Steelseries is known for offering some of the best headsets out there in terms of both appearance and sound quality, which is exactly why the brand has become increasingly popular over the years. They specialize in audio devices, and there’s a huge variety of them available in their selection.
This selection features many popular options used by gamers throughout the world, including the Arctis 7 which is a particularly great option for many. The Arctis 7 is packed with so many different features and audio settings.
This allows everyone who uses it to configure it to their liking. This combined with the fact that the headset provides great sound quality is a big bonus. There’s also the surround sound option, which can be very helpful when playing certain games where environmental awareness is key.
That said, the surround sound feature will be of no use if it doesn’t work properly. There are many who encounter problems with this feature, such as the Arctis 7 surround sound not working at all. Here’s our list of solutions for all those encountering such problems.
How to Fix Steelseries Arctis 7 Surround Sound Not Working?
- Change to Arctis 7 Game
By default, the Arctis 7 chat mode is used as the main one which is set up initially. This can be problematic in this specific case since using the device in this mode will prevent the surround sound setting from working.
With this said, all that you need to do is enable the Arctis 7 game mode as the default one for your computer instead. To do so, go to the sound settings through the Windows start menu if you’re on PC. Now just click on the output device menu and choose the Arctis 7 to be the new default one. Try to see if the feature works after all this.
- Disable and Enable DTS
The DTS feature is exactly what makes it possible for surround sound on the Arctis 7 to work in the first place. This is basically something that makes the 3D audio experience on these headphones as good as it is, and it needs to be enabled to start working.
That said, even if it’s already enabled, we recommend that you try turning it off and turning off the Arctis 7 too. Now restart the device and enable the feature once more before trying it out. It should work after this.
- Arctis 7 Firmware Update
A very simple solution worth trying out is to update the firmware of your Arctis 7. This is an especially helpful solution for all those that just got their version of the device, for those that haven’t updated it in a while, or for those that haven’t updated it in general since they got it. To do so, simply install the Steelseries Engine application and run it while having the Arctis 7 connected to the computer using a USB cable. The software will guide you through the rest and will update the device in no time.
- Manual Fix
There’s a way to force the Steelseries engine into fixing this annoying problem for you, but it is a bit more complicated and lengthy compared to the other highly simple solutions mentioned so far.
To get started, the first thing to do is disable the spatial sound through the Windows sound settings. Unplug the Arctis 7 from the computer and then proceed to open up the device manager. Reveal all hidden devices using the options and remove all Arctis related hardware that you see here by completely uninstalling them.
Now go to the Steelseries Engine and uninstall that as well. Now go to the official website of the brand and reinstall the latest version of Steelseries Engine. Restart the computer and then the software should load up automatically.
Now plug in the headset with a USB cable and then wait for a few seconds before doing anything else. Open the Steelseries Engine from the start menu, and make sure to run it as an administrator. Now the software will recognize the device and prompt you to install some software related to it, which you should do. Once that’s done, the surround sound will work properly for sure.