With 360° Spatial Audio, a re-engineered GameDAC, 96KHz/24-bit audio, AI-powered noise cancelling microphone and much more, the Arctis Nova Pro from SteelSeries seems to have what it takes, but, does it?
Product on Review: Arctis Nova Pro
Manufacturer: SteelSeries
Street Price:
GBP – £249.99
USD – $249.99
AUD – $279.99
SteelSeries have moved from strength to strength within the peripheral market over the past 20 years or so, releasing some truly excellent headsets as well as mice, keyboards and various other items. One area in which SteelSeries seem to excel especially is the audio market, their headsets are forever receiving a myriad of awards and today we get the pleasure (hopefully) of testing their Arctis Nova Pro, the crème de la crème of their wired headset lineup.
The Nova Pro supports the latest 360° spatial audio technologies, using Sonar on the PC and Tempest 3D on the PS5, pair that with premium high fidelity drivers and the new GameDAC Gen 2 with Hi-Res Audio Certification thanks to the 96KHz/24-Bit signal processing.
The model in for testing today supports the PC and PlayStation, however there is a second model, which is identical in all other ways, that supports the Xbox as well, so you’re covered regardless of which side of the fence you find yourself on.
Over 5 years ago we looked at the Arctis Pro which received the Vortez Ultimate award from Tony, certainly a big reputation to follow; how much can SteelSeries improve on the formula? Let’s delve in and take a look.
SteelSeries on the Arctis Nova Pro
Ultimate clarity and sound quality come together in the Nova Pro Acoustic System, raising the bar for what audio in gaming means. Our audio engineers pushed the envelope for legendary performance with Premium High Fidelity Drivers, achieving sound purity unlike any other gaming headset.
Technical Specifications
Speaker Drivers:
Neodymium Drivers: 40 mm
Headphone Frequency Response (Wired): 10–40,000 Hz
Headphone Sensitivity: 93 dBSPL
Headphone Impedance: 38 Ohm
Headphone Total Harmonic Distortion: < 1%
Microphone
Microphone Type: ClearCast Gen 2 – Fully Retractable Boom
Microphone Polar Pattern: Bidirectional Noise-Canceling
Microphone Frequency Response: 100–10,000 Hz
Microphone Sensitivity: -38 dBV/Pa
Microphone Impedance: 2200 Ohm
GameDAC Gen 2
Connections: 2x USB-C System Connections, 1x Line-in, 1x Line-out
DAC: ESS Sabre 9218PQ40
Max Audio Format: 96 kHz, 24 bit
Frequency Response: 5-40,000 Hz
SNR: 111 dB
Box Content
Arctis Nova Pro Headset
GameDAC Gen 2
3.5mm to 3.5mm Audio Cable – 5 pole to 4 pole (4 ft / 1.2m)
2x USB-C to USB-A Cable (5 ft / 1.5m)
2x Removable Magnetic Ear Plates
Microphone Pop Filter
Product Information Guide
Software Requirements
GG + Engine: Windows 8.1 and above, Mac OS 10.13 and above
GG + Sonar Audio Software Suite: Windows 10 and above
Compatibility
PC: USB/ChatMix (Via Sonar)
PS5/PS4: USB
Nintendo Switch: USB
Mac: USB
Neodymium Drivers: 40 mm
Headphone Frequency Response (Wired): 10–40,000 Hz
Headphone Sensitivity: 93 dBSPL
Headphone Impedance: 38 Ohm
Headphone Total Harmonic Distortion: < 1%
Microphone
Microphone Type: ClearCast Gen 2 – Fully Retractable Boom
Microphone Polar Pattern: Bidirectional Noise-Canceling
Microphone Frequency Response: 100–10,000 Hz
Microphone Sensitivity: -38 dBV/Pa
Microphone Impedance: 2200 Ohm
GameDAC Gen 2
Connections: 2x USB-C System Connections, 1x Line-in, 1x Line-out
DAC: ESS Sabre 9218PQ40
Max Audio Format: 96 kHz, 24 bit
Frequency Response: 5-40,000 Hz
SNR: 111 dB
Box Content
Arctis Nova Pro Headset
GameDAC Gen 2
3.5mm to 3.5mm Audio Cable – 5 pole to 4 pole (4 ft / 1.2m)
2x USB-C to USB-A Cable (5 ft / 1.5m)
2x Removable Magnetic Ear Plates
Microphone Pop Filter
Product Information Guide
Software Requirements
GG + Engine: Windows 8.1 and above, Mac OS 10.13 and above
GG + Sonar Audio Software Suite: Windows 10 and above
Compatibility
PC: USB/ChatMix (Via Sonar)
PS5/PS4: USB
Nintendo Switch: USB
Mac: USB
Packaging & Bundle
SteelSeries’ orange and grey colour scheme is iconic at this point, and it looks fantastic. The picture on the box is clear and there’s enough information to grab your attention.
