Redefining the ‘Premium’ Gaming Headset

I really feel no compunction telling you the MetalSeries Arctis Nova Elite gaming headset wasn’t made for the general public studying this evaluate. How premium is it? It prices $600.

It comes with a particular GameHub that can hook as much as three consoles or PCs directly to allow you to seamlessly swap between all of your gadgets. It additionally prices $600. It has a number of the finest premium audio I’ve heard from a gaming headset all 12 months. It will ask you to fork over $600 for the privilege. The Arctis Nova Elite chock-full of small facilities, which mixes with all the opposite options to make the gaming headset so easy to function. All, for $600. It’s simply the costliest headset I’ve used, which makes it that rather more annoying after I admit I loved it as a lot as I did.

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The MetalSeries Arctis Nova Elite isn’t doing something we haven’t seen earlier than, even when its price ticket is without doubt one of the highest we’ve seen. The $400 Logitech G Astro A50 X used a big base for video passthrough to hook up all of your gadgets to at least one place. The more moderen $180 Astro A20 X does one thing just like the Arctis Nova Elite, although with solely two as a substitute of three outputs for various consoles on a miniature station.  MetalSeries’ ultra-premium gadget isn’t the primary to make use of a miniature OLED display to show your headset settings, both. The $400 Razer Kraken V4 Pro’s base station lacks the additional console and PC outputs, however its metallic body feels extra premium when it’s sitting in your desk than MetalSeries’ plastic.

MetalSeries was adamant that is the primary “Hi-Res” gaming headset, largely as a result of it receiving certification from the Japan Audio Society. But there are different firms promising their gaming headsets can supply gamers the audiophile expertise. Gizmodo Senior Writer James Pero lately reviewed the $360 VZR Model One MK II hi-fi headest. My ears are nonetheless begging me to return to the good tones of the Sony Inzone H9 II, which used the identical audio drivers because the class-leading Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones. So, no, this isn’t the primary gaming headset with any number of audiophile-level sound.

Instead, the Arctis Nova Elite is the primary gaming headset I’ve used that has every thing (and like an every thing bagel, that actually gained’t please everybody). It’s sporting some high quality energetic noise cancellation (ANC), although not one of the best in its class. Its audio capabilities are actually high tier (although I should favor the Sony Inzone H9 II for pure gaming audio bliss). The headset makes connecting to each one among my gadgets seamless, and it helps 4 separate streams of simultaneous audio (although it’s going to require downloading the Arctis app to your cellphone and the GG app to your pc to regulate equalization choices for every gadget individually). The Arctis Nova Elite is constructed for the devoted gamer, the one who has one spot of their house the place they play. In that very particular case, this is without doubt one of the finest headsets I’ve used.

The finest for every thing?

There’s no getting round it. The Arctis Nova Elite alone prices greater than a PlayStation 5 console even after value hikes. I’ve used sufficient MetalSeries headsets to know its typical design ethos. In impact, the Arctis Nova Elite is an upgraded model of the Nova Pro Wireless, with metallic frames and a metallic quantity wheel. This gaming headset seems particularly good with its cream and gold colorway. I simply don’t know if something in regards to the it desgin reads that it’s value a lot cash.

The sound is the place issues matter, and that’s what the Arctis Nova Elite has bought going for it. The twin carbon fiber drivers supply a clear audio presence at its baseline. It’s able to lossless 24-bit, 96kHz wi-fi audio, although consoles just like the Xbox Series X and PS5 are restricted to 48k/16-bit. It might take a number of hours of listening, however ultimately I got here to acknowledge the Arctis Nova Elite’s true potential as soon as I put it by means of its paces in varied titles of varied kinds.

If you’re so used to shoving your AirPods in your ears each morning commute, listening to high quality audio from a devoted hi-fi headset can truthfully go away you in tears. You’ll begin to determine subtleties positioned by cautious fingers within the songs you’ve heard one million occasions earlier than. There’s a motive some folks turn out to be obsessive about audio high quality. Once you attain the highest of the mountain, it’s that rather more troublesome to crawl again down and reside among the many rocks and weeds.

Once I linked the Arctis Nova Elite to my cellphone, I wasn’t pressured to disconnect from PC or consoles. It makes residing your life contained in the headset simpler. I couldn’t stand it for too lengthy, although. While the reminiscence foam cups are plush with a pillow-like softness surrounding my ears, the headset desires to hug my head tighter than others to get that good seal. There was a rising strain between my eyes as I used it, forcing me to take intermittent breaks.

The Arctis Nova Elite might simply be my one and solely gaming headset. That being mentioned, I don’t actually know many individuals who trouble with multiple. MetalSeries prompt it could possibly be your audio buddy even whenever you’re not close to your sofa or desk. The gaming headset comes with a comfortable felt-lined pouch that snaps shut with a satisfying magnetic clasp. If you need one thing extra protecting like a tough case, you’ll have to purchase it individually. The factor is, one of the best headphones are designed so that you don’t look appear to be an alien when sporting them. You gained’t look stylish together with your head shoved between these cans such as you do together with your AirPods Max. These are designed to put on for hours and hours. I couldn’t stand them for that lengthy. Maybe someone with a thinner skull would take pleasure in them for longer.

