Steelseries Arctis Nova Pro + Gamedac Gen 2 | Incrementally Different

on

Introduction & Overview
 
Before I get into anything I just want to let everyone know that I will not be talking about any of the PC SONAR features here. Originally this review was for the headset only and the GameDAC Gen 2 was getting its own review mixed in with my review of Sonar. But I decided against it since SONAR is not specific to this product. It's free software that works with any DAC. So I choose not to included it in the review of this product or even considered it in its conclusion. Because you could get any analog headset and a $9 apple dongle and take full advantage of SONAR. So it's not fair to include SONAR in the marketing or conclusion to this review. In fact, I have it as a point against this as a lot of the marketing is for SONAR-specific features that work on any DAC. So there not specific to this product. In the same way, Atmos for Headphones works with any headphone. But I do plan to make a post about SONAR because it's kind of awesome.
 
The Arctis Nova could be considered the second generation of the Arctis line or you could look at it as the 4th or 5th generation (Arctis 2017, 2019, Pro-Line, + Line, Nova). But it marks the first real housing change in the Arctis Line up (outside the Arctis 1).
 
While I initially was mixed on the original 2017 Arctis line, I didn't mind the sound and was hopeful that with some changes over time it would be a great product line. But then over the next almost 5 years, Steelseries would let me down over and over with each coming release, they didn't fix any of the issues and made the sound worse overall with each iteration.

The Pro line had so much promise and while the tuning was overall good on them, everything outside of that still had all the issues of the original Arctis line from 2017. Still, it seems like nothing was learned and no real changes were planned. 

But now in 2022 5 years later, finally real changes to the product line, which looks like a full redesign. Has Steelseries finally fixed the Arctis line and moved forward for the better. While on the surface it does look like a completely new product I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be more of an Arctis Pro in disguise than a new product.

Headphone Specs:
  • Driver Size: 40mm
  • Frequency Response: 10-40,000Hz
  • Sensitivity: 93dB SPL
  • Impedance: 38 Ohms
  • THD: < 1%
  • Price: $249.99USD
  • Link

Microphone Specs:
  • Polar Pattern: Bidirectional Noise-Canceling
  • Frequency Response: 100-10,000Hz
  • Sensitivity: -38 dBV/Pa
  • Impedance: 2200 Ohms
What's In The Box:
  • The Arctis Nova Pro Headset
  • The GameDac Gen 2
  • 3.5mm to 3.5mm Audio Cable - 5 Pole to 4 Pole (4ft / 1.2m)
  • 2x Removable Magnetic Ear Plates
  • Microphone Pop Filter
  • Product Information Guide
 
Build & Design
 
I/O:
  • Mute Botton on the left side
  • Volume Wheel on the left side 
The design I'm mixed on, while I do think it's a much better looking and feeling headset. The normal Arctis line looks and feels like a cheap kids' toy. I still don't think it looks or feels amazing.

The overall feel is good. The plastics used are all nice coated plastics, with no glossy BS and no rubberized plastics(except under the suspension band for some reason). The top suspension band is metal and this causes an issue with weight balance. Since the ear cups are pretty darn light the headset is very top-heavy. This causes a few issues like it pushing down from the top a lot, I found myself adjusting it often. It also means when moving your head it has a fairly unstable feel on your head. But this time around the Mic retracts and sits flush in the headset. I still don't like this design but it can help prevent some feedback issues since it's non-removable.
 
But overall it has a more traditional headphone look to it and doesn't look like a goofy gaming headset. I'm sad it's only available in black but overall it looks a lot better. The added bump outside the cup makes it look less flat on the head which when worn made the normal arctis look kind of goofy.

The suspension band itself feels fine, I have no complaints there, does it's job and can be adjusted a small bit. The sliders that adjust the arms feel kind of cheap, mine are very scratchy. They also don't offer a lot of adjustment headroom. While I had to use the Arctis Pro at full max this one I have to lower it a bit from max. Meaning it does have more adjustment than the Arctis Pro. But still not a ton.
 
