SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox] vs Arctis Nova Elite: Which Headphones Are Better?

Tested using Methodology v2.0

Updated Nov 17, 2025 09:30 PM

See SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox] Review

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox] Picture

TypeOver-ear

Noise CancellingYes

EnclosureClosed-Back

Bass Amount Slightly Emphasized (1 dB)

WirelessYes

TransducerDynamic

Treble Amount Slightly Underemphasized (-2 dB)

MicYes

Sound Signature Warm

TypeOver-ear

Noise CancellingYes

EnclosureClosed-Back

Bass Amount Slightly Emphasized (2 dB)

WirelessYes

TransducerDynamic

Treble Amount Slightly Underemphasized (-3 dB)

MicYes

Sound Signature Warm

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SteelSeries

Our Verdict

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox]

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite is an updated, more premium version of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. The Elite headset retains most of the design and functionality of the Pro, albeit with aluminum yokes and hinges and a more matte finish. The Elite also feature an improved ANC system that significantly outperforms the Pro's. While the older Pro support simultaneous audio from one audio source on the dock and a separate Bluetooth device, the newer Elite allow you to mix up to three dock devices and one separate Bluetooth device together, making it the better option for gamers with multiple consoles and/or a PC. That said, these improvements come at almost double the cost, so it's worth considering whether you need all the extra connectivity and ANC to begin with.

Variants

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for PS (Black)
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for Xbox (Black)
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for PS (White)
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for Xbox (White)

Arctis Nova Elite (Obsidian)
Arctis Nova Elite (Sage & Gold)

Review

See SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite Review

Check Price

Black

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for Xbox

Obsidian

Arctis Nova Elite

Black

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for PS

Sage & Gold

Arctis Nova Elite

White

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for PS

White

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for Xbox

Main Differences for

Sports And Fitness

Threshold

0.10

Sports And Fitness

6.6

7.0

Bluetooth Connection

6.9

8.1

Comfort

7.0

7.5

Full Comparison

Sports And Fitness

6.6

7.0

Travel

7.0

8.0

Office Work

7.2

8.2

Wireless Gaming (In Development)

7.5

7.7

Wired Gaming (In Development)

7.8

8.0

Audio Reproduction Accuracy

6.8

7.6

Noise Isolation

7.1

8.8

Microphone (In Development)

7.7

8.2

Frequency Response Consistency

6.3

6.9

Sound

Sound Profile

Normalization Frequency

650 Hz

500 Hz

Bass Amount

Slightly Emphasized (1 dB)

Slightly Emphasized (2 dB)

Treble Amount

Slightly Underemphasized (-2 dB)

Slightly Underemphasized (-3 dB)

Sound Signature

Warm

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Frequency Response Consistency

6.3

6.9

Consistency L

Consistency R

Std. Deviation

1.22 dB

1.12 dB

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Raw Frequency Response

Raw FR L

Raw FR R

Bass Profile: Target Compliance

9.6

Bass Profile: Target Compliance

RMS Deviation From Target

2.1 dB

1.7 dB

Low-Frequency Extension

20 Hz

Low Bass

-0.09 dB

1.26 dB

Mid Bass

2.09 dB

1.88 dB

High Bass

2.21 dB

1.85 dB

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Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance

8.7

8.8

Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance

RMS Deviation From Target

1.77 dB

1.59 dB

Low Mid

-2.33 dB

-0.17 dB

Mid-Mid

-0.3 dB

0.79 dB

High Mid

1.14 dB

-2.38 dB

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Treble Profile: Target Compliance

