SteelSeries - Arctis GameBuds

i also got these for use on my xbox and so far I'm pretty happy with them. They are replacing a set of arctis nova pros. I wear glasses and buds work much better for me than headsets which pinch the glasses. sound is good but the nova pros had better bass. My gaming friends say that my voice quality is good. Actually the nova pros mic was not great, so this might actually be an improvement. One thing that I've noticed is that the xbox connection is a bit spotty in starting up. One day I can fire up the xbox and it will be fine. the next day there will be no sound (even though the xbox will say "headset assigned" and the gamebuds will say "2.4 connected". have to plug / unplug a few times to get it to work. hoping it's just an early firmware issue. overall I like them a lot and hope that they can sort out the connection issue

I wound up getting the earbuds yesterday. Always amazes me when I get stuff a day early with no warning. Anyways, I will try and tamp down on the hyperbole but that will be hard to do. I wore these for about a 3 hour Diablo session last night and my initial thoughts are 1) These are better in almost every way vs Air Pods Pro and Bose whatever’s I have. Comfort is slight edge to Bose/Apple but security in ear blows them both out of the water. So do all the EQ available. And those EQ have a seismic effect on sound. 2) The documentation is horrific. For the life of me, I cannot figure out WTF “Press then hold” means to adjust the volume. That sounds like a ridiculous statement but you will know what I mean. 3) Fortunately #2 isn’t that big an issue as it’s super easy to remap single tap and double tap on each ear. The other button presses cannot remap. 4) Pairing to phone was easy. Pairing to PC not as much. My SS GG software apparently needed an update to even recognize the earbuds. Once that completed things went smoothly. 5). The EQ’s are amazing. Yes, with Sonar I can select which sound profile I want to hear and mic setting to chat. I’m assuming whatever I set here is ONLY for PC. That’s how the Arctic’s 7x works (or did work when I first got them a year ago). If you use Sonar to select a profile for hearing and one for Mic, the software tells you to go into the Engine and select the Flat profile. Note that if you do this, Flat will also appear in the companion app and that is what you want to see. I interpret this then as: PC can have custom EQ for both hearing and mic. Xbox / PS can choose canned EQ for hearing and gets only default mic. I did not see a way to generate a custom EQ thru the companion app. It could exist and I just didn’t see it. I also did not spend a whole bunch of time in here. Most of my time was spent in SS GG software. Quick side rant and I’ve felt this way for years…..SS needs to do a much better job making clear lines between Sonar and Engine. I have both an Xbox X and PS 5 but didn’t care to test any of this last night. Really won’t have a chance to until the weekend. Last note on Sonar for adjusting the mic, there is a test feature so you can see which EQ makes your voice sound best. I had to tone down the AI Clearcast (going off memory I think that’s what it was called) to level 30. I think it defaults to 50? At default levels your voice cuts in and out and it seems like the mic thinks your voice (maybe based on inflection or whatever else it’s picking up) is background. I’ve heard this in the 2 videos I watched before the earbuds arrived where it almost sounds like the reviewers voice is halting or at least gets pretty wild swings in volume. I believe that is the AI Clearcast doing too good a job. So play with that setting. But again, I fear that is PC only and Xbox/PS is stuck with default mic settings?

The battery life has been great for me. I can easily do a week of gaming (2h every day approximately) without having to charge the case.

I have the exact same issue where sometimes there is no sound after connecting to the Xbox via dongle. Switching the dongle from Xbox to PC and back solves it quickly. Not perfect but it‘s also not that big of a deal because it‘s luckily not happening all the time. I would of course prefer them to fix it.

I've got these - they're great, but as already mentioned by some folks, you can't passthrough charge through the dongle.

I've been told i sound way worse or that I am talking into a bottle. I also am coming from the 7x, mind sharing your settings? including the xbox audio settings you have on?

Ugh. Frustrating. I did all these and people still just told me I sound bad. I wish I had a way of hearing it myself

Damn. Yeah I tried everything. I’m on Xbox and everyone just kept telling me it wasn’t getting better

The steel series Xbox version game buds.. Better than the Jlab epic lab and Anker VR P10. You actually do get around 8 hours on a charge with ANC or transparency. USBC dongle is case friendly and has a super low latency. There's over 100 presets for each game. They are my new favorite gaming buds. There's like another 32 hours in the case

So I’m in the same boat as OP. I’ve tried the Arctis gamebuds (ok on Bluetooth but couldn’t get the dongle to work and had a whining sound in one earbud). Tried the Sony Inzones and they couldn’t keep the BT connection nor the 2.4ghz connection well. Tried the Sennheiser Momentum 4. Better Bluetooth connection than the others but still a noticeable delay. My existing AirPods Pro are pretty good compared to all the above but latency is noticeable. Then we come to the PrismXR Vega. Bluetooth similar to the AirPods. I think they’re more comfortable. But the killer for me is that the dongle just works with no fuss. No noticeable delay. The sound is pretty decent. And for a great price. The main downside is that the single blocks the other port off - but I’ve ordered a 90 degree USB C adaptor that should solve that.

SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds (white). I’ve been swapping them between my Steam Deck and PS5.

I just got a pair. The sound is good. The Mic is absolutely garbage. Wouldn’t use if I was in a party chat.

The low volume issue on PS5 has been fixed for the gamebuds with the most recent firmware update.

Just got these today and...am I the only one who finds that they sound kind of thin? I've tried a few EQ presets and I'm just waiting for the "wow" moment. I got these for streaming since I kinda hate the big bulky headphones when wearing my signature caps. (Joking of course) Someone tell me they sound as good as I hope they do...

I am using them on 2.4 and ANC, and I estimate 6 hours

What did you guys do in the firmware update for Xbox gamebuds? My volume is on max every time I turn them on, sidetone doesn’t work on any setting, and now the Xbox in app volume and game is volume are all in one so it’s either blaring in ur ear or it’s too low…why would you ever change that?? It was better when u could change them both independently….do you test these updates before launch? The product was better before the update..

So I think this may be very beneficial to steel series. I figured out that yes, it will start on max every time, and for the volume discrepancy, let’s say there are 10 volume notches within the earbuds, volume 9 and 8 are flip flopped so what should be volume 8, is actually 9. And when u are on volume 9(one click away from max) you are actually on volume 8. So essentially volume 9 notch sounds lower than volume 8. (1-2-3-4-5-6–7-9-8-10) . Hope they see this and it helps. I tested it several times

I love mine, I don’t use my over ear ones at all anymore lol and I love how convenient they are to travel with as I only need one pair for music and gaming etc can’t complain

Steelseries arctis gamebuds, though I'm not sure if the 3d audio is any different via USB than it is when directly plugged into the PSVR2.

I used them for a day and find out they don’t work well with sonar and for fps games footsteps are non existent . I will stick to my Sony inzone earbuds although Sony have Bluetooth limitations but the dongle connection works great on my pc

I have the Arctis Gamebuds and it's fantastic on 2.4ghz. Never bothered to game on BT since latency will always be much lower over 2.4ghz dongle than BT. I've gamed for 6+ hours on my X on AC power and I still had plenty of juice left on the Gamebuds. Sound quality on the Gamebuds is awesome and I just set up the EQ. using my iPhone - the 2.4ghz dongle is configured for 1 EQ (for whatever game I'm playing these days), and BT is set up for another EQ (for music and calls). Plug the dongle into whatever laptop I'm using and it just works, no pairing or config needed. Aside from not having multipoint BT, I really enjoy the Gamebuds and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them if you're looking for something for gaming and everyday use. If you don't mind going with a wired IEM, it's worth considering the Linsoul SIMGOT EW300 DSP as it comes with a USB C end. And doesn't cost a fortune. Decent sound isolation, but not noise cancelling. can wear them for hours. Upgraded from Linsoul KZ ZS10 Pro which isn't bad but uses a 3.5mm jack and frees up a USB C port. Both have mics as well and work great with iOS, Android, WIndows, MacOS, Bazzite :)

I believe the JLAB epic lab edition has a 2.4ghz option and ANC, also the SteelSeries game buds, and asus rog cetra wireless. There would still be around 30-40ms latency on any of these so right at your threshold. There is also the option of going with something from r/iems that has good passive noise cancelling/seal, none will have ANC but you can get pretty good isolation still, and they are all going to be wired, and of course wired = 0ms latency

I'm not OP, and can't give you a direct comparison, but I game with some pretty nice headphones (Beyerdynamic T1s and a seperate mic). Sound wise, there is an obvious difference, but the buds hold their own for what they are, and in terms of comfort... well the Arctis Buds have nearly benched my T1s once in a while. Overall, I'm amazed at the buds, and have quite a few sets of headphones that should make them sound like trash by comparison.

its very good earbuds also my first ever gaming earbuds, I lowkey might sell my nova pros and use this as my main audio haha

The sound quality is great, but when I'm gaming on my PS5, I get a constant low crackling or static-type sound in both ears. Quite annoying, as these earbuds aren't cheap.

