How Well Does a $600 Gaming Headset Sound? I Had a Listen.

Let’s say you’re looking for a gaming headset upgrade, and you have a lot of consoles all in one place. The newly announced SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite headset could offer audiophile-quality sound for gamers who want to listen to the cacophony of their consoles (both Xbox and PlayStation), a PC, and a phone all at once. Sounds good, right? Just know the Elite will rip open your wallet in a desperate search for $600.

The Arctis Nova Elite costs so much money, I would expect earcups to be made of solid 24K gold. No gold, unfortunately, though the frame and control wheel are both made of sturdy metal. The $600 headset was built for the high-end luxury gamers, with the company’s claim that it pushes hi-fi sound dedicated to audiophiles, gamers, and a combination thereof. The headset’s stated 24-bit/96KHz transmission is relatively standard for lossless audio, though whether this is the “world’s first†hi-fi gaming audio setup—as SteelSeries claimed—is more muddled. The $350 Sony Inzone H9 II headset, which uses the same drivers as the company’s leading WH-1000XM6 headphones, offers a different variety of high-quality audio, though the Nova Elite supports the LC3+ codec. SteelSeries told me this is the first product of its kind certified by the Japan Audio Society. The headset is available starting today, Sept. 30, though the big question is whether it’s worth the obscene cost.

Solid sound, but is it worth $600?

All that really matters is how well it sounds when you strap the Nova Elite over your noggin. I slapped the plush memory foam earcups over both my ears and listened to a few minutes of music, trying to get a range of bass-heavy and lighter songs. From what I could tell, the audio was very well balanced. The bass felt thick, though I wasn’t around long enough to test just how far I could push it. I would add the active noise cancelling (ANC) and tight earcups kept out surrounding noise to hush a nearby conversation while the music was playing. The device uses 40mm carbon fiber speaker drivers surrounded by a brass ring to enable a “pistonic†behavior close to your ears. SteelSeries claims it can represent between 10Hz and 40Hz frequencies with support for spatial audio.

If it was just hi-fi audio as a selling point, the Nova Elite would seem even more ludicrous. The other big addition is GameHub. It essentially acts as the headset’s 2.4GHz connection point, akin to other expensive headphones like the Razer Kraken V4 Pro. This hub allows up to three connections to various game PCs and consoles. Normally, headset makers need to craft a device specific to Xbox and PlayStation, as Microsoft’s console requires a specific connection type. GameHub lets you connect an Xbox Series X/S, PS5, or Nintendo Switch and simply switch between the three using the on-device controls. It supports the consoles and PC, as well as Bluetooth and aux audio, all simultaneously.

The closest we’ve had to a seamless multi-console headset was Logitech G’s Astro A50X. That headset uses a base station to act as an HDMI passthrough for all your consoles to the TV. Logitech also just released the A20X, which costs less and uses a tiny PlaySync Base for connecting up to two consoles’ audio signals at once. The Nova Elite’s GameHub allows for more fine-tuned audio controls without having to use the headset or software, though you’ll inevitably jump to an app to modulate equalization options.

The GameHub hides a special surprise

SteelSeries tried to imply users would be willing to make this their main headset for more than just gaming. The earcups fold 90 degrees to easily fit inside the felt-lined carrying case. On the move, you’d need to opt for the Arctis app, useful for the company’s more mobile devices like its Arctis GameBuds. If you’re taking it about town, the Arctis Nova Elite should get around 30 hours of battery life on average. While that’s certainly not as strong as devices like the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2’s promised 250 hours, it supports a hot-swappable battery if you can’t stand the idea of plugging in your headset. There’s an extra battery hidden inside the GameHub you can grab in an emergency.

SteelSeries has a fair few budget-end headsets, like the Arctis Nova 3P, that we find support relatively good audio for the price. The company’s last high-end headsets, like the Nova Pro, launched at $350 and came with the same swappable battery and retractable mic. Now, customers are being asked to look at the opposite end of the spectrum—testing whether gamers are willing to spend much, much more for what would be their only headset.