The build isn't really a step up over the previous generation. But the perceived build quality is better. It finally doesn't feel like a toy. It feels nice in your hand, aside from the pads which use some of the thinnest pleather I have felt. It feels really cheap but very soft.

The new plates I think look better, but the coloured offerings that I have seen on the website IMO look super tacky. But if that's your thing they offer it. I'm personally not huge on this concept that everyone is seemingly taking from Astro.

So as a whole the build quality itself is fine but I still wish they would have moved away from the really dumb single arm-yolk that was known to break on the Arctis line. It's still the same cheap plastic arm that will eventually break(but will last longer than the metal arm from the Pro).
 
The mute button is in a very stupid spot, right near a crease which just makes it a little more inconvenient to use and the button itself is small and feels pretty cheap, it screams afterthought. The same goes for the volume wheel which is too recessed and feels cheap. Thankfully it's transparent sounding. But these are just afterthoughts since they will sell this without the GameDAC later on.

But overall it feels pretty decent, the cups feel pretty light which can make it feel a tad cheap, but lighter is better for comfort. 

Compared to the Arctis Pro build quality is similar. But it feels and looks way more premium, the Arctis Pro honestly felt like kids' toy. As a whole the Nova is fine.

Cable: The cable is pretty cheap. Thankfully it's rubber but for some reason, it has a lot more micro-phonics than most rubber cables so it does transfer noise up the cable into the earcup. Not much to say aside from it being a cheap cable with lots of kinks.
 
I should note thankfully Steelseries has gotten rid of the moronic USB mini B variant connector that they were using. They have switched to the good old standard 3.5mm analog jack. But this cable does use a 5pole connector going into the headset. This means you can't just use any old cable you need a specific one. But I'm sure Third party companies will get to selling these soon.
 
I assume they choose to use a 5-pole connector to avoid grounding issues that cause mic feedback issues. If this is the reason, smart choice Steelseries. IF it was to make getting replacement cables harder then shame on you.

Comfort

Comfort Is very mixed. The clamp is higher leading to better isolation but also to more hot spots. Since they use the same stupid single arm yolk that offers very poor articulation it leads to the headset digging in under the ear for many people. 
 
For myself they got uncomfortable to wear in less than an hour and breaking it in won't help because of the pad design. The pads are extremely plush and the foam used completely compresses when worn. This means comfort is as good as it gets on day one, but this also means they will wear out a lot faster. The drivers are thankfully angled to accommodate a bit bigger ears, but with no transparent sounding foam over the driver if your ears touch it will feel uncomfortable. The openings of the pads are a decent size, ill include some measurements below. Mixed with the very soft but cheap thin pleather being used. This thing will burn through pads. I'd guess yearly under daily use.
 
The weight balance like I mentioned already is fairly poor since the weight is centred in the headband. This leads to an unstable feeling headset that wants to fall off your head. The soft cloth suspension strap is also a fairly slippery material which doesn't help with stability. This is why I assume they upped the clamping force.

I should say when I first put them on for like 20min they were amazingly comfortable. But as they dig into the bottom of my ear and shift a ton that is when they quickly start to because an annoyance and start to give me a headache.
 
I think most people will find the comfort fine. The clamp is higher than average but not that bad. I think overall the vast majority of people will find them fine or decent for comfort. It won't be make or break for most.
 
Note: The headphone pads ended up giving me a bad "rash"(mostly just redness. Dermatitis) around my ears. I'm going to assume this is a one-off issue. But I have never gotten this from a headphone before.
 
Pad Dimensions 
Width: 48.5mm
Height: 60mm
Depth: 22.75mm
Angled Depth: 7.75mm extra

Sound
 
Graphs
Disclaimer: My measurement rig is an industry-standard clone. So it's accurate up to 3k compared to most GRAS rigs. Over 3k it's fairly off so ignore that tell I get a better calibration. When I talk about tonality and tuning it's based mostly on what I hear. Try not to get hung up on having the measurement match the target perfectly. DO NOT USE THESE GRAPHS WITH AUTO EQ.
 
