SteelSeries is marking its 25th anniversary with a new flagship headset, and it is going big. The Arctis Nova Pro Omni is being pitched as a do-it-all audio solution for gamers who are tired of juggling multiple headsets across different devices.
That pitch actually lands better than you might expect. A lot of folks now bounce between a gaming PC, a console, maybe a handheld, and of course a phone. Switching audio between all of that can be a pain. SteelSeries seems to be betting that people are ready to just buy one premium headset and call it a day.
The Arctis Nova Pro Omni can connect to up to five devices at once, and more importantly, it can mix up to four audio sources simultaneously using what the company calls OmniPlay. So yes, you could be gaming, chatting, and listening to something else without constantly reconnecting or fiddling with settings. For the right user, that alone could be the killer feature.
SteelSeries is also leaning hard into audio quality. The headset supports 96kHz, 24 bit wireless audio over both 2.4GHz and Bluetooth, and it carries Hi Res Wireless certification from the Japanese Audio Society. It uses custom 40mm neodymium drivers with a frequency range of 10Hz to 40kHz.
Now look, numbers are one thing. Real world sound is another. Plenty of headsets look great on paper and fall flat once you actually put them on. Still, SteelSeries clearly wants this to sit above typical gaming gear and creep into that audiophile adjacent space.
Active Noise Cancellation is included, and SteelSeries claims up to 40 percent better noise blocking compared to competitors based on its own testing. The ClearCast Pro microphone is another focus, with the company saying it can reduce up to 96 percent of background noise. That is a big claim, and like all AI noise filtering, it is going to come down to how natural voices sound after processing.
There is also a lot going on with software. The Arctis app lets you tweak game audio, Bluetooth audio, and microphone EQ, and it includes more than 200 presets for different games. PC users get access to the Sonar app for deeper control, including spatial audio and mixing tools.
Then there is the GameHub, which has an OLED screen and a control wheel for adjusting things like per source audio levels on the fly. That might sound like a small thing, but not having to leave your game just to adjust chat volume is something you will appreciate once you get used to it.
Battery life is handled with a dual battery system SteelSeries calls Infinite Power. One battery is in use while the other charges, and you swap them when needed. As long as you stay on top of it, you should never run out of juice.
The Arctis Nova Pro Omni comes in Midnight Blue, White, and Graphite, and it is available now from Amazon here for $399.99. That price is going to turn some people off immediately, and fair enough. But SteelSeries is not really trying to compete with budget headsets here. It is trying to convince you that one expensive headset can replace several cheaper ones.
Whether that is worth it depends on how many devices you actually use. For someone with a single console, probably not. For someone juggling a PC, console, phone, and more, it might start to make a lot of sense.
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