In this video, I’m going to show you the
best SteelSeries Sonar Settings to help you hear footsteps better when gaming, make music
sound better, and improve your microphone quality. To start you’re going to need the SteelSeries
GG software, you can get this by going to steelseries.com/gg. I’ll include a link in the description. Be sure to download and install the correct
version for your system. Once installed you willl need to sign in or
create an account, then head to the side and select Sonar. Set the game output to the device you use
when gaming, then click the Set Game Output button. Set your chat output device, this might be
the same as your game output, however, if your headset has a unique voice chat option
like mine does, then be sure to select it and then Set Chat Output. Set your media output device, this is what
you use when watching shows or movies. Then also set your aux output which is what
you use for music. These can be the same or different. Because I use my headset for everything I’ll
be using my headset. Click Set Outputs when happy. Set the microphone input to your microphone,
then click the Set Mic Input button. Wait for Sonar to setup all of your devices,
this may take a few moments. Then click the button at the bottom when done. If at any point you want to change your selected
device then head to the Mixer tab and click the Gear icon next to one of the outputs. Expand the top menu and change the device
as needed. Select Game from the top, if a window opens
just click the Okay button. Expand the Configuration menu, then select
the main game you play. If you typically play FPS games then I’ve
found the COD Warzone 2 config to be a good option, especially if you play any Call of
Duty titles. For the equalizer settings I tend to leave
everything standard, and just reduce voice to -1.4. I find this helps make footsteps a bit easier
to hear. If you feel there’s not enough bass then
you can increase that slightly, I wouldn’t do anything above 2.5 for FPS games. Turn on Spatial audio then select the correct
mode for your device. Typically you will be using headphone mode. Move the top slider to performance, then distance
to about 75. These are the best settings I found with spatial
audio turned on, however, I prefer to play games with spatial audio turned off
Leave volume boost turned off unless your headset is quiet, it’s best to adjust your
volume through your PC’s sound settings or a physical mixer if possible. Then also turn off smart volume. Head back to the top and switch to the Chat
tab. Expand the configuration option and select
default. You can test the broadcast preset as that
will sound pretty good if all of your friends have decent microphones, otherwise, Default
is the best option. While Clearcast is good, I’ve always had
better results manually setting noise reduction. Turn on background and set it to about 0.35,
then turn on impact and use about 0.50. Enable Noise Gate and set it to about -40db,
if you find people’s voices are cutting in and out then move the slider to the left,
and if there’s too much background noise then move it to the right. Scroll back to the top, then select Media. Expand the configuration options and select
Movie: Immersion, as this is what you’ll typically be using when consuming content. Set bass to 3, voice to 3, and treble to 2. Turn on spatial audio, then select headphone
or speaker depending on what you’re using. Set the top slider to 2.5, and distance to
about 70. This will vary based on your preference. Again you can boost your volume if you want,
but I typically leave this turned off. Head to the top and select Aux. Expand the Configuration presets and select
Music: Punchy. Set bass to 0, voice to 5, and treble to 2. Turn on spatial audio, then select if you’re
using headphones or a speaker. Set the top bar to 2.0 and the distance to
about 70. Again leave volume boost and smart volume
turned off. These settings should sound good for most
music genres and are my go to for rap. You can try using different configuration
presets if you don’t like the sound of these settings. Select Mic from the top. Expand the configuration preset menu. The best settings for you will vary as your
microphone and voice are different. I’ve found that the Less Nasal and Deeper
Voice presets tend to work best, with Deeper Voice being my preferred option. Go down and turn off Clearcast, then enable
both noise reduction settings. Set Background to 0.40, and impact to 0.50. Turn on Noise Gate and use about -40, then
go down and turn off compressor. Go to the mic test options and click record. Speak as you normally would, then stop the
recording. Press play to hear your current settings,
then adjust if needed. As we’re using noise reduction in Sonar
this can cause issues in other applications, like Discord, that attempt to do a similar
thing. To fix issues with Discord go to the Voice
& Video settings, then enable the automatically determine input sensitivity option. If this doesn’t work then turn it off and
move the slider all the way to the left. Head back to the Mixer tab. Now we can route specific applications to
use the Sonar settings we just set up. To do this you will need to open the applications
you want to route and have the audio devices to be engaged. For this example, I’ll be using Discord. To engage the audio devices you will need
to join a voice call or channel. For applications like Chrome or Spotify you’ll
need to play a video or song. Now you will be able to see the Discord options
in SteelSeries Sonar. Move the headset app to Chat, and the Microphone
to Mic, then repeat for all of your applications. For example, you will want to put your browser
in Media, and Spotify in Aux. You can also select the SteelSeries playback
device in the applications themselves, which makes it easier to route games. With Sonar you can easily adjust the volume
of specific applications using the sliders, or use the Master slider to lower the volume
of everything. You will now have the best SteelSeries Sonar
settings. Please leave a like if you found the video
helpful.