Harman 2018 = Neutral With a Consumer Bass Shelf
Harman combined = Neutral with a Balanced Bass-shelf
Harman Without Bass = Neutral 
Harman Flat below 1k = Crinacle's Neutral Target
Flat Plate Measurement of both Drivers. Matching is Okay.
 
Tonality/Frequency Response

Bass-Mids: Bass is going to vary a lot of head to head here, as shown by the on-head measurement. The measured response is the max bass someone will hear and the on head represents a lower average. Overall the shape is good, bass slopes down well(sub bass being mostly higher than mid-bass) and raises about right in the mids. Bass will range from Harman 2018 to a few dB over it. The hump between 100-200hz and overall unevenness in the bass does lead to a boomier and bassy sound. Mids also dip a bit more than I'd like to see here. Overall the bass and mids are decent, similar to the Arctis Pro but with more mid-bass bloat and less even.

Upper-Mids: The mids leading up to the upper mids are pretty good, an improvement over the Arctis Pro, but like the arctis pro the Upper Mids are similar. They peak too high at around 3k and have a big dip around 4k. The dip isn't as bad as shown on the graph but it's still there and worse than the Arctis Pro. This means Vocals can range from being a tad shouty to muffled. Overall Vocals on this come through poorly.

Treble: This is where the Nova is the most different from the Arctis Pro. The Arctis Pro has pretty even treble over 5k. It could come off a tad forward but it was very evenly forward. The Nova isn't as even. after the big dip, there is a fairly even climb to a large 7k peak that is pretty grading. This is not shown to accurately in my graph. Overall this makes treble come off more piercing. But over 10k treble is a lot more lacking in presence and aside from a sharp 12k peak, it's pretty recessed. The fact these are Hi-Res certified and Claim up to 40kHz is a perfect example of why Hi-Res Certification is just a marketing gimmick. 

EQ Info: No Preset being offered by me sorry. But what you'll want to do is even out the bass, fix the 4k hole to some extent and try to find where the 7k peak is for you and lower that. The Over 10k issues are out of your hands. Because of the issues, this has they are not going to EQ that well.
 
Tonality Grade: C+ 
 
Technical Performance

Staging/Imaging/Separation: Still nothing special but a step up from the Arctis Pro. Separation is just as bad as the Arctis Pro. Sounds still blends too much when a lot is going on. Imaging is a step up over the Arctis Pro, but not by a lot. The stage is still small and not very full. Forward imaging and rear imaging are still far below average. In games, this leads to very poor positioning. Like the Arctis Pro these are fairly bad for FPS titles.
 
Listening to an imaging test like Yosi Hirokawa's Bubbles and Letters shows the solid imaging and really uneven and poor projecting stage. Less claustrophobic than the Arctis Pro overall though.
 
Dynamics/Speed: Speed there isn't much to say aside from it sounds slow. They don't have huge decay or any resonance issues. But they have an overall very sluggish sound. Dynamics are one the only place where this is a downgrade from the Arctis Pro. Neither have good punch of slam or attack. They both sound soft and slow. But the Nova Pro is definitely a softer sound. Dynamics are very pillow-like and it makes these lack engagement.

Timbre: Not a tinny mess but they do have a slight metallic quality to them like the Arctis Pro. Not as natural as I'd expect from a dynamic driver.

Detail/Resolution: While there not grainy, they are severely still lacking detail. A full step up over the Arctis Pro isn't saying much. Everything has this smoothed-over feel to it. I find myself not enjoying music when that I normally love. Artists with unique vocal timbre just get all of it smoothed away. Overall resolution is "better" than the Arctis Pro but still poor and more smoothed.
 
Technical Grade: D+
 
Sound Conclusion
 
While these have no huge distortion issues, and the overall tuning is good, the areas that need EQ the most are not ideal. The Stock FR is shockingly decent, for a consumer tuning if they can even out the treble a bit this would be great. But the technical faults hurt it so much. If you go just by FR you will expect a Harman like sound that is a bit more V-shaped. But it just sounds so muddy and veiled.
 
Overall EQ can help, but it's not going to save it and the technical performance is not a step up, the softer dynamics, and the smoothed-off detail means I can't give this a C-. The very warm and soft tuning mixed with the very soft and smoothed technical performance really hurts this headset.

