SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 Gaming Headset Review

The most exciting $99 wired headset in years?

Photo taken by the author.

The $100-ish wired gaming headset market is so incredibly crowded with decent options. It exploded in popularity after the iconic original HyperX Cloud set new standards, and dozens of companies have taken a crack at it over the years.

I don’t get that excited about $99 wired gaming headsets any more. But the Arctis Nova 3 is worth some serious hype. It’s the best example of this product tier I’ve seen in a long time. Given the industry-wide march towards wireless models — it’s probably one of the last big hurrahs for wired headsets at this price.

I bought this headset at retail with my own funds. I wasn’t asked by SteelSeries to write this.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 (official site here) replaces the old Arctis 5 model from 2017. It has a built-in DAC/amp and RGB lighting on the ear cups. Instead of an analog connection with a separate control dial, the Arctis Nova 3 uses a direct USB-C connection system. It connects digitally to a USB port on PC, Switch, or PlayStation 4/5. If you want to use an analog connection for Xbox or you just want to bypass the DAC, SteelSeries also includes a USB-C to 3.5mm cable in the box.

Sound quality is a step up over the original Arctis series, but not quite as good as the new Nova Pro. It has a treble-leaning sound to it just like the old Arctis 5 did, with crisp midrange and high frequencies that are excellent for hearing all the detail in your music and games. Bass is still present and nice to listen to, but it’s not as thumpy or detailed as on the Nova Pro or the wireless Nova 7.

The recent Sony Inzone H3 tried this sort of treble-focused signature but went way too far with it, sounding tinny, sibilant, and harsh in comparison. The Nova 3 is a great-sounding headset out of the box, and the SteelSeries GG software offers two separate EQ options through both its standard settings and Sonar if you’d like to tweak it further.

It’s really cool to see a built-in USB-C DAC/amp here. It provides plenty of power to the headset’s speakers and doesn’t add any obvious coloration to the signal. It’s perfect when paired with the PS5’s lower-than-average USB output volume, and has more than…