The Arctis Nova 1 works perfectly well out of the box and doesn’t come with companion software - unless you count SteelSeries GG, SteelSeries’ universal peripheral software, which includes the company’s gaming-oriented Sonar audio suite. The Nova 1 is analog-only, though, so it can only access Sonar’s features when it’s plugged into a PC. SteelSeries’ Sonar audio suite has a mic section with an EQ and a handful of noise-reduction features, including AI-powered noise-cancellation, which is still in early-access but works pretty well.
It’s a bidirectional, not cardioid, mic, and it struggles with noise isolation. It picks up your voice easily and delivers loud, clear audio. All of the new Arctis Nova headsets have the same fully-retractable microphone design - the mic is on a flexible arm for easy positioning, and blends seamlessly into the left earcup when retracted.Īudio quality is very good on the Nova 1’s mic, especially for a headset mic. The Arctis Nova 1 has a bidirectional ClearCast Gen 2 noise-canceling microphone, which has a frequency response of 100 - 10,000 Hz and a sensitivity of -38dBV/Pa. You don’t need to use Sonar (or any software) with the Nova 1 - games and voice chat still sound very good without it, but it offers a decent amount of control and customization if you spend some time playing around with it. Gaming sounds much better on the Nova 1 (as does voice chat), especially when paired with SteelSeries’ Sonar audio software suite, which has features like 360-degree spatial audio and a gaming-oriented parametric EQ. The Nova 1 also costs one-third of what the Nova 7 costs. But the Nova 1 is an analog headset - the Nova 7 also sounded better using a wired connection, but we can’t ignore its wireless performance. I wasn’t particularly impressed with audio quality on the Arctis Nova 7 Wireless - and this headset has the same custom 40mm drivers. The headset also struggled with separating out details and layers in Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” but I enjoyed listening to “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish. The bass was pretty restrained (too restrained) in Kaskade’s “POW POW POW,” and was present but fuzzy in Kanye’s “Love Lockdown.” Mids and highs sounded better - and more balanced - in David Guetta’s “Titanium” and Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” There was some distortion in the lower mid-ranges - not a lot, but it was noticeable.
Music sounds good on the Nova 1 - very good, considering the headset’s sub-$100 price point.
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