Eons in the past, I labored a retail job promoting gaming headsets (amongst different issues) in the course of the PS3 period. Even again then, I used to be aggravated that almost all headphone producers had nearly equivalent variations of the identical headset, distinguished solely by whether or not they had been suitable with the Xbox or PlayStation. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X Wi-fi will not be the primary headset to place this specific nuisance to mattress, but it surely’s my favourite.
The core of this specific downside comes all the way down to how the completely different console producers deal with wi-fi audio. Bluetooth is the default system for wi-fi audio on most gadgets, however there’s simply sufficient of a latency subject that players would discover. Particularly should you play on-line aggressive video games, the place split-second timing issues.
Each Microsoft and Sony have their very own proprietary wi-fi audio techniques to take care of this downside, however, shock, they’re not interoperable. Worse but, it’s normally too costly to trouble including assist for each right into a single headset, since most players are inclined to have both one console or the opposite. Fortuitously, the Arctis Nova 5X Wi-fi has a useful resolution to this downside.
Enter the Dongle
The Arctis Nova 5X headset is designed for the Xbox Collection X/S (as denoted by the “X” in its title), however the USB-C 2.4-GHz dongle has a small swap that lets it swap between Xbox compatibility and … every little thing else. You need to use this headset together with your PlayStation 5, Nintendo Change, PC, heck even your telephone simply by plugging this little man in.
{Photograph}: Eric Ravenscraft
This isn’t the primary SteelSeries headset with this characteristic—my earlier prime gaming headset advice for Xbox, the Arctis Nova 7X, included the identical dongle. Nevertheless, it’s nonetheless unusual for many wi-fi gaming headsets to assist such a big selection of gadgets. Most frequently, the Xbox is the odd one on the compatibility record.
On prime of this, the Arctis Nova 5X Wi-fi has a separate Bluetooth connection, so you possibly can pair it together with your telephone or different gadgets to reply calls, take heed to music, or put in your favourite podcast. Whereas the 7X can play audio from each Bluetooth and a couple of.4 GHz on the similar time, the 5X solely enables you to hear to at least one or the opposite, although there’s a useful button on the appropriate ear cup to swap between them. In my expertise, the handoff was almost prompt. Whereas it gained’t show you how to take heed to music when you recreation, it’s extremely helpful for swapping duties.
Extra Energy
The Arctis Nova 7X Wi-fi was a strong contender for some time, however the battery life on the 5X places it to disgrace. SteelSeries advertises about 60 hours of battery life on a single cost (in comparison with lower than 40 on the 7X), although that may be reduce fairly quick should you swap to Bluetooth mode. In my testing, I used to be in a position to get near 40 hours of life from blended use, which remains to be longer than most (although not all) gaming headsets available on the market.
The headset additionally helps fast charging by way of USB-C, and it will get a formidable quantity of mileage from simply quarter-hour of charging. SteelSeries claims that you simply’ll get six hours of gameplay from such a brief charging session. I put my unit on the charger and walked away lengthy sufficient to make a sandwich and watch a fast episode of a present. By the point I got here again, it was near 50 p.c, greater than sufficient to get me via the remainder of the day after which some.
The Arctis Nova 5X can be the primary SteelSeries headset to assist its new cell companion app. I say “first” not as a result of SteelSeries has promised to assist different headsets, however as a result of I badly hope it does. The SteelSeries GG app for PC could also be a strong software to customise your recreation’s audio, however I discovered the companion app easier and extra pleasing to make use of.
