Hello everyone it's SpawnPoiint and today we're taking a look at one of the best gaming headsets
i've ever used these are the 2022 SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pros they include high-res audio
support a noise canceling mic and the ability to adjust the eq settings on the go these are
also compatible with the playstation 5 a pc mac and the switch i'll get these unboxed and set up
and then we'll go over the design audio quality the various features and i'll even do a mic test
i have dropped a link to these in the description if you want to check them out but if you've got
any questions at all just leave a comment below okay so inside the box it comes with a manual
which we'll probably never read and under that we have the steel series pouch containing the headset
and on first impressions these look and feel really nice and this is the base station or the
GameDAC Gen 2 as SteelSeries have called it this is what powers the headset and gives us all of
the controls that we need and finally inside this little orange box is a 3.5mm headphone cable two
usb c to usb a cables and a microphone pop filter and as far as the design goes i like the look of
this headset it definitely has a more premium gaming vibe with the old black and grey style
the frame and the material of the headset is a hard plastic which feels pretty solid yet still
has some flex on the inside is the adjustable headband and this is like a fabric almost
silky like material you can also see if you look really closely it's got a little bit of a pattern
going on here too but i will talk more about the adjustments and the comfort in a couple of minutes
now something that did surprise me about this headset on first impressions is just how light
they feel but i think that's mainly down to the fact that these are a wired headset as opposed
to wireless so they don't have any batteries built in and looking at the ear cups these are a
fake leather or leatherette material and they are incredibly thick and soft and this will naturally
provide loads of comfort and padding when they're on your ears and they are removable too so if you
ever wanted or needed to change them just give them a pull and they will pop right off on the
side of the ear cups we've got these magnetic metal plates which includes the SteelSeries
branding give them a twist or a pull and they will come off as well for the wireless version this is
where you would swap the battery or charge it via usb but for the wired version these are just for
aesthetics now these ear cups also rotate so if you want to wear them around your neck or lay them
flat on a table you can do that without worrying about breaking the hinges now i'm not sure if this
differs on the wireless version but there are very few buttons on the Nova Pros now the right
side has no buttons at all whereas on the left side they just have two so we've got the volume
wheel which as you guessed it is to control the volume and this stops at the minimum and maximum
so it's not an infinite scroll then there's a physical mute button for the mic and that pops
in and out it's also got an orange accent you can obviously see when it's muted and finally we have
the retractable microphone which you can pinch and pull it out this is on one of those bendy arms you
can adjust it just the way that you need it now as this is a wired headset you do need to plug
the provided 3.5mm headphone jack in to use it fortunately setting this up is literally plug and
play so we take the usb cable and we plug one end into the DAC and the other end into the ps5 and as
soon as it's connected it automatically recognizes a new headset then we'll take the 3.5mm cable and
plug one end into the headset and the other end into the DAC once that's done it will display an
on-screen guide and walk you through how to use the menu and the controls and all that's left to
do is tidy it away and keep the cables out of sight and as for the GameDAC itself well this
is the brain and the power behind the setup steel zeros have called it the GameDAC Gen 2 which puts
it above other gaming focus headsets with both audio quality and the features that is packing
so this little box not only sends the audio from your pc or console down to the headset but it
also provides some incredible on-screen controls firstly not only can you control the volume on the
headset but you can also control it via the metal wheel on the right this is such an awesome feature
that allows you to lean over and tweak your volume without needing to fiddle with your headset the
screen itself is pretty bright but it does auto dim after a minute or so but if you lean over and
touch it it will wake again it'll also completely switched off once you've turned your computer or
your playstation off now if you press and hold the wheel you can now access the menu and from
here you're able to change the usb input if you had it plugged into two devices we then got the
audio options including the eq settings and the side tone levels as well as the system settings
and this lets you change the brightness of the screen and the time to wait until it automatically
dims around the back has got two USB-C ports and a line in and line out ports now as there
are two usb ports it means you can actually set this up with two systems at the same time so for
example you could have this plugged into your pc as well as a ps5 now the model that i have here is
for pc and playstation and if you wanted to use the xbox connectivity you need to buy that one
instead although fortunately that one does work across all systems and the line out lets you use
this for streaming or connecting to some external speakers at the same time as playing then on the
side we've got the headphone port and this is how we connect it to the headset using the 3.5mm cable
right let's talk about the sound quality and from my testing over the last couple of weeks
i can say the sound on these are really impressive not only do they get quite loud if you crank their
volume up but the sound detail and the depth of the sound is incredible i've been playing the
last of us part one over the last week the new ps5 remake and i've been blown away by just how good
they sound i really wish i could demonstrate these to you but the background sounds and the ambient
noise is just awesome now these nova pros also support 360 degree spatial audio and
that's using the sonar audio software for pc now if you're on the playstation 5 like myself
where these are obviously fully compatible with the tempest 3d audio they are also packing 40mm
drivers and include High Res certified audio and this essentially means that the audio resolution
is even clearer giving a purer sound than most other headsets can deliver typically i only use
headphones for online multiplayer games so games like Call of Duty and Warzone and that's because
this is where i'll normally be chatting with my mates as well as needing to hear exactly where the
enemies are now over the last few years i've had about four or five different headsets and these
without doubt are the best i've ever used and it's not just the sound quality and the volume