I’ve had mine for a bit now and I have zero regrets. They sound fantastic, the presets sound great and the battery is solid so far. Money well spent.!

I'll be honest I don't use it, but I can give it a try and let you know. Others around here could speak more reliably about it though

Yep, no issues. For me it was a solid purchase

Does anyone know if they fixed the super low volume on PS5 yet? I bought them at launch and they were perfectly fine on my PC, phone and Switch, but returned due to them being useless on PS5. They were updated at launch and the limiter was obviously off.

Could get better. I got mine more than a month ago. Sound is way lower on ps than xbox. Like wayyy lower but then on xbox i tend to have to decrease it. But you need to make a preset. I managed to make 1 that works for all games. Because the presets it came with were not doing it for me

Its the buds bro i been in contact with steel series lol. Other headsets from them don't do this. I love the buds was just saying about this sound issue. For me it aint a issue but for alot of people it is I seen tons complain about it

I got the update 2 days ago. Did it today. Didnt test it yet.

i have distorted sound in high volumen

i buy today the arctis and going to take they back the sound is too low vs the inzone , and dont know why have distortion when anc is on

they fix ps5 low volumen but the anc distortion is not fixed theycare break 

I bought some. They are nice for a pair of earbuds, but they're just convenient. They're definitely no substitute for my main headset which is a Beyerdynamic MMX 300, but sometimes I can't be bothered to put it on and I might be playing a game that doesn't need truly immersive sound, or maybe I don't want to mess up my hair and get "gamer-head". But yeah, convenient and "good enough" sound. They're like a mid tier gaming headset but with very weak sub-bass and a poor soundstage, which is to be expected. The mic also makes me sound like I'm on my phone inside of my bathroom lol, but at least people can understand me.

I had a 7X a little while ago and nah, these are not as good. No earbuds will be as good as true over-ear headphones at the same price point. You're missing out on outer ear activation which plays a massive role in making the soundstage sound natural and immersive. The mic is also way worse, but what can you expect. These are nice to have in conjunction with an actual gaming headset for convenience reasons, but would never replace one unless you were upgrading from something truly bargain-bin.

Oh they're good, don't get me wrong. I paid the $170 for them and feel like it was totally worth it, I just wouldn't go as far as saying they would replace my real headset. You'd be totally fine with maining these, but if you don't already have a headset I'd spend that 170 on an Arctis Nova 7 instead.

Fiio FT1 (closed back, over ear headphones) Kiwi Ears Cadenza (IEMS) Steelseries Arctis GameBuds, when I want something wireless.

I have both the Steelseries Arctis gamebuds and the ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless. Of the two, I would recommend the Steelseries. Both sound good but I like that the Steelseries have EQ profiles for a lot of games. You can install the Steelseries software on the Ally, but you can also select the EQ presets from you phone app. The ASUS buds do show up in Armoury Crate and allow for some adjustments from there, so that is nice They also sound pretty good too. A big plus for the Steelseries is there is a spot for the 2.4 GHz dongle in the earbuds case. For the ASUS buds, there is no spot in the case for the dongle, so if you aren't leaving it plugged into your Ally all the time it would be super easy to lose and as far as I know you can't get a replacement.

Got it as a Christmas present. Coming from Samsung buds 2 pro and Airpods pro 2, the sound quality of the new Arctis buds is incredible, especially with the 2.4Hz dongle. Noise cancellation is as good as on the Airpods pro 2 and much better than on the Samsungs. I already have a Arctis Nova 7 and don't know if I will use it anymore now except for wired jack only devices.

I've got them on xmas as well. Really like them but can't wear them for a long time when working on a PC :(

After a while they get uncomfortable to wear. I've tried every ear tip and no effect. Currently trying out ear tips from different earbuds, maybe I'll find one that is comfortable enough 🥲

I just got them myself and they are *slightly* worse than the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. It might be indistinguishable to most, to me the mids/bass are a bit worse, though that might just be typical of earbuds. I don't wear earbuds often in general, but trying to exercise more and so earbuds are obviously the better choice for that, and I'm happy with my purchase.

