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 excited 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. That said, the bass range is inconsistent, so certain pitches sound louder than others. The treble range is also uneven, resulting in vocals and lead instruments sounding harsh or veiled, and cymbals sounding dull or piercing. 

Therefore, it's quite useful that you can tune the sound of these headphones to your liking using the included graphic EQ and presets. These headphones also sound virtually identical whether they're connected via analog or USB. 

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 target compliance is very good. There's extra low-bass, so kick drums have added thump. However, a dip between the low- and mid-bass means this thump is inconsistent and dependent on the pitch of the drum. A big peak across the mid- and high-bass adds warmth and punch to basslines, but again, the inconsistency of the bass range means some bass pitches sound fuller than others. 

These headphones have excellent mid-range target compliance. The range is fairly flat, so vocals and lead instruments sound present and clear. A small dip in the low-mids thins out instruments like guitars a touch, but also stops them from being rendered as too muddy. A gentle, broad peak in the high-mids ensures vocals stay prominent in dense mixes. In the second verse of Loretta by Ginger Root, the synth violins are present and generally well-balanced, if ever so slightly honky. 

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro's treble accuracy is poor. 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 and clear. 

These headphones have a reasonable peaks and dips performance that looks a lot like that of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless [PC, PS, Xbox]. This indicates the headphones do an adequate job of following their own sound profile, but there are some noticeable inconsistencies in the response. 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. A big peak in the low-treble can make vocals sound harsh, while a big dip and a big peak in the mid-treble render sibilants dull or piercing depending on their pitch.

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 disappointing. 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 A/C unit, they still struggle in this regard. This shouldn't be a problem if you're gaming in a quiet area, but it can be more annoying if you share a gaming space with others.

These headphones do a poor job of blocking out the sounds of everyday life. They stop almost none of an airplane's engine rumble from reaching your ears and fare a little better when isolating you from the ambient sounds of an office. These headphones are a bad choice if you plan on using them in noisy areas or out and about on sidewalks. They'll work for gaming at home, but you'll want to consider headphones with ANC, like the Razer Barracuda Pro Wireless, if you'd like to listen to your audio on the bus or while strolling down the street. 

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.