The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 wireless gaming headset is not exactly new, as it was available from back in 2022. This year though, there is a special edition version of the headset, called the Dragon Edition. Fitting, as it’s the Lunar year of the dragon.
Naturally, considering the occasion that the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition was released for, it’s been around for awhile, and if you’re looking for this specific version yourself, it might be a bit of a challenge. But besides the pretty cosmetic layer, it is, for all intents and purposes the same headset as the vanilla version, so we’ll be reviewing it as such.
What Am I Looking At?
On its surface, Dragon livery aside, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition is a lot like the prior entries to the series of gaming headsets. Comparing it to the competition, in addition to the adjustable headband length, it also features a semi-elastic suspension strap beneath the band. This is adjusted via the pins that hold the two in place.
Both ear cups of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition come with loads of control options. The left has the volume wheel and a mute button for the extendable microphone. Perhaps bonus points should be awarded for the microphone which sits flush with the ear cup when completely retracted. This side is also the one with the 3.5mm audio jack, for when you want to listen to music the old fashioned way.
On the other side, there’s another wheel, this time for the balance between game and voice chat volume. The USB-C charging port is here as well, as are the power button and the wireless button. This one lets the headset switch between Bluetooth connectivity and the 2.4GHz dongle.
In lieu of faux leather, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition has opted for fabric as the material used to wrap around the foam of each cup. This makes it just a tad more comfortable in the current hot season, but it also means that it would absorb more sweat, and will inevitably stink.
Also worth mentioning is that the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition comes with interchangeable plates for each ear cup. There are two designs that you can switch them with, one of them being the default SteelSeries branding that you’d find on the vanilla Arctis Nova 7 Wireless, and the other being the fancy one depicting a dragon on each side. These are also magnetically attached, so you don’t need tools to pry them off beforehand.
What’s Good About It?
As a complete package, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition has just about everything that you can ask for from a gaming headset. Accessing them on the fly might take some getting used to, but otherwise just about any audio control you may need can be accessed either from the wheels or buttons on either ear cup.
The built-in boom mic picks up my voice clearly, even if it ended up being a little on the soft side. Speaking of which, the mic of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition has a red LED strip that lights up if you have it on mute. This is definitely useful for when you wondered why no one on your voice chat channel can hear you, as the red light is easily visible at the corner of your field of vision.
As for audio output, it sounds just about the way you expect gaming headsets to sound. Which means punchier than average bass, which is helpful for identifying enemy footsteps in an FPS game. Spatial audio is good, as it’s easy to tell individual sounds coming from just about any direction.
This translates to pretty good soundstaging as well in music listening though whether or not you like your music having bass taking priority over the other frequencies is up to taste. The other frequencies are punchy in their own right, but the mids tend to sound a tad fuddled despite the clarity of the highs and lows. This leads to vocals sometimes getting drowned out in very busy tracks.
What’s The Catch?
Initially, while having only done cursory testing with the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition, my intention was to fill this section with a handful of nitpicks. Now that I’ve spend more time with it, it’s clear that I can only afford space for one, which is that the microphone doesn’t do well if you have table fan blowing in your direction.
While the noise cancelling tech takes care of most of the issues, this does result in some static or abrupt cutting off of your voice on the receiving end of a voice call. It would actually work best if you can fit a makeshift pop filter – a dried piece of wet tissue and a rubber band work well enough – over it. But it being a retractable one means you’ll have to pop it off and on again with some frequency.
But the thing that really holds the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition back is the SteelSeries GG software on PC, and its Sonar component. Starting small, there’s the fact that customisation tools like equalisers and preserts for it are locked behind Sonar, which itself is locked behind having a SteelSeries account. It’s an easy signup process, and on one hand, it’s becoming more of an industry standard. But on the other, having tools that are so essential for an audio product locked at all is perplexing.
Then there’s the audio output clutter. Upon activating Sonar, you get an additional five output channels, labelled Game, Chat, Media, Aux and Mic. This is nice if you’re a streamer and actually need to use all of them. But if you only stream to your friends, if at all, and would rather just have a Discord voice channel at most, this is clutter, especially when it sounds like two of the five options are redundant.
And finally, suppose you’ve gone through the whole custom equaliser process and found a setting that’s perfect for both you and the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition. The bad news is that all of this is locked to the PC which you’ve made those settings on. So if you want to use the headset on a phone or console, you don’t get to enjoy the fruits of your efforts. This is as opposed to the Razer Barracuda Pro, which saves your settings – set via Synapse on PC or the Audio app on mobile – like peripherals store on-board profiles.
Should I Buy It?
Overall, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition is not a bad gaming headset, even if it’s not the best at what it does. Its audio signature is just about what you’d expect from gaming headsets, with all the pros and cons that come with it. Though it does come at quite the steep asking price for what it offers, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
If you have an opportunity to give it a try and are fine with the way it sounds out of the box, then the price would be the only hurdle between you and the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition, or indeed the base model. But if you’re entertaining the idea of messing with the equaliser and expecting those settings to carry over to consoles or mobile, then unfortunately you’d be disappointed.
As mentioned earlier, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Dragon Edition, as a special edition model, may not be the easiest thing to get, especially once stocks run out. It also has an asking price of RM1,099, whereas the vanilla model has a RM949 price tag instead. Granted, if you can find one available and the pretty coat of paint is worth it for you, then feel free to go for it.
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