portably, and if you're playing docked, you have to rely on an extension cable, which just makes things even worse. So then this brings us to the Arctis Three Bluetooth headset. Now this is a newer version of a headset that SteelSeries has done for quite some time now, and the big upgrade is the fact that it adds Bluetooth, giving you a wireless option for connecting to systems or phones. The general main point of the Arctis Three though, is that it's a good balanced headset that's giving you comfort, good audio quality, and it's compatible across a very large number of devices. You can use it with your phone, PC, Mac, Xbox, Playstation, or more importantly for this video, the Switch, which is where this headset has a very unique and very useful special feature. (white noise) Just need to interrupt myself real quick, in case you guys missed it. We are still doing a giveaway of a Nintendo Switch. I've got a link down below, so don't miss out on that. Just a part of celebrating the holiday season. Okay, back to me. (white noise) While the Arctis Three is obviously a Bluetooth headset that allows for wireless connections, it does accept wired connections at the same time. You know what's interesting about this is the headset actually allows you to simultaneously receive audio signals from both the Bluetooth and wired connection. Meaning that in a situation like the Switch, where you're using your phone for chat but still want to listen to the game audio from the Switch itself, you can now do that with only having a single cable (electronic beeps) running from the Switch to the headset, instead of that whole mess of cables that you had with the Splatoon one. Now it's still not a truly wireless setup but it is a massive improvement over this. Now, this is not a perfect solution, 'cause as we said earlier with the Splatoon one, you still have the issue of when you want to use the Switch in dock mode. If you're working some kind of desk setup like this, it's fine, but if you're doing like a living room setup, you really need to make sure your dock is nearby you or you might have to get used to using some kind of Bluetooth adapter, which we've tried before and as you've seen, is kind of mixed results. It is worth noting though that for other kind of living room setups, for instance, an Xbox, or a Playstation 4, this is another awesome way to want to be able to play games on those systems, but also be able to use chat from some kind of third party source if you need to for some reason, such as Discord. So if you love playing on your Switch and you want to play normal two player stuff but actually have usable chat, this thing is a massive upgrade over the official Nintendo one, and definitely worth taking a look at.