6.4

6.1

Treble Profile: Target Compliance

RMS Deviation From Target

4.84 dB

5.06 dB

Low Treble

-3.77 dB

-2.79 dB

Mid Treble

-0.76 dB

-3.69 dB

High Treble

-4.84 dB

-7.92 dB

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Peaks/Dips

7.1

7.3

Peaks/Dips Graph

Peaks

1.55 dB

1.53 dB

Dips

2.47 dB

2.11 dB

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Stereo Mismatch

5.9

8.4

Frequency Response Mismatch

Phase Response Mismatch

Weighted Amplitude Mismatch

1.37 dB

0.09 dB

Weighted Frequency Response Mismatch

1.42 dB

1.19 dB

Weighted Phase Mismatch

2.1°

2.0°

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Group Delay

7.3

8.7

Group Delay

Weighted Group Delay

1.0 ms

0.6 ms

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Cumulative Spectral Decay

CSD

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox] CSD

PRTF

3.0

0.7

PRTF

PRTF Accuracy (RMS Deviation)

3.88 dB

4.75 dB

PRTF Size (Avg.)

7.18 dB

0.43 dB

PRTF Distance

1.39 dB

-1.41 dB

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Harmonic Distortion

8.8

9.6

Harmonics Levels

THD Ratio

WHD @ 94 dB SPL

0.10%

0.04%

WHD @ 104 dB SPL

0.30%

0.05%

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Electrical Aspects

Impedance

Sensitivity @1kHz-1V

115.1 dB SPL

113.7 dB SPL

Bluetooth Max SPL

N/A

107.4 dB

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Virtual Soundstage

2.0

Virtual Soundstage

Head Modeling

Speaker Modeling

On/Off

Room Ambience

Head Tracking

Virtual Surround

Windows Sonic Spatial Audio

Spatial Audio

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Test Settings

Firmware

0.3.82

1.25.0

Power

Connection

Wireless (Proprietary)

Codec

PCM, 24-bit, 48kHz

Test Instrument

Audio Precision APx517B

EQ

Default

ANC

High

Tip/Pad

Default

Microphone

Boom

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Design

Style

Design Picture 2

Type

Over-ear

Enclosure

Closed-Back

Wireless

Yes

Transducer

Dynamic

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Comfort

7.0

7.5

Comfort Picture

Weight

0.75 lbs

0.84 lbs

Clamping Force

1.1 lbs

1.3 lbs

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Controls

8.5

8.6

Controls Picture

OS Compatibility

Not OS specific

Ease Of Use

Decent

Good

Feedback

Good

Call/Music Control

Yes

Volume Control

Yes

Microphone Control

Mute/Unmute

Channel Mixing

Yes

Noise Cancelling Control

On/Off

Talk-Through

On/Off

Additional Controls

Multi function

Bluetooth + Multi function

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Portability

6.0

5.8

Portability Picture

L

7.5" (19.0 cm)

8.3" (21.1 cm)

W

6.7" (17.0 cm)

7.4" (18.9 cm)

H

2.0" (5.1 cm)

Volume

100.51 in³ (1,647.00 cm³)

124.98 in³ (2,048.03 cm³)

Transmitter Required

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Case

5.0

7.0

Case Picture

Type

Pouch

L

N/A

W

N/A

H

N/A

Volume

N/A

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Build Quality

8.0

8.5

Build Quality Picture

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Stability

6.5

Stability Picture

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Headshots 1

Angled Picture

Side Picture

Headshots 2

Front Picture

Rear Picture

Top

Top Picture

In The Box

In The Box Picture

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Isolation

Noise Isolation - Full Range

7.5

8.8

Noise Isolation - Full Range Graph

Noise Cancelling

Yes

Overall Attenuation

-19.30 dB

-23.43 dB

Bass

-13.09 dB

-19.50 dB

Mid

-15.85 dB

-18.56 dB

Treble

-30.67 dB

-33.59 dB

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Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios

6.3

8.9

Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios Graph

Airplane Noise Attenuation

-14.87 dB

-19.94 dB

Airplane Noise Isolation Audio

Office Noise Attenuation

-15.98 dB

-20.18 dB

Office Noise Isolation Audio

Street Noise Attenuation

-16.55 dB

-22.46 dB

Street Noise Isolation Audio

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Noise Isolation - Voice Handling

Female Voice 1

Male Voice 1

Female Voice 2

Male Voice 2

ANC Wind Handling

ANC Wind Handling Graph

ANC Wind Noise

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Leakage

8.3

8.8

Leakage

Leakage Audio

Overall Leakage @ 1ft

31.9 dB

28.2 dB

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Microphone

Microphone Style

Integrated

Yes

In-Line

Boom

Yes

Detachable Boom

Mic

Yes

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Recording Quality

7.7

8.3

Microphone Frequency Response

Recorded Speech

LFE

20 Hz

70.25 Hz

FR Std. Dev.

