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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-18 · 8 min read · Independent comparison
• SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1P — biggest strength: A gaming-first design with 360° spatial audio, a retractable bidirectional noise-cancelling mic and a ComfortMAX fit system built for long sessions.
• SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1P — biggest trade-off: It's a wired 3.5mm headset with no battery of its own, so it lives or dies by the device you plug it into.
• PowerLocus Headphones Over Ear — biggest strength: Wireless Bluetooth freedom with 60 hours of claimed playtime, 4 EQ modes and multipoint pairing to two devices at once.
• PowerLocus Headphones Over Ear — biggest trade-off: Its mic and isolation are aimed at calls and casual listening, not competitive game chat, and it's a Bluetooth-first product rather than a low-latency gaming tool.
• Pick the Arctis Nova 1P if your priority is hearing footsteps and talking to teammates on PS5, PC, Xbox or Switch.
• Pick the PowerLocus if your priority is all-day wireless music, travel and meetings without hunting for a cable.
The Arctis Nova 1P is built around the idea that you're going to sit down and play for a while. The Nova Acoustic System pairs custom high-fidelity dynamic drivers with a 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz frequency range, and SteelSeries leans hard into 360° spatial audio — the kind of processing that helps you place a reload or a footstep to your left or right rather than just hear it somewhere in the mix. It's compatible with Tempest 3D Audio on PS5 and Microsoft Spatial Sound, so on those platforms the headset is doing the work the console is asking of it. There's also a pro-grade parametric EQ, which is genuinely unusual at this end of the gaming-headset market — if you like the idea of nudging frequencies yourself instead of accepting a stock tuning, that matters.
Comfort is the other half of the story. The headset weighs 236 g, which is light for an over-ear gaming model, and the ComfortMAX system gives you height-adjusting, rotating earcups, AirWeave memory-foam cushions and a stretchy suspension-style band that spreads the weight across your head. That combination — light chassis plus rotating cups plus breathable foam — is exactly what you want on a four-hour ranked session, and it's also what makes it wearable for people with larger heads or glasses. The ClearCast Gen 2 mic is bidirectional and SteelSeries says it cuts background noise by up to 25dB, and it fully retracts into the earcup when you're done talking, which keeps the silhouette clean. Controls are on-board: volume and mute at the touch of a button.
Who should buy it: PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox, Switch and mobile players who want one wired headset that works across all of them via the universal 3.5mm jack. Anyone who cares about spatial cues, a retractable boom mic and a light, adjustable fit.
PowerLocus Headphones Over Ear: Who It's For
The PowerLocus Boom is a different animal entirely, and it isn't pretending otherwise. This is a wireless over-ear headphone with a 40mm dynamic driver, a 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz range, 32 ohm impedance and 108dB sensitivity — spec-sheet numbers that describe an easy-to-drive, consumer-friendly tuning rather than a reference monitor. The headline feature is the 60-hour average battery life, which is the kind of figure that changes how you use a product: you stop treating charging as a nightly ritual and start treating it as something you do occasionally. It charges over USB-C.
On top of that you get four EQ modes — Pop, Bass, Rock and Vocal — so you can shift the sound toward thump for the gym or toward voices for a podcast without opening an app. Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint means you can be paired to your laptop and your phone at the same time and jump between a meeting and a call without re-pairing, and PowerLocus quotes a 40-foot range. The mic uses noise-cancelling tech aimed at making your voice clear in online meetings, which tells you where the priority sits: calls and casual chat, not squad comms.
The physical design is clearly travel-minded. It weighs 175 g — lighter than the Arctis Nova 1P — and the ear cups rotate a full 90 degrees so the whole thing folds down into a bag. The headband is metal rather than plastic, which is a meaningful durability signal for something that's going to get shoved into a backpack, and the memory-foam ear muffs are described as covering the ears fully with a cooling effect. PowerLocus backs it with a 2-year full warranty, and the package includes a cable and a USB-C charging cable, so you can run it wired over 3.5mm if the battery ever runs dry.
Who should buy it: Commuters, travellers, students, gym-goers and anyone who takes a lot of calls. If you want one pair of headphones for music on the train, lectures on the laptop and meetings at the desk, this fits that life.
Who should skip it: Competitive gamers. There's no low-latency gaming mode mentioned, no boom mic, and the noise control is sound isolation rather than active cancellation. If positional accuracy in a shooter is your goal, this is the wrong tool.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for voice chat while gaming → SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1P. The retractable bidirectional ClearCast Gen 2 mic claims up to 25dB of background-noise rejection.
• Best for battery life → PowerLocus Headphones Over Ear. 60 hours of average battery life versus a wired headset that draws no battery at all.
• Best for wireless freedom and multipoint → PowerLocus Headphones Over Ear. Bluetooth 5.3 with two-device switching and a quoted 40-foot range.
• Best for long-session comfort on a big head → SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1P. Rotating, height-adjusting cups and a stretchy band give more fit adjustment than a standard slider.
• Best for travel and packing → PowerLocus Headphones Over Ear. 90-degree rotating cups, a foldable shape and a lighter 175 g build.
• Best for durability in a bag → PowerLocus Headphones Over Ear. A metal headband and a 2-year warranty are the stronger combination for rough handling.
• Best for plug-and-play across consoles → SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1P. The universal 3.5mm jack covers PlayStation, PC, Mac, Xbox, Switch and mobile without pairing.
• Best for sound tweaking → SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1P. The parametric EQ is a more serious tool than four fixed presets, if you're willing to use it.
In my opinion, the right answer depends entirely on what you're plugging into. If you're buying for a console or a gaming PC and you want to hear where enemies are coming from while you talk to your squad, I'd buy the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1P — the spatial audio, the retractable noise-cancelling mic and the light, highly adjustable fit are exactly what that job needs, and the wired connection means no latency and no charging. If, on the other hand, your headphones live in a bag and your day is music, podcasts and meetings, I'd take the PowerLocus Headphones Over Ear: 60 hours of battery, multipoint Bluetooth and a foldable metal headband are the features that actually make that life easier. Before you commit, check the current price on Amazon using the button on this page, since that's the one thing that can tip a close call.
For gaming specifically, yes — in my opinion. It has 360° spatial audio, console spatial-audio compatibility and a dedicated retractable boom mic with claimed noise rejection. The PowerLocus is designed around music and calls, with sound isolation rather than gaming audio processing.
You can — it has a 3.5mm jack and the box includes a cable, so it will work wired with a console or PC. But there's no low-latency mode mentioned and no boom mic, so voice chat quality and audio timing won't match a purpose-built gaming headset.
Both are light: 236 g for the Arctis Nova 1P and 175 g for the PowerLocus. The Arctis Nova 1P offers more fit adjustment with height-adjusting, rotating earcups and a stretchy band; the PowerLocus relies on memory-foam cups that rotate 90 degrees and a metal headband.
Only on the PowerLocus. It's rated for 60 hours of average use and charges by USB-C, and you can fall back to the included cable. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1P is wired over 3.5mm, so there's no battery to manage at all.
Decide by your main use, not by specs alone. Wired console or PC gaming with team chat points to the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1P. Wireless music, travel and calls point to the PowerLocus. If cost is the deciding factor for you, compare the current price on Amazon before you buy.
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