SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Headphones Review

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro look nearly identical to the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox]. They have a shiny plastic frame with a ski-band headband design to help distribute weight across your head. Although the headphones themselves only come in 'Black', if you're looking to add a pop of color to your setup, you can purchase the Arctis Nova Booster Pack separately. This pack comes with one set of speaker plates and a nylon strap in one of several colors: 'Cherry Red', 'Lilac', 'Mint', and 'Rose Quartz'.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro have a comfortable fit. They don't clamp as tightly on the head as other SteelSeries headphones, and they're lighter too. That said, they still have a bulky design, which is normal for gaming headphones. While the padding feels soft, it also feels squishier than the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox]. As a result, you can feel the plastic edge of the ear cups against your head more than with the wireless variant. Due to their ski band headband design, you can only expand the headphones to the limit of the metal headband too, which is a little frustrating if you have a large or wide head.

These headphones have passable controls. There are only two controls, which are both found on the left ear cup, but they're easy to use. There's a volume wheel with a min and max stop and a mic mute button. Different tones let you know when you're muted, and the mic has an LED light that turns red when muted.

These headphones come with a DAC that provides controls at your fingertips. You can access channel mixing, EQs, the virtual soundstage feature, gain, sidetone, and mic volume. However, it can be tricky to use since there are only two buttons.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro aren't very portable, but that's normal for gaming headphones. The ear cups can swivel to lay flat, but the headphones can't fold to take up less space. In their default position, they still have a somewhat large footprint.

These headphones, like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox] come with a cloth pouch to help protect them from dust. The fabric feels sheer, and you can even see through it, so it won't protect the headphones from water or drop damage. The drawstring also doesn't fully close the pouch, which is a little disappointing.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro have a good build quality. Like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox], they're mostly made of plastic with a metal headband plate and nylon sling. The mic is retractable too, and you can remove the ear plates if you want to swap them out for a different color. However, the ear cups feel less stiff than the wireless variant's and seem like you can easily remove them from the frame, making them seem a little cheap.

These headphones are fairly stable. They're not designed to be worn during workouts and can fall off your head with moderate head movements. They shouldn't move around if you're gaming at your desk or on your couch.

• SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro headphones
• GameDAC Gen 2
• 2x USB-A to USB-C cable
• 1/8" TRRS cable
• Mic wind screen
• Pouch
• Manuals

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro have a somewhat neutral sound profile. They sound very similar to the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox], with a touch of extra bass to help bring out sound effects while gaming. However, the treble range is uneven, resulting in vocals and lead instruments sounding harsh as well as veiled. Sibilants like cymbals are also piercing. Luckily, the GameDAC offers a couple of EQ presets that you can fine-tune to your liking.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro have disappointing frequency response consistency. They're very prone to inconsistencies in bass and treble delivery due to fit, positioning, and seal. You may especially notice a drop in bass if you have thick hair or wear glasses, as this can break the ear cup's seal.

The bass accuracy is outstanding. The response is slightly overemphasized, which can help add a touch of extra thump and boom to mixes. It can also help bring out sound effects like footsteps in gameplay. However, extra bass won't overwhelm vocals and lead instruments.

These headphones have excellent mid accuracy. The range is fairly flat, so vocals and lead instruments sound present and clear. However, a small bump in the high-mid can make the upper harmonics of these sounds harsh. In the second verse of Loretta by Ginger Root, the synth violins are a bit honky, especially compared to the groovy baseline and lead singer's vocals.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro's treble accuracy is sub-par. The response is a bit uneven, so vocals and lead instruments lack detail while sibilants like S and T sounds are piercing. The high synth melody in the middle of Glass Ocean from Neon White's soundtrack sounds a bit veiled instead of bright.

These headphones have mediocre peaks and dips performance that looks a lot like that of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox]. The dip between the low to mid-bass lessens the amount of thump and punch in your mixes, while a bump in the high-bass adds extra boom. Another dip in between the low to mid-mid nudges vocals and lead instruments to the back of mixes as a continuous peak in the high-mid to low-treble makes their upper harmonics sound harsh. The large dip in the low-treble veils vocals and lead instruments while a massive peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants like cymbals piercing.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro's imaging performance is outstanding. This test allows us to see the alignment of the left and right drivers. It indicates how well headphones accurately reproduce and place spatial objects like footsteps in the stereo image.

