Setup
I will be using the Arctis Nova 7x on my PC mostly so this setup will for PC. Before you plug in the USB-C dongle to your PC make sure the little switch on it is set to USB and not XBOX.
Once you have this set simply plug it into an open USB-C port or use the included USB-A to USB-C (female) cable. Windows will automatically detect the headset and you’ll see “Headphones (Arctis Nova 7x)” in your list of audio devices. Just select it and you’ll be good to go.
Software
While the headset will work not problem right out of the gate if you want to do any type of customization you’ll need to download the SteelSeries GG software. Once you have the software installed so you navigate to the Engine section. Here you’ll find all of the SteelSeries products you have connected to your PC, you should see the Arctis Nova 7x listed. It will let you know what configuration you are on and how much battery is left.
If you click on the Arctis Nova 7x label it will bring you into its settings. Here you can set the time of inactivity before the headset turns off, if Bluetooth should turn on when you turn the headset on, what happens when a Bluetooth call comes in, and the microphone mute brightness. In the Audio tab you have an equalizer, can set the microphone volume, preview the microphone, set the microphone sidetone, and set a volume limiter on the audio.
SteelSeries also have developed a very in-depth audio part of their software called Sonar. When you open Sonar up you’ll see a main Mixer with Master, Game, Chat, Media, and Mic. These actually will connect to their own audio device in Windows and are controlled independently. So you want to set your game audio output to “SteelSeries Sonar – Gaming” and things like Discord to “SteelSeries Sonar – Chat”. This way you can control each one of these independently.
At the top you can select “Game” and this will allow you to set the audio controls for the “SteelSeries Sonar – Gaming” output. Under Configuration there is a whole bunch of different EQ settings, many for some of the most popular games out there. I was easily able to find the EQ setting for Apex Legends. Below the EQ you can turn on Spatial Audio, and there are sliders for Performance and Distance. There are also settings for Gain and Smart volume.
Moving over to Chat this is where you can set the incoming voice chat of your friends on apps like Discord. This is great as it can improve the quality and clarity. We all have that one friend with a horrible microphone so its great that we can at least clean up the sound a bit. The EQ here has settings like Clarity, Broadcast, Balanced, etc. You can also turn on Clearcast AI noise cancellation, noise reduction, the noise gate, and smart voice.
The Media tab is much like the Game tab, but this is for your music applications like Spotify and iTunes. EQ modes here include things like Deep Base, Clear Vocals, Immersion, and more. You can also turn spatial audio on here, which would be great for movies. Finally we have the Mic tab, which will control how your microphone output sounds. Here you’ll find similar settings to what was in the Chat tab.
