Member-only story
SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1 Gaming Headset Review
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1 is the new entry point into the company’s recent complete headset lineup overhaul. It features the same new speakers, mic capsule, and upgraded industrial design as the excellent Arctis Nova 3 (read my review here), but without that model’s built-in DAC/Amp and RGB lighting.
If you’re looking for a great wallet-friendly gaming headset, and you’re already happy with whatever analog sound source you’re using, then this is an excellent choice. It’s a smart iteration on the older Arctis models, and a worthy successor to their strong legacy.
I bought this headset at retail with my own money. I wasn’t asked by SteelSeries to write this. I don’t use affiliate links or take sponsorships.
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1 sells for $59.99 (official site here), which is a very competitive price for its level of performance. It’s available in black or white, as well as versions that are branded for Xbox and PS5 gamers, but all the Arctis Nova 1’s are the same core headset underneath. The console versions have differently colored headband straps and don’t come with a dual jack PC splitter cable, so you might as well get one of the two PC versions unless you really need that different headband color just to ensure maximum platform compatibility down the road.
Thankfully, the cable here is detachable. It uses a 5-pole plug on the headset end to help improve the clarity of the mic signal, and the other end of the cable is slightly thicker to prevent users from plugging it in backwards. Headsets at this lower price still often use permanently attached cables, so it’s nice to see that isn’t the case here. Curiously, the thick source end of the cable fits perfectly into the weird recessed jack on the Arctis Nova Pro’s GameDAC 2. It fits into the DAC more securely than the cable included with the Pro headset, almost like they were meant for each other and like some sort of future upgrade path will be on the market at a later date.
