SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite review: gaming headset is out of this world

SteelSeries played itself into a corner with the release of the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless back in 2022. It created a headset with practically no flaws, one that became my immediate daily favourite and retained that position for years, thanks to super-impressive comfort, a lovely design, and sound quality with ANC that simply did a phenomenal job.

Now, years later, it's trying to one-up itself, but has correctly recognised that the only way to do so is to go even more premium. The Arctis Nova Elite doesn't replace the Nova Pro Wireless, which will continue to be made and sold, rather, it's a new ultra-high-end option for those happy to spend more than the cost of a PlayStation 5 on a headset alone.

I've been using the Arctis Nova Elite for a month for this review, and the case it makes is persuasive, with that price standing as the only obvious and major caveat.

Price & Availability

The Arctis Nova Elite launches today, 30 September 2025, so if you're reading this review, then you should be able to order it now from SteelSeries.

That brings us straight to one of the headset's biggest notes of interest: the price. The Nova Elite comes in at $599.99 in the US, while in the UK it's £599.99, and in the EU it's €649.99. There's no getting around the fact that this represents an absolute wedge of money, and sees SteelSeries push into new territory on pricing in much the same way that Apple did with the AirPods Max.

There are no real rival gaming brands putting out mainstream headsets at this price, frankly, although it'll be very interesting to see if that changes in the coming months, in the same way that it did after the expensive launch of the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless.

Features & What's New

So, what has SteelSeries actually managed to change with the Nova Elite to make it worth the uplift in price? Especially when bearing in mind the scale of that uplift, which can't be overestimated; at the time of writing, I can find a Nova Pro Wireless on Amazon for less than half the price of the Elite.

Well, it has some big boasts to account for the price hike. For one, this is the first wireless gaming headset in the world to bring fully accredited Hi-Res sound to the table, a pretty huge marker of quality.

The caveat is that it only applies to PC use, although the constraint there isn't on SteelSeries' side – even the PS5 Pro can't output Hi-Res sound wirelessly, so there's nothing to be done right now.

This means the highest calibre of potential sound representation, though, and should also future-proof the headset for years to come if subsequent console releases do add better sound quality (as I'd hope they would).

The headset also adds a more sophisticated multi-device setup called OmniPlay, which lets you connect multiple sources at once, some wired through the GameHub controller and others over Bluetooth, even allowing you to listen to them simultaneously if desired. For those who mix and match devices and voice services, this could be a huge enabler.

Sound management is also made easier by being able to connect in real-time to a smartphone app for additional control, which makes it much easier to edit your settings without needing to connect to a PC.

The Nova Elite's active noise-cancelling (ANC) is also massively upgraded compared to the Nova Pro Wireless, for more isolation and what SteelSeries seems legally confident in calling "the best in gaming" with regards to tuning out background annoyances.

Finally (although I'll mention more tweaks as I go), each hot-swappable battery can now last for 30 hours on a charge, which is a big upgrade over the Nova Pro Wireless – even though that counts for less given the swappable feature makes it a non-issue.

Design & Comfort

If you place the black version of the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless next to the same version of the Arctis Nova Elite, you'll quickly be able to confirm that the core design of the newer, pricier headset hasn't changed much in terms of silhouette, but there are some differences worth exploring.

Firstly, the headset is now made up of even more premium materials, including more metal parts (principally in the arms of the headband, and the volume dial).

The headband itself is also subtly different and more plush than before, although it keeps SteelSeries' longstanding bungee system to suspend much of the weight off your head.

The earcups, too, feel slightly firmer to the touch, although the age of my Nova Pro Wireless means that's not a 1:1 comparison.

The control station that the headset brings with it is also largely the same visually, and the exact same size as before.

One major change in design terms is the fact that the headset comes in a new colour, a light sage green with gold accents, which many people might feel is a little more aesthetically mature and less gamerish than the black default.

That leaves me to talk about comfort. The good news here is that if you've ever worn an Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, then you're liable to find the Elite very similar. As far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing – this is a very comfortable headset.

