My initial interest in the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3X Wireless was sparked by it being, essentially, an over-ear version of the Arctis GameBuds, with a near-identical USB-C 2.4GHz receiver that lets it pull double duty with both a main PC and Steam Deck (slash, handheld PC of your choice). Happily, it’s turned out to be a very fine headset in general, performing a convincing impression of a higher-end model despite its current tag falling towards the lower-middle of wirelessdom.

Sound quality isn’t quite as immaculate as that of the Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2, which manages a clearer (and thus more detailed-sounding) separation of different elements and effects. But the 3X still has agreeable bass grunt and nice, clean highs, as well as the keen left/right positioning sense you’d want for horror games or comp shooters. And the humble boom mic is, surprisingly, miles ahead of the 7X Wireless Gen 2’s on out-of-the-box clarity. While I wish it wasn’t quite as prone to picking up mechanical keyboard clacks, there’s little of the 7X’s pressing need to employ the software’s more advanced settings. Which, with scarcely believable gall, ask for an email-linked user account before they even become available.

This headset does share the 7X’s slightly cramped earcup shape, but as it’s nearly 70g lighter, the 3X also staves off head fatigue for what feels like at least an hour longer. Speaking of linear time, battery life may even blow past SteelSeries’ 30-hour estimate, too: just last night I ate 6% charge in about two and a half hours of 2.4Ghz use, which according to my B-grade GCSE maths knowledge, works out to 41.5 hours from a full charge. Not bad.

And, yes, it works like a charm on the Steam Deck. For pure desktop listening, I can see myself drifting back to the more comfortable Razer BlackShark V3, but the 3X deserves consideration if you’re a regular device juggler. It’s a much better deal than the 7X, at the very least.

Quick Kits is a hardware review series about pouring as much fully-tested PC gear knowledge down your eyes as we can – within two or three paragraphs.