When a headset costs as much as this one, it better be freaking fantastic.
I feel no compunction telling you the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite gaming headset wasn’t made for most of the people reading this review. How premium is it? It costs $600.
It comes with a special GameHub that will hook up to three consoles or PCs at once to let you seamlessly swap between all your devices. It also costs $600. It has some of the best premium audio I’ve heard from a gaming headset all year. It will ask you to fork over $600 for the privilege. The Arctis Nova Elite chock-full of small amenities, which combines with all the other features to make the gaming headset so simple to operate. All, for $600. It’s easily the most expensive headset I’ve used, which makes it that much more annoying when I admit I enjoyed it as much as I did.
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite isn’t doing anything we haven’t seen before, even when its price tag is one of the highest we’ve seen. The $400 Logitech G Astro A50 X used a large base for video passthrough to hook up all your devices to one place. The more recent $180 Astro A20 X does something similar to the Arctis Nova Elite, though with only two instead of three outputs for different consoles on a miniature station. SteelSeries’ ultra-premium device isn’t the first to use a miniature OLED screen to display your headset settings, either. The $400 Razer Kraken V4 Pro’s base station lacks the extra console and PC outputs, but its metal frame feels more premium when it’s sitting on your desk than SteelSeries’ plastic.
SteelSeries was adamant this is the first “Hi-Res” gaming headset, mostly due to it receiving certification from the Japan Audio Society. But there are other companies promising their gaming headsets can offer players the audiophile experience. Gizmodo Senior Writer James Pero recently reviewed the $360 VZR Model One MK II hi-fi headest. My ears are still begging me to return to the brilliant tones of the Sony Inzone H9 II, which used the same audio drivers as the class-leading Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones. So, no, this is not the first gaming headset with any variety of audiophile-level sound.
Instead, the Arctis Nova Elite is the first gaming headset I’ve used that has everything (and like an everything bagel, that certainly won’t please everyone). It’s sporting some quality active noise cancellation (ANC), though not the best in its class. Its audio capabilities are certainly top tier (though I may still prefer the Sony Inzone H9 II for pure gaming audio bliss). The headset makes connecting to every one of my devices seamless, and it supports four separate streams of simultaneous audio (though it will require downloading the Arctis app to your phone and the GG app to your computer to adjust equalization options for each device individually). The Arctis Nova Elite is built for the dedicated gamer, the one who has one spot in their home where they play. In that very specific case, this is one of the best headsets I’ve used.The best for everything?
There’s no getting around it. The Arctis Nova Elite alone costs more than a PlayStation 5 console even after price hikes. I’ve used enough SteelSeries headsets to know its typical design ethos. In effect, the Arctis Nova Elite is an upgraded version of the Nova Pro Wireless, with metallic frames and a metallic volume wheel. This gaming headset looks especially good with its cream and gold colorway. I just don’t know if anything about the it desgin reads that it’s worth so much money.
The sound is where things matter, and that’s what the Arctis Nova Elite has got going for it.
