SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X Wireless

Verdict

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X Wireless is an excellent wireless gaming headset with modern looks and versatile audio thanks to its mobile app and presets. It also offers a clear microphone with solid pickup, fantastic battery life and vast compatibility which make it a brilliant all-rounder.

Introduction

SteelSeries is back at it with another new wireless gaming headset, the Arctis Nova 5X Wireless, which adds another somewhat reasonably priced multi-platform headset to the market with the fun of a mobile app.

At £129.99/$129.99, it sits in line with a lot of mid-range wireless gaming headsets including the excellent Sony Inzone H5 and top-class Xbox options such as the Razer Kaira Pro Halo Infinite Edition, while offering a vast feature set, excellent audio and a lot of versatility for the console players it’s aimed at.

I’ve been testing the Arctis Nova 5X Wireless for the last few weeks to see how it stacks up, and to see if it’s one of the best gaming headsets we’ve tested.

Design and Features

• Lightweight construction
• Tactile controls
• App presets are especially versatile

The Arctis Nova 5X Wireless’ design is in-keeping with SteelSeries other headsets as part of its newer Arctis Nova range of options, including the higher-priced Arctis Nova 7 Wireless and Nova Pro Wireless. This means you’re getting a sleeker, more modern look compared to the Arctis headsets of old with a generally rounder profile that looks excellent.

Compared to the Nova 7 Wireless, the Nova 5X Wireless lacks some design flair, such as extra bevelling on the headband and edges on the earcups, but you still get the essence of the redesigned headset. The smooth plastics used here feel sturdy enough, and at 265g, it’s also immensely light. That lightness isn’t to the point where this headset feels cheap, but it is at least comfortable to wear for extended periods. In my time with the headset, I simply popped it on my head and practically forgot it was there.

The suspension-style headband remains, and helps the Nova 5X Wireless to offer a reasonable clamping force, save for the tighter adjustment on the yokes to make the headset fit properly. The earcups are deep and plush, with SteelSeries’ AirWeave material used to help make them less unpleasant to use after a long period compared to leatherette ones. They also help to offer some fantastic passive noise isolation, even if the headset doesn’t offer any active noise cancellation.

As with other SteelSeries headsets in recent times, the Nova 5X Wireless also benefits from tactile controls that are evenly distributed across each earcup. The left one is home to a mic mute and volume dial, while the right earcup houses a game/chat mix dial, a power button and what SteelSeries calls the ‘Quick Switch’ button which allows you to quickly switch between Bluetooth and 2.4GHz connections, if you’re using more than one device with the Nova 5X Wireless at once. The right side also houses a USB-C port for charging.

The Nova 5X Wireless also benefits from a wide amount of compatible devices including Xbox consoles and PC, as well as with mobile devices or or Nintendo Switch.

Even with this -X variant designed for use with Xbox consoles, SteelSeries also lists PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 as compatible, too. With both Bluetooth and a USB-C receiver on offer, you can also connect to multiple devices at once, although you can only receive audio from one at a time.

I tested it with my Xbox Series X over the USB-C receiver and my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra over Bluetooth, and with that Quick Switch button, moving devices was especially convenient. The wireless connection was also solid over both means, on either my Series X, phone, MacBook or Windows gaming PC.

It’s on the front of the Nova 5X Wireless’ companion app where this particular headset is a unique offering in SteelSeries’ lineup. It essentially acts as SteelSeries’ bigger PC-based software, Sonar, on a phone, providing much of the same functionality as the PC software, just on a smaller scale. This means you get basic options such as fiddling around with an EQ or changing the volume of the headset and microphone, as well as options for mic sidetone and the brightness of the LED indicator.

Where the companion apps wins though is by offering over 100 different EQ presets for games within easy reach across a range of titles, including the likes of CS:2, EA Sports FC 24 and GTA V. While EQ presets are nothing new, and a range of these presets have also been present in the brand’s bigger Sonar app, to have them bundled in a mobile app is seriously helpful for console gaming, where this kind of configuration hasn’t been possible before. There is also support for Sonar with the usual parametric EQ and seriously powerful configuration for use as a volume mixer, and a range of game presets, too.

Battery life is excellent and is improved against the slightly higher-end Nova 7 Wireless. The Nova 5X Wireless can last for up to 60 hours over Bluetooth or 50 hours over the USB-C receiver, which is above and beyond a lot of similarly priced headsets, although isn’t quite as good as the 300 hours of the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless. The good thing here though is that if you are ever caught short in terms of battery life that the Nova 5X Wireless can give you six hours of charge in 15 minutes given it supports USB-C quick charging.

Audio and Microphone

• Smooth, refined audio
• Presets can add more immersion
• Clear microphone

The Arctis Nova 5X Wireless offers refined and smooth audio with solid levels of detail in the mids and top end, and a lack of harshness compared to other headsets I’ve tested. This became apparent on the cymbal hits in The Strokes’ Reptilia, or the busy percussion intro to Steely Dan’s Do It Again. While it may be as full-bodied and forthright as other headsets, the audio that the Nova 5X Wireless provides is versatile and suits a wide range of games right out of the box.

With this in mind, the bass isn’t as prominent on tracks such as Rush’s Working Man or YYZ as with other headsets, and the soundstage may not be as wide as in Earth, Wind & Fire’s September with the bongos feeling a tad hemmed in, but it’s when adding presets into the mix where the Nova 5X Wireless shines best. They can affect the overall peformance quite a lot, such as in CS:2, where it added more emphasis to gunfire and explosions while retaining the fantastic positional audio, or in Forza Horizon 5 where it aided with directional audio as I overtook other drivers, as well as increasing the overall richness of a car’s engine note with the headset’s mid range.

The addition of the multitude of presets helps to make the Nova 5X Wireless a versatile option for a wide range of games, even if they offer varying levels of effects on the headset’s natural sound. Some change it completely, while others are more reserved in their approach. It is, nonetheless, an engaging listen in a wide variety of games and music.

The microphone is in-keeping with other newer Arctis Nova headsets, with a retractable option that bends into place in front of your mouth. It’s clear and offers more body than other headsets, while its bi-directional noise cancelling also did an excellent job of drowning out most of the noise of my loud mechanical keyboard.

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