Customer Ratings & Reviews

Full disclosure - I own a LOT of headsets: Arctis 7P, Arctis Pro Wireless, Arctis Nova Pro Wireless (the ones this review is for), Sony XM5, Sennheiser HD 6XX, Sennheiser PC363D (yes, they still work great 10 years later), Logitech G935, a Logitech G-Pro X, and some Beats Studio 3s. Given that, I think I've got a pretty good reference for what makes a 'good' headset. Also, I might have a problem. I bought Nova Pro Wirless headset the day they came out. Having previously owned the Pro Wireless headset that came out before these, I was excited for some of the new design, as well as the change from mini-USB connectivity to USB-C. After having used them for several months, here are my thoughts: After initially putting them on they felt markedly less comfortable than the Pro Wireless headset, the ANC mic inside the cup would sometimes bump into my ear, and the clamp strength + pleather of the new cups made them extremely uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time with glasses. The fact that the ear-cups can be individually adjusted to fit the height of your head is nice, no longer depending on the ski-strap style they used before, but it's completely undone by the cups themselves being markedly less comfortable than literally every other Arctis headset I've owned. The noise cancellation exists, but I think its pretty sub-par for a $350 wireless headset, others do it better and cost less. If that's your primary concern, get a pair of Sony XM5s or Bose Quiet Comfort. The "gamer" aesthetic is also toned way down, the mic itself retracts flush, and red mute led is completely obscured, so you can use these out and about without anything screaming 'gaming headset'. Battery life is absolutely spectacluar, as good as advertised if not better. They charge exceptionally quickly in DAC just like on the Pro Wireless before - I wish more companies with wireless headsets would copy this. Batteries are still hot swappable, but I find the cover to be more annoying to remove than the previous generations. I realize that's a nit-pick, but this is a 'premium' product at a 'premium' price point, I expect improvements across the board, not regression. Driver quality is great, sounds are clean and un-muddled, the ability to independently game/system audio from VC audio is great. However, they removed the physical button from the headset that allowed you do that, instead you have one volume button and it control the system audio, chat audio has to be adjust in the SteelSeriesGG software - big loss in quality of life, and inexcusable in a headset this expensive. The mic quality is great; however, the quality is contingent upon leveraging a lot of the settings in the SteelSeriesGG app, and you can apply those to other headset mics with very similar results. Also, the quality that your friends are going to hear is entirely dependent on the bitrate of the comms software you're using; so all the mic adjustments in the world won't matter if it's a crappy connection. The ability to pair to the DAC as well as another Bluetooth device simultaneously still exists and provides wonderful functionality if you want to game on the PS5 while talking to people in discord on another device. This, however, is NOT unique to this headset, every Arctis headset I've used has been able to do this. Audio pass-through continues to exist from the previous Pro Wireless, meaning you can connect a set of speakers to audio-out on the DAC and output will automagically swap to that once the headset is powered off. However, despite adjusting settings in the SteelSeriesGG software, and on the DAC itself, the pass through will sometimes swap to 'stream' instead of speakers, resulting in a really loud feedback tone when you turn on the headset mic and have the aforementioned speakers powered on; no amount of updates to the sofware of firmware appears to have resolved this. If you want a great Arctis headset, get an Arctis 9 or 9X depending on what Console you want to use it with, and get a more comfortable, equally feature rich headset (minus mediocre ANC), for about half the price of the Nova Pro Wireless. I would've returned it if Best Buy hadn't changed their return policy for MyBestBuy members _after_ I purchased it. I tried to like it for months, but in the end, I'm just going to be giving it to friend with a smaller head that won't find it as wildly uncomfortable as I do. TLDR - the headset isn't bad, but its absolutely not great. I don't think it's worth the money. Too many quality of life regressions, and not enough improvements to justify purchasing these if you already own the Pro Wireles, Arctis 9 or 9X, or any other premium headset.

fantastic sound quality, very comfortable and easy to setup.

In all honesty these headphones sound great but there is no significant difference or wow factor between these and the Arctics 9. Not to mention you can purchase the wireless 9s for $150 cheaper than the wireless nova’s for identical sound quality. I own the Artics Pro wired and also have the artics 9 wireless. They all sound identical. There are only 2 things that the nova’s have that no other of their headsets have, the ability to use their new clearcast ai mic feature and the ability to tweak the spacial audio even further. Even at that, I was not able to access these features when I plugged them in, so I don’t know whats going on there. Spacial audio is still available for use in both the arctics pro and arctics 9. I’m on pc so i’m not sure how it works for ps5 but to my understanding you may not get every possible feature out of these unless you are on pc, but again I am not 100% sure. I was very underwhelmed when I first used them as i thought they’d blow the others out of the water, but I really enjoyed using the arctics 9 wireless over both of these so i will be returning the nova’s and selling my arctics pro wired and keeping the 9s.

