SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7P Wireless Multi-Platform Gaming Headset (Refurbished)

I previous bought the Steelseries Artics 7 headset, to which I had for about 6-7 years until I HAD TO replace it because it was falling apart. The biggest draw towards the old Arctis sets where the dedicated dual channel mixers which were hardwired into the headsets themselves. So all you had to do was set your communications software to one channel, and your desktop to the other and BAM: you could seamlessly mix between the chat and everything else. And because the feature was wired into the headset itself, you could just as easily not use it by playing your desktop through literally anything else. The Steel Series Arctis NOVA 7... does not do this. By which I mean the only major draw of the previous Arctis Series, the Chat Mixer dial, is now a software solution instead of a hardware one, meaning you HAVE TO use Steel Series Sonar to even have access to the feature... yuck. This inevitably means the quality of the headset is ALSO tied to your experience with its proprietary software: Steel Series Sonar. The software itself is fine, free, and fairly resource-light but its rather cumbersome to use and you lock out the ability to use the audio mixer on your taskbar (for windows, anyways). The EQ available in the software is actually pretty cool, but most people aren't gonna know to use it. Their are preset available for this purpose, but honestly unless your a hardcore audiophile who also plays games, I think this feature is lost on the majority... Ultimately however, I would prefer *not* to have more backround software on my PC at any given time. As for the other features on the headset: 7.1 Surround Sound - is nice, but because there is no agreed upon standard for games or music, is ultimately a gimmick. Great if you want it, a waste of resources otherwise.. Portable Wireless Dongle - a nice change... depending on your setup and lifestyle. if all of your devices are right next to each other, its kinda an annoyance because lose the audio jack that the previous Arctis wireless receivers had. And now have to plug dongle into the each different device itself (which are often located at BACK your devices) AI Noise Cancelling - This is a feature of SteelSeries Sonar, not the Arctis Nova 7 my old Arctis headset could utilize this and yet... I didnt. Discord and Zoom already handle noise canceling so unless your a streamer (of which most of y'all reading this probably aren't), this "feature" is lost on you. If you *want* to use it, its quite good at what does tho. Wireless + Bluetooth Reception - Theoretically very useful, but ultimately dependent on your setup and lifestyle. Being on PC with access adblocker and web browser plugins, I ultimately just found this feature wasted on me, but again, your mileage may vary depending lifestyle and setup. Comfort - No complaints here. Its actually an improvement over the Steel Series Arctis 7. While it feels heavier (probably to do with it being smaller) I've to have yet to have an issue with comfort. Build Quality - Again, no complaints. Overall this is like, barely upgrade over the Arctis 7... which at time of writing isnt even available anymore so go figure. But still, the features it has are bordering on over-engineered, having a dedicated background software you MUST use to have access to all its features (which you probably wont use). I can see the attempt made with the introduction of bluetooth reception and a portable dongle, however these features are too specific to one's lifestyle and ultimately be worthy of extending the headset's nomenclature. Frankly, I would've preferred just buying another Steelseries Arctis 7 over getting a Nova. While this is certainly a high-quality headset. If you have no need for a chat mixer or *just* need a good headset, with no "fancy" features, there are *probably* cheaper options out there.