Everything comes off very veiled and soft. It leads to a very uninteresting overall listening experience. While the technical performance is almost better than the Arctis Pro. The different and slightly worse tuning and very soft sound lead to something that isn't very engaging to listen to.

Overall this very much is a $100 tier headset and there are just better sounding options out there. I don't hate the sound here and if you like a very soft sound you may enjoy it. But I'm overall let down.

For people who want to know how these are just in games alone. As I mentioned in terms of positioning there not good and in all FPS titles I tested they performed poorly. 
 
In Modern COD titles they performed fine like almost all headsets do because of the forgiving sound design. In Hunt Showdown they performed well like all headsets because of the great sound design. In Halo Infinite, R6 Siege, R6 Extraction, CS:GO, Splitgate and more it offers a very poor positioning experience. In terms of it in immersive games, it was okay but lacks that engaging impact and detail. 

Power Requirement: Like nothing. It's very easy to drive. An Americas apple dongle can drive it to ear-damaging levels. So the Europe Apple dongle will be fine for it as well. Over the Xbox Controller while not ideal can drive it to unhealthy volumes. So the PS controller with its lower power output should also be able to drive them.
 
Microphone
Since I don't post mic tests I don't go into too much detail. The mic is decent enough for a headset mic, it's not as good at the top-end stuff like the MH751, Game/PC/GSP/H series stuff. But it's a bit above average.
 
Thankfully it comes with a much-needed pop-filter that when used takes away the ability to retract it flat. 
 
GameDac Gen 2
 
Introduction & Overview

It's no secret that I thought the original Gamedac kind of sucked. With stupid design choices like low power, a very cheap build, a USB Mini B variant for a headphone jack, the world's lowest quality 3.5mm jacks on the back, and an ugly interface. The GameDAC Gen 1 like the Arctis Pro felt like a cheap Kids' toy.
 
In comes the GameDac Gen 2 to fix a couple of those issues and to take away a few features.
 
Specs(very bare):
  • Dac: ESS Sabre 9218PQ40 (A 9018 with an AMP SOC)
  • Max Sample Rate and Bit Depth: 96kHz, 24bit 
  • Frequency Response(meaningless): 5-40,000Hz
  • Claimed SNR: 111 dB
  • Price: EST$139.99USD
  • Link:
What's In The Box(maybe):
  • GameDac Gen 2
  • 2x USB-C to USB-A Cables (5 ft/1.5m)
  • Information Guide
 
Build & Design

The Design is pretty much the same but made to feel a lot nicer. I'm willing to bet the inside is mostly the same but this time around gone is the gross plastic housing and now it sports an all-metal outside with a flush clear screen on the top. It's angled better, has a better feeling knob, and just feels nicer overall.
 
I wish it had some better weight to it because you can move it by bumping it or pressing the knob. They still use a somewhat scratchy feeling digital pot. On the Gen 1 unit, it had distinct steps so you couldn't feel the scratchiness, this time it's just a "smooth" turning wheel. A Pro is it is quieter. A Cons is it feels scratchy and lacks that tactile step for each volume mark. Which I couldn't really care less either way but to go from -∞(-56) back to 0(max volume) it takes 2 full turns. Which is a little much.
 
The GameDac Gen 2 still features the world's lowest quality 3.5mm Jacks on the rear or line out and in. But at least this time around they included a normal TRRS 3.5mm Jack for the headphone, thank heavens. But gone is the optical jack and they have now added a second USB input so you can hook this up to a console and your PC and switch with ease inside the Menu. This is a very nice feature.
 
The Menu is a lot more streamlined and so is the interface. Gone is the big ugly Hi-Res logo on the front screen and now it just displays the basics. Sample Rate, Volume/Chatmix, USB Input. Simple and nice. 
 
The ability to toggle any sort of virtual surround sound seems to be gone. Which is slightly a shame. Only because VSS is garbage outside of games honestly. So the ability to easily turn it off when listening to music or doing other stuff is a nice feature. But since both consoles have VSS of their own and PC has tons of free options, Steelseries don't have to put time and money into their own when it will just suck and be useless.
 
