In the world of high-end gaming headsets, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless (8/10, WIRED Recommends) stands out with an impressive feature set and excellent audio. Right now, you can pick up the wireless model for just $300 from Amazon, an $80 discount off the usual price. That might sound like a lot for gaming headphones, but these offer quite a lot for the price.
This luxurious gaming headset is a great pick for daily gamers who want excellent sound quality and high-end comfort. They have big drivers that make sounds in-game pop, and an excellent mic with noise-canceling so good your friends won’t even know you have a dog. They’re super comfortable, with the SteelSeries signature ski-goggle strap to take the pressure off your head.
While they’re built for gaming, they also sound great listening to music or watching movies. They have a nice, punchy sound profile and spatial audio support for a more immersive experience. If you’re on a PC, the SteelSeries GG software gives you a ton of options for balancing your audio across multiple sources, and you can even set individual EQ profiles for different applications.
By including a USB DAC for wireless connectivity, the Arctis Nova Pro can achieve some unique and compelling features not found on other headsets. The range is impressive, thanks to more room for the antenna and power than you’d find in a smaller USB dongle. You can adjust the volume and audio mix from a generous knob on the front, and it has multiple audio inputs for switching between consoles.
Best of all, the hub can charge a spare battery for the headset, giving you essentially infinite run time as long as you’re seated at the computer. When you run down the 25 or so hours on one charge, just swap out the battery and the headset will reconnect and pick up where you left off. It’s the perfect feature for anyone with battery concerns, but don’t worry, you can also charge the headset via USB-C directly.
At $300, these aren’t cheap, and there are better gaming headsets for single-console or casual gamers, as well as an even more expensive model, but I think these are a great middle ground for anyone with a budget and a Steam backlog.