Every sport requires its personal finetuning

If you don’t go into the app to regulate the EQ profile to suit the sport, you’ll find yourself with a a lot worse expertise general. MetalSeries has a ridiculous variety of game-specific profiles for a number of the hottest video games round and much more you wouldn’t count on the corporate to trouble with (there’s a preset for Doki Doki Literature Club!, for goodness’ sake). So in case you load up into your Cyberpunk 2077 save, and enter with out the preset bass profile, it gained’t have anyplace close to the degrees you wish to make your machine gun fireplace really pop. This requires you to manually change their settings from sport to sport if you need one of the best expertise.

Inevitably, you’ll come throughout a sport that’s too new for it to have an EQ profile. I’ve been enjoying The Outer Worlds 2, which has a soundtrack that’s equal elements thriller and nostalgia. It doesn’t sound dangerous by any margin with the “flat” preset within the Arctis app. I simply know deep in my soul the sport might sound higher with a number of knobs twisted. If you scroll by means of all of the preset EQ choices, you could find one or two that can sound higher to your ears. For occasion, I performed Gears of War: Reloaded with the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 preset and it sounded a lot better than with the inventory normal profile.

At least, the GameHub allows you to swap and alter the quantity mixing between the primary and second USB inputs. Swapping between Bluetooth and the two.4GHz connection doesn’t require a lot enter. Still, if you wish to take a name within the headphones, you’ll have to hit the Bluetooth button on the fitting earpad.

MetalSeries’ “flat” profile is okay for many listening experiences, together with music or when speaking on video calls. When I bought on with a few of my coworkers, they instructed me I sounded extraordinarily clear, practically—however not fairly—podcast ranges of readability. That’s spectacular contemplating the telescoping mic wasn’t even sporting a pop filter. The mic provides 16-bit 32kHz recordings, and listening to myself again I can verify it’s of excellent high quality. There’s a further mute button the left earcup if it is advisable to keep away from any again chatter when gaming with pals and even chatting with workmates. Again, it could possibly be my every thing headset when at house I might stand sporting it for too lengthy.

Better battery life? Try extra batteries

There’s a number of optimistic qualities to this design. I might stroll 30 ft away from the GameHub with a wall in between me and my desktop, and nonetheless hear my sport as clear as if I used to be standing subsequent to it. Only after I put a number of partitions between me and the gadget did the sound begin to waver.

The ANC is nice sufficient I might repeatedly miss what my colleagues had been saying even when they had been speaking proper subsequent to me. With the ANC on, I couldn’t hear the blast of the loud followers from the Acer Predator Triton 14 gaming laptop computer I lately reviewed. Still, I might often hear ambient noise, just like the distant pop of a hearth truck siren or a loud bang on a dialog my boss was having on the opposite aspect of the room. The Arctis Nova Elite is greater than sufficient on your gaming den whenever you wish to gap up like a contented otter and ignore the speeding river waters round you. It simply gained’t supply something near the sensory deprivation chamber sensation of some high-end ANC wi-fi headphones just like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen).

If there’s one factor lacking from the Arctis Nova Elite, it’s a battery life equal to its $600 price ticket. MetalSeries guarantees you may get 60 hours of energetic listening, however that’s solely whenever you make use of two separate batteries. The GameHub comes with a small compartment that accepts one among two cells that come within the field. The magnetized cap on the right-hand earcup comes off to disclose the battery. It’s not technically hot-swappable, as eradicating the battery will flip off the sound. Swapping in a recent battery will instantly flip the headset on and return you again to your varied connections. By comparability, a $300 HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 wi-fi can go for 250 hours earlier than it is advisable to plug it in.

Worth greater than a console?

I maintain mentioning different headsets that price much less simply to clarify the place we’re with the present panorama of gaming cans. Nothing I’ve tried has even got here near MetalSeries’ value level. There are different gaming headsets that promise hi-fi audio or allow you to join all of your consoles. The Arctis Nova Elite is the one pair that I do know of that gives each in a single package deal. I can’t consider every other headset I might need extra if I’ve all my gaming gadgets in a single spot.

I additionally know I personally couldn’t drop $600 on any headset. Even if I did go for the MetalSeries Arctis Nova Elite, I must take into account if I might settle for Bluetooth extra usually than the two.4GHz connection. Even although I personal a PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2, and get to check a rotating forged of PCs, I spend extra time gaming on a handheld than the rest. There’s actually a number of people on the market who’re glued to their gaming chairs and desire a headset for each single gadget they personal. I can’t consider something higher than the Arctis Nova Elite.