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Even though the SteelSeries might look prettier than a standard headset, the neckband design does come at the cost of comfort. In fact the Siberia Neckband is one of the most uncomfortable gaming headsets we've used in a while, pulling back on our ears far too much. And to make things even worse, it doesn't even fit securely, slipping out of place when you move too much. After about an hours testing we started to get some neck pain so the Siberia Neckband certainly isn't well-suited to long gaming sessions.
The situation does improve somewhat when we consider the sound quality, though, which is up to SteelSeries' usual high standards. During music playback we were impressed by the deep bass tones which were prominent throughout most genres of music. The higher registers we're also rendered clearly and without distortion. The PC gaming experience was comparable to what we have experienced with the Siberia and Siberia V2. Gunshots weren't too prominent and our gameplay was aided by a reasonable degree of sound-panning.
Unfortunately the Siberia Neckband didn't meet our expectations during our Xbox tests. This is, without doubt, down to the adapter that SteelSeries include which is much less advanced than the Spectrum AudioMixer that they provide with the Spectrum 5XB. Game sounds were reproduced without issue but Xbox chat lacked in volume to such a degree that we were tempted to revert to the standard Xbox headset. Fiddling around with the volume levels improved the situation a little but nowhere near enough for our approval.
We were ready to love the Siberia Neckband with its attractive design, extensive feature-set and good build quality but sadly, we cannot do so on account of it's uncomfortable fit. If SteelSeries were to rectify this problem, though, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Instead, we would recommend that PC gamers opt for the Siberia V2 headset which combines all the positives of the Neckband with comfort. For those who need an Xbox headset, we would recommend the SteelSeries Spectrum 5XB which has a much better Xbox adapter and is more comfortable.
At £57 at Amazon.co.uk, the SteelSeries Siberia Neckband Headset is only a shade cheaper than the Siberia V2 which is only £63 at Amazon.co.uk. We highly recommend spending the extra £6 as the greater comfort of the Siberia V2 is definitely worth it. For Xbox users, the SteelSeries Spectrum 5XB can be had for about the same price of £60 at Amazon.co.uk.
KitGuru says: A good headset but hard to recommend over the SteelSeries Siberia V2 and Spectrum 5XB.