Thank you for this! Been on the fence for awhile, but bit the bullet and ordered:)

Love them! Quality of sound is great, I do struggle a little in COD tho. Other than that, perfect

Got mine. From time to time keeps disconnecting one or the other bud for some reason - still waiting on the support ticket what steelseries will say about htis. The sounds are quite good - much better than airpods, but the mic even after tweaking for hours on equalizer is like a radio. For good audio also you have to play around on the SS software as default settings are not as good. More, if you are familiar with steelseries software, and you like it - its ok. IF you dont, (even though it is really good in a sense, and there is much you can do) it's annoying to use on a daily basis. ANC and transparency mode does almost nothing. ANC - nothing, transparency mode, you can hear that it adds something. Sidetone is also very minimal. I am not a hater, was waiting long for these to come out, but overall got really disappointed. For the price that they are being sold, I'd say not worth it - unless you really need **gamebuds** for gaming.

I bought the steel series ones in December and they are already fucked. Firmware 1.7 completely broke them., They can no longer be controlled by my pc volume control only the app or GG can do it now. The sound got significantly worse as well. Before this they were amazing and I loved every second of them. Audio as good as my artic pro wireless headset. But now, they are just trash and I want my money back.

I had the same issue. Moved the dongle from the back of my PC to the front, away from the Wi-Fi adapter. And it works fine now. I'm guessing it happened due to some Wi-Fi interference.

I’ve had mine for about a month now playing on PS5, much more comfortable then over the head headphones! Great sound quality mostly playing black ops 6 and BF2042! Switching between presets is a breeze with the mobile app! Highly recommend

I got these in black about 2 weeks ago, they're comfy but the mic from what I've been told by my teammates sounds like a $10 mic, Will probably return and get the Nova pro wireless coming from a arctis pro wireless

I don’t recommend a regular pair of Bluetooth earbuds. Their delay is still too much, especially in Windows, for gaming. I tried a pair with aptX LL using a Bluetooth dongle on my Windows desktop and handheld, both still had too much delay that it took me out of the games. Get something with a 2.4GHz adapter. The SteelSeries Arctics aren’t bad, JBL has a couple of pairs, I wouldn’t get anything Razer just because they’re charging more for their name, Soundcore has a pair… Or you could spend even less on a nice pair of IEMs and go wired. Get one with an in-line microphone and you’ll have zero latency, solid mic quality, and audio quality that’s better than a pair of true wireless earbuds. Edit: the other thing you can do, if you’re fine with spending money, is get something like the JBL Tour Pro 3. I use mine with my ROG Ally X and desktop all the time, I can’t believe I forgot about them. I don’t directly pair them to my devices. The charging case acts as a low latency audio source for the earbuds. I plug the case in via USB C to my systems and select it as the audio output in Windows (and the microphone input). I haven’t experienced any latency or microphone issues when using the case the connect to the earbuds. It’s a solid experience if you also want a great pair of ANC earbuds for general usage.

You want something with a 2.4ghz dongle. Sony Inzone Buds or Steelseries Arctic’s Gamebuds would be my choice. The Sonys are cheaper but are more limited in that they don’t support many codecs and so can’t really be used with your phone. The Gamebuds are good. I had a set but ultimately returned them due to the ANC being rather mediocre.

I feel your pain. Your best bet is the Steelseries Gamebuds. They are almost 0 latency with the dongle. The ANC is terrible though. I didn't like the fit, even though the functionality was excellent. I've tried various BT-LE buds which are lower latency than normal buds but even they only ever get to about 120ms which I can still notice. Most recently I tried the Sony Linkbuds S in LE mode and while much better than normal BT buds, there was still noticable latency. Too much for any kind of competative gaming. It seems that no one makes a good set of 2.4GHz dongle buds that have top end ANC and sound quality. In the end I went with an over-ear headset on 2.4GHz I have just ordered the Jlabs by the way. I'll have them tomorrow and will report back.

SteelSeries GameBuds - better and cheaper than the inzone buds

I would always go for a dedicated TWS like the Denon Perl Pro, Technics AZ80, or Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4, with the Creative BT-W5 before any of the “gaming earbuds.” Of your list, I’ve either owned or tested many of these and the VR P10 is the best bang for your buck of all of them. The additional dongle feature works very well; I have one for all of my devices, and switching is easy. Sony’s buds do work well with their platform (and the Portal), but they are simply too pricey for the quality of the tuning and feature set. The only other option I would consider is Steelseries, just given the access to a very wide database of EQ profiles; you’ll likely find one that works for you, and Steelseries has done a genuinely decent job at emulating a parametric EQ in their Sonar app.

I love mine but honestly the ANC is barely noticeable and feels pretty bad specially compared to the sony or bose ones. Are you having the same experience? Wondering if they might be defective at this point... I can clearly notice the switch between transparency and noise control off but ANC honestly does very little compared to it... I also changed the parties for foam ones thinking silicone ones couldn't possible do a decent job to no avail... Edit... playing with the settings I wondered what side tone for the microphone did... had it at max... definitely fucks with the ANC... Turned that shit down to 0 and it made a huuuuge difference... leaving it here in case anybody else is in the same boat...

