SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 Headphones Review

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 are closed-back gaming headphones with a fairly subdued, laid-back style. Most of the headset is made of black plastic, with black mesh upholstery covering each memory foam ear pad. The SteelSeries logo and indications of what various controls do are written in grey on the outside of each ear cup. Our Xbox variant has indicators for left and right written in green on the inside of each ear cup and a green pattern printed along the floating elastic headband. Those flashes of color change depending on the variant you purchase: the PlayStation variant features blue highlights and the PC version grey. The microphone is flexible and can retract into the left ear cup, which adds to the versatility of the headset.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 are comfortable headphones. They're similar to but lighter than previous SteelSeries products like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless. Their low weight and clamping force means they feel unobtrusive when on your head. The ear cups have a good range of motion but are on the smaller side. If you have larger ears, you'll find these a little uncomfortable. Likewise, while the ear cups slide up and down the headband freely, which makes finding a good fit fairly straightforward for most, their maximum extension doesn't accommodate larger heads. The floating elastic headband suffers from the same problem. The headband has two settings (and can be removed if you'd like an even larger fit), but even at its loosest, people with bigger heads might find it a bit snug.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 have good controls. There is a roller for volume and physical buttons for mic mute, Quick-Switch, and power. If you purchase the Xbox version, like the one we tested, you also get a roller for chat mix. All the buttons are uniquely positioned or shaped, and the controls are split between each ear cup, making them easy to identify by touch as there are no duplicate controls. The power and Quick-Switch buttons are similarly shaped, but the power button has a small identification nub on it, so you don't hit it by accident.

As you can see in this list of controls, the Quick-Switch and power buttons serve many other functions, such as controlling music or answering calls. It can be hard to remember what all the combinations are, and it's easy to accidentally input the wrong command. Fortunately, the headphones provide audio feedback when you power them on or off, change pairing mode, or hit the minimum and maximum volume. However, there's no audio feedback for the chat mix roller, so you'll have to adjust that by ear each time.

Like most gaming headphones, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 are not very portable. This won't be an issue for most people, as these headphones will likely stay near your gaming rig, so it's not vital they fit in a pocket or small bag. Although they can fold flat, they still take up a fair amount of space in this configuration. If you're transporting them and need them to take up less space, you can turn the ear cups to face each other, as you would when wearing them, and then push the cups together. The microphone also retracts into the left ear cup, which can make them easier to transport.

These headphones don't have a case.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X have good build quality. The headphones' body is made from a matte plastic that feels firm. The hinges feel firm and well-assembled, and small pads prevent the hinges from slamming into the body of the headphones. The yokes slide smoothly into and out of the plastic headband but have enough friction to stay in place. Each ear pad is made of memory foam covered in a breathable cloth material that's soft to the touch. It's possible that these pads will change shape if exposed to sweat or liquids. The most obvious weak link is the floating elastic headband, which could get stretched out over time. Fortunately, both the floating headband and ear pads are user-replaceable.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X have okay stability, though they're not a great choice for active gamers who tend to move around a lot. They'll stay on for most gaming sessions, and you can turn to look at friends or to pick up your phone without breaking their seal. However, if you like to lean and twist your body around every bend while playing Forza Horizon 5, don't expect these to stay on.

• SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 Wireless headphones
• USB-C dongle
• USB-C to USB-A dongle extension cable (59 in/1.5 m)
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable (59 in/1.5 m)
• Product guide
• SteelSeries stickers

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 have a boomy sound profile, with a healthy amount of bright treble thrown in for good measure. There's enough low-end rumble for explosions to feel exciting, and a wide boost across the high-bass ensures sound effects like footsteps are audible and immersive. This boost also lends orchestral soundtracks a warm tonality, but it can muddy up dialogue. A boost across the high-mids and low-treble keeps dialogue at the front of busy cutscenes but can also make voices sound a little harsh at times. The treble response is particularly inconsistent. A big dip in the low-treble and a big peak in the mid-treble means percussion sounds like drum cymbals are alternately piercing or dull depending on their pitch.

