SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite Review: Gaming Overkill?

The base station has another neat trick; It can charge and hold a second battery. I got about 30 hours of use on a single charge, slightly less than SteelSeries’ quoted life, but as long as you stay close to the base station, you’ll have essentially infinite battery life. When the battery runs low, just swap out the spare and dead battery and your headset will automatically restart and reconnect within seconds. The spare battery charges in less than two hours, and there’s a sneaky USB-C port on the left ear cup in case you’re away from home for too long.

Finely finished

Photo: Brad Bourque

Fit and finish would be another big reason for me to choose these over the Arctis Pro or BlackShark V3 Pro. The Arctis Elite is a super sturdy, upgraded metal headband that feels really serious. Although you can get them in black, you should opt for sage and gold colors instead. It’s instantly eye-catching and elegant, especially in gaming headsets, which are either dark and drab or overly gamer-coded. Unfortunately, this feature-packed headset is the heaviest I’ve tested so far at 380 grams, about 10 grams heavier than the Razer. SteelSeries headbands are some of the most comfortable around, thanks to the “goggle band” suspension straps that help spread the weight across the top of your head, but it can only do so much.

Meanwhile, the ear cups are made of faux leather that gets a little sweaty, especially during long gaming sessions. Razer has managed to crack the code on breathable ear cups and ANC, but the SteelSeries’ noise reduction is better as a result. The difference in comfort between the two will be a matter of preference, but I wouldn’t recommend unless you have strong neck muscles.

If the price tag here gives you pause at all, I think you should look at other options, including the excellent Nova Pro, which has a similar base station and app support. $250-$350 gap between Nova Elite and Any other gaming headset Enough to make the jump to a more powerful GPU or to make a variety of small performance improvements across your system.

Ultimately, beyond the ability to connect more consoles, the upgrades are mostly meaningful for listening to music and less impactful for gaming. For multi-console owners with deep pockets and an extensive music library, this is a featured headset with no real competitors, but I know I’d have trouble finding room for them. New PC budget.