The group delay falls below the audibility threshold, which results in tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. The L/R drivers of our unit are matched in terms of phase, amplitude, and frequency response. It's important so that objects like voices or footsteps are accurately reproduced in the stereo image. Keep in mind that imaging can vary between units, and it can indicate a manufacturer's quality control and ergonomics.

The passive soundstage performance is sub-par. They're closed-back headphones, so their soundstage won't feel as open or spacious as that created by open-back headphones. That said, the soundstage still seems wide and as if audio is coming from speakers in the room around you rather than from inside your head, making for a more immersive audio experience. If you're looking for gaming headphones with a wider, more spacious passive soundstage, open-back designs like the Corsair VIRTUOSO PRO are worth trying.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro have a spatial audio feature available in their companion software. It has settings to better suit gaming or movies, and you can even move a slider to change the distance of the passive soundstage. If you're gaming on the PS5, you can also access Tempest 3D AudioTech in the console's settings.

These headphones have a good weighted harmonic distortion performance. Like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox], there's a peak at normal listening volumes in the low-treble range. It can be hard to hear with real-life content, though. That said, the rest of the frequency response falls within good limits, which results in mostly clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro's noise isolation performance is poor. Unlike the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox], they lack active noise cancelling (ANC). As a result, they don't block out any of the low rumble of bus or plane engines. While they do a better job of tackling ambient chatter and the high-pitched hum of an AC unit, they still struggle in this regard. While this shouldn't be a problem if you're gaming in a quiet area, it can be more annoying if you share a gaming space with others.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro's leakage performance is very good. The leakage is mostly concentrated in the mid to treble range. Escaping audio sounds a bit thin. If you like to game with the volume cranked up to high, it's unlikely you'll bother those around you.

The boom mic has an excellent recording quality. It performs better than that of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox] as its advertised frequency response range is wider (100-10000Hz) than the wireless variant (100-6500Hz). As a result, your voice sounds clear and easy to understand. However, there's a bump in the low to mid-treble range, which can make parts of your voice sound bright and piercing.

The boom mic's noise handling performance is decent. With the noise gate turned off, your voice is still easy to understand, even in moderately noisy environments. However, there's a bit more background noise audible in recorded speech than what we measured in the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox]'s performance.

The companion software offers two additional features to help improve noise handling: 'ClearCast AI Noise Cancellation' and 'Noise Gate On'. However, we didn't notice a difference in performance while using these settings.

SteelSeries GG and Sonar are excellent companion software. GG is the default software, and it offers a graphic EQ and presets as well as volume control and mic side tone. That said, if you're looking for even more features, GG supports Sonar, which is another software integrated into the GG ecosystem. This software offers a parametric EQ and presets plus dedicated pages for microphone and chat features like the mic's EQ.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro come with two USB-A to USB-C cables so you can connect them to a console and your PC at the same time. They also come with a 1/8" TRRRS cable, which allows you to use the mic and receive audio. If you connect the PlayStation/PC variant's DAC to your PC using USB, you'll experience low latency, so your audio and visuals stay in sync while gaming. With that said, the Xbox variant of these has multiple user reports of high latency when using the headset with Xbox consoles and PCs; check out the Xbox Compatibility section for more information. Our unit isn't the Xbox variant, so we can't test for this.

These headphones are fully compatible with PCs, whether you use an analog or wired USB connection. Users have reported high latency with the Xbox variant when connected to their PCs, but we can't test that for comparison because our unit is the PlayStation/PC variant. Read more about that in the Xbox Compatibility section.

You can connect to PS4 and PS5 consoles via analog or wired USB. Either connection results in full audio and mic compatibility.

The PC/PlayStation variant can't connect via wired USB to Xbox consoles. You can still use the PC/PlayStation variant with an analog connection for full audio and mic support on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. If you want to use wired USB, you'll need to purchase the Xbox variant instead, but unfortunately, users have reported unacceptably high latency with the Xbox variant using Xbox consoles (and PCs). You can read comments about the high latency in our forums here, at the bottom of this review, as well as Reddit posts here and here. Our unit isn't the Xbox version of the headset, so we can't check this.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro come with the second generation of the GameDAC. It offers multiple connectivity options as well as controls that you can adjust on the fly. Overall, it offers a lot more versatility and function than inline controls from other high-end gaming headphones like the Bose QuietComfort 35 II Gaming Headset.