I’ve been doing reviews now since 2008. SteelSeries was one of the first peripheral manufacturers that ever took a chance on me and let me review their products and I’ve reviewed a majority of their headset lines (across different outlets no less).
I’ve reviewed SteelSeries all the way from the original Siberia (in fact, I destroyed my SteelSeries Flux Luxury catching the cord on the armrest and ripping it out getting off the plane for my first E3) all the way up to the latest and greatest in the line, the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless.
In the interest of disclosure, I’ve had this headset now for almost a year and I’ve gone through the gambit of emotions with it, but I’ve finally settled on a stance that I think I can be happy with and I can whole-heartedly announce to our audience:
The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is the most technically impressive and perhaps the greatest innovation SteelSeries has produced to date. How can I back that claim up? Read our SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review!
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless
Manufacturer: SteelSeries
MSRP: $349.99 USD
That isn’t to say it doesn’t come with some caveats that took me a long time (and even a few conversations with their PR guy) to finally understand why those changes were made as previously I felt like the Arctis Pro Wireless was pretty much the perfect headset. I’ve always been a big proponent of the cloth style earcups because the faux leather always made my ears sweat and I hated it.
I enjoyed the almost rubbery feel of the earcups on the Arctis Pro Wireless, but the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless brought back the leather, which I wasn’t thrilled about. Inquiring why, I learned that none of the other earcup materials will allow for the vacuum seal needed in order to activate the ANC (active noise cancelling) that’s included with the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless.
Once I started delving into what this technology could do and how it performed, my appreciation for SteelSeries engineering team was greatly increased.
I often play my games without sound because someone undoubtedly always wants to come up and talk to me or ask me a question in my house, so even if I do have headphones on, it’s always only ever over one ear at a time so I can hear if someone says my name.
The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless almost feels like it was engineered for someone like me because it includes two surface level microphones that pull the outside sound in, which allows me to hear people without having to pause my music or turn down the game sounds.
Even better, when I want full immersion, I simply press the power button to activate the ANC and I can hear the suction lock in place and block out most of the outside world.
My ears are super sensitive to ANC and at first I was really concerned that I wouldn’t like it on the Nova Pro Wireless. I had and returned multiple pairs of Airpod Pros and other earbuds that had it because the ANC actively gave me headaches.
While it will still happen in the Nova Pro Wireless, I can wear these for a few hours before it ever starts to bother me, and by that point my ears themselves need a break from the leather for a minute before my head starts to hurt. It’s a surprisingly fair trade off that reminds me to take a few minute break every few hours.
One of my absolute favorite features of the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is their ability to harness dual audio. This is seriously an absolutely fantastic design choice and I absolutely adore being able to have music playing on my phone piped into my headset while being on a discord call or playing a game on my PC or console.
I use this feature so much that I rarely ever even use the Spotify app on my PS5 anymore because the headset does it for me.
What started off as an apprehensive pairing grew from strong feelings of unsureness to acceptance, which then evolved to enjoyment, and the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro has now become my literal go-to for everything.
I wear them pretty much anytime I’m at home, including outside when cutting grass or doing stuff in the yard, I wear them at the gym, and I may or may not admit that I’ve fallen asleep in them a time or two.
In fact, if the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro was slightly cheaper I’d have a second pair at work to replace my Arctis 7p+ that I keep at my office.
If you’re a SteelSeries fan, you know that their audio quality is always their top priority, and their newer lines can harness the power of SONAR inside the SteelSeries GG engine.
I’m not typically that particular when it comes to setting up precise audio triggers, but the software suite is powerful and it’s a trip to hear sounds that you’d normally completely miss – like NPC footsteps while walking around in random games.
At $349.99 the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is a bit of a high price to ask up front, but it’s a headset that you’ll likely use for almost everything. I use it with my phone, my PC, and my PS5. The microphone is probably still the weakest part of this particular headset, but it’s still a pretty good mic.
The mic just needs a better wind screen instead of having to put one over the tip of the mic but I’m willing to deal with that if it means that I can tuck the microphone away and have a great looking headset that doesn’t make me look like I play video games 24/7 out in normal daily life.
Simply put, SteelSeries has absolutely floored me with the performance of the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, and I can’t possibly imagine how much better their next generation of headsets could get than this. If you want the greatest headset currently available on the market, this is it.
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is available on their website and most major retailers for a suggested MSRP of $349.99. The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless was reviewed using a review unit provided by SteelSeries. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here.
