SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 review: The gaming headset brand to beat

I've made no secret of my admiration for SteelSeries' products over the years. They're among the best best gaming headsets on the market, in my opinion, with the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless being the best headset for almost anyone who can afford it. The newer Arctis Nova Elite standing as the ultimate option if there's no limit to your budget.

Part of any gaming brand's strength has to be in variety, though, and SteelSeries is clearly in the middle of a bit of a refresh of its range – hence the Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2, a newer version of one of its more approachably-priced headsets. Knowing how good the top-tier kit is, though, I've been excited to test this out – and I've used it for a fortnight to test if it can carve out a niche of its own.

Price and Availability

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 is out now – available to order from various retailers (although not masses as I write this review). It comes in at £179.99 here in the UK, roughly €210 in the EU, $199.99 in the US, and AU$199.99 in Australia.

For some context, that's a tiny bump in price over the launch price of the Arctis Nova 7 – at £5 more in the UK, generation on generation – but it's also a heap pricier than what you'll now find the older headset for... I can find that for £120 right now.

Design and Features

The SteelSeries identity is now pretty much set in stone – certainly since its 'Arctis Nova' reinvention a few years ago – and the Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 doesn't do anything to rip up the playbook. In fact, put it next to a previous-generation version and I'd be extremely impressed if you could tell them apart, because I couldn't at first glance.

That means the headset has a rigid headband with an elasticated band underneath it, which suspends the whole structure on the top of your head for really nice comfort when wearing.

Each earcup fully swivels at the end of its arm, and has a meshy synthetic ear cushion. They also each have swappable plates on the outside, for those who are likely to accessorise.

One earcup houses controls to power the headset on and off, put it into Bluetooth pairing mode, and adjust the sound balance between in-game audio and chat (which will only work on some devices), plus a USB-C port for charging.

The other earcup has a volume wheel and a mute button, along with a fully hideable retractable boom microphone, plus the 3.5mm port.

Image 1 of 4

The headset is sold in black or white options, which seems to correlate with another important detail. There are three versions of the new headset: a standard one; then a version each for PlayStation and Xbox gamers.

I recommend picking up the Xbox version, no matter your device lineup, since it'll actually work with everything thanks to a toggle on the USB-C dongle in the box.

The big change for the Gen 2 product, however, is a major boost to battery life – which has improved by a claimed 40%, so is now estimated at over 50 hours of use on a single charge.

The other big improvement is the addition of a companion app that the headset can connect to on your phone, letting you swap between game-specific audio presets on the fly without losing your main connection.

This is a really convenient addition, and the downloadable Arctis app is quick and easy to use, and far more straightforward for console or phone-based gamers than the laborious process of connecting to a PC to tweak settings that many other headsets require.

These additions don't necessarily make for a headset that feels drastically different, but they're welcome upgrades, and the overall impression when you start wearing the Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 – at least from the point of someone who knows the first-gen model – is that it presents a considered changelist.

Speaking of wearing it, the comfort levels remain really high – with plenty of adjustability to be found thanks to headband options. It's not the tightest fit, which I find comfortable, although that might have minor sound implications, as I'll cover below.

Sound and performance

As I've said in so many headset reviews before, though, the real proof of the pudding is (other than 'in the eating') very much how a headset sounds.

Fortunately, SteelSeries has also earned my trust. So, true to that form, the Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 is a really good headset for the price – with sound that doesn't let the team down, regardless of how you stress it.

I've been playing hours and hours of Battlefield 6 recently, which has superb sound design and some hugely dynamic mixes for the headset to cope with – and the Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 has done so admirably.

This headset can flex to really powerful explosions, full of bass and oomph, but I've always been able to make out the likes of footsteps and other more delicate signals, too.

Being able to swap between presets using the Arctis app is also great and does make for appreciable changes to sound signatures. This is particularly key for competitive situations, where it can be a difference-maker. You can make your own profiles, of course, if you want a bit more control.

Image 1 of 3

That makes the Arctis Nova 7 great for multiplayer gaming, but I've also found the headset nice and characterful for singleplayer, like when it's rendered the sweeping soundtrack of the new Final Fantasy Tactics remaster on my Switch 2.

It's an all-rounder of really high quality, in short, and that experience transfers to the microphone nicely, too, which is great for avid squad players – and doesn't suffer from muffling or any real defects.

The one note I do have on the sound front is that because the earcups are nice and light, and the cushioning isn't too clamping, this isn't a headset with a huge amount of passive isolation – playing in a loud environment and you'll hear plenty around you. For noise-cancelling, you'd need to step up your budget a bit, though, which isn't exactly any surprise.

Another admittedly tiny issue I encountered is that the wireless dongle (at least for the Xbox version, as tested, I've not seen the others) is really quite wide. This isn't a problem in many cases, but on my PS5 Pro it meant that plugging it into the front of the console completely obscured the second USB-C slot, which could be annoying for those who charge their controllers with a wire from the console itself.

Battery life lived up to SteelSeries' billing in my testing, too, with 50 hours standing as a really solid performance given the price and competition. Gone are the days when 12 hours would feel like acceptable at this level.

Steelseries Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 review: Verdict

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 is almost exactly what I expected – a supremely solid headset that makes it all look pretty easy and effortless.

There are some tiny things I would tweak, and the upgrades over its previous-gen version aren't enough to make a swap-out particularly necessary, but there's no doubt this is a superior model over the original.

If you want a new headset for a moderate price tag, SteelSeries' latst mid-tier model is now a real contender. It absolutely needs to be considered in your shortlist – and it confirms that SteelSeries remains the brand to beat in the gaming headset space.

Also consider

If you can flex your budget a little further, then the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is within reach, our reigning winner in the overall best headset rankings for 2025. It brings superior sound and a battery-swapping system, but doesn't have app capabilities.

To spend a little less (at the time of writing), the last-gen Razer BlackShark V2 Pro is a brilliant and more chunky headset that rivals the Nova 7 Gen 2 for sound quality, without as many features. The cost-savings might be worth it, though.