Closer Examination, Build Quality, and Comfort

In terms of design, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 is a visible departure from the Arctis Nova Pro. As expected, gone is the fancy steel outer headband. Here, the outer headband is made from thick plastic, with a fine layer of silicone covering its inner side, making the headset more comfortable to handle. The joins connecting the headband to the ear cups are simplified, but they still allow the ear cups to be rotated 90° inward.


Luckily, SteelSeries didn't steer away from the suspended headband design, so you still get a secondary, stretchable inner headband. The suspended headband is attached to the outer one with four plastic clips. You can shorten it slightly by changing the way it attaches to the aforementioned clips; instead of using the bottom and the middle holes on each side of the headband, simply switch to the middle and the upper holes. I found it perfectly comfortable in the default setting. It does a great job of distributing the headset's weight across the top of the head and proves exceptionally practical. You don't have to lose any time worrying about the "height" of the headset. You simply put it on your head, pull the ear cups over your ears, and you're good to go. The suspended headband will automatically stretch and adjust as needed.


Due to its all-plastic build, the Arctis Nova 3 is lighter than both the Nova Pro and Nova Pro Wireless, making it even more comfortable in everyday usage.


Instead of leatherette ear pads used on the Arctis Nova Pro and Nova Pro Wireless, SteelSeries opted for cloth pads on the Nova 3. The so-called AirWeave Memory Foam ear pads are filled, as their name implies, with memory foam. They aren't as good in terms of passive noise isolation, but they're more breathable, effectively reducing heat accumulation during longer gaming sessions. I don't object to this change at all; if anything, I'd probably use the cloth pads on the Arctis Nova Pro and Nova Pro Wireless, too, if they came in the bundle (which they don't). While weaker, the noise isolation is still decent; people you share the room with definitely shouldn't be bothered by the noise coming from your direction, even when you're blasting the Arctis Nova 3 as loud as it can go.


The ear cups have a nice soft touch surface on the outside. They're highly resistant to fingerprints, which is always a welcome feature for any device you regularly have to handle with your hands. The SteelSeries logo is surrounded by an RGB LED ring on both ear cups. You can choose its color and effects (static, breathing, or shifting between various colors), and there's a physical switch to deactivate it completely, which is a nice addition, as it allows you to deactivate the RGB lighting system even when you're not connecting the Arctis Nova 3 to a computer, therefore without software controls at your disposal.


The left ear cup has a button and a handy volume wheel. The button mutes the microphone. The microphone is equipped with a LED that glows red when the microphone is muted. As for the volume wheel, I found it unnecessarily sensitive; minor changes to its position result in substantial changes to the volume of the sound. That also means it is challenging to make small adjustments to volume, which can be annoying.


The left ear cup also has a USB-C port, which is used to connect the headset to all supported devices and power it, too. SteelSeries supplies the headset with cables needed to connect it to devices using a USB-C or a more traditional USB Type-A port. You also get a cable that allows you to connect the Arctis Nova 3 to analog devices.


The retractable microphone completely tucks into the left ear cup, which basically makes it invisible while it's not being used. The rubberized arm that holds the capsule can be bent in any direction, and it stays where you want it.