A Big Upgrade From Budget Gaming Headsets

That brings me to my next surprising feature: a detachable mic. You may not use this perk all the time, but it’s great if you’re throwing this thing in a bag and don’t want your headset to get all mushed up. All you have to do is pull on the mic to remove it, and when you’re ready to put it back on, you just slot it right back into the 3.5mm port.

I tested the PlayStation/PC version of this headset, which uses wireless protocols that are not compatible with Xbox. There is, however, an Xbox-compatible version you can buy (the Arctis Nova 3X) that will work wirelessly with Xbox and PC. Make sure you note which one you’re buying before you pull the trigger!

Button-wise, things are simple: there’s a volume wheel with ridges that is okay (I like that it’s not a smooth toggle; you really feel every increment) and a power button that acts as a mode-switching button for selecting Bluetooth or 2.4GHz when the headset is powered on. There’s also a mute button, which is great when you’re crunching on some Bugles and you don’t want your friends to know you eat like a Midwestern beer dad from 1995.

But back to that low latency; I’m pleased to say that the 2.4GHz mode works well. It definitely cuts down on audio latency, and as someone who has used gaming earbuds with a dongle like this (the Razer Hammerhead Hyperspeed), I can say it works just as well as competitors. It may not seem like a lot, but as someone who’s tried to use laggy wireless earbuds for gaming in the past, it makes all the difference knowing you can get a message across quickly, lest you get ambushed by a fellow 30-year-old man-child in Fortnite.

SteelSeries sent us a Nova 3P in this nice lavender color (also available in black, white, and aqua), which may not speak to everyone, but I find it refreshing compared to the sea of black headsets out there. The first thing you may notice outside of the color, which would make Bed Bath & Beyond proud, is that the Nova 3P is a little smaller than a lot of other headsets. For me, that’s great because it fits my head more snugly than other headsets and also doesn’t make me look like a small baby animal when I wear it. Not that anyone is really seeing me with this thing on anyway, but it’s nice to know I don’t look like a major doofus when it’s on—just a minor one. There is also a piece of cloth underneath the head strap, which is nice because I’m what the people call bald, and I need something soft on the top of my head to avoid chafing.

Looks only get you so far, though, right? You probably want to know how these bad boys sound, and on that front, I have more (fairly) good news. I tested them out playing Fortnite, and my teammate rated my audio (which was coming through Discord) as a 4.5 out of 5. Not bad! And on my end, I can say that my teammate’s audio was better than usual, since they usually opt for a pair of regular Bluetooth earbuds that can become muffled.

The Arctis Nova 3P was an upgrade for both of us, for sure. That’s not surprising given the aforementioned Fisher-Price-type headset I usually use, but I know I’m not the only one out there with a cheap headset. This is by no means the most premium-level sound quality there is, but I know how bad gaming headsets can get, and when you feel like you can actually hear footsteps in Fortnite and your teammates’ vocals at the same time, you’ll thank yourself for spending a little more money.

There are some weirder features in the Arctis Nova 3P. One of them is a mic monitoring feature called Sidetone that’s on by default. That feature takes your audio and pipes it back through the headset’s speakers, so you can hear what you sound like through your mic. It’s a little jarring at first, but once you get used to it, it’s kind of nice. Oftentimes, when your ears are all blocked by ear tips or earcups on a headset, you have to hear your own voice internally and not through your ears, which sounds… bleh. If you’re as perturbed by speaking when you have earbuds in or headphones on as I am, you might actually enjoy features like Sidetone. If you hate that, you can also turn it off in the companion app.

And speaking of the companion app; there’s a bunch of other weird stuff there, too. From the SteelSeries app, you can control facets of the headset like volume and modes, but also select presets for certain games, which is a nice flourish, but I can’t say I noticed a huge difference when testing out the Fortnite-specific presets (there are two of them, by the way). As far as audio companion apps go, it’s not the most advanced, but it’s still nice to have options.

If there’s one complaint I have about the Arctis Nova 3P, it’s that the materials aren’t particularly premium or nice to the touch, and in a headset that you may wear for hours at a time (depending on current employment situation and social life), that’s a bigger problem than in other accessories. I wore this headset for about 45 minutes, and my ears got hot. After a while, you may notice some scratchiness on your skin, too. It’s not the worst material in the world, but it’s not particularly breathable or by any means plush. These aren’t a pair of AirPods Max or Nothing Headphone 1, after all.

Speaking of wearing this headset for a while, if you want to, you could. According to SteelSeries, the Arctis Nova 3P is rated for 40 hours of battery life on a full charge. It’s also fast-charging, which is a nice perk, and SteelSeries says they can get 9 hours of battery after only 15 minutes of charging. If you’re like me and forget to charge your audio gear sometimes, that’s a huge win. Range-wise, the Arctis Nova 3P will work up to 30 feet away, which is just fine for my small New York apartment.

Ultimately, my complaints are fairly minor, and when factoring in the price, I’d say that the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3P gives you enough to feel like you’ve gotten $100 worth of headset. And if you’re like me and have been using a gaming headset by the loosest possible definition, then you’re going to feel like you’ve gotten a lot more. Seriously, if you’re using a budget headset and you have some cash to spare, upgrade to something midrange—your teammates and your ears will thank you.