Setting the headset up doesn’t take long, the initial firmware updates are nice and quick so you can start listening to your music in no time.
Adjusting the headset to fit your head is super simple, there are the tabs at the ends of the suspended headband that require adjustment, but the rest is a doddle with the sliding arrangement between the earcups and outer headband. Once it’s fitted to your head, it feels fantastic, the leatherette coated memory foam offer a weightless sensation while also isolating you from the outside world, then the elastic headband removes any pressure on the top of your head. It’s an excellent design from SteelSeries that they’ve perfected over several years now and it just works.
Onto the audio quality, this is where the Acrtis Nova Pro really excels, the deep bass is all there and packs one hell of a punch, the mids and highs are clear and distortion-free, it’s just excellent. The headset does seem to be tuned for the high end particularly, which isn’t surprising given that it’s a gaming headset at the end of the day, but it does cause it to suffer in some songs, having said that, you do need to be sat there really trying to notice any potential issues with the audio to pick out any shortcomings but they are small and don’t detract from the overall appeal of the headset.
I tested out the Sonar audio equalizer game presets in Rocket League, Call of Duty: Warzone 2 and, as much as I totally suck at it, Overwatch 2; it has to be said, I don’t feel like they made an enormous difference to the way I play overall, but I could hear a difference in Call of Duty, whether or not it makes me any better is yet to be seen, but there is certainly time and effort invested into the system.
SteelSeries don’t produce poorly made products, from our experience, and we can happily confirm that the Nova Pro is no exception, the materials, hinges, cables, connections, everything is crisp and firm and feels excellent. The cushioned ear cups also feel top-notch, they depress nicely and have a supple texture.
One unusual feature of the Nova Pro is the bundled GameDAC, this acts as the soundcard for your PC, powered by a USB port. The DAC features two USB-C inputs on the back so you can connect to your PS5 and PC (for example) at the same time without any cable-swapping. You aren’t swamped by buttons or features with the DAC, it has a touch-sensitive button, a large rotating dial that can be depressed as a secondary button and the reasonable sized LCD display, all packed into a neat package that’s easy to find a location for. However, while all of the physical characteristics are good, the sound quality isn’t quite what we’d expect from a £250 setup; the lack of quality of the DAC isn’t immediately noticeable until we plugged the headset into the 2020 MacBook Air that we have here, this transformed the headset into something quite different, bass was firmer, highs were clearer, volume was louder, everything improved and no matter what we did with the DAC, selecting 96kHz @ 24-bit, or dropping that down to try and match different audio types, the MacBook out-performed it at every step.
Onto SteelSeries’ 360° audio, as is pretty much always the case, it doesn’t really do what you want it to on a stereo headset, you need a fancy arrangement of speakers within the headset to even get close to proper spatial audio, it does give some extra depth to your games but we’d prefer this stuff wasn’t advertised in the way it is, which all manufacturers are guilty of.
Now, onto the microphone, this is something many headsets struggle with, largely because of the tiny size of the boom arm and budget restraints but the Nova Pro’s microphone is very good. It’s not going to compete with something that hangs in front of your face that wouldn’t look out of place on a Twitch stream but if you just want to chat with your mates while gaming it will absolutely cut the mustard. We also gave the Sonar Software’s AI Algorithm a try, with reasonable success, it’s not quite at the same level as Krisp on Discord, or NVIDIA’s Broadcast yet, but it’ll certainly do for the vast majority of use-cases, providing you don’t mind a slight degradation in voice quality.
Adjusting the headset to fit your head is super simple, there are the tabs at the ends of the suspended headband that require adjustment, but the rest is a doddle with the sliding arrangement between the earcups and outer headband. Once it’s fitted to your head, it feels fantastic, the leatherette coated memory foam offer a weightless sensation while also isolating you from the outside world, then the elastic headband removes any pressure on the top of your head. It’s an excellent design from SteelSeries that they’ve perfected over several years now and it just works.
Onto the audio quality, this is where the Acrtis Nova Pro really excels, the deep bass is all there and packs one hell of a punch, the mids and highs are clear and distortion-free, it’s just excellent. The headset does seem to be tuned for the high end particularly, which isn’t surprising given that it’s a gaming headset at the end of the day, but it does cause it to suffer in some songs, having said that, you do need to be sat there really trying to notice any potential issues with the audio to pick out any shortcomings but they are small and don’t detract from the overall appeal of the headset.
I tested out the Sonar audio equalizer game presets in Rocket League, Call of Duty: Warzone 2 and, as much as I totally suck at it, Overwatch 2; it has to be said, I don’t feel like they made an enormous difference to the way I play overall, but I could hear a difference in Call of Duty, whether or not it makes me any better is yet to be seen, but there is certainly time and effort invested into the system.
SteelSeries don’t produce poorly made products, from our experience, and we can happily confirm that the Nova Pro is no exception, the materials, hinges, cables, connections, everything is crisp and firm and feels excellent. The cushioned ear cups also feel top-notch, they depress nicely and have a supple texture.
One unusual feature of the Nova Pro is the bundled GameDAC, this acts as the soundcard for your PC, powered by a USB port. The DAC features two USB-C inputs on the back so you can connect to your PS5 and PC (for example) at the same time without any cable-swapping. You aren’t swamped by buttons or features with the DAC, it has a touch-sensitive button, a large rotating dial that can be depressed as a secondary button and the reasonable sized LCD display, all packed into a neat package that’s easy to find a location for. However, while all of the physical characteristics are good, the sound quality isn’t quite what we’d expect from a £250 setup; the lack of quality of the DAC isn’t immediately noticeable until we plugged the headset into the 2020 MacBook Air that we have here, this transformed the headset into something quite different, bass was firmer, highs were clearer, volume was louder, everything improved and no matter what we did with the DAC, selecting 96kHz @ 24-bit, or dropping that down to try and match different audio types, the MacBook out-performed it at every step.
Onto SteelSeries’ 360° audio, as is pretty much always the case, it doesn’t really do what you want it to on a stereo headset, you need a fancy arrangement of speakers within the headset to even get close to proper spatial audio, it does give some extra depth to your games but we’d prefer this stuff wasn’t advertised in the way it is, which all manufacturers are guilty of.
Now, onto the microphone, this is something many headsets struggle with, largely because of the tiny size of the boom arm and budget restraints but the Nova Pro’s microphone is very good. It’s not going to compete with something that hangs in front of your face that wouldn’t look out of place on a Twitch stream but if you just want to chat with your mates while gaming it will absolutely cut the mustard. We also gave the Sonar Software’s AI Algorithm a try, with reasonable success, it’s not quite at the same level as Krisp on Discord, or NVIDIA’s Broadcast yet, but it’ll certainly do for the vast majority of use-cases, providing you don’t mind a slight degradation in voice quality.
