SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 gaming headset review — Elevated entry-level

SteelSeries has recently turned their eyes on the budget market. While the premiere company in accessories has long made entry-level items, they’re now attempting to bring their best to more people. The Arctis Nova 5 was the beginning of that trend, a headset we gave a 100/100. Now, another option comes to consumers: the Arctis Nova 3 is a budget option done right.

I’m no stranger to the outside or insides of a SteelSeries box, but let’s take a look anyways. Inside the box, there are just a few items: the headset itself, a nano USB-C dongle with a USB-A adapter, and a charging cable. The charging cable doesn’t meet my expectations, as it’s only a one foot, regular USB cable. I’m not looking for some ten feet braided behemoth, but a small one foot cable makes for a tough charge if your console is in a cabinet or towards the bottom of your entertainment center.

The Nova 3 isn’t going to look a ton different than what you’re used to seeing from a SteelSeries Arctis Nova headset. There are also four different color variants available, which allows for a bit of pizzazz. It has a durable plastic headband, with a stretchy ski-band in place so the headset sits comfortably on your head. The earcups are a fantastic combination of cloth and memory foam, and altogether this is a comfy headset, just like the others SteelSeries offers. One thing is a bit different: a detachable mic in place of the usual retractable one, but more on that later. 

Controlling the headset is pretty simple, with all the buttons and volume wheel adorning the left earcup alongside the detachable mic. There’s a mute button and power button, with the volume wheel also having a button press functionality. It may not seem like much, but it’s everything you need on this headset.

SteelSeries has continued their tradition of connecting to all devices, and with the 3X model specifically, I can’t think of anything you couldn’t connect it to. With the 2.4GHz USB-C dongle and the USB-A adaptor featuring the Xbox chipset, you can connect the Nova 3 just about anywhere. Add in Bluetooth 5.3 support for devices that somehow don’t have one of those ports, and you’re covered all around. The Nova 3 also has QuickSwap built-in, and with a quick tap of the power button, you’ll switch between your 2.4GHz and Bluetooth modes. This also means you can simultaneously connect to devices even if you can’t listen to them simultaneously, so answering a phone call in the middle of Warzone has never been easier.

Let’s revisit the microphone. This is one of SteelSeries ClearCast mics, capable of 32kHz/16-bit high-bandwidth. It comes with a microphone sponge cover, which I personally removed pretty quickly. While my view of gaming mics on headsets is a little jaded after my time using a streaming microphone, I feel this one is not half bad all things considered. It’s a little fuzzy, like many gaming mics are, but it gets the job done, even if on PC it can be a little quiet.

Speaking of getting the job done, the battery life is one of the more interesting features of the Nova 3. It’s not as strong as its predecessors, with up to forty hours of life if you don’t run the simultaneous connections. While in my opinion forty hours is more than enough, SteelSeries has upped the ante. Even though it might run down faster, you can get a fast charge in fifteen minutes worth nine hours of battery life. As someone who already owns a ton of SteelSeries headsets, I need this capability to come to the other models, stat.

Moving on to sound, I’m routinely impressed with what the design team is able to do, and it’s no different here. The Neodymium Magnetic drivers are specifically crafted for this headset, and they sound phenomenal. My rule of thumb is that volume doesn’t dictate how good a headset is, but its ability to distribute detail does. Even as a more entry-level headset, I don’t feel like I’m losing anything I’d gain from the Nova 5s, or possibly even the Nova 7s. The wizardry from the SteelSeries team is truly something.

As I’ve been gaming and listening to music, I’ve enjoyed outstanding audio. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone, I may not get as intricate of detail as is available in the Nova Pros, but the Nova 3 holds its own. I can hear where my enemies footsteps are coming from in the spatial sound as I stampede across Verdansk, I can determine the location of gunfire; all the things necessary to be a good competitive player in Call of Duty via audio are covered. In a game like Cyberpunk 2077, I’ve been able to enjoy the ambience of Night City, especially the thrilling soundtrack backing the intense moment-to-moment interactions with miscreants. There’s no way around it: the Nova 3s elevate your experience while gaming, just like their older brothers do.

This is backed up and supported by SteelSeries Sonar, which might count as an actual cheat code at this point. It’s not only available on PC either, following in the Nova 5s and Gamebuds footsteps with access to the SteelSeries mobile companion app. With 260 different EQ presets available for different video games, and your own custom ones you can load from the PC app, Sonar is on another level. I’m not kidding when I say everything sounds better through Sonar. Being able to take the audio fidelity I enjoy on my PC with me everywhere, including to amplify the music I’m listening to on the go from my phone, is amazing.

Even better, the Nova 3 will be ready to rock when the Nintendo Switch 2 launches. This compatibility is more than just skin-deep, as Switch games have been popping up on the Sonar app with audio presets, like Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. There’s even a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate setting from FaZe Sparg0 if you’re competitively minded. If there was ever a perfect time for a headset to drop, this is it, with the Nova 3 being the perfect companion for that new Switch 2.