It's worth noting that our unit had very inconsistent drivers. The left and right drivers have slightly different frequency responses, producing an audible imbalance in sound when listening at moderate volumes. You can read more about this in the Imaging section of this review. Changing the input method doesn't alter the frequency response, but turning on the microphone when connected via Bluetooth removes the highest treble frequencies. These cans come with dozens of presets, including game-specific ones, so we can't show them all. But, you can view the effect some of the more generic presets have on the sound in this graph.

Like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless, these headphones have disappointing frequency response consistency. Their bass and treble delivery is particularly inconsistent and sensitive to changes in fit, seal, and positioning. One day, explosions might sound immersive and exciting, the next, thin and distant. For that reason, it's worth taking the time to seat these on your head carefully with each wear, especially if you have thick hair or wear glasses, as those can break the headphone's seal around your ears.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X have okay bass compliance. The whole region is boosted relative to our target curve, with an especially large peak across the mid- and high-bass that adds a hefty amount of punch and warmth to drum sounds and footsteps. That warmth certainly lends your audio a sense of immersive excitement, but it can also make orchestral scores sound a little muddy and mask vocal clarity in the mid-range.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X have decent mid-range compliance. The small boost in the low-mids is a continuation of the peak in the high-bass, which can muddy vocals a touch. The mid-mids are mostly flat. A peak that starts towards the upper end of this range continues into the high-mids, keeping dialogue clear and present even during busy cutscenes, although it can also make voices sound just a touch harsh.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X have disappointing treble compliance. The low-treble is inconsistent, with a moderate peak in the lower part of the range and a big dip in the upper part. That means dialogue can be alternately dull or harsh depending on the pitch of the person speaking. A big peak in the mid-treble renders sound effects like clashing swords in games like Mordhau piercing.

These headphones have okay peaks and dips performance, meaning they do an alright job of following their own sound profile. A big peak across the mid- and high-bass regions can make sound effects like footsteps feel immersive but can also make busy orchestral scores sound a touch muddy. At the other end of the spectrum, an inconsistent treble range means sibilants like S and T sounds are alternately dull or harsh depending on their pitch.

These headphones have a good imaging performance, which is in line with the good quality control and ergonomics we've come to expect from SteelSeries. While treble sounds are clear and transparent in the group delay, bassier frequencies are audible as a bit loose and ill-defined. The bump in the mid-range phase response is audible with real-world content and changes depending on the playback volume. The effect is more obvious at medium listening levels. It causes sounds like voices to shift slightly from the phantom center to the right of the stereo field. The effect is not very audible at low and high playback levels. That said, imaging varies from unit to unit.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X have a mediocre passive soundstage, which is to be expected from closed-back headphones. Their soundstage feels large, and they produce audio that seems as though it's coming from somewhere in front of you, but not as though it's coming from two speakers in a room. The sound feels closed-off rather than open.

These headphones are compatible with Windows Sonic Spatial Audio and PlayStation 5's Tempest 3D AudioTech. You can adjust the Spatial Audio settings in the SteelSeries GG companion app and the Tempest settings in your PS5's settings. These headphones are also compatible with Dolby Atmos, but you'll need to purchase a license for that separately.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X have decent weighted harmonic distortion performance. Most of the frequencies fall within good limits, apart from a peak in the low-treble range. Still, even if you have sensitive ears, you probably won't notice any impact on the purity of the audio.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X have disappointing noise isolation, but that's to be expected from closed-back headphones without ANC. They block out almost no bass-range sounds like rumbly train engines and only do an okay job blocking out mid-range sounds like people talking. They fare much better with trebly sounds like fan whine, which are significantly reduced. The upshot is that these aren't great headphones for gaming in a noisy shared space or by an open window. The peak in the low-bass is an artifact of our testing process. We don't expect you to encounter it during normal use.

The SteelSeries Nova 5X are poor at blocking out everyday noises. The rumble of plane engines is not reduced at all, so you'll definitely hear that train thunder by your open window (though the peak in the low-bass is produced by our testing process, and not something you'll encounter). Mid-range sounds like office chatter are reduced a little, but you'll still notice them, and sharper mid-range sounds like a car door slamming will be very audible alongside your audio. On the other hand, the headphones do a pretty good job of reducing more high-pitched sounds like fan noise.

The SteelSeries Nova 5X have reasonable leakage performance. Most of the leakage is focused in the mids and low-treble ranges, so if you listen at a loud volume, your audio and dialogue will be intelligible to people nearby. However, if you listen at quieter volumes, anyone you're sharing the living room with won't find your audio too annoying.