Best set of headphones with a built in microphone that you can get

My fiancé loves them uses them everyday much needed upgrade.

Sound quality is truly amazing. Comfort and constructive build is legit.

Great headset great product very well for all levels of gaming you can't go wrong

Headset works well, and very comfortable with extended use.

They are amazing and are the best headphones I recommend

This headset would be top tier if there were a few major issues resolved with it. The biggest issue is they added a massive cylinder inside the earcups that stick out a lot. So the earcup touch around your ear, and then you have a spear poking your ears the whole time you're wearing them. Apparently it's the microphones that allow for active noise cancelation, but it's wildly uncomfortable after a short period of time. Personally, I didn't care about having ANC on this headset at all, so it makes it frustrating that their so uncomfortable because of this. The leather cups are of good quality, but just know that no other earcups are sold or offered. When I bought a $70 headset from a competing company they offered both leather and cloth, and I wish Steelseries had done that here as well. You're head will start getting sweaty and sticky with these earcups after ~30 minutes of usage, even in a very comfortably cool environment. Lastly, there are some software and firmware issues with the headphones that prevent it from being a smooth experience in some apps. Steelseries has said for the last couple of months that they're developing new firmware for it but there is no ETA so right now you're just rolling the dice hoping they'll work with your Windows apps and that Steelseries releases an updated working firmware soon. What really could've been a top tier 5* headset, drops far down the ladder when you consider the issues (some fixable, some not) and the staggering price point of $350.

Bought these as a gift for my husband for Christmas. He is a gamer and uses headphones for work. He loves the feel of these headphones and really likes the features.

The good thing about this headset is the feature set. The simultaneous Bluetooth and extra hot swappable battery are two great features. Also, steel series GG software is legitimately the most useful software I've ever used and has a wild amount of sound customization. Sadly, that's where the good ends. This headset is poorly made. It feels like a plastic children's toy. Plastic isn't a big issue and can safe weight and money but only in the right places. The most concerning of which is the seam on the plastic arm the holds the earcup swivel. It was super flimsy right out of the box and just spreading the headphones as if I'd be putting them on my head and moving the headphones around caused that seam to open and bend. This area was either overlooked or meant to be a point of failure. The earcups are also on-ear for the most part unless I have freakishly large ears and that's just a no no for me. As for the actual sound quality, I wasnt impressed. It doesn't sound like you're there, it sounds like you're listening to a program playing audio through a speaker. As a person who has been spoiled by headsets with AMAZING sound stages that feel full and super natural I hated the nova for it's sound. The GG software did what it could and I spent a long time trying my best to rectify the downfalls of it's audio but I just couldn't. The mixing, mastery of audio, and it's sound curve are all just way to all over the place and sound cheap. I could see a more casual gamer the doesn't spend as much time in game loving these but as a shut in who's always online I returned these day two.

Just overall sucks. I played with it for about an hour and got overly irritated with it and had to return. The earsbegin to hurt rather quickly, and the EQ is garbage and next to impossilbe to find a decent setting for even with sonar active. The audio on my $100 back up headset is better is the sad thing. The only plus to this headset i can find is the mic is crystal clear according to my friends, but thats not good enough for me since i can hear what direction shots or footsteps are coming from

Great headset so far, I bought it for my ps5 and they're better than my A50's. The sound quality is excellent and the extra battery is a super big plus for me. I highly recommend

These are one great pair of headphones when using the adapter but without they are so hard to get connected via Bluetooth for using on my TV . I love using them on my Computer , They are one of the best sounding headphones I own

Unbeatable quality at an unbeatable price. The dual battery system allows for 100% uptime without having to plug your headset in to charge.

Great quality, sound is really clear and loud, the monitor for volume is easy to use.

Best headset if you use different platforms, easy to switch back and forth and the sound quality is great

They work extremely well and it is amazing how much I can hear during game play now!!!

Great headset, one of the best sound quality I've heard in a while, the little piece inside of the headset that pokes out can get annoying, but it is not the worse thing in my opinion. My only issue was the mic quality, the mic quality was absolutely underwhelming considering the price point and was my breaking point. If someone has a a microphone setup already, this wont be a terrible buy, but someone like me who doesn't feel the need to have one will just go with another headset that will cost a lot less.