I just bought my steelseries arctis nova pro wired
And my god they sound great and are socomfortable
You need the sonarr app on pc to make them sound great thought
Steelseries arctis nova pro - wired
Insane amount of input and direction. Have tried iems as well both directly into PC and plugged into the SS dac that comes with the headset.
The headset is just been really good. Comfy to use longer sessions. Great music experience too.
Those are a whole other ball game, you need to really deep dive into the amount of drivers etc in a single iem, coz each of those will produce a specific set of frequency which will amplify what sounds you hear.
I have the somewhat budget ones from KZ which were already $100+ and while they do have a lot of clarity, They also had very heavy bass so vandal sounds were just so bass heavy. Kinda like watching a movie, in fact they were better for media consumption, I carry them when I travel.
I'm sure it can be tweaked and tuned and what not, but I also prefer over the year instead of in-ear for longer durations. So it just wasnt worth it for me to use them for gaming a lot. I did use for a few months, mostly Apex Legends at the time. Definitly better directions compared to some other mid range gaming headsets claiming 7.1 (Razer, corsair), but Steelseries mentioned earlier are way better than anything i have ever had
I'm sure if you go higher in the price range for other IEM brands, they get better.
Yes
I have the acrtis nova pros (wired) and have played Helldivers 2, RDR 2, Phasmophobia, Borderlands franchise, Apex, Valo, F1 23.. Not sure if that covers the spectrum you're looking for but I have been very happy with them the last few years.
They are very tunable and provide a very nice surround for immersion and information gathering depending on the games.
There is a wireless version as well, but I prefer wired,, one less thing to charge.. and its also a bit cheaper.
Helldivers has some great sound, so does RDR 2.. both of those are amazing on the headset,, infact i played RDR 2 on the TV first and my second run was on the PC and I was quite blown back with what all I missed.
What games are you planning on playing?
I got the wired version of these and have been very happy with the audio quality. A couple minor gripes with software/DAC limitations but overall it was a good upgrade from my HyperX Cloud Orbit S headphones that broke.
My personal experience with Audeze Maxwell 2
\- I can pinpoint enemies with ease.
\- Detail is best I have seen in a closed back headphone.
\- Wireless is not the best but it works. There is no lag but range is mediocre.
\- Mic works (both the boom mic and onboard mic in the cups). I don't use the boom mic and use the headset for calls without it. No issues have been highlighted to me as I use noise filter setting to max.
\- I have no hissing or other QC issues.
\- It is a heavy headset but the correct headband distributes the weight. It took some adjusting to but now I don't notice it.
\- Bass is thumpy when you EQ it. It is clean planar bass and with updated firmware the sub-bass is also there. Planars have extremely fast attack and decay and some people translate it to lack of bass. It is a different texture than dynamics and I personally prefer all types of bass. I am not a bass head though but best thing is it is never muddy, it can really slam as well as rumble.
\- About breakage in a few months. I can't comment as I only used it for past month and a half.
\- In close back wireless format, I can recommend these to anyone who is asking for detail, is proficient with EQ, and likes detail/separation/layering and a moderate sized soundstage.
I must be one of the lucky ones.
Headsets I have tried are: HyperX Cloud 3S, Razer V2X, Corsair HS50 Pro, NOVA Pro Wired, Astro A50 Gen 5, Audeze Maxwell 1 and HyperX Cloud 3. This supersedes all of them. My second best option is HyperX Cloud 3S. I know people think I am trolling but probably they didn't try it before they started knocking it or compare it to Cloud 3 (which was a POS imo).
I don't think you can do better than this in 330$ with a closed back headphone. It is a significant improvement over the original Audeze Maxwell as well (to my ears).
Nova Pro Wired is an OK headset. Wireless is the same but loses some volume due to it being used as wireless. It has the best feature set (like simultaneous BT) and some people like the EQ profiles that Sonar provides. However, when I tried those EQ profiles they were too sharp and treble heavy for my tastes so I returned it.
Astro A50 Gen 5 has great tuning but I personally had huge issues with comfort. The clamp force was high. The pads were too soft and it has protruding plastic around the baffle. It caused me excessive ear pain as cartilage of my ear was pressed against my skull bone behind the ear. Secondly, the hole in the cups was more like ON EAR for me rather than OVER EAR. Having said that it is a good headphone and best mic in business. However, for BT you are stuck with range of the dock which I find stupid. With Maxwell, the BT works wherever I go as my phone is in my pocket. I don't have big head or ears btw. My 11 year old found it comfortable. Comfort is fixable by getting different pads and headband apparently but not sure how you would solve the tiny size and clamp force?
For the money, I would never pay 300$ for either of them. I will just get the Audeze even with its quirks and lack of features because sound quality and precision is king for me. And comfort issue is also solved FOR ME.
Please note everything I say is MY experience so I don't expect anyone to have similar experiences. People like different things and there is no right or wrong. But for my money, this is best 330$ I have spent on a wireless headset. I even tried Audeze LCD-X, LCD-2C, LCD-2C (closed), LCD-3, LCD-4z, LCD-5 and Audeze CBRN2. I still prefer this to all of them because I can tune it to my taste, the detail is no slouch. It costs cheap as chips. Plus it is wireless.
Now all audiophiles can downvote my posts. lol.
I have no issues with comfort on Maxwell 2.
If you want to try different wireless headsets then watch videos on Maxwell 2 (preferably latest ones with updated firmware), Turtle Beach Stealth Pro 2 and Steelseries Nova Pro Omni.
For me personally, since sound quality is important, I own a Maxwell 2. But the others are not far behind. Depending on your use case and what you want to use the headset for you may want to try one of the 3 wireless which are all recently released and top of the line.
Top Headphones (Over / On Ear) on Reddit
1
Sennheiser
HD 560S
79% positive of 626 users
Budget gaming king with clear sound, but tight fit.
Arshaad814
