SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni  Headphones Review

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni aren't designed for sports and fitness, so they're not very suitable for this use case. They aren't very stable on your head and can easily be dislodged during light exercise. While they're quite comfortable, thanks to their memory foam and faux leather earpads, this combination can also easily trap sweat on warmer days. Their plastic-heavy build quality and lack of an IP rating also mean they aren't protected against sweat or water damage.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni are good for travel, even though they aren't expressly made for this purpose. Their comfortable fit means they can be worn for hours on end, and their hot-swappable battery design lets you squeeze over 50 hours of use with ANC enabled. Still, you might not want to bring their DAC on the road, which is the most convenient way to charge the battery packs and manage connections. Their ANC system does a solid job of attenuating common sounds heard in transit, like rumbling airplane engines and passenger chit-chat, though it's not quite on par with top-tier noise cancelling headphones. They're not very portable, though: their bulky frame doesn't fold up beyond the ear cups lying flat, and they come with a fairly flimsy carrying pouch.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni are a good choice for use in an office. Their roughly 27 hours of continuous battery life (with ANC enabled) can be further supplemented by the additional, swappable battery pack, or you can opt for USB-C charging at your desk. They have a comfortable fit, with a combination of memory foam and faux leather used for the ear pads, plus the retractable boom mic is useful for high-stakes work calls where intelligibility is key. You can dial in the noise reduction manually or opt for the AI-powered noise reduction to ensure background distractions are kept at a minimum. In a similar vein, the ANC system lets you focus on the task at hand, attenuating office noises well.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni are great for wired gaming. You can connect them via a TRRRS cable for full audio and mic support, though they don't come with an analog cable, so you'll have to pick this up elsewhere. As expected, latency is very low with this connection type, so there's no risk of AV desync impacting your gameplay. Otherwise, these headphones offer a great mix of features for all-day gaming: a comfortable fit, a solid mic performance with great noise handling, and a few different spatial audio options for immersive gaming. While their default tuning doesn't align well with our target, it's a good fit for competitive first-person shooters, with a boosted bass range that can make it easier to detect enemy footsteps.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni are good for audio reproduction accuracy. Their frequency response doesn't deviate much from their V-shaped sound profile, aside from some treble peaks that can amplify the brightness of sibilant sounds. Their L/R drivers are well-matched in phase and frequency, resulting in a balanced stereo image, and there's no audible coloration of your audio from harmonic distortion. While the default response isn't too similar to our in-house target, there's plenty of scope for tweaking the sound via the graphic EQ and hundreds of game-specific presets in the companion app.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni are good for noise isolation. The ANC system has adjustable levels of strength and, when set to its maximum intensity, it's capable of blocking out a good amount of low-frequency rumble to supplement the treble range attenuation provided by their closed-back seal. For gamers who live in busy cities, it'll certainly help tamp down on street noise outside your window, but it doesn't perform quite on par with the best noise-cancelling over-ears. They don't leak much audio either, so those around you are unlikely to be bothered by your audio.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni have a very good microphone performance. The retractable boom mic is capable of rendering your voice in a very natural, balanced way so you're clearly understandable to your teammates. We found that the ClearCast AI Noise Cancellation adapted well to the environment around you, separating your voice from even the busiest backdrops, though it can take a few seconds to calibrate. If the default mic processing is too aggressive, you can further dial in your mic settings by tweaking the noise gate, compressor, EQ, and noise reduction levels.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni have decent frequency response consistency. Glasses-wearers and those with long hair might notice some deviations in bass- and mid-range delivery, though these aren't as impactful as with other closed-back over-ears. You can help mitigate this by taking the time to ensure a proper fit with a solid seal.