SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni review: A Nova Elite for less?

What if I told you you could get all the most-wanted features of the $600 SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite for nearly half the price? The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni has most of the features at a whooping $399. So, what’s the catch? To save costs, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni uses cheaper materials, less exotic drivers, and fewer parts. Did SteelSeries cut too many corners, or just enough to drop the price without dropping the value?

What’s it like to use the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni?

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni uses mostly plastic in its construction, unlike the Nova Elite, which has metal parts in its build and controls. But does have a metal headband, and the build feels solid. I love the headband style, with a flexible suspension strap that makes the adjustment mostly automatic. The only small nitpick I would have is that the sliders for the earcups aren’t quite as satisfying as their more expensive counterpart. The sliders on the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni feel like they’re grating the inside of the headband and stop abruptly. In comparison, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Elite feels smooth and has a nicely dampened stop.

For the fit, I didn’t like the pleather earcups, but they are decadently thick. It’s a bit much for my tastes. The foam isn’t as dense as memory foam, and the pleather feels a touch too tacky. The headband is adjustable, you can have the weight press on your head or loosen it with little to no issue. The pleather earcups are very comfortable, but they get noticeably warm after just an hour of wear. Surprisingly, it doesn’t get uncomfortably warm until about 8 hours. While I don’t recommend sitting in a chair and gaming for 8 hours straight, you can wear the headset outside without ridicule, since it doesn’t have a permanently jutting boom mic; it can be retracted flush with the headset, which also mutes the microphone.

When you do pull out the boom microphone, there’s a red mute light to indicate that it’s muted. There’s an analog mute switch, right behind the microphone, along with a power switch and knurled volume scroll. The knurled scroll is clicky, with large, stepped bumps, but the bumps from the scroll feel smooth. The power button doubles as an ANC toggle button. On the right earcup, there’s a Bluetooth pairing button that doubles as playback controls. The controls are pretty intuitive, and I didn’t have to look in the manual to find any of them. However, there’s more to the earcups than just controls.

Both earcups have removable plates, with a USB-C charging port hidden on the left. Not that you’ll have to use it, since under the right plate is an easily swappable battery. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni comes with two swappable batteries. One you can leave charging in the wireless hub’s charging cradle. This is also where you can control the headset’s settings, including EQ for sound and the microphone, sidetone, ANC, and the automatic shut-off setting. The knurled knob on the wireless hub is dampened but feels slightly scratchy. There’s also a touch button that, when held, cycles through the OLED screen. The screen displays the levels of all the connected devices or the current EQ applied.

I do like that all the headset controls are also available through the wireless hub. What worries me is that the OLED screen is prone to burn-in. Since the screen will typically feature static elements, it would be nice to see a different type of screen, such as E-Ink, which offers a longer lifespan without burn-in. Even with up to 4 devices connected, the screen doesn’t change much: the volume and battery charge are prominent and in the same position. Those parts are more likely to burn in, especially since the base station is likely to be connected and powered on constantly.

How do you connect the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni?

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni has support for practically all consoles you can think of. The official support is for PC for both Windows and MacOS, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Quest, Android, and iOS. It comes with two USB-C to USB-A cables out of the box. However, there isn’t a 3.5mm aux cable, which would have been nice, even though you’ll predominantly connect wirelessly to the headset.

The wireless hub has three USB-C ports and a 3.5mm line-in and line-out port. This allows you to connect up to 4 devices to the hub. However, the headset itself offers Bluetooth connectivity, LE audio support, LC3+ codec support, and a 3.5mm port. Even though the LC3+ codec is considered a Hi-Res codec, it isn’t that widely implemented yet, and I would have liked to see support for aptX or LDAC.

Unlike most headsets, you can get simultaneous audio from two sources: the wireless hub and Bluetooth. I found that even when connected to multiple devices, there isn’t a noticeable drop in quality. So you’re perceivably getting the full bandwidth despite having two audio signals simultaneously.

While there is a bit of latency with Bluetooth, it’s not horrible and is very hard to notice. What I did notice is that when connecting to an iOS or Android device via Bluetooth, the volume seems low, so I have to push it higher than my typical halfway mark. You can individually control the volume for both, so you can adjust it enough to hear both with no issue. However, the microphone will only output to the Bluetooth connection when both are connected. There’s no drop in quality even when you connect both the 2.4GHz and Bluetooth networks. If you’re worried that the headset will bother you excessively if a connection drops, it gives a small notification chime that doesn’t repeat. So you can walk away from your desk with the wireless hub without any bother.

Should you use the SteelSeries GG app for the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni?

Yes. While you have excellent control capabilities through the wireless base station, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni offers more granular controls through the SteelSeries GG app. You get multiple EQ presets, and when creating your own custom EQ, you can target specific frequencies and Q-depths for both the headset and the boom microphone. The SteelSeries GG app offers the most granular controls of almost any control app I’ve used, even letting you set separate EQ presets for the 2.4GHz and Bluetooth connections.