The microphone's recording quality is excellent. The response is virtually flat up to the mid-treble, with a small boost in the low-treble that adds clarity and detail to voices. The response shelves off dramatically in the mid-treble, which isn't a bad thing as the intelligible parts of a vocal recording are not found that high, and it stops high-pitched background noise like fan whine from seeping into your audio. Overall, your voice will sound natural, full-bodied, and clear to whoever you're talking with.

The mic has great noise handling. Even if you're gaming in a noisy environment, whoever you're speaking to will hear you clearly. Quieter and more mid-range sounds like people talking will be almost entirely removed from your audio. Louder sounds like a train engine going past your open window might creep into your audio, but they won't hurt your voice's intelligibility.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5P Wireless have excellent battery life performance. SteelSeries advertises them to last 50 hours when connected via their dongle and 60 hours when connected via Bluetooth. We ran our battery discharge test via the dongle connection, as we expect most people will use these headphones for gaming. We measured just over 48 hours of continuous use, which is more or less in line with SteelSeries' expectations. It took 1.8 hours for the headphones to charge fully, and SteelSeries says you'll get six hours of use from a 15-minute charge. By default, they have an auto-off timer that switches the headphones off after 30 minutes of inactivity, but this can be turned off or configured for anything up to 90 minutes of idleness.

The SteelSeries GG app is excellent. It works on Windows and macOS and provides many ways to customize your audio experience. The mixer tab allows you to control the master volume, chat mix, and microphone level. The gaming tab includes over 100 game-specific presets along with a fully parametric EQ. This is also where you toggle spatial audio and smart volume actions. The chat tab provides you with options for customizing the sound of your in-game chat and includes a 10-band EQ along with controls for ClearCast AI Noise Cancellation, a noise gate, and smart voice. Finally, the microphone tab provides similar controls to the chat tab, but it controls the sound of your own mic rather than in-game chat.

These headphones also come with a mobile app specifically designed for the Arctis Nova 5, called SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5. The mobile app is much more limited than the full SteelSeries GG. Besides the game-specific presets, the app has only three sliders, one each for mic volume, sidetone, and LED brightness. You can also access device power options, activate an audio limiter, toggle extended range mode (which extends the distance the headset can be from the dongle by decreasing audio quality), and switch between the dongle and Bluetooth connection modes. You can view a video of how the mobile app works here.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X cannot be used via a wired analog connection. They come with a USB-C to USB-A dongle extension cable (59 in/1.5 m) and a USB-C to USB-A charging cable (59 in/1.5 m), but neither of these cables can be used for audio or microphone functionality.

These headphones have great Bluetooth connectivity. They can connect to devices such as your phone via Bluetooth 5.3 and still remain connected to your PC or console via their USB dongle. However, they can only deliver audio from one source at a time. To change between sources, press the Quick-Switch button on the headset.

If you wish, you can use the Bluetooth connection to game via your gaming rig or mobile device, but the latency added when using the SBC codec is significantly higher than when connected via the USB dongle, and many will find it almost unusable. That said, some devices and applications compensate for latency, so you might not experience lip-sync issues watching videos.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 Wireless have excellent non-Bluetooth wireless connectivity via their USB-C dongle. Their low latency of 30 ms means you won't notice a delay between your game audio and video. You can also connect the dongle to your gaming device using the included USB extender cable, which can help you position the dongle for better reception.

You can connect these headphones to your PC via their wireless dongle. If you've purchased the Xbox variant of this headset, make sure to set the dongle's slider to USB mode when using them with a PC.

You can connect these headphones to your PlayStation via their wireless USB dongle. If you purchase the Xbox variant, be sure to set the slider to USB mode when using your PlayStation.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X headphones are compatible with Xbox Wireless with full audio and microphone functionality so long as you purchase the Xbox variant. The Xbox variant's dongle comes with a slider to select between USB (for your PC or PlayStation) and Xbox modes.

These headphones don't have a dock but come with a wireless USB-C dongle for low-latency gaming. Unfortunately, the dongle's design means it can cover up adjacent ports. To avoid this issue, use the included USB cable extender and connect the dongle to the cable.