SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni Review

0:01 Among the many gaming headset manufacturers out there,

0:03 few are doing it as well as Steeler,

0:06 and the new Arctis Nova Pro Omni is further proof of that.

0:10 It's a new entry in the Arctis Nova lineup and is a step above the Nova Pro,

0:14 which has been one of our top recommendations for many years here at IGN.

0:17 And while the improvements on this new model are somewhat incremental,

0:20 it's still a fantastic headset that packs

0:22 a ton of features that you won't find elsewhere.

0:25 I recently praised Steeler's offering at the budget

0:27 level with the Arctis Nova 1.

0:29 And there are options up the chain all the way through to the Nova Elite,

0:32 which is a super expensive but state-of-the-art headset.

0:35 So, that wedges the Nova Pro Omni just below that luxury tier.

0:40 Now, don't get me wrong, $400 is still a hefty price tag,

0:43 even for those in the market for a high-end headset.

0:46 But between the high-res sound quality

0:47 and the long-term comfort and the unmatched versatility,

0:50 Steeler has another certified winner in its catalog.

1:03 If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

1:05 The Nova Pro Omni sports a nearly identical design

1:08 to the Nova Pro and the rest of the Arctis Nova roster.

1:11 Really, it's a fairly slim physical design

1:13 in the realm of gaming headsets with a lowprofile frame

1:16 and Steeler signature elastic headband that hooks onto notches

1:19 for fitment and provides some comfort at top your head.

1:22 The telescoping arms slide continuously and feel secure once they're adjusted.

1:26 And don't let the relatively thin profile of the headset fool you.

1:29 It's both flexible and durable enough to handle with confidence.

1:33 The ear cups are lined with a deep

1:34 foam padding and a premium feeling leatherrett.

1:36 It gets a little hot in there,

1:38 which comes with the territory of using leatherrett.

1:40 Although it creates a better seal than velour or sports mesh.

1:43 While the Nova Pro Omni has a slightly

1:45 tighter clamp force than what I'm used to, I

1:47 had the headset on without issues for sessions up

1:50 to 5 hours because of the comfortable ear pads.

1:52 They finally ride the line between firm and soft,

1:55 and they sink around my ears nicely.

2:00 I appreciate that Steeler keeps its onboard controls simple.

2:03 Aside from the Bluetooth toggle,

2:04 all controls are relegated to the left ear cup with the power button,

2:07 the microphone mute toggle, and the volume wheel.

2:10 Alongside them is a 3.5 mm audio jack

2:13 for auxiliary input and the retractable built-in microphone

2:16 that conveniently tucks into the headset to sit flush

2:18 along the ear cup when you're not using it.

2:21 Now, you may be wondering, where's the USBC port?

2:24 Well, it's hidden away on the left ear cup behind the magnetic cap,

2:28 which you can remove by just wedging your finger underneath.

2:31 It may seem odd at first, but other than a quick firmware update,

2:34 you never really have to plug it in through USBC.

2:36 That's because Steeler's unique swappable battery

2:39 system returns in the Nova Pro Omni.

2:41 The battery is located within the right ear cup,

2:43 which you can access by removing its magnetic cap.

2:47 This was a key feature of the original Nova Pro, and even in the years since,

2:51 it's still an innovative design

2:52 that beats simply having a longerlasting battery.

2:58 If you're not familiar, the headset comes with two distinct battery packs.

3:02 One for the headset itself and another

3:04 to insert into the base station to stay charged.

3:07 This way, you always have one battery ready to go,

3:10 creating this infinite loop of battery life.

3:13 It takes maybe 10 seconds to swap between them,

3:15 and if you do it fast enough, the headset will just stay powered on.

3:18 Now, watch this.

3:20 Okay, set your timers.

3:22 Go.

3:30 time.

3:32 Put the cap back on and we're good.

3:35 See, easy as that.

3:40 The individual batteries themselves can last around 20 to 25

3:43 hours depending on the features you have active such as A&C.

3:46 And that's plenty of juice for a handful

3:48 of sessions before having to actually switch them out.

3:51 So, the base station is the key to making the Nova Pro Omni stand out.

3:55 Not just because of the battery system, but also for the versatility it offers.