On the reverse of the box you’ll find plenty more specifications and details about the headset within.
Inside, tucked neatly into a recyclable cardboard sleeve, you’ll see SteelSeries have put the headset into a high-quality mesh draw-string bag to keep it nicely protected during transit and storage.
Along with your new headset you’ll get an information guide, a postcard, a pair of USB-A to USB-C cables and a 4-pole 3.5mm to 4-pole 3.5mm cable, the GameDAC 2.0 and a microphone filter.
Closer Look
If you’re familiar with SteelSeries headsets, the design here won’t surprise you in the slightest, it’s very much par for the course. However, don’t let that put you off, it’s worked well for a long time with small improvements made here and there.
Inside the headband is a stretchy “comfort band” that adjusts itself to a degree, but there is also the four height options on the ends to give you plenty of room to get comfortable. The plushy, leatherette ear cups are incredibly soft, containing memory foam, and they’re vegan-friendly.
Tucked away within the left earcup is a retractable microphone, featuring AI noise cancellation, which SteelSeries claims can reduce unwanted noise by up to 25dB, on any platform.
Along with the microphone there’s the 3.5mm 4-pole connector, a volume wheel and a mute switch for the microphone. You can also see here, where the SteelSeries logo is, there’s a small recess just above the volume wheel, this allows you to remove the round piece and swap it for a variety of colours, the Nova Booster Pack is available separately on the website, and also includes a colour-matched headband.
The right earcup doesn’t feature any extra buttons or switches.
Closer Look (Continued)
The GameDAC Gen 2 is a mixture of a glossy plastic screen and a satin plastic, which melds together perfectly. There’s a small touch-sensitive button on the front and a huge adjustment wheel.
On the back of the DAC is a pair of USB-C inputs, which can be switched between easily, as well as an analogue line in and line out, for older devices which don’t have USB-C.
You connect the headset to a 3.5mm port on the left of the DAC, which supports both the audio and the microphone.
The perimeter of the underside is one big length of rubber to prevent the unit from sliding around on your desk.
Software
The SteelSeries GG software, which has evolved hugely over the years, is now a fully-fledged software suite with umpteen different gimmicks and features to keep you busy. We’ll focus on the audio features for this review.The Home tab just gives you an overall view of what’s going on, with adverts for new products and links to various places within the software and on the SteelSeries website.
Sonar, a powerful software audio mixer that allows you to tweak things to your heart’s content. The Sonar suite allows you to take advantage of the new Clearcast AI-powered noise cancellation, giving you granular control over many specific aspects of the noise your microphone will collect. You can remove background noise, such as the whirr of the fans from your PC or a nearby air conditioner, while impact noises can also be filtered out, things like the clack from your mechanical keyboard or the click of your mouse.
Predetermined equaliser levels are available for a wide variety of games to help you hear the exact sounds you need to, such as enemy footsteps in your favourite first person shooter, tyres chirping at the edge of traction in racing games or enemy planes approaching from behind in War Thunder. You can tweak things further, if you wish to.
Jumping into the Engine part of the software, this lets you play around with some settings of the headset and the GameDAC. You can adjust the equalizer, if you don’t want to use Sonar, and things like the gain and volume of the microphone.
Performance Testing
Setting the headset up doesn’t take long, the initial firmware updates are nice and quick so you can start listening to your music in no time.Adjusting the headset to fit your head is super simple, there are the tabs at the ends of the suspended headband that require adjustment, but the rest is a doddle with the sliding arrangement between the earcups and outer headband. Once it’s fitted to your head, it feels fantastic, the leatherette coated memory foam offer a weightless sensation while also isolating you from the outside world, then the elastic headband removes any pressure on the top of your head. It’s an excellent design from SteelSeries that they’ve perfected over several years now and it just works.
Onto the audio quality, this is where the Acrtis Nova Pro really excels, the deep bass is all there and packs one hell of a punch, the mids and highs are clear and distortion-free, it’s just excellent. The headset does seem to be tuned for the high end particularly, which isn’t surprising given that it’s a gaming headset at the end of the day, but it does cause it to suffer in some songs, having said that, you do need to be sat there really trying to notice any potential issues with the audio to pick out any shortcomings but they are small and don’t detract from the overall appeal of the headset.
