Meet the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Omni, the new not-quite-flagship headset from SteelSeries. Taking the fantastic and hugely popular Arctis Nova Pro and cranking things up a notch, the Nova Omni adds full console compatibility – no need to choose Xbox or PS5 – improved sound quality, and a better mic to this wireless gaming headset, all while retaining the swappable batteries and generally fantastic design of the Nova Pro.
I say “not-quite-flagship” as the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite is SteelSeries’ current top-of-the-line option, with its premium build materials and carbon fibre speaker drivers. The new Nova Omni, then, slips in just above the Nova Pro as a more affordable option than the Elite, but with essentially all the same features and compatibility. Given the Nova Pro currently sits on our best gaming headset guide as the most versatile option around, and the Nova Elite is the best sounding, the Nova Omni should be ideally poised to make for an ideal middle ground.
SteelSeries describes the Nova Omni as “a master key that unlocks Hi-res Wireless certified audio and multi-system control,” which might sound like a lot of word salad. What that amounts to is that the Nova Omni is the company’s second headset to be officially Hi-Res Audio certified. This actually makes SteelSeries the first company to have two Hi-Res Audio-certified gaming headsets, with the Nova Elite being its first.
What is Hi-Res Audio? Well, it ensures a product can deliver exceptionally high levels of audio sampling, with the Nova Omni able to sample at up to 96kHz to a depth of 24-bit. For comparison, CD quality is 44.1kHz at 16-bit.
Delivering that sonic data is a pair of 40mm drivers of unspecified construction, though SteelSeries points out they use neodymium magnets and are tuned slightly differently from those of the Nova Pro Wireless. Crucially, the combination of the Hi-Res Audio signal and the drivers means this headset is rated to deliver a frequency range of 10-40kHz over wireless. This matches the Nova Elite but comfortably surpasses the 20-20kHz range of the Nova Pro Wireless.
While the limit of human hearing is 20-20kHz, the extra range here should ensure this headset has less distortion at close to its frequency limit. SteelSeries doesn’t make a claim for improved harmonic distortion with this headset compared to the Nova Pro Wireless, but both are rated at less than 1% total harmonic distortion.
The other thing that this headset delivers is connections. Oh, so many connections. It comes with a GameHub that acts as both the wireless PC dongle for the headset as well as a battery charger and a control box, as the device has a dial and OLED display for setting up the headset. Crucially, on the back, it has extra USB-C sockets for connecting to your PS5, Xbox, or Switch, plus an analog line in, a line out (so, as I do with my Nova Elite, you can have it be the source for your analog desktop speakers), and you can connect to the headset via Bluetooth. In total, that means you can connect five devices to this one headset, and you can even listen to four of them at once.
A new and improved omnidirectional microphone has been added to the Nova Omni as well. While omnidirectional pickup isn’t normally a positive for a headset mic, as it basically means the mic picks up sound from in front of it/you as readily as it does your voice. However, thanks to impressive-sounding AI noise cancelling, this mic should deliver your voice very clearly. SteelSeries claims it “reduces up to 96% of background noise, which is up to 30x more than other gaming headsets.”
With a tried and tested comfortable headband and earcup design, swappable batteries – two supplied – that effectively give this headset infinite battery life, a retractable microphone, and a new app with 200+ game-specific audio presets, the Nova Omni is shaping up to be quite the killer headset.
Available here from today, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Omni price is $399.99 / £349.99 / €399.99. It comes in the same black or white options as the Nova Pro Wireless, along with a new dark blue option pictured above.
