SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Review: Still the Premium Headset to Beat?
Two hot-swappable batteries, a base station with ChatMix and active noise cancellation: SteelSeries lists the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless at $299.99. We check whether it is still the best all-round premium wireless headset.
The verdict
The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is still the headset we would hand to most players with a PC and a PlayStation: the hot-swap batteries remove battery anxiety, the base station makes game and chat mixing easy, and Sonar gives deep EQ control. The noise cancellation is only good, not great, and the earcups are bulky on small heads. Buy it if you want one set for everything. Skip it if you want the best ANC.
Best forPC and PlayStation players who want one do-it-all headset
What we liked
- Two hot-swappable batteries, each rated up to 22 hours, so power never runs out
- Base station with ChatMix and a headset wheel for balancing game and voice
- Active noise cancellation with a Transparency Mode for hearing the room
- Sonar software offers a 10-band equalizer and a parametric EQ on PC
- USB 2.4GHz and Bluetooth connections can run at the same time
What we did not
- At $299.99 it costs more than most wireless headsets
- ANC is decent at home but falls well short of the best travel headphones
- The base station takes up desk space and needs its own USB cable
- Large, deeply padded earcups can feel bulky on small heads
Every wireless headset dies at the worst moment. SteelSeries decided to remove that moment altogether, and that one idea still defines the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless.
The battery trick that still sets it apart
Two batteries ship in the box. One sits in the headset; the other charges in the base station. When the first runs low, you pop it out, snap the second in and keep playing. SteelSeries rates each at up to 22 hours. Tom's Hardware called the swappable system essentially infinite battery life, and we agree that this is the feature other premium headsets still do not match.
SteelSeries' own store lists the black model at $299.99 as we write. Prices on the maker's page move with promotions, so check the live figure before you buy.
Why the base station matters more than the headset
Most buyers focus on earcups. The base station deserves your attention. SteelSeries describes it as the way to balance game sound against teammate chat: turn down a loud friend, lift a quiet one, even adjust from the headset's control wheel. It also lets you connect over USB or Bluetooth, and run both at once, so a phone call or music can sit beside game audio.
If you split time between PC and console, that matters daily. You stop opening menus to fix volume.
ANC: good at home, average in the street
The headset has active noise cancellation and a Transparency Mode that lets the room in. Tom's Hardware found the ANC excellent in a quiet home office but well short of Bose's QuietComfort on the street. We would not buy this for a flight. For a noisy desk fan, a loud family or a late-night keyboard, it does the job.
The microphone is the other half of the story. SteelSeries says it tested the mic against hairdryers and jet planes, and the claim is about noise rejection in outgoing chat. We treat that as a manufacturer boast until we can verify it, but combined with ChatMix, it makes party voice work simple.
Sonar and the sound you can shape
On PC, the software is SteelSeries Sonar.
Specs
- Price (US)
- $299.99 on SteelSeries' store
- Connection
- 2.4GHz wireless via base station, plus Bluetooth
- Battery
- Two hot-swappable batteries, up to 22 hours each
- Noise cancellation
- Active noise cancellation with Transparency Mode
- EQ
- 10-band equalizer, parametric EQ through Sonar
- Microphone
- Noise-cancelling mic, tested against hairdryers and jets by SteelSeries
- Software
- SteelSeries Sonar for PC (GG)
- Audio
- 360 degree spatial sound for awareness
