A Mid-Range Marvel?
It’s okay to have a favourite. A football team you spend hours – and money – following around the globe. A restaurant that serves up the finest of foods. A friend who has been by your side for decades. A favourite son or daughter. Okay, perhaps not.
It’s also okay to have a favourite gaming system. A place you prefer to kickback with in the evening, whether that be due to game exclusives, controller feels or a long standing loyalty. Yes, those stupid format wars are something that could easily be cooled, but there’s no harm in having a favourite.
Same too goes for the gaming headset you plonk on your head. You may have one that has covered your gaming needs for years gone by, slowly falling to pieces, as you find yourself unable to place it to the side in favour of a newbie, comfort being an optimum aspect.
For us, SteelSeries are a favourite. It’s a brand that we’ve enjoyed using for years, going through the likes of the Nova Pro and Arctis Nova 7X Wireless, before recently settling on the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds for – pretty much all of – our audio needs.
In fact, aside from the odd review unit that has taken our fancy for a few weeks at a time – stuff from Turtle Beach, a lightweight RIG, a gorgeously shiny Audeze, or the EPOS | Sennheiser GSP 602 in blue and orange (seriously, that headset is a proper looker) – it’s been SteelSeries with which we continually gravitate back to.
It’s with much enthusiasm then that we get to the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3X Wireless. These may not be range toppers. They may be bereft of the fanciest features, But they are pretty damn neat. Especially for a mid range set of cans.
Lightweight, Comfortable, and Unmistakably SteelSeries
As the name suggests, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3X Wireless comes in at the lower end of SteelSeries’ range, sitting above the 1 range, but below those of the 5 and 7 segments that are capable of wowing gamers. But with such a name behind them, there should be no reason to not consider them as your next set of cans. In fact, we’ve been particularly taken in by the cool Aqua version that we’ve been hands-on with in recent times.
Also available in White, Black and Lavender, the Nova 3X Wireless is a really good looking headset. It’s unmistakably SteelSeries, and so if you’re familiar with anything they’ve provided over the years, you’ll be well at home here. It comes with an adjustable suspension styled headband to take the pressure off the top of your head, with a sliding band ensuring that fitment is a cinch. With oval cups that twist and flex plenty enough, we’re pretty sure this is a headset that will be capable of fitting all manner of head size. And when you take it off, it’s comfortable to hang around your neck too, cups placed nicely on your upper chest.
Aside from the colour, it’s pretty stealthy too, with small SteelSeries logos on the outer cups pretty much all there is to signify what this headset is. But we’re up for that and even though it’s fairly plasticy in feel, it’s light enough to fling around at will. Just remember though, this is – in the grand scheme of things – a well priced headset, running at just a smidge under £100. Consider the brand, the wireless capabilities and more, and that feels good value for money.
Wireless Freedom with a Few Caveats
So what of the headset itself? Controls-wise and everything sits on the left-hand cup, something you would probably expect to hear. That means you’ll have full access to a power button (obvs), volume dial (lovingly notched too which is hugely appreciated!), and a mic mute switch. Further, out of the box is access to a USB-C power port and microphone port for those all important team comms.
The mic is detachable, and so whether you’re a fan of that or not will dictate your love there. For us, it’s neither here nor there really, but if we had to make a call, we would prefer a fully attached mic with flip-to-mute system, if only so that mic doesn’t get ‘lost’.
But the mic itself is glorious. You’d expect crystal clear comms from any SteelSeries headset, and the Nova 3X Wireless doesn’t disappoint in that regard; we’ve had zero issues in utilising this for team and party chats. It attaches nice and easily too, extremely flexible to ensure you can have the wind muff sitting pretty much right in front of your mouth without fuss. Weirdly, we’ve found that muff to be quite slippery on the mic boom itself, and have pulled it off, unintentionally, more than a few times. Annoying? Ever so slightly, but no biggy.
Something else which, to us, is a slight pain, is that the Nova 3X Wireless only works, as the name suggests, wirelessly. It’s weird that there is no 3.5mm audio jack present for wired capabilities, if only as past history and use of MANY headsets has seen us occasionally drop back to the old-school wired approach. It does mean that whilst the Nova 3X is capable of holding power for up to 40 hours, big in itself, you’ll want to ensure it is kept charged at all times. If the worst does come to the worst, then grab yourself a coffee and plug it in for a quick 15 minute hit through USB-C; that should keep you going for another 9 hours or so. That’s pretty impressive in itself, but just note, there is no wired functionality kicking around here.
What is in place are two wireless options – 2.4G wireless through an included USB-C dongle (with USB-A converter) attached to your Xbox Series X or Series S, for example, or Bluetooth for everything else. That means you can use the Nova 3X Wireless for good old fashioned console play, or for some Game Pass stuff and calls through your mobile device or laptop. Needless to say, we’ve done both and have been extremely impressed no matter what option and device we’ve used. A quick press of the power button happily switches between connections, with super simple initial setups accompanied by equally solid connectivity from there on out. Again, it’s something you’d expect from SteelSeries.
Soundscapes of SteelSeries Quality
The sound that it produces is, again, of SteelSeries quality. There’s a reason that they are one of our favourite headset creators, frankly because tunes and gaming sounds are piled towards ears in the very best possible way. Stick a SteelSeries headset on your head and power things up and you’ll be treated to some stunning soundscapes; clear at all levels, loud enough to whisk you away to another world. The Nova 3X Wireless doesn’t disappoint in that regard, and there have been times in which we’ve been utterly wowed, mouth-dropped, at the audio that has come out of this thing, able to pinpoint the likes of engine noise in The Crew Motorfest with ease.
And that’s even without us being the biggest fan of the ‘Flat’ EQ that is present out of the box. With the SteelSeries Arctis app on your phone though, you’ve got access to hundreds of presents that should enable you to set things up as you see fit. If anything, it’s super fun to just run through those for a few minutes. With that App, you can make the audio as punchy or bass-filled as you so wish.
A Mid-Range Headset That Absolutely Delivers
So yep, SteelSeries have done it again. The Nova 3X Wireless Headset may not be near the top of their range, and it may be lacking in a few areas – a plastic feel, a lack of wired running, a detachable mic, and delete any of those as appropriate to your needs and wants – but this is a super comfortable, pretty lightweight headset that is a joy to place on the head. It sounds immense, is useful for multiple wireless opportunities and looks great in its cool aqua hues.
With an asking price that is less than a ton, get the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3X Wireless headset for Xbox on your shopping list.
It’s okay to have a favourite, you know.
Huge thanks go out to SteelSeries for providing us with the Arctis Nova 3X Wireless for testing and review. Pop over to visit them direct and grab a unit for yourself. The only thing you’ll need to decide on is the colour.