3:59 It has line-in and line out for wired connections,

4:01 which is a boon for those who also run external speakers in their setup,

4:04 as well as three USBC ports

4:06 to bring wireless connectivity to three separate devices.

4:09 And what may be a big deal to some,

4:11 you'll no longer have to pick out the right model for your Xbox

4:14 console since all Nova Pro Omni

4:16 base stations include Xbox's proprietary wireless protocol.

4:19 This means you can keep a PC, PS5, Xbox,

4:22 and an auxiliary source all connected at the same time and Bluetooth,

4:26 and you could swap between them through the base station.

4:29 This does mean you have to use the base station

4:31 as opposed to a small USB dongle for 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity,

4:36 and that could be cumbersome depending on your situation,

4:39 but the advantages that brings are well worth the trade-off.

4:42 It's especially convenient for desktop PC setups because

4:45 the base station can control a few of the headsets

4:47 features through the large tactile volume dial

4:50 and the touch button alongside the monochrome LED screen.

4:53 You just need to press and hold the dial inward for a few seconds

4:56 to access the wide menu of options that you can adjust on the fly,

5:00 but you can get more granular in the Steeler GG software suite.

5:04 Off the bat, you can tinker with basic functions and settings like custom EQ,

5:08 A&C, noise gate, and side tone for the microphone among other things.

5:11 It's straightforward and intuitive with tool tips that explain each feature,

5:15 and it doesn't feel bloated like other apps.

5:17 But if you want to get in the weeds,

5:18 enabling sonar in the Steeler app adds an extra layer of customization

5:23 and the ability to assign up to nine custom profiles for certain types of media.

5:27 Here you can access much finer tuning of the EQ

5:30 band and even dial in how spatial audio behaves,

5:32 changing how it reproduces certain sound effects with performance

5:35 for competitive scenarios and immersion

5:37 for cinematic style experiences, for example.

5:40 Although I'm generally not a huge fan of using virtual surround

5:43 for spatial audio because of how artificial it can sound at times,

5:46 this allows for a level of control that we rarely see.

5:50 So, the software has more knobs and sliders

5:52 than you would typically have to worry about,

5:54 but they're there for those who want to get the most

5:55 out of their headset and create a specific kind of audio experience.

6:03 I wasn't exactly surprised during my testing process to find

6:06 that the Nova Pro Amy's out-of-the-box sound quality is fantastic.

6:11 Clean and detailed are the two easiest ways in which I would describe it.

6:14 And all the frequencies came through clearly, even at much louder volumes.

6:18 There's solid bass on the low end and minimal,

6:20 if any, distortion at the mid to higher pitches.

6:23 And considering that this sits like a half tier above the praiseworthy Nova Pro,

6:27 that's kind of the expectation with headsets of this caliber.

6:30 But it's great to hear that Steeler has cleared that bar once again.

6:34 You also get the kind of positional

6:35 audio required to be competitive at high levels.

6:38 I ran my usual rounds of ranked matches in Counter-Strike

6:40 2 to get a sense of the headset's performance,

6:42 and it checked all the boxes wonderfully.

6:44 With sound cues like footsteps, reloading,

6:47 and gunfire coming through detailed in both direction and distance,

6:50 it provides the kind of advantage that you'd want sonically.

6:56 Playing through the new patch 7.5 content in Final Fantasy 14,

6:59 I got to enjoy how the Nova Pro Omni sorts through the MMO's busy soundsscape.

7:04 Having the great soundtrack playing, spells firing off, enemy attacks hitting,

7:07 and the party banner all at the same time.

7:09 It could be a lot for lesser headsets to handle.

7:11 But the way it all comes through distinctly and elegantly is another example

7:14 of why you want to ball out on a headset of this quality.

7:17 I spared one of those USB ports on the base station for my PlayStation

7:21 5 Pro and gave Sorrowos another whirl

7:23 since that game has wonderful sound design.

7:26 Everything just had an impactful punch to it.

7:31 But it's the subtle sound cues from enemy attacks that were more important.

7:34 Paying attention to those audio cues help

7:36 you anticipate what's coming and react accordingly

7:38 in life and death situations because this game is a tough test of your reflexes.