That said, it's not the lightest I've ever used, as a direct corollary of the premium materials it uses. I haven't found that a major issue, and it's certainly worth it for high-fidelity gaming, but that could be worth noting for some people.

Performance & Sound

So, if you're going to slap a chunkyy price on your headset, the real question is whether the sound quality can merit it. In the case of the Nova Elite, I'm pretty torn on the answer.

Even SteelSeries told me that it doesn't expect people to have a total "eureka" moment if they've been using the Nova Pro Wireless like me – the difference between "high fidelity" wireless sound and "Hi-Res" wireless sound is pretty subtle, albeit telling over time.

True to that expectation, I've found the gap between the two headsets at times a little hard to identify, but the longer I've used the Nova Elite the more superb its sound has been.

For the first two weeks, I used it with my PS5 Pro, since my PC was in storage, meaning the headset wasn't at its full potential – and even then its sound was full and rich without losing any detail.

On PC, though, with Hi-Res capabilities, the sound performance is nothing short of exquisite. I've played through games that rely heavily on their sound design, including recent horror releases Cronos: The New Dawn and Silent Hill f, both of which had echoes and clanks that were extremely directional and precise.

I've also gone to competitive titles like Marvel Rivals and found the headset's reproduction of footsteps and audio cues flawless, ensuring that it helps me stay competitive even with my eyes closed (I wish, but still).

At SteelSeries' HQ in Copenhagen, where I flew to first see the headset, I even listened to some Hi-Res music via Tidal, and found the sound really impressive away from gaming, which is worth knowing about if you want a pair of the best headphones.

The microphone quality is also stellar. SteelSeries uses the same design here to replicate the most well-hidden extendable mic you could ask for, and new noise-cancelling tech makes your voice even more isolated than ever before. I've been genuinely impressed by how well it can tune out background noise like vacuums and washing machines without clipping my voice.

There's also now a built-in mic for when the extendable one is hidden, in case you want to take a voice call or enter a chat without having the obvious mic in front of your mouth (although your voice quality will take a hit).

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The GameHub base station remains a terrific asset for adjustments on the fly, and being able to plug three distinct USB sources in at the same time is brilliant, with easy mixing and swapping between them making it totally ideal for desktop situations.

That said, the addition of the Arctis app makes the headset more adjustable than ever when you're on your sofa or elsewhere, and is a great little upgrade. I found connectivity to be rock solid in all my testing, and never had skips or lags of any sort.

Battery life, meanwhile, remains a huge asset for SteelSeries. It's just as easy to swap out your battery when you need to (with the spare charging inside the GameHub at all times), and a 30-hour life for each means you'll need to do so much less often than with the Nova Pro Wireless.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite review: Verdict

I've been torn throughout my testing of the SteelSeries Nova Elite. To be clear, it's probably the best gaming headset I've ever tested. The sound quality is pretty much unrivalled at this point, its design is more mature than ever, and the suite of features that it offers up, from ANC to multi-source audio, can't be overlooked.

However, in a world where you can get an Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for less than half its price, the only people I'd really recommend it to are those for whom price is no object. If you want the very best of the best, as of now, then it's the Nova Elite – but you have to be in a position where a headset this pricey isn't a crazy idea.

If that's you, then prepare your ears, because when gaming on PC you can't really get better wireless audio than this, and even when using a console it still has totally phenomenal sound reproduction.

Also consider

I've only mentioned it about a dozen times in the course of my review, so you should probably be able to work out that the really obvious comparison to the Nova Elite is its older, cheaper version, the Nova Pro Wireless, which itself made waves for a high price at launch. It's still phenomenal, and more than enough for almost everyone.

If you want something with a more unique trick up its sleeve, then perhaps turn to Razer. Its Razer Kraken V4 Pro has haptic feedback right there in its earcups, making it unlike anything else you can try, and its sound quality is also exemplary (albeit not in the same bracket as the Nova Elite).