The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite is a good headset. This is by far the most uncontroversial thing I’ve ever written at DigitallyDownloaded.net, because with a price tag of AU$1350, you would hope that it’s a good headset. SteelSeries has packed as much sound quality as possible into this thing and, yeah, it definitely doesn’t sound like a $100 headset. The question here is not whether it’s good, though, it’s whether it’s worth the money, and that’s a different story entirely.
I could reel off a laundry list of features and specs and that would just be scratching the surface of what SteelSeries has packed into this thing, but very briefly: The Elite offers some extreme enhanced noise cancelling (like “walk in front of a truck and never hear the breaks screech” powerful), combined with both extremely fast wireless off the dock, and the fastest Bluetooth possible with that technology. You can play rhythm games with this headset and not be too bothered with the timing of the button presses.
There are also carbon fibre drivers, which means both durability and a beautifully thumping base, but high resolution audio also means you’ll be able to do that trick where you can hear someone’s footsteps in a FPS and get the surprise on them (because they’re not wearing good enough headphones to do it back at you). The aforementioned dock has a slot for a second battery, meaning that you can charge one battery while using another, and if you charge both, you’ll be able to get from Australia to London and back again before the headset runs out of juice (thanks to that noise-cancelling, it’s very good for Switch gaming while on a plane).
But I’m not finished. You can have four separate inputs feeding audio into the headset at the same time, meaning that you could load up your favourite albums on Apple Music, chat with friends on Discord AND be playing your favourite game on your PlayStation, while still having one “channel” left for when your boss calls in and tells you to get back to work. These all come through nicely and clearly, allowing for some really impressive soundscapes within the little bubble you’ll put yourself in when using the headset.
Like most good gaming headsets, there’s a retractable mic, so you can chat through the headset, and based on what other people on a Zoom call have told me, the audio is like being in a studio. But wait! There’s more! There’s actually a second mic built into the headset itself, so that when you’re out and about, you can answer a call while leaving the mic tucked away, meaning that you can continue to look cool and not make people think you’re a telecaller working on the go.
It’s a headset that has been designed for long hours of continuous use, and thankfully, it’s weighted to match. It’s actually a shade heavier than most other headsets on the market, but the weight is distributed brilliantly, and the soft earcups are like air. Putting aside that some heat can build up if you’re playing in a particularly warm environment, this headset is blissfully comfortable no matter how long you use it. Those earcups are also replaceable if they start to wear down from ongoing use.
On the software side of things, there is both an app for mobile devices and the GG Software for PC use. As you might expect, you get far more control with the GG Software, but unless you’re going to whip your laptop out in public, the app does a passable job for edits on the fly while on a train or plane.
There’s even a 3.5mm audio jack for the rare instance where you’ll need a wired connection (particularly useful for emulation consoles and older devices). Altogether, the point here is that the Elite will work for just about every electronic device you have, and it’ll do an excellent job.
“But how does it actually sound?” I hear you ask, having just read 600 words listing off features. The long and short of it is that it sounds really, really good, even if you’re just using the default tuning. The carbon fiber drivers go a long way to delivering clear and rich detail in both sound effects and music. As a gaming headset, it is tuned towards the heavier sounds – rock music, gunfire, explosions – and I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time playing Lumines Arise while having these things on. That experience is truly immersive, to the point that I just totally zone out of the world around me.
The headset handles the quieter Cricket 26 nicely, too. Here, the big win is that the all-important sound of the ball hitting the bat is captured with a truly satisfying “crack”. In fact, the headset might be too good, because the crowd sounds, which typically fade into the background when playing over TV speakers, are noticeably repetitive when they’re about the only thing you can hear when you’ve got the headset on.
On the other end of the spectrum, I’m currently playing a racing game for review, and the engine noise is viscerally powerful through the Elite. Painfully so. I needed to turn the sound right down, and have a new appreciation for just how powerful the headsets must be for real race car drivers, because the Elite does an incredible job of capturing just how noisy those engines are when they’re right in your face. Switching to a very different type of sound, I popped the Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy 1 on, and the subtleties of that wonderfully nuanced soundtrack gain new life and clarity.
Swapping to non-gaming applications, The Elite did an absolutely masterful job of making John Wick cool all over again. LED Spirals has become one of my favourite pieces of music to test headsets on because there’s a distinct earthiness with that kind of electronic music that a lot of headsets struggle with, but the Elite did it without introducing muddiness or distortion to the sound. It also made the fight scene sound effects exquisite. I also paired it up with my iPhone, and while the headset’s a bit heavy and bulky to use while practising dance or in gym, on the train it’s very easy to close my eyes and just shut out everything else around me. Even with quieter music, the noise cancelling means I don’t have to listen to the dweeb playing bad music through his bad phone speakers. That is almost worth the asking price in itself.
Which is a nice segue back to the main “problem” with the Elite: Is it worth it? If gaming isn’t the main application that you’re buying it for, then the simple reality is that you’re paying serious audiophile prices, and there are dedicated audiophile headsets on the market that are still better than the Arctis Nova Elite. If gaming is the main application, then are you really getting enough of a jump on the high-end headsets that come in for half the price? Those do also give you noise cancelling and the ability to hear footfalls in Call of Duty.
To put it bluntly, the Arctis Nova Elite is an indulgence. There is absolutely no questioning that it is the best damn gaming headset on the market. By a long way. It has become the only headset I use because you do start to notice the tiny steps down with other headsets and earbuds. And hey, I’ve spent $100,000 on a vanity project visual novel that’s never going to make its money back, so who am I to suggest that an indulgence is a waste of money? I guess what I’m saying here is if you think paying this kind of money for a headset is ridiculous, then it kind of is, but also it really is that good.
