Redefining the ‘Premium’ Gaming Headset

I really feel no compunction telling you the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite gaming headset wasn’t made for the general public studying this overview. How premium is it? It prices $600.

It comes with a particular GameHub that can hook as much as three consoles or PCs directly to allow you to seamlessly swap between all of your gadgets. It additionally prices $600. It has a few of the finest premium audio I’ve heard from a gaming headset all 12 months. It’s going to ask you to fork over $600 for the privilege. The Arctis Nova Elite chock-full of small facilities, which mixes with all the opposite options to make the gaming headset so easy to function. All, for $600. It’s simply the costliest headset I’ve used, which makes it that rather more annoying once I admit I loved it as a lot as I did.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite isn’t doing something we haven’t seen earlier than, even when its price ticket is among the highest we’ve seen. The $400 Logitech G Astro A50 X used a big base for video passthrough to hook up all of your gadgets to at least one place. The more moderen $180 Astro A20 X does one thing much like the Arctis Nova Elite, although with solely two as a substitute of three outputs for various consoles on a miniature station.  SteelSeries’ ultra-premium system isn’t the primary to make use of a miniature OLED display to show your headset settings, both. The $400 Razer Kraken V4 Pro’s base station lacks the additional console and PC outputs, however its metallic body feels extra premium when it’s sitting in your desk than SteelSeries’ plastic.

SteelSeries was adamant that is the primary “Hello-Res” gaming headset, largely as a consequence of it receiving certification from the Japan Audio Society. However there are different firms promising their gaming headsets can provide gamers the audiophile expertise. Gizmodo Senior Author James Pero just lately reviewed the $360 VZR Model One MK II hi-fi headest. My ears are nonetheless begging me to return to the sensible tones of the Sony Inzone H9 II, which used the identical audio drivers because the class-leading Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones. So, no, this isn’t the primary gaming headset with any number of audiophile-level sound.

As a substitute, the Arctis Nova Elite is the primary gaming headset I’ve used that has all the things (and like an all the things bagel, that actually received’t please everybody). It’s sporting some high quality lively noise cancellation (ANC), although not one of the best in its class. Its audio capabilities are actually high tier (although I should want the Sony Inzone H9 II for pure gaming audio bliss). The headset makes connecting to each one in every of my gadgets seamless, and it helps 4 separate streams of simultaneous audio (although it’ll require downloading the Arctis app to your cellphone and the GG app to your laptop to regulate equalization choices for every system individually). The Arctis Nova Elite is constructed for the devoted gamer, the one who has one spot of their house the place they play. In that very particular case, this is among the finest headsets I’ve used.

The most effective for all the things?

There’s no getting round it. The Arctis Nova Elite alone prices greater than a PlayStation 5 console even after price hikes. I’ve used sufficient SteelSeries headsets to know its typical design ethos. In impact, the Arctis Nova Elite is an upgraded model of the Nova Professional Wi-fi, with metallic frames and a metallic quantity wheel. This gaming headset appears particularly good with its cream and gold colorway. I simply don’t know if something concerning the it desgin reads that it’s value a lot cash.

The sound is the place issues matter, and that’s what the Arctis Nova Elite has acquired going for it. The dual carbon fiber drivers provide a clear audio presence at its baseline. It’s able to lossless 24-bit, 96kHz wi-fi audio, although consoles just like the Xbox Collection X and PS5 are restricted to 48k/16-bit. It might take just a few hours of listening, however finally I got here to acknowledge the Arctis Nova Elite’s true potential as soon as I put it by means of its paces in numerous titles of assorted types.

If you happen to’re so used to shoving your AirPods in your ears each morning commute, listening to high quality audio from a devoted hi-fi headset can truthfully go away you in tears. You’ll begin to establish subtleties positioned by cautious fingers within the songs you’ve heard 1,000,000 occasions earlier than. There’s a motive some folks grow to be obsessive about audio high quality. When you attain the highest of the mountain, it’s that rather more tough to crawl again down and stay among the many rocks and weeds.

As soon as I related the Arctis Nova Elite to my cellphone, I wasn’t pressured to disconnect from PC or consoles. It makes residing your life contained in the headset simpler. I couldn’t stand it for too lengthy, although. Whereas the reminiscence foam cups are plush with a pillow-like softness surrounding my ears, the headset desires to hug my head tighter than others to get that good seal. There was a rising strain between my eyes as I used it, forcing me to take intermittent breaks.

The Arctis Nova Elite may simply be my one and solely gaming headset. That being stated, I don’t actually know many individuals who trouble with multiple. SteelSeries recommended it may very well be your audio buddy even once you’re not close to your sofa or desk. The gaming headset comes with a mushy felt-lined pouch that snaps shut with a satisfying magnetic clasp. If you would like one thing extra protecting like a tough case, you’ll have to purchase it individually. The factor is, one of the best headphones are designed so that you don’t look appear to be an alien when carrying them. You received’t look elegant together with your head shoved between these cans such as you do together with your AirPods Max. These are designed to put on for hours and hours. I couldn’t stand them for that lengthy. Possibly anyone with a thinner skull would get pleasure from them for longer.

