I've tried several "gaming headsets" from the likes of Razer and Logitech, and have always been disappointed with either the sound, or comfort, or both. After having tried the Steelseries Arctis Nova 4, I have developed new respect for these headsets.Out of the box, the Arctis Nova 4 is very comfortable. Unlike some high end Sennheiser over-ears, the clamp force is low and I can wear this for hours without feeling like my head is being crushed. The earpads uses some fine soft fabric instead of leather or pleather and traps less heat around your ears. It also helps that it feels very plush (like wearing pillows). While the ear cups are on the smaller side, they fit comfortably around my ears and I like that it is nice and deep such that my ears aren't hitting the drivers.On the head, it is very lightweight and not once did I feel like my head is being weighed down. The ear cups rotate and allows them to sit perfectly flush with your head. I like the notchless arm adjustment which lets set the exact length you want to the millimeter. Somehow, it also holds position nicely despite being notchless.In terms of build, it is all plastic but feels sturdy and feels premium. The plastic build lends to its flexibility and light weight. The texture is soft touch and matte, and does not show fingerprints which is great.As for controls, I found them intuitive and simple to operate. On one side you have a mute toggle button and a volume scroll wheel. The mute button is absolutely essential when your dear friends let you down and you need to vent. Do note that the volume scroll wheel operates independently of your windows sound volume. It doesn't manipulate the volume percentage in Windows and only changes the output of the headphone. On the other side, you have the power button and usb-c charge port. Standard stuff. The microphone is retractable and I like that it turns red when it's muted so you know when to and when not to talk smack. It's got 36 hour battery life and easily lasted my multi-hour gaming marathon.In terms of sound, it's several times better than my previous headsets from Razer. Nice to see it is using 2.4Ghz via a dedicated dongle versus bluetooth. This should allow it to carry more audio information. That said, there is still a bit of compression and loss of detail when compared to something like Hifiman Sundaras.In any event, I though that the overall default sound profile was fairly good. It's tuned on the brighter side with higher frequencies slightly boosted. On certain music tracks, it can sound harsh and tiring. However, this allows certain weapons to sound more impressive. It's got a good level of bass that's not overly excessive. On a majority of tracks, I liked the vocals and midrange and found them well represented. If the tune is not to your liking, you can change it easily via equalizer settings in their fantastic software. In gaming, I liked how the weapons sound and it felt immersive. I also thought it was easy to tell sounds from different directions.As for the microphone, it is really poor and sounds like low fidelity AM radio.. horrible. That said, the microphone noise cancellation does appear to work and my HVAC noise is absent in my recordings.At the time of review, the Arctis Nova 4 is $159 which is around mid end for wireless gaming headsets. While there are many options around this price point, this is one of the few that met both the comfort and audio performance criteria. That said, the microphone quality is a huge let down and would be the only mark deduction from this otherwise fantastic headset.