SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review

The SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless surprised us with its various networking choices, high-quality sound, and convenient twin batteries. However, it was more than a few years ago, and it has been at least as long until SteelSeries released a true follow-up product.

The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is the most recent iteration of the company’s flagship wireless gaming headset, and it retails for the same price of $329.99 despite including several upgrades.

It looks and feels better, its base station isn’t as boxy, its simulated surround sound is considerably more effective, and it now incorporates active noise cancellation (ANC) to filter out distractions.

All of these improvements make it an overall superior product. In spite of the fact that using the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless with a personal computer will provide you with the greatest number of features and customization options, the base station of the headset comes equipped with two USB ports, allowing you also to connect your PlayStation or Xbox (although this may depend on the specific model of headset you purchase

As the PlayStation and Xbox are not yet compatible with one another). In the category of wireless gaming headsets, our award goes to the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. This headset easily justifies its price because to its great functionality and performance.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review: Design

Also, the transmitter has been completely redesigned with a much sleeker look and more ways to connect. The black plastic device no longer looks like a square, blocky audio component because it has curved sides.

On the right side of the transmitter’s face is a gunmetal-colored knob that can be used for different things. Next to it is a black-and-white OLED display. The back panel of the new version doesn’t have an optical audio input or output like the old one, but it has two USB-C ports so you can connect two USB devices at once, like a gaming PC and a gaming console. It also has 3.5mm jacks for line-in and line-out. You can buy these headphones from its official website.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review: Comfort

This is perfect for a multiplatform setup, especially if you have a PC and PS5/PS4 (or Switch) in the same room (there’s a separate Xbox model), since you can connect the same headset to both devices and switch between them easily.

Finishing off the design and construction is the fact that the cups can be moved around a lot and that each one is made of soft pleather or plush faux-leather. This is very comfortable to wear because it doesn’t stick to you or make you too hot. And the Nova range has done away with the adjustable ski goggles. Instead, an inner headband can be changed to help you find the right fit.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review: Connectivity

The Nova Pro Wireless headphones are also very tough. The top band is made of steel with a PVD coating, but it can bend. The outside of the headphones is also made of metal, and even though I was rough with them, they didn’t get scratched. Once you find them, it’s easy to use your fingers to move the controls on the left side.

The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless microphone can be put away in the base, giving it a lot of protection. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is a great headset for sound. Not only is the sound quality great, but the headset also lets gamers customize their sound settings exactly how they want, down to their preferred EQ settings.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review: Noise cancelling

The retractable microphone in SteelSeries’ new high-end headpiece is hidden inside the left ear cup and blends in with the rest of the headpiece’s shell. The mute button is on the left earcup, making it easy to turn off the mic.

On the left side is a mute mic button, a volume slider, and a multi-function power button that also acts as an ANC switch. The button to connect to Bluetooth is on the right earcup. All the buttons are in good places and easy to reach, so SteelSeries did a great job.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review: Audio performance

The latest version of SteelSeries’ high-end wireless gaming headset, the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, has been given a big boost. This new version of one of our favorite gaming headsets has a sleeker, more adjustable design, active noise cancellation, a longer battery life, and better sound. Even more impressive is that it gives you a lot of ways to change your game and chat audio for each game.

On paper, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless seems to have everything, but it also costs $350. I think it’s worth every single dollar. It has great spatial sound for games and high-quality sound for music. It can connect to multiple platforms and support multiple devices at the same time, so it could be the only audio device you need for all your games and everyday listening.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review: Call performance

The mic still works when it’s put away, and when it is, it’s clear and crisp. Whether you’re chatting with your friends on Discord or making a quick call to a coworker on your phone, you’ll always be heard loud and clear. Noise rejection is only available for Windows 10/11, which is too bad. As we’ve learned from our own phone calls, the person on the other end of that call will hear even the hum of your air conditioner.

The ANC isn’t that great. It works well to block out sounds like traffic in the distance or your air conditioner. But it doesn’t work as well if you want to block out all the noise. That’s mostly fine, since the audio takes care of most of the rest. But if you want to use this on a plane, it won’t block out the noise of the engines.

Battery and charging

The battery slot is on the right side of the transmitter and is both unique and useful. SteelSeries says that each of the headset’s two batteries can last up to 36 hours if only connected through the 2.4GHz transmitter, or between 18 and 22 hours if both the 2.4GHz transmitter and Bluetooth are used. The batteries can also be used for three hours after only 15 minutes of charging.

The OLED screen shows the current device being used with the headset, the battery levels of both the headset battery and the battery in the transmitter’s charging slot, the sampling and bitrate of the incoming audio, and a simple two-bar representation of the sound coming out of each earcup.

The volume level of the headset is shown by a large, circular meter to the right of the audio status and visualizer bars. The sound can be changed by turning the large volume dial. You can click the dial to switch the control to ChatMix, which lets you change how much game sound and voice chat sound you hear.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review: Final words

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is the wired version of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for Xbox. When they come out in 2022, these headphones will come with the GameDAC Gen 2, a digital-to-analog converter with multiple inputs and easy-to-use customization tools like an equalizer and channel mixing.

Even though they are wired, they come in either a PC/PlayStation or Xbox version, with the Xbox version’s DAC having a port just for this console. There are also a few small differences between how this model and the wireless model work, especially regarding the quality of the build and how well it blocks out noise.