I tested out the Sonar audio equalizer game presets in Rocket League, Call of Duty: Warzone 2 and, as much as I totally suck at it, Overwatch 2; it has to be said, I don’t feel like they made an enormous difference to the way I play overall, but I could hear a difference in Call of Duty, whether or not it makes me any better is yet to be seen, but there is certainly time and effort invested into the system.
SteelSeries don’t produce poorly made products, from our experience, and we can happily confirm that the Nova Pro is no exception, the materials, hinges, cables, connections, everything is crisp and firm and feels excellent. The cushioned ear cups also feel top-notch, they depress nicely and have a supple texture.
One unusual feature of the Nova Pro is the bundled GameDAC, this acts as the soundcard for your PC, powered by a USB port. The DAC features two USB-C inputs on the back so you can connect to your PS5 and PC (for example) at the same time without any cable-swapping. You aren’t swamped by buttons or features with the DAC, it has a touch-sensitive button, a large rotating dial that can be depressed as a secondary button and the reasonable sized LCD display, all packed into a neat package that’s easy to find a location for. However, while all of the physical characteristics are good, the sound quality isn’t quite what we’d expect from a £250 setup; the lack of quality of the DAC isn’t immediately noticeable until we plugged the headset into the 2020 MacBook Air that we have here, this transformed the headset into something quite different, bass was firmer, highs were clearer, volume was louder, everything improved and no matter what we did with the DAC, selecting 96kHz @ 24-bit, or dropping that down to try and match different audio types, the MacBook out-performed it at every step.
Onto SteelSeries’ 360° audio, as is pretty much always the case, it doesn’t really do what you want it to on a stereo headset, you need a fancy arrangement of speakers within the headset to even get close to proper spatial audio, it does give some extra depth to your games but we’d prefer this stuff wasn’t advertised in the way it is, which all manufacturers are guilty of.
Now, onto the microphone, this is something many headsets struggle with, largely because of the tiny size of the boom arm and budget restraints but the Nova Pro’s microphone is very good. It’s not going to compete with something that hangs in front of your face that wouldn’t look out of place on a Twitch stream but if you just want to chat with your mates while gaming it will absolutely cut the mustard. We also gave the Sonar Software’s AI Algorithm a try, with reasonable success, it’s not quite at the same level as Krisp on Discord, or NVIDIA’s Broadcast yet, but it’ll certainly do for the vast majority of use-cases, providing you don’t mind a slight degradation in voice quality.
Conclusion
SteelSeries’ design language really appeals to us here, the simplicity of the structure, with the in-depth efforts to make the headset as comfortable as possible really shines through during testing.Looking at the headset from a build quality and comfort perspective, we can’t score it any higher, comfort is absolutely on the button, even for extended periods of time, and construction quality is exceptional, no expense has been spared on the materials and fit and finish of the headset and GameDAC.
Audio quality is another strong suit of the Nova Pro, it does everything incredibly well, films, games, music, talking to your friends online, whatever you want, it’s all top notch and sounds fantastic. Having said that, the GameDAC does let the side down a little bit, it’s evidently not as good as it could be, with the MacBook Air 2020 (M1) out-performing the GameDAC and the motherboard in the test system (MSI MEG X570 ACE) being comparable in quality. We’d like to see why the GameDAC didn’t perform as we expected, we tried various different settings, different USB ports, driver reinstalls, nothing worked. Now, don’t let that put you off too much, the audio quality is still fantastic, it could just be a little better.
The microphone isn’t going to set any records, it’s sufficient for the needs of the headset, clarity is decent, it folds away if you don’t want to use it, it filters out environmental noise reasonably well, it’s just… ok, but that’s perfectly fine by us, if you want better voice quality, purchase a separate microphone, you aren’t going to get “broadcast quality” from any gaming headset.
Testing a headset is a lengthy process which requires extensive use during gaming, whilst listening to music, YouTube videos, films, as well as use on multiple devices, it’s all such a hassle, you know? Of course, I’m joking, the Nova Pro has been a true pleasure to test, excelling in all areas, we can happily recommend this headset to any potential buyer.
Solid materials and build quality, excellent audio reproduction, decent microphone, looks fantastic, great software, it’s the whole package.
Pros
+ Solid construction
+ Sublime comfort
+ Looks great
+ Respectable microphone performance
+ Excellent software suite
Cons
– GameDAC didn’t perform as well as we expected
+ Solid construction
+ Sublime comfort
+ Looks great
+ Respectable microphone performance
+ Excellent software suite
Cons
– GameDAC didn’t perform as well as we expected
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