SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds evaluation: earbuds for PlayStation or Xbox

SteelSeries’ Arctis GameBuds are the primary gaming earbuds I really wish to purchase. Sony, Razer, and Logitech all supply comparable gaming-focused earbuds, however SteelSeries is the one firm providing low-latency earbuds with Bluetooth connectivity and console compatibility, a cell app with highly effective per-game EQ settings, lively noise cancellation, and a wi-fi charging case, all for $159.99.

It’s a novel mixture at this worth, and I’ve come to understand it in latest weeks, even swapping my trusted Arctis Nova Professional headset for these earbuds for PC gaming. Not like Bluetooth-only earbuds, the GameBuds additionally work on PlayStation or Xbox, so I’ve been utilizing them to play Name of Responsibility: Black Ops 6, amongst different video games.

The Arctis GameBuds look similar to Jabra’s discontinued Elite line of earbuds, housed in a pill-shaped wi-fi charging case that may ship as much as 40 hours of battery life in complete. The case additionally contains the two.4GHz USB-C dongle that may be connected to a recreation console, PC, or cellphone. There’s a cable contained in the packaging that turns this right into a USB-A dongle, for these with out a USB-C port.

Every earbud has a single button. Urgent the left-hand-side button cycles by means of transparency and noise cancellation, whereas the right-hand button is play / pause. You may also faucet and maintain the fitting earbud to extend the quantity or faucet and maintain the left earbud to lower it. 

Switching between Bluetooth and a couple of.4GHz wi-fi is simply three faucets away with the aspect buttons and is immediate. Sadly, you’ll be able to’t use Bluetooth concurrently the two.4GHz mode, so you’ll be able to’t hearken to music out of your cellphone alongside recreation audio out of your PlayStation or Xbox. It’s a disgrace as a result of lots of SteelSeries’ different headsets, like my Nova Professional, are able to this.

The GameBuds include a wide range of silicone suggestions that can assist you discover the perfect seal to your ears, so you may get the perfect use out of the lively noise canceling mode. They use 4 microphones to tune out distractions, they usually do a very good job of filtering out sounds round you when you’re taking part in music or a loud recreation, however they’re nowhere close to nearly as good as Apple’s AirPods Professional or the Bose earbuds. You’ll nonetheless hear some ambient sounds when you have the quantity low or your recreation doesn’t have a ton of audio.

The audio high quality is sweet for $159.99, and the equalizer presets allow you to select choices with extra bass when you’re listening to music or a flat EQ when you’re listening to podcasts. There’s additionally a transparency mode, and you may management the degrees of each the ANC and transparency modes within the Arctis cell app. This app is well the perfect a part of the Arctis GameBuds as a result of it additionally contains the gaming equalizer presets which have turn out to be so common and helpful on SteelSeries’ line of headphones. There are presets for greater than 100 video games, and you actually discover the variations whenever you toggle between them. The Valorant preset is tuned in a method that makes it rather a lot simpler to listen to footsteps in that recreation, and it might probably actually be the distinction between successful and shedding a struggle since you hear the opposite participant earlier than you see them.

The identical presets can be found on the SteelSeries GG desktop app, so when you use these on a gaming PC, you’ll have the ability to reap the benefits of Sonar — SteelSeries’ glorious audio system for Home windows. I used to hate that SteelSeries pressured you to make use of Sonar, however it’s really a far superior system for managing audio in Home windows than what Microsoft presents out of the field. It even has spatial audio and AI-powered noise cancellation for microphones to filter out issues like your canine barking in the midst of a recreation or video name.

I’ve been utilizing the GameBuds totally on a PC, however it’s simple to plug the USB-C dongle into an Xbox or PlayStation so long as you’ve purchased the proper model. All fashions of the GameBuds work with PlayStation, PCs, and different consoles just like the Swap. However Xbox customers might want to get the Xbox model, which is similar worth however contains an extra chip to stick to Microsoft’s safety insurance policies plus a slider button on the USB-C dongle to change to Xbox compatibility. It’s disappointing that the Xbox model solely is available in black; the white model seems to be good.

I used the GameBuds with my Xbox, and the setup is seamless. You merely plug the dongle in and the Xbox acknowledges there’s a headset connected and assigns it to your profile identical to another headset. You may then management the EQ settings, ANC, and extra from the Arctis cell app.

The cell and desktop apps additionally record battery life, which I’ve discovered comes near matching the ten hours SteelSeries advertises. Utilizing ANC and the microphone recurrently, I averaged round 9 hours, however when you have these disabled, it’s nearer to 10 hours. It doesn’t appear to make a distinction whether or not you’re on Bluetooth or 2.4GHz mode.

The case has sufficient further battery life to cost the GameBuds round 4 instances earlier than it’s good to plug them right into a USB-C charger. You may also cost the case on a Qi wi-fi charger, so I’ve been in a position to make use of the identical charger I take advantage of for my AirPods Professional.

The one points I bumped into whereas testing the GameBuds had been associated to video calls on my PC. Typically the audio would distort to the purpose the place the buds felt like they had been vibrating on calls when the opposite particular person’s microphone peaked too excessive. I managed to get this underneath management by decreasing the chat quantity within the Sonar app. I additionally discovered that the two.4GHz sign nonetheless breaks up in the identical spots of my home that the Nova Professional Wi-fi headphones do. It’s solely once I go too distant from the dongle, although.

I do want the GameBuds had a mode that allow you to change microphone inputs on the fly. I take advantage of a devoted XLR microphone on my PC, however once I stroll away from my desk with the GameBuds in, I’d love to have the ability to faucet the aspect buttons and change to the microphone enter on the buds as an alternative. I’d additionally love to have the ability to use Bluetooth and a couple of.4GHz modes on the similar time, so I’m hoping SteelSeries will frequently enhance these GameBuds prefer it has the remainder of its headphones. However that doesn’t imply you can purchase them hoping they’ll get higher sooner or later.

If you happen to’re searching for one thing much less gaming-focused with higher sound high quality, and also you’re keen to spend somewhat extra, there are many different earbud choices. However for $159.99, these are an amazing possibility to your PlayStation, Xbox, or PC. The GameBuds are comfy, sound good, and supply nice recreation presets that you just gained’t discover on different earbuds.

Images by Tom Warren / The Verge