SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review: our new favourite gaming headset

For a long time, the SteelSeries Arctis line of headsets has appeared at the top of our list of gaming headset recommendations. They’re an easy and popular pick: comfortable, great-sounding and available in a wide range of formats to suit all manner of platforms, connection types and budgets. But five years after the first Arctis headsets were revealed, the overall formula hasn’t changed much – and so, it’s time for something new. That something is the Arctis Nova Pro, a timely redesign that recaptures the line’s strengths while also marking the most substantive evolution in its history.

The £250/$250 Arctis Nova Pro and £330/$350 Arctis Nova Pro Wireless are high-spec, feature-rich, all-platform headsets, so I’ll focus on what I believe are the most meaningful changes and additions. These include a more comfortable and adjustable design, improved dual-input base stations and better sound – plus active noise cancelling and a convenient dual battery system for the Nova Pro Wireless model.

The Nova Pro and Nova Pro Wireless both come in Xbox and not-Xbox flavours due to Microsoft’s weirdness around Xbox compatibility. All models support two inputs, so on the Xbox models you get one dedicated ‘Xbox’ port and one ‘anything else’ port; on the non-Xbox models you get two ‘anything else’ ports – so the Xbox model is ideal if you want to be covered on PS5 and Series X/S. We tested the wired Xbox and wireless not-Xbox models.

Let’s look at the Nova Pro’s design first. The look is very reminiscent of the earlier Arctis models, complete with a fabric suspension headband, but SteelSeries audio czar Brian Fallon says it was redesigned from scratch – albeit to fairly similar principles. The dense plastic frame is a different shape and more adjustable to ensure it gets a good seal around the ears – one of the few complaints levelled at the original design was that achieving that seal could be difficult for some folks, leading to inconsistent sound.

The athletic fabric used for the earpads in the previous lineup has also changed to a leatherette for the same reason – although I’d gladly sacrifice a bit of sound quality for cooler and more glasses-friendly velour if I was given the option. The headband now has three fit ‘settings’ to accommodate a wider range of skulls, and the earcups fold flat to rest more comfortably on your shoulders.

1 of 5 Caption Attribution The Arctis Nova Pro clearly shares DNA with the earlier Arctis lineup, but looks cleaner.

Outside of comfort, there are other tweaks too, with circular metal discs on each earcup that conceal the wireless model’s swappable battery and USB-C charging ports and a microphone that now retracts fully to become flush with the headset. The whole assembly feels incredibly robust and more premium, which points us towards an overall design goal of producing a headset that makes sense out in the world rather than just next to your gaming platform of choice.