but it's the directional pinpointing of the sound that has really amazed me i was running around in
Warzone and i was able to hear footsteps from further away than i think i've ever heard and
on top of that i could hear exactly where they were and what's great is if i wanted to change
the eq settings for the game or mode that i'm playing well i can change those on the fly
straight from the station in Warzone you want the mids and the highs to be slightly higher than the
lows that's for the footsteps so starting with the focus preset is a good option then if i swapped
over to a game like saints row for example the flat preset is probably more suitable out of the
box i've actually found this headset to be quite bassy and punchy which is great but you might
find you want to reduce the bass very slightly and don't use the bass boost option for me the
bass boost option is just way too much now if you want to adjust the sound settings between
game and chat mix you're not able to do this on the headset if you're on pc you can control this
via the will by tapping and swapping between the chat and the game volume but on the playstation 5
you do need to use the ps5 sound settings instead oh and even though you'll probably want to use the
GameDAC to make the most out of this headset you can actually plug the 3.5mm cable straight into
your device or your source so i've tested this by plugging the headset straight into the DualSense
controller on the playstation 5 and this worked absolutely fine although you'll obviously lose
all control over the settings i mentioned before that you can change the eq settings on the station
which is such an awesome feature so all you need to do is tap the menu button go to audio settings
and then either swap between the presets on there or you can create your own custom one just scroll
through each frequency range and adjust it just the way you need it this will always be having to
plug it into a pc every time you wish to adjust something now if you do have access to a pc or
mac we can make even more customizations via the SteelSeries GG app this not only lets you edit
the eq but you can save your settings straight into the DAC and take it back to your console
and then there's the sonar app designed for pc gaming on windows now i don't have a gaming pc
so i'm not able to test this but this will be the best way to play around with your sound as well
as your microphone settings so the microphone on this is retractable which means it can be hidden
away inside the headset when it's not in use it's pretty flexible too so when it is fully extended
you can move it around to get it just the way that you need it the mic supports AI powered ClearCast
Gen 2 noise cancelling and that is designed to silence the background noise for that ultimate mic
quality now when you're using it you can of course mute the mic from the headset itself but for me
that's a little bit too fiddly while you're gaming fortunately there are two other ways you can mute
the mic one of those is via the station so if you tap the circular button here it will mute the mic
and if you're using it on the playstation 5 well you can actually mute it from the controller
itself and this is actually a massively underrated feature as even playstation's own headset cannot
do it this way now if you're using a headset for online gaming you'll probably want to use the mic
for chatting as well well here's a quick mic test to give you an idea of its quality okay so this is
a test on the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pros to give you an idea of what the microphone audio
quality sounds like: So i've got the pop filter currently attached and the microphone is fully
extended at about two inches from my mouth but if i remove the pop filter now that'll give you
an idea of what it sounds like without the pop filter attached now the microphone can actually
be fully inserted back into the headset to give you an idea of what that sounds like
so this is the microphone fully inserted into the headset and as you can hear is
probably not worth using this way because it sounds very very echoing
but this is the microphone with the pop filter fully extended as well i think the audio quality
is okay but it's still very tinny. When it comes to the comfort and the wearing of this headset
it feels great they're really light which for a headset is ideal as you don't want to feel like
you're actually wearing one the way the headset is designed is to pretty much float on the top of
your head using the inner headband there's loads of flex here and it is really comfy when it comes
to adjusting the height or the fit of the headset when it's really easy and we've only got two
adjustments to make first you can unclip the inner headband and then choose between the different
holes on the side and this will change the tension of the band and then on the side you can simply
slide the headset up or down to adjust the height these don't click or stop as you're moving them
they're just very firm as they slide up and down and as you can see these are an over ear
headphones as well so they actually fit over the top of your ears as opposed to pressing your ears
against your head and as far as a gaming headset goes they do feel very comfy and you could easily
wear these for hours during those long gaming sessions now although these do come in a fully
blacked out design you can actually buy different colored plates and headbands for it there are
currently four different colors to choose from on the steel series website which includes the cherry
red, lilac, mint green and the rose quartz now naturally i would go for the all black design but
i'll tell you what these new colors look awesome so what are my final thoughts on the Arctis Nova
Pros well i've been really impressed with just how good they sound and i have said it before but
these are the best sounding gaming headphones i've ever used but then again at this price point they
kind of should be cost wise the Arctis Nova Pros come in at £250 or $250 so these are not cheap
but they are comparable to the competition right now and for the features you're getting with the
on-screen controls the eq settings audio quality comfort and even the design is not a bad price
but the big question is do i recommend them and are they a good buy if you're after a decent
wired gaming headset that is plug and play and has customization at your fingertips these really are
great now i don't normally like wired headsets as it means trying to hide those wires out of sight
but for these i'm willing to make that compromise now if you were after a wireless version they do
sell those as well now the wireless version does have a few extra features as well as lacking a
few features over this one and hopefully i'll get my hands on the wireless option within the
next month or so and i could do a full review i've dropped a link in the description below to
the Nova Pros if you want to check those out now drop a "Pro Headset" in the comments and i will
give you a thumbs up for staying right to the end and if you did enjoy today's video check out this
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