My office is filled with a variety of gaming headsets, all vying for a spot on my ears. Many sport high-end features, fancy names, and sexy metal headbands, with price tags to match. You can imagine my surprise when the latest from Steelseries, wrapped toe to tip in bright blue plastic and costing just over $100, became my new daily driver.

The Steelseries Arctis Nova 3 Wireless are the best gaming headset you can buy at this price for console gaming, and even on PC if you’re willing to cede some control of your audio settings. The next steps up are considerably more expensive, and for most folks won’t be worth the extra $100 or more.

Gaming, Music, Movies

Photograph: Brad Bourque

With the standard settings, the Nova 3 aren’t terribly impressive. They have a clean, somewhat flat audio profile that does a good job of complementing the lightweight headset. I hope you won’t use them that way, because even just a few minutes in the app will go a long way.

Once you’ve set the equalizer, they start to really shine, with a bigger, more boomy sound that I haven’t found on similarly-priced headset. There’s an available richness that’s really impressive, and you can hear it when you flick the EQ on and off in the app. With the preset profiles applied, games really come to life, with the right pings and pops of action games cutting through, and music in cinematic games swelling dramatically. There are EQ profiles for most games; Anytime I launch a game for the first time, I go into the settings to see if there’s a profile for it, and I’m a little bummed when there isn’t one, which is rare.

As someone who often takes on long hours of farming in World of Warcraft while listening to podcasts, or puts on a movie while playing Magic: the Gathering Arena, I really appreciate how well the Nova 3 handles different audio sources with conflicting EQ requirements. That’s largely thanks to the SteelSeries GG software, which can separate audio from different programs into groups. Unfortunately, there’s a downside, but I’ll get into that.

The only notable absence is Dolby Atmos for Headphones, which I’ve seen popping up recently on more budget-friendly headsets. The good news is the Nova 3 still has spatial audio support, and the built-in equalizers offer a ton of specific value for games and media. I’m not really bothered by the lack of support, particularly when the alternative is more appealing, and there’s a short list of games that support the tech anyway. If that’s a key feature for you, I’d recommend checking out Corsair’s Void V2 Wireless (8/10, WIRED Review), although I think these are more comfortable.

Lightweight Comfort

Photograph: Brad Bourque

The Nova 3 is the most comfortable gaming headset I’ve tested. Even after a full work day with them on, it feels like I’m wearing nothing at all. They’re exceptionally light, particularly compared to my normal Arctis Nova Pro Wireless (8/10, WIRED Recommends), but even alongside other similarly priced headsets like the Xbox Wireless Headset (8/10, WIRED Recommends). I’ve expressed before that I have a big noggin, and that wasn’t an issue at all.

It also helps that SteelSeries already has some of the most comfortable headbands in gaming, thanks largely to what the brand calls its “ski-goggle” suspension band. This stretchy strip of fabric sits between the top of your head and the plastic headband, spreading the pressure across the natural curve of your skull. I’ve found it massively helpful for preventing that sore spot that can form on the top of your head after logging a few hours of gaming.

Light headsets usually have to compromise on battery life, but I didn’t find that to be the case. I rocked the Nova 3 as my daily headset during the day for a full work week before I got a low battery warning, for a rough total of over 30 hours—pretty close to the 40 that Steelseries claims. Once they were dead, they shot up over 20% within half an hour of being plugged in, which should get you through the day.

The microphone isn’t my favorite, but no one I played with complained about it, which has happened before with other headsets. I listened to myself talking back on it and it didn’t feel overly grating, but it definitely has that small mic, “gaming headset” quality that you can only upgrade out of with a standalone mic. The sound isolation, on the other hand, performed better than average, notably filtering out my large dog barking at the mail on several occasions, something I almost always have to slam my mic mute button for.

Software

The headset doesn’t need software to work with a computer, but the SteelSeries GG app is surprisingly useful, particularly on PC. The main selling point is Sonar, a dashboard where you can assign individual programs into the categories, then adjust the volume and equalizer independently for each category. It’s a legitimately useful feature, and there are equalizer presets for each group that make a huge difference in audio quality. Music is punchier, dialogue is clearer, and hundreds of games are already tuned and ready to go.

There’s a downside, though, and it isn’t minor: Once Sonar is running, you’ll need to keep your system’s default audio device set to one of the new outputs the app creates during installation. If you switch between speakers and headphones, changing the device in your system tray won’t work anymore, you can only do it in the GG app. There’s also no main Sonar output, so you’ll have to choose one of the groups as your default system output, and then your system volume controls will only affect programs assigned to that category. To make matters more confusing, there’s a volume wheel on the Nova 3 that runs independently of everything else.

I’m really impressed with how much practical value the app offers, but I’m more than a little frustrated with how my system audio settings look, even when I’m using my desktop speakers. I’ve been able to find some workarounds to keep my main volume knob working, but it feels like it shouldn’t need to be this complicated. It’s a shame, because I’ve grown really fond of the app, but having to navigate into a specific piece of software to change my speaker volume is a little annoying.

Conclusion

Photograph: Brad Bourque

The Arctis Nova 3 are one of my favorite gaming headsets, but the software is going to be a deal-breaker for some folks. They provide an awesome amount of practical value, but you have to make some concessions.

I know how much people don’t like their system settings screwed with, something I think I’m more tolerant of than average, and it still bothers me. Just know the mobile app has a subset of features, and it’s all upside for console gamers.

I find the Nova 3 so comfortable, and their sound so impressive for the price, that I’m willing to overlook the loss of my mute button. They have a great sound profile that’s only improved by the equalizer profiles, long battery life with quick charging, and excellent system compatibility, all at a very reasonable price. Even with the much more premium Arctis Nova Pro at my desk, I often find myself reaching for the Nova 3, and that says a lot.