7:43 A chunk of my in-game test sessions

7:45 were conducted using the default EQ settings,

7:47 but tweaking the audio profiles can help you get more out of the headset.

7:51 For example, messing with the spatial

7:53 audio balance did make Resident Evil Reququum

7:55 sound more full without losing much of the detail I needed for survival.

7:59 And the hundreds of built-in profiles for specific

8:01 games in sonar give a little extra fine-tuning,

8:04 which works great for like Counter Strike 2.

8:07 Although I feel the Final Fantasy 14 profile didn't change much for me.

8:10 And although the Nova Pro Omni 2 isn't exactly tuned to be bass heavy,

8:14 the audio drivers responded really well

8:16 to something as small as boosting bass just

8:18 a little bit to help round out a lot of the music I listen to.

8:21 Now, high-res audio is a tricky thing

8:23 to test because of how subtle the differences can

8:26 be and also depends on how you source

8:28 your audio and how the audio itself is recorded.

8:31 For this, I went with the Spotify Premium lossless quality and set

8:34 the Nova Pro Omni to do 96 kHz/24-bit audio in my Windows 11 settings.

8:39 While outputting proper high-res audio is one of the headset's key features,

8:43 it won't be as strong as a selling point unless you're

8:46 a serious audio file who wants their gaming headset to do it all.

8:49 There are nuances to pick up on in certain cases,

8:51 but as someone who has one foot in the audio file world,

8:54 the best that I could say is that the differences are minimal,

8:57 although it is nice to have.

8:59 And if anything, it's for the peace of mind of knowing

9:01 that you have the best sound capabilities possible all in one device.

9:05 Now, I'd be remiss not to mention the super impressive microphone,

9:09 which I am going to use for this next section.

9:12 This is me using the Nova Pro Omni's built-in microphone,

9:14 and it's probably the biggest singular improvement over the original Nova Pro.

9:19 As you can hear, my voice is coming through very clear,

9:22 and I would put it just a notch below a decent standalone mic,

9:26 or just shy of the alltime in the Bayer Dynamic MMX 300 and 330 Pro,

9:31 which I have right here.

9:32 It doesn't pick up on much if

9:34 anything in the background with minimal noise gating.

9:36 And setting the ClearCast AI noise cancellation to about

9:39 medium low does the trick for isolating my voice.

9:42 And it does this without making me sound too compressed or digitized at all.

9:46 And you can further tweak your output in the mic's EQ settings.

9:49 And one final nice touch,

9:50 the mic now automatically mutes when it's retracted into the headset,

9:53 much how flip to mute works on headsets with that style of mic.

9:58 Now, to make a quick comparison to another

10:00 high-end headset that I reviewed earlier this year,

10:02 the Odyssey Maxwell 2 actually has a sound profile

10:04 that I prefer slightly over the Nova Pro Omni,

10:07 and I think that's by virtue of its larger audio

10:10 drivers and the more spacious design of the ear cups.

10:12 This lets the audio breathe a little bit more,

10:14 and it creates a different experience.

10:17 But the thing is that it is nowhere near as versatile as Steeler is offering.

10:21 They're both great headsets and you can't go wrong either way.

10:24 Just know what you're getting into and what

10:26 you're looking for out of your gaming headset,

10:28 especially if you're going to drop this much money on one.

10:34 A $400 price tag is tough to swallow no matter which way you cut it.

10:38 Considering what the Arctis Nova Pro

10:39 Omni offers relative to the competition, however,

10:42 it makes one of the strongest cases to splurge

10:45 on a high-end gaming headset if you haven't already.

10:48 Top-notch sound quality and comfort were expected,

10:50 as well as Steel Series's signature versatility.

10:53 But it's the small things that justify this new model.

10:55 High-res audio for those who demand audio file type performance,

10:59 incredible microphone clarity,

11:00 and expanded connectivity options complement everything else it does well.

11:04 But between the multi-purpose base station,

11:06 the robust software suite, and the still innovative battery system,

11:10 the Nova Pro Omni does all the little things

11:12 right while still delivering on sound fundamentals better than most.

11:19 For more on gaming headsets, be sure to check out my reviews of the Odyssey

11:22 Maxwell 2 and the Razer Black Shark V3 Pro.

11:25 And for everything else in the world of games and tech, stick with IGN.