If you’re a console gamer without access to a computer, there’s the Arctis app on mobile. It’s a little more limited. For instance, you lose the ability to create a custom EQ, but you can still select from a wide range of EQ presets. I used the Arctis app as a remote control for quick changes and the desktop app as my main interface for more granular adjustments.

How long does the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni’s battery last?

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni has effectively infinite battery life with its “Infinite Power System”. This is via the battery in both the earcup and the wireless hub, allowing you to charge the dead battery while using the other. If, for some reason, you end up draining both batteries, SteelSeries claims you can get 4 hours of playback from a 15-minute charge. This means you can keep playing indefinitely.

In our tests, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni lasted 32 hours and 51 minutes using the 2.4 GHz connection. This is a very good result, more than enough for a full workday and some gaming on top. Unlike its more expensive counterpart, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite, the Pro Omni doesn’t have a built-in battery. This means that the headset will turn off and turn back on when you swap the battery.

How well does the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni attenuate noise?

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni has great noise cancelation, and the passive isolation isn’t too bad either. This makes it easy to block out distractions, so that you can stay in the zone. The noise cancelation reduces a lot of the ambient noise, such as air conditioners or the whooshing of cars passing by, and dulls the screeching of a truck’s brakes when it hits the stop light. Voices still come through to some extent, but any audio playing can easily drown them out.

How do the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni sound?

The default tuning of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni sounds excellent for competitive FPS gaming, but it can be fatiguing to listen to for long periods. Thankfully, you can easily adjust it with the excellent EQ tools onboard. There are also hundreds of game-specific EQ options that help you get the most out of the headset.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

Objective Measurements

Looking at the frequency response chart for the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni, it aligns with my experience. However, compared with the SoundGuys Preference curve, it deviates significantly. While the bass appears to be in line with the preference curve, the eargain region from 2kHz to 4kHz is underemphasized, making the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni sound quieter than it actually is. This makes most people increase the headset volume, further accentuating the slight bass emphasis. Where it completely deviates from the preference curve is in the large overemphasis from 6kHz to 12kHz. This emphasizes sibilant sounds, which means many people will find the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni painfully shrill.

How would most people rate the sound from 1 to 5?

The chart below shows the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS) earned by the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni. The algorithm uses a mountain of data from real people to predict how a group of 200 or so humans would rate the sound of a product on a scale from 1.0 (very bad) to 5.0 (very good), and return a mean opinion score.

With an overall MDAQS score of 3, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni is lower than most gaming headsets, which typically score around 3.7 overall. This is because gaming headsets tend to be tuned for competitive gaming. However, both the Timbre and Distortion scores are low as a result. The low Timbre score of 3.1 means that people would find the sound good enough, but there are better-sounding headsets out there. Where most people would look for a gaming headset, there’s the Immersiveness score of 3.5, which is slightly lower than most gaming headsets. As for the Distortion Score, it is a little lower than the average for a gaming headset.

How good is the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni’s microphone?

While voices come through clearly, it has a slightly muffled and robotic sound. However, the AI noise reduction does very well at removing background sounds, such as keyboard clicks. Despite that, it comes at the cost of sounding unnatural. Unlike the Arctis Nova Elite, there are no on-board mics for when the boom mic is tucked in. While an onboard mic is handy in a pinch, it’s not as good as a boom mic, since it sits closer to your mouth, but they are more discreet. Still, the last time I used a boom mic outside, I didn’t get any weird stares from anyone.

Check out the microphone samples of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni below to determine for yourself.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni microphone demo (Office conditions):

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni microphone demo (Reverberant space):

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni microphone demo (Street conditions):

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni microphone demo (Windy conditions):

Is the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni worth it?

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni is one of the best lifestyle gaming headsets available. The ability to simultaneously connect to multiple devices without sacrificing sound quality is amazing. It excels in competitive gaming, it’s comfortable, and you’ll never run out of battery.

Where it falls apart is that the mic doesn’t sound amazing, and the default sound isn’t ideal for long listening sessions or music. However, you can easily adjust the EQ on the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni via the app or the wireless base to your liking.

For those looking for a long-term competitive gaming headset with quality-of-life convenience, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni is worth it. If you’re a casual gamer with only a single console or device, you’d be better off skipping the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni.

Overall, it seems like SteelSeries took the feedback they had about the Nova Elite’s luxuriously high $600 price tag. The Arctis Nova Pro Omni reduces the price and keeps important features, such as ANC, virtually unlimited battery life, and up to four simultaneous connections, while maintaining similar core performance to the Nova Elite.

What should you get instead of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni?

Honestly, there aren’t many headsets with this expansive feature set. However, if you like to play games outside the competitive gaming scene, even though the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro () is marketed towards FPS players, the default tuning does lend itself well to other game genres. It also has a custom EQ, ANC, and simultaneous wireless connectivity. If you want to stick with SteelSeries, there’s the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for , which is a little older but often goes on sale because of that. The one downside is that it has worse ANC, which only attenuates outside noise by an average of 49% compared to the Omnis, which attenuates by 81%, and it also has one less USB port.