The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 is without doubt one of the best value for money headsets on the market with great battery life, fantastic audio quality and dual connectivity between Bluetooth and your gaming console or PC, but this new headset design from SteelSeries takes the cake in terms of how it looks.
Based on the Year of the Dragon, the Dragon Edition Arctis Nova 7 has a deep red colourway throughout the entire headset whilst the band has a debossed dragon scale pattern that really takes it to the next level. You also get two different ear plates with one featuring a gold dragon and the other featuring the iconic SteelSeries logo in gold.
It’s super light on the head, and thanks to the ComfortMAX headband system, it has four points of adjustment both in the headband and can also be further adjusted by extending out each cup on the side to a fit that feels right. SteelSeries says that its 14% lighter than the previous Arctis 7 and I believe it, given my surprise in how light it was when i first took it out of the box.
Given this is the 7P version and not 7X, it’s compatible with the PS5, PS4, PC, Mac and Nintendo Switch all through its USB-C dongle, and it can also connect simultaneously through Bluetooth to your mobile, so that you can listen to music or take calls all whilst gaming, which is a must-have in any headset for me.
As far as controls go, it has a volume sliders, a mute button, Bluetooth button as well as game/chat slider, although that will only work on PC using slider, as unfortunately PlayStation still have locked out other manufacturers of taking advantage of game/chat audio controls from a hardware point of view. You can use this as a sidetone controller on PS5, so it’s not totally useless. The power/bluetooth button also doubles as a way to play/pause multimedia or answer calls, so that’s super helpful.
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In terms of battery life, you’ll struggle to find a headset better with 38 hours of playback, that was roughly what I experienced in my time with the headset, meaning you’ll get weeks out of this without needing to recharge. For when you do ned to recharge, it uses USB-C for fast-charging and can get six hours of use with just 15 minutes of charge.
It goes without saying that given this is a SteelSeries headset, you’re going to get a great audio experience with rich bass and extremely clear audio, especially leveraging Sonar software on PC where you can take advantage of 360 spatial audio. Obviously, compatibility with PS5 3D audio is there for you to take advantage of as well.
The Arctis Nova 7 has a boom mic that can be stored away when not in use. It’s definitely serviceable if you’re online gaming, and a lot better than you’d find in any earbuds, but it goes up an extra level on PC where you can take advantage of AI noise cancelling to get rid of any background noises.
All-in-all, the Arctis Nova 7/7P is one of the best mid-range headsets on the market in every area including design, functionality and sound.