Each sport requires its personal finetuning

If you happen to don’t go into the app to regulate the EQ profile to suit the sport, you’ll find yourself with a a lot worse expertise total. SteelSeries has a daft variety of game-specific profiles for a few of the hottest video games round and much more you wouldn’t anticipate the corporate to trouble with (there’s a preset for Doki Doki Literature Membership!, for goodness’ sake). So in the event you load up into your Cyberpunk 2077 save, and enter with out the preset bass profile, it received’t have wherever close to the degrees you need to make your machine gun hearth actually pop. This requires you to manually change their settings from sport to sport if you’d like one of the best expertise.

Inevitably, you’ll come throughout a sport that’s too new for it to have an EQ profile. I’ve been enjoying The Outer Worlds 2, which has a soundtrack that’s equal components thriller and nostalgia. It doesn’t sound unhealthy by any margin with the “flat” preset within the Arctis app. I simply know deep in my soul the sport may sound higher with just a few knobs twisted. If you happen to scroll by means of all of the preset EQ choices, you could find one or two that can sound higher to your ears. As an illustration, I performed Gears of War: Reloaded with the Name of Responsibility: Black Ops 6 preset and it sounded significantly better than with the inventory customary profile.

A minimum of, the GameHub helps you to swap and modify the quantity mixing between the primary and second USB inputs. Swapping between Bluetooth and the two.4GHz connection doesn’t require a lot enter. Nonetheless, if you wish to take a name within the headphones, you’ll have to hit the Bluetooth button on the fitting earpad.

SteelSeries’ “flat” profile is okay for many listening experiences, together with music or when speaking on video calls. After I acquired on with a few of my coworkers, they instructed me I sounded extraordinarily clear, almost—however not fairly—podcast ranges of readability. That’s spectacular contemplating the telescoping mic wasn’t even carrying a pop filter. The mic provides 16-bit 32kHz recordings, and listening to myself again I can affirm it’s of fine high quality. There’s an extra mute button the left earcup if you might want to keep away from any again chatter when gaming with buddies and even chatting with workmates. Once more, it may very well be my all the things headset when at house I may stand carrying it for too lengthy.

Higher battery life? Attempt extra batteries

There’s numerous optimistic qualities to this design. I may stroll 30 toes away from the GameHub with a wall in between me and my desktop, and nonetheless hear my sport as clear as if I used to be standing subsequent to it. Solely once I put a number of partitions between me and the system did the sound begin to waver.

The ANC is sweet sufficient I might repeatedly miss what my colleagues had been saying even when they had been speaking proper subsequent to me. With the ANC on, I couldn’t hear the blast of the loud followers from the Acer Predator Triton 14 gaming laptop computer I just lately reviewed. Nonetheless, I may sometimes hear ambient noise, just like the distant pop of a fireplace truck siren or a loud bang on a dialog my boss was having on the opposite facet of the room. The Arctis Nova Elite is greater than sufficient to your gaming den once you need to gap up like a cheerful otter and ignore the speeding river waters round you. It simply received’t provide something near the sensory deprivation chamber sensation of some high-end ANC wi-fi headphones just like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen).

If there’s one factor lacking from the Arctis Nova Elite, it’s a battery life equal to its $600 price ticket. SteelSeries guarantees you may get 60 hours of lively listening, however that’s solely once you make use of two separate batteries. The GameHub comes with a small compartment that accepts one in every of two cells that come within the field. The magnetized cap on the right-hand earcup comes off to disclose the battery. It’s not technically hot-swappable, as eradicating the battery will flip off the sound. Swapping in a contemporary battery will instantly flip the headset on and return you again to your numerous connections. By comparability, a $300 HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 wi-fi can go for 250 hours earlier than you might want to plug it in.

Value greater than a console?

I hold citing different headsets that value much less simply to clarify the place we’re with the present panorama of gaming cans. Nothing I’ve tried has even got here near SteelSeries’ worth level. There are different gaming headsets that promise hi-fi audio or allow you to join all of your consoles. The Arctis Nova Elite is the one pair that I do know of that gives each in a single package deal. I can’t consider some other headset I might need extra if I’ve all my gaming gadgets in a single spot.

I additionally know I personally couldn’t drop $600 on any headset. Even when I did go for the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite, I must take into account if I may settle for Bluetooth extra typically than the two.4GHz connection. Although I personal a PS5 and Nintendo Swap 2, and get to check a rotating forged of PCs, I spend extra time gaming on a handheld than anything. There’s actually just a few of us on the market who’re glued to their gaming chairs and need a headset for each single system they personal. I can’t consider something higher than the Arctis Nova Elite.