All good, used em since earlier and it was definitely that microphone setting meant to have you hear some of your own voice... once that shits disabled it works perfectly well!!

Yeah that's what I understood... there's levels to it but max sidetone did seem to make ANC feel like Transparency...

I have the Steelseries Arctis Gamebuds, and they are great!

Same here! Been using the Soundcores for about 2 years and they're great! But I got the Steelseries buds when they came out last month, and I love them! Keeping my Soundcores for a spare set, but no regrets. It's hard to beat that price of the Soundcores, though...

If you want to upgrade the sound - I’m currently using SteelSeries game buds - don’t like having over ear headphones in VR - makes me too hot.

I picked these up yesterday, I was surprised at how good they sound in game

They do fit well, the dongle comes in handy, I put it on my tablet and keep the by connected to my phone

Hello friends! I am new to the Steam Deck OLED family (I got very lucky and found a mint condition special edition on Marketplace [the smoke gray and orange one] and I absolutely love it)! Ok so - here’s the situation ~ I tried using my USB-C AirPods Pro 2 and while they worked well, they disconnected often. I think they kept trying to reconnect to my iPad/iPhone and it was just disconnecting over and over. In any event, I ordered the SteelSeries Arctis Gamebuds (the white ones for PS5 and PC). I like them, but at the same time they are complicated for no reason. They aren’t plug and play - they require the app to set up and then they “kind of” work (?). When I was playing Final Fantasy XIV and using Discord on the deck, they worked fine - sounded great actually. That said, I think Discord defaulted to the mic built in to the deck. Either way, they worked. I then tried them tonight with Discord and Split Fiction playing with my friend. After a false start requiring me to reboot the deck, they worked but volume was kind of quiet. The frustration is for what they cost, they should work a lot better. They should easily connect, easily switch from 2.4ghz to Bluetooth, etc., but they don’t - at all. These are NOT worth $159.99 (at least, not as far as I have seen so far). There is a firmware update available, but a subreddit I checked said do NOT update as the update apparently breaks a bunch of things and is terrible. What are your favorite wireless earbuds to use for the deck? I’m open to anything - preferably on Amazon or at Best Buy. The most plug and play, easy to use, the better :-). Thank you very much in advance for any recommendations. It’s super appreciated! :-)

They do but they suck, they are constantly having distortion issues and odd popping sounds as if they are about to blow up even though they aren't even loud.

Doesn't seem to work and they pop and go all static or robotic constantly.

I have both I just wanted something different not wear big headset all the time but I'll just return them and keep using my nova pro wireless

I've been using these since Christmas! I love them. They replace my headset for all use cases on my PC except for competitive games. Games sound great, videos sound great, music quality is great, but spatial noise is not. So, anytime I'm playing Valorant I put my Arctis nova 7 headset on, otherwise I use these. For literally everything except for competitive games, these are my go-to over my headset. I don't know much about the microphone, however, because I always use a standalone mic.  Great device. I have AirPods as well and I generally use my Arctis gamebuds when home, and AirPods when I'm out. No particular reason, it just feels right that my gamebuds stay at my desk. The battery life is awesome with the gamebuds as well. The gamebuds sound just as good as my AirPods Pro (maybe better?), and last 4x longer. The case for the gamebuds is a bit big compared to the AirPods, but again, the gamebuds and their case stay at my desk all day so that's not a factor for me.

i wear glasses, got these this week and its a game changer. i always felt like i was in a fishbowl with combo of glasses plus headset even though it was a great one (audeze maxwell). I recommend these!

Alright. Couldn't resist. Ordered them. Will see how they compare to the Sony InZone Buds.

Ahhh I forgot all about this, - apologies. My first set were defective (whistling sound, reported by at least some people). My second set works perfectly and I’ve been very happy. Far less audible hiss than the Sony buds, more comfy, and the dongle is way lower profile and easier to deal with, as is the smaller case it all fits in. Very happy thus far, but Steelseries needs to sort out their quality control some more.

I believe so. I’m perhaps not as picky as some about that since I don’t play FPSs much, but there’s plenty of presets for you to play with.

Arctis Gamebuds. Perfect for the Ally X, and you still can use the other USB C port.

Change the EQ, got 50 times better when I had it setup via sonar with the punchy music EQ