The device as a whole feels more premium and still feels a little lightweight and cheap but I'm mostly impressed which the way this little unit functions and works aside from some small nitpicks.

I/O:

Front/Side:
  • OLED Screen
  • Touch Button
  • Digital Control Wheel/Button
  • Headset Jack
Rear:
  • USB Input 1
  • USB Input 2
  • Line Out
  • Line In
Notes:
  • Thankfully the Headset jack is a standard 3.5mm jack usable for headphones and headsets. Rather than the stupid non-standard Micro B variation, they used before. But the jack is fairly recessed in so some thicker jacks won't fit.
  • The control wheel handles volume, chat mix, and navigating the menus. It's also a button when pressed in. Since it's digital, there is no channel imbalance at lower volumes, but you also need to make many turns to max or lower volume all the way. The volume pot used also isn't the best feeling.
  • Power Output is higher than the original GameDAC but no it's not 4x more powerful. But it's a very solid amount of power it's about 150mW or less into a 32ohm load. Vs the 49mW of the GameDAC gen 1, it's good. But vs the 200mW of the Fulla line it.s not as nice.
 
Features:
  • 2x USB with an easy switch
  • Line Out (No speaker Volume Control)
  • Line In
  • Volume Control
  • Chatmix ( 
  • Toy-Grade Graphical EQ (it sucks)
  • Full console Compatiblity with the right unit
  • Sidetone
  • No VSS on the Unit
 
 
Sound
 
So tell this point I was pretty happy with this little unit. Then I listened to it and I have no idea what they have done. This uses the ESS Sabre 9218PQ40 DAC chip, the same thing as the popular (but over-hyped) LG phones. As someone who has an LG G7 I assumed what to expect and I don't love the sound that comes out of the LG G7 but it's good enough so I expected a mostly neutral but slightly bright mediocre sound which would have been good enough. After all, this is the same DACchip they used before sort of. This time around it has a SOC Amp for more power. But either way, I have heard both of these chips tons of times before. While implementation is what matters I knew what to expect.

I was oh so wrong to assume anything. This thing kind of sounds bad. Not in the way that the Gen 1 just didn't sound very good by just not doing anything well. This thing actually makes headphones sound worse than my standard (The $9 apple Dongle). Dynamics are shockingly soft and in a very noticeable way. Bass becomes slow and sluggish, and any impact feels like it's hitting a pillow. Treble comes off brittle and uneven. Part of this is because there is a weird issue where the treble level fluctuates which you can see in my graph dump at the bottom. But this thing sounds kind of bad. This is extra weird because as with most solid state source gear I don't expect or hear a massive difference in sound when blind testing. But here it's very noticeable and I don't really know why this is what they did or what is wrong.

So in general the first hurdle when testing any audio equipment for me it does it prevent me from enjoying songs that I love. This honestly prevents me from enjoying music. Hooking up stuff like a Sundara for example. A headphone that sounds great, all of a sudden lost a lot of it's excitement and charm. I don't mean the DAC is neutral and not the headphone sounds neutral, no. This actually is a detriment to a headphones technical ability and I can't figure out what they did.

It sounds worse than an Apple dongle honestly. I am very disappointing and I don't see them fixing this via firmware.

With the Arctis Nova Pro it makes all of it's issues much worse and there a terrible pairing. My initial impressions of the Arctis Nova Pro were a lot worse tell I switched to listening to it with a Fulla E.

Graphs
EQ Presets
EQ Presets 800hz Matched
Treble issues on the GameDAC Gen 2

Conclusion
 
This is going to be a long one so I'll include a TL;DR below.
 
While the new tuning direction isn't bad IMO it is a bit worse. Overall I think calling it different is fairer than calling it better or worse. Sound Quality is a step up in some ways, incrementally but a step up nonetheless. The Mic is a bit better and sits more flush in the housing, but I still dislike the retractable mic design as a whole. They kept the one-sided yolk that was known for breaking. Ergonomics are arguably worse with the poor weight distribution and the awful button placement on the headset. The GameDAC Gen 2 is mostly a disappointment.

