SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni review: The best headset going, as of now

When SteelSeries brought out the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, it broke new ground in terms of pricing, but just so happened to also release my favourite gaming headset ever, and the one I returned to for years between reviews. Now, that headset remains fantastic, but it's getting a subtle upgrade in the form of the new Arctis Nova Pro Omni.

Its changes are actually a little hard to discern if you're not paying attention, but they make what was already a brilliant headset even harder to ignore. If you've got a big budget and want the best in this price bracket, this is the new default pick, and might just be the new best gaming headset on the market, frankly.

Price and availability

The Arctis Nova Pro Omni was only just announced, but it's already available to order directly through SteelSeries as a new launch – and it has a fairly hefty price tag. It comes in at £349, €399, or $399, depending on your region.

SteelSeries says it's positioning the headset as "affordable luxury", which is a polite way of saying it's substantially cheaper than the monumentally expensive Arctis Nova Elite. That said, it's still about £20 more expensive than the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless was when that headset released, for what it's worth.

Design and features

One crucial difference aside, in the form of a new colour, if you placed a black Arctis Nova Pro Omni next to a Nova Pro Wireless, I'd challenge almost anyone to be able to tell the difference. In most meaningful design details, SteelSeries has relied on the excellent redesign from a few years ago and kept continuity there.

That's no bad thing, in my view – what was a sleek and modern design then remains so now, and I think the headset has a strong silhouette that shouldn't offend many onlookers. I tested it in a new dark blue colour that I think is a much easier sell than the pastel green used for the Arctis Nova Elite, too.

The Nova Pro Omni has a suspended headband, which lifts some of its weight off your head and remains one of the most comfortable solutions I've tested in a headset. Its earcups have a huge amount of cushioning, and it ends up being a super comfortable headset to wear for long periods as a result, even as a glasses-wearer.

On one earcup, you'll find a power button, Bluetooth button, mute switch and a volume dial, along with the trademark SteelSeries concealed, retractable microphone. Those are all the controls you could need, and the other earcup is reserved for the swappable battery system.

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Like the Nova Pro Wireless before it, the Nova Pro Omni has a battery that you can remove when it runs low. A spare can be kept, charging, in the base station that also acts as a wireless receiver, meaning you'll never actually run out of battery if you swap them when prompted by a low-battery noise.

One of vanishingly few nitpicks I have with a headset system I've been using across various models for years is that this low-battery alert is sometimes a bit late-notice, so your battery will die a few minutes after it sounds, but that's still almost always enough warning to get the swap done at your convenience. Each battery will last around 30 hours on 2.4Ghz and up to 50 hours over Bluetooth, which represents a decent boost over the Nova Pro Wireless' 20-ish hours.

So far, though, much of this is still basically the same as the Nova Pro Wireless, and it's really under the hood that the improvements come. For one thing, there's no more Xbox and non-Xbox versions of the headset to muddy the waters. Now, one version will serve all users, and on the back of the base station, you'll find three USB-C ports for connections. Two can serve a PC, PlayStation, Switch or other computer, while one is labelled for Xbox users.

The Nova Pro Omni also has improved noise-cancelling over its predecessor, and is Hi-Res Wireless certified rather than just boasting this on a wired connection. What does that mean? It means 96kHz/24-bit wireless audio over 2.4GHz and Bluetooth, in short, and future-proofs the headset in case future consoles like the PS6 embrace higher-bandwidth audio.

The other major change feels like it's in the ease-of-use column, where the addition of connectivity with the Arctis App on your phone makes it miles easier to set up presets and per-game settings that you can swap between. While navigating settings like this is doable on the base station with its wheel and touch-button, it's simply a much simpler job through the app.

Sound and performance

I've been a huge fan of SteelSeries' sound signature for a long time, right out of the box, and that's no different with the Nova Pro Omni. It has, as far as I can tell, the same 40mm drivers as the Nova Pro Wireless, which is no bad thing, since it gives it the same delicacy and precision.

There are bassier headsets on the market, in my experience, but few are this neutral and accurate, and even if you never touch an EQ setting or use the Arctis App, I'm confident you'll find it a beautiful fit for immersive gaming and multiplayer alike.

I played a bunch of Battlefield 6 on the headset, and found its cacophony of war sounds was navigable and intelligible in ways that boosted my ability to hear enemies (a key variable). I also used it for hours of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous on my PC, and the headset's comfortable fit and approachable dynamics worked a treat for that more relaxed RPG gameplay and dialogue-heavy audio.

Plus, the concealable microphone remains gold-standard, with extremely impressive clarity and solid AI-based noise rejection to ensure that background noise isn't an issue for your teammates and chat parties.

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From your side of the experience, the Nova Pro Omni's active noise-cancelling is extremely solid, and while it still isn't quite on the level of some of the best headphones for travel, for home gaming use, I find it a pretty superb crutch that genuinely makes a difference for immersion.

While I can't claim that the new omni-connection convenience changed my life, since I no longer own an Xbox Series X, there's no downside to having all the consoles under one roof, and I'd love to see this become the standard from other brands, too.

The fact that I can swap between audio sources so easily, too, and indeed mix them if needed, is also a convenience that only some other headsets can offer, and almost none to the degree that SteelSeries manages. It's a relatively unique blend of impressive features, in short.

Verdict

Sometimes a subtle update is all you need. I didn't necessarily expect the Arctis Nova Pro Omni, but it's a pleasant surprise. SteelSeries has basically made the best gaming headset on the market slightly better, and while it's involved a small bump in price, that doesn't change the fact that it'll be my new default recommendation for gamers.

It's truly device-agnostic, sounds phenomenal, is as comfortable as anything else out there, and is easier to customise in sonic terms than ever before. That's a completely winning combination of boasts, and if I didn't have the even more extravagant (and therefore niche) Arctis Nova Elite, I'd be using the Nova Pro Omni for years to come.

Also consider

This won't really be what SteelSeries wants people to point out, but it's pretty likely that the Arctis Nova Pro Omni's arrival means the Nova Pro Wireless starts to come down in price during sales events even more aggressively. It's still a superb headset that could be unbelievable value if you can get it for even £100 less than the Omni (which will certainly happen before the year is out).

If you want a slightly different look and feel, and perhaps your main priority is sheer comfort, then the Sony Inzone H9 II is well worth a look. It sounds excellent, but the real USP is that it's genuinely as light as a feather, and therefore feels amazing to wear.