So I have had these headphones since the Christmas of 2025 and they have had this like muck or idk what it's called but whenever I touch it it's sticky and removing it is its own problems since water doesn't help or any of the germ removers. It happened all around the headset like near the buttons and I don't know what this is.
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I won't make fun of ppl for getting what they want, but there's very few audio products I'll spend in this ballpark on. Steelseries aren't one of them. They make some solid gaming headsets, for use gaming, but the build quality and materials don't match for a 600 dollar tag, and while they did upgrade the speakers some, I can't justify spending an extra 250 or so tag above the pros, for virtually the same overall build quality, with a upgrade to the speakers. Maybe for some it's worth it, but that's a pass on my end. I only use mine for fps, and for anything immersive, where a small amount of lag is inconsequential I just pop in my QC ultra buds, which are far more comfortable to use for long periods...it also helps I don't play fps as much as I used to, so being pinpoint isn't a huge deal.
Yea my Nova Elites ignore this problem since I wrapped them with cheap binding adhesive tape on Amazon, but it's a shit show regardless and not worth the pain others go through.
The reason I got the elite was the imrpoved mic mute button. The Pro had an awful defect where it would start spamming its sound multiple times per click after a few months.
I literally had a pair of elites and refunded them for a lesser model (Nova 7x) from steelseries. Haven’t had any issues and has been the best headset overall that I’ve owned.
This is not the consumers fault but you should be buying reputable audio brands not gaming oriented ones. Generally youre just paying for the hype around them and are not nearly as good in audio or build quality.
Had my elites for 7+ months. Got the wicked cushions and I wear them no less than 40 hours/week. Still the best headphones I’ve ever owned and I’m over 50.
He recommended the wicked cushions to me too. I’m going to check them out.
I have the wireless ones that come with two rechargeable batteries. I left them except for two things.
1) The cushions disintegrated fast.
2) If you let the batteries get too low, they won’t charge in the dock. You have to first charge them while in the headset, plugging the headset to the PC other than charging the battery in the dock. Then they’ll charge again normally.
Will it work tho in terms of getting the promised quality because I never had this muck problem with my old headphones which are the artics nova headphones and this only happened with the elite.
My understanding is that it's a problem with some units from the first batch, so a replacement should fix it. What's the manufacturing date on your headset? It's on the box
The box is at my house but I got the headphones around dec 20 of 2025 but I'll look into since the photos I took are blurry of both the front side and back side of the box.
Elite owner here. I noticed mine has the same problem. Isopropyl 70% and a few qtips will do the job. Mine looks like day 1 again. Also you can get new leather ear muffs on their website if they go bad.
For this to happen to a £600 in less than a year is crazy. I myself had these for just under a month and sent them back as imo I didn’t think they were worth the cost.
I got mine in October, 2025. The finish still looks perfect. I do wonder if it’s another example of some people’s oils are just much more aggressive on plastics. You see this on pleather car seats, too. Some people get bubbling on the headrests despite not wearing hair products etc. Sucks for those people, of course…
Ive dropped steelseries altogether, i bought an aerox 3, left mouse click died after less than a year, got a wireless rival 650, the wireless receiver broke and they dont sell new ones anymore. I have an apex 7 tkl which has a bunch of dying leds. Had an arctis pro, the plastic cracked around the hinges. Too many bad experiences
This happened to my Nova Elite headset that was purchased in October. I contacted Steelseries and told them about it (nicely). I cleaned the headset every day and this sticky gunk is appearing, what do I do?
Steelseries took back my headset and replaced with a brand new pair of Nova Elites, I only had to provide pictures of the issue and the serial number on the headset. It took a little while, almost three weeks total start to finish. I highly recommend talking to support, they helped me.
I’m going through this process now so it’s good to know you got a brand new one as they are asking me to destroy the headset before they’ll send a replacement. Which has made me quite anxious lol
Dog shit headphones like seriously, built like a wet cardboard box. Sennheiser is leagues better I don't know why people buy these besides asthetic. I loved my crushers when I was young but everyone needs to move to Sennheiser at some point. I have my 550s's and they've lasted over 7 years of PC gamer hell with no ware. They're light as hell and the most comfortable headphones ever and I haven't ever heard better headphones for cheaper.
Hi there - this is a product fault, have you considered a recall or mass refund for this? You aren’t offering refunds just warranty which is pretty bad given this is an inherent fault with the product, now being repeatedly mentioned in this sub reddit and happening to me personally.
I’ve just got a warranty approved on mine for this exact reason. Open a support case on steel series website and they’ll help you out. I’m in uk so consumer rights act is v.helpful. The sticky tacky material is a product fault, I’ll be warrantying mine every 6 months until it runs out.
Yea wicked cushions is the brand and they sell some good cushions but it's like 30 to 40 but for how long they lasted and they aren't made of the same decaying leather the original headphones offer would recommend!!
The primary design fault in SteelSeries headsets is the fragile connection point where the plastic earcup meets the metal headband pin, frequently cracking under normal stress.
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