I still think it is a much better looking and feeling headset, it looks and feels like nice product vs the Arctis line which always looked and felt like a kids' toy. But the overall build quality isn't better and comfort while better for a larger variety of heads still isn't amazing. The clamp is a bit too high and the pads will wear out pretty quick.
 
I think if this was sold on its own for $100USD I would have called it a flawed but decent headset. At the $180USD that it will go for when sold separately it's overpriced and just not competitive. At $250USD with the very disappointing Gamedac Gen 2, it's just so impossible to recommend as a package or as a full-price product when sold separately. 

With the Arctis Pro it was impossible for me to recommend it at all. While the tuning was pretty darn good everything else was pretty bad. Thankfully while the Nova falters in some new ways it as a whole is a bit better of a headset.

Is this recommended by me? It's complicated. The Headset itself if it went on sale for $100USD for just the Headset it would get my recommendation for specific people. The MH751 and Alpha I'd still take over this. But it's a good third option at that price range. So let's hope they release a Prime model soon. Because at $180 or in this bundle I'd skip this.

But should you buy this bundle? On PC and PS, no. On Xbox, Maybe? The GameDac Gen 2 while not very good, sounds cleaner than the Astro Mixamp TR. So if you are okay spending $250 on a decent $100 headset and an Apple Dongle tier DAC with more features that work on Xbox then I guess this will work for you.

So simply put don't buy this package. Maybe wait for the headset to be sold separately and on sale or wait for the GameDAC gen 2 to go on sale if you need it on Xbox.

But this very much is just a Arctis Pro with a Make Over rather than the brand new product that I hoped for. Not enough was learned. But there is always 2027, maybe third times the charm. The Nova still lets me down by being an Arctis Pro 1.5 instead of the Sequel that I hoped for.
 
TL;DR So is the Arctis Pro Nova the new model that I was hoping for, sadly no, is the GameDac Gen 2 the awesome squeal that I wanted, also no. While maintaining the awful marketing, keeping the terrible yolk design, and a housing that is pretty much the same with a face-lift. The Nova Pro manages to offer a headset that feels and looks better but is not built better and has a worse tuning that isn't as easy to EQ, adds some technical performance changes but softens the dynamics and smooths some of the detail. All while pairing it with a DAC makes the Nova Pro's audio flaws worse. The Arctis Nova Pro is a gaming headset that just isn't very good for gaming. In music, everything comes off far too soft and veiled. At this point, I'm not even sure I can still say it's a step up over the Arctis Pro. It's just different.

Pros:
  • Out-of-the-box comfort will be good for most people
  • Decent Mic
  • Better Design Vs the Arctis Pro
  • Simple, not super wasteful packaging

Cons:
  • Price
  • Only available as a bundle for now
  • Soft and Veiled Sound
  • Slight downgrade to the Tuning
  • Uneven Weight distribution

Comparisons
 
Steelseries Arctis Pro
 
Sorry, no Graph as I no longer own an Arctis pro and don't have a graph saved.
 
The Arctis Pro is tuned better (at least the first batch I tested, Steelseries has changed the sound of other models mid-life, so I can't confirm if it still sounds the same). The Nova sounds very soft and veiled overall. It is more fair to call them just different in terms of tuning.

But everything else is much better on the Nova Pro. Neither are good for competitive shooters but the Nova is slightly better because the staging is a bit wider and a bit more accurate. But for music, the Arctis Pro is a bit more engaging.

But the Arctis Pro has a worse design, a stupid Mini B 8 Pin connector, worse comfort, and is still overpriced.
 
The GameDac Gen 2 is also overall a little better than the Gen 1 but at the cost of sounding a lot weirder, which since that is an issue with the Nova Pro it sort of doubles down on it. 
 
Overall the Arctis Pro sound-wise alone is the headset I'd rather listen to. But all the other issues make it something I can't recommend at all. the same goes for the Prime. While the Nova Pro does everything else better the sound hurts it in my books. So which is better. IMO pick neither.
 