3.91 dB

3.15 dB

HFE

7,136.96 Hz

7,896.12 Hz

Weighted THD

1.625

0.241

Gain

23.15 dB

7.83 dB

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Noise Handling

7.7

8.2

SpNR

SpNR

37.47 dB

38.13 dB

Noise Gate

On/Off Toggle

Speech + Pink Noise Handling

7.5

8.0

Speech + Pink Noise Audio Sample

Speech + Subway Noise Handling

8.0

8.5

Speech + Subway Noise Audio Sample

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Active Features

Battery

8.7

9.0

Battery Type

Rechargable

Hot-Swap

Continuous Battery Life

25 hrs

18.5 hrs

Additional Charges

1.0

Total Battery Life

50 hrs

37 hrs

Charge Time

1.8 hrs

1.9 hrs

Power-Saving Feature

Auto-Off Timer

Audio While Charging

Yes

Passive Playback

Yes

Charging Port

USB-C

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App Support

8.5

App Picture

App Name

Steelseries GG

iOS

Yes

Android

Yes

macOS

Yes

Windows

Yes

Equalizer

Parametric + Presets

Parametric + Graphic

ANC Control

Adjustable

Mic Control

Adjustable Level

Room Effects

Playback Control

Button Mapping

Yes

Surround Support

Yes

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Connectivity

Wired Connection

9.9

Cable Picture

Analog Audio

Yes

USB Audio

Detachable

Yes

Length

4.13 ft (1.26 m)

4.17 ft (1.27 m)

Connector

1/8" TRRRS

Latency - Analog

0.2 ms

Latency - USB

N/A

Recorded Latency

Recorded Latency Connection

Analog

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Bluetooth Connection

6.9

8.1

Bluetooth Version

5.010

5.3

Multi-Device Pairing

Bluetooth + Console/Non-BT Wireless

Quick Pair (Android)

Quick Pair (iOS)

Line Of Sight Range

155.84 ft (47.50 m)

334.65 ft (102.00 m)

Latency - SBC

236 ms

287 ms

Latency - aptX

N/A

Latency - aptX Adaptive (High Quality)

N/A

Latency - aptX Adaptive (Low Latency)

N/A

Latency - LDAC

N/A

Recorded Latency

Recorded Latency Codec

SBC

AAC Support

Yes

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Wireless Connection (Dongle)

7.3

7.8

Line Of Sight Range

120.73 ft (36.80 m)

234.58 ft (71.50 m)

Latency - Dongle

38 ms

34 ms

Recorded Latency

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PC Compatibility

Analog

Audio + Microphone

Wired USB

Non-BT Wireless

Audio + Microphone

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PlayStation Compatibility

PS4 Analog

Audio + Microphone

PS4 Wired USB

PS4 Non-BT Wireless

Audio + Microphone

PS5 Analog

Audio + Microphone

PS5 Wired USB

PS5 Non-BT Wireless

Audio + Microphone

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Xbox Compatibility

Xbox One Analog

Audio + Microphone

Xbox One Wired USB

Xbox One Non-BT Wireless

Audio + Microphone

Xbox Series X|S Analog

Audio + Microphone

Xbox Series X|S Wired USB

Xbox Series X|S Non-BT Wireless

Audio + Microphone

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Base/Dock

8.8

Type

Wireless Dock

USB Input

Yes

Line In

Yes

Line Out

Yes

Optical Input

RCA Input

Dock Charging

Yes

Power Supply

USB-C

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Check Price

Black

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for Xbox

Obsidian

Arctis Nova Elite

Black

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for PS

Sage & Gold

Arctis Nova Elite

White

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for PS

White

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for Xbox