Grades: 
Arctis Pro: C+/D+
Nova Pro: C+/D+  
 
Astro A40
 
 
The more headsets that get released the more I think, Maybe I was too harsh on the A40 TR. Because in hind-sight, It's okay. Yes it's pretty damn warm sounding. The reduced upper-mids make the bass bloom sound warmer than it should and it also makes the 7k peak brighter. But honestly it still sounds very okay overall. The staging is not great but a bit wider than the average closed back (since it's semi closed). 
 
This one is honestly very interesting. Both have flawed but okay tunings. Both come with coloured sounding Soundcards that are overpriced and just kind of okay. Both have very bad quality yolks and have poor weight distribution and are both $250USD.
 
The A40s only real issues tuning wise are the warm mids and 7k peak which is much harder on the ears than a 8k peak. But EQ up the mids and by ear find where you hear the 7k peak and lower it a bit.

So which is better.

Well the Nova Pro has a better mic, less glossy plastic on it, cheaper and less wasteful replacement pads, less wasteful packaging, a better overall Soundcard with better software.

But the A40 wins in one very important category, sound. While the tuning is not better both are very flawed. The technical performance is almost better. Staging and imaging is better because it's semi open. An whole dynamics and detail is nothing special, it's not smoothed over sounding and isn't super soft. An since the A40 TR is 3 years old it goes on sale more. Maybe it's time I rereview the A40 because honestly. It's still a better product vs the Nova overall because how much more enjoyable the sound is.
 
If your ok with a warmer sound of using EQ then the A40 is better.
 
Grades: 
A40: C+/C-
Nova Pro: C+/D+ 
 
CoolerMaster MH751
 
 

Honestly not much to say here. There tuned shockingly similar. An both also have big bass level variation on a human head. They both also have better on head bass responses than what you see on the graph. Both similar but the MH751 doesn't retain as much of a 150hz bump as the Nova Pro. But after that there very similar. The has a larger 8k treble peak and overall sounds brighter around that region. The MH751 has a bigger whole in the upper-mids and treble but this sounds much more smooth and doesn't lead to as large of peaks on either side leading to a much better treble response.
 
But the MH751 is so much more even sounding overall and has none of the veiled vocal issues and isn't a soft mess. It's also more detailed and is better at positioning in games. Tuning wise the MH751 comes out far more even sounding even if a bit more recessed in the treble but over 10k is much better.

Seems very likely Steelseries may have aimed for this tuning on purpose. But with the worse quality driver and some small issues like boomier bass, less even but for forward treble and poor over 10k air, it feels like a copy not a clone in terms of sound.

The MH751 is also more comfortable and has a better mic that is removable.

The downsides of the MH751 is the possibility of the screw issue not being fixed. Cooler Master has claimed they fixed it. An the fact it doesn't have not form of grounding fix like the Nova Pro does with the 5 pole cable.

But that's where the Shade comes in, better sound but a much worse mic vs the MH751.
 
Honestly this is a great example of a FR Graph not telling the whole story. An if you want to grab both, i think it could be a great learning experience for many people. Learn about on-head bass response and detail and dynamics.

Grades:
MH751: B-/C
Nova Pro: C+/D+
 
HyperX Cloud Alpha

The Alpha is hard to talk about because of some pad revisions that changes it's bass over the years.
 
Sadly I have no normal Alpha in so I measured the Alpha S and some added a on head bass response that somewhat shows you more what the classic Alpha sounds like. Since the Alpha S just plain sounds worse. The normal Alpha has less 3k and less 8k peak, and is less muddy.
 
The modern version is more muddy that the second version but less than the first. Overall the Alpha is very similar in terms of tuning. Upper-mids are a bit too forward, hole after that and a treble peak. The bass is more muddy but easy to EQ. But Sound wise the Alpha is kind of just better in terms of detail, dynamics and poisoning. While the Alpha S is not good. The normal alpha is sort of a better headset than the Nova Pro but with a slightly worse bass response.

I'd recommend the Alpha over the Nova Pro just make sure you EQ the bass and mids a bit.

Grades: 
Alpha: C/C-
Nova Pro: C+/D+
 
Discussion Links: