SteelSeries - Arctis GameBuds

the microphone started failing on me after a few weeks of use, was perfect at first but not anymore, mic is now trash

Comfort is nice but the mic quality is trash (you literally sound like you are talking into a metal trashcan). Conectivity issues plague it every time you use them (disconnect... reconect... pray a little, pray alot...). And they eventually fail to charge an earbud for no obvious reason. Have used them for a few months now, daily maintenance to clean the case and the earbuds aren't helping.

I concur with everything you’ve said. One small issue I have with them is that about every 5th or 6th Xbox session I have turn them off in the Xbox accessories app and reconnect them for some reason. Not a huge deal but just something odd. I liked mine so much that I bout a second pair for use with my Legion Go, Switch and PS5.

I just got mine, and I agree, they are actually awesome. I actually have an Steelseries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset that I also love. But I bought the Buds because using headphones for hours is exhausting/painful (even though Steelseries makes some of the most comfortable headsets around). So the buds is a fantastic companion. Can absolutely recommend.

Steelseeries Arctis Buds are great because they come with a usb c adapter but can also use Bluetooth if you’re charging

Agreed. I have to turn it off completely

Agreed. Literally the only thing holding these back…

Agree with your review. These are amazing I’ve tried Baldurs Gates and and Cyberpunk EQs. They’re both good but the best all-around EQ for me is Aion. I don’t even know what that is but the EQ is fantastic. I rarely even change EQs now that I found this EQ. It does it all so well

I like them too but they need to fix that weird issue when anc is on and they are loud you get like a popping sound in the right bud.

It’s ridiculous this is even a problem. Jabra been making headsets for ages.

I wish these were using a stem shape design. I can manage but they are uncomfterable when you need to raise/lower volume or anything that requires a button press as you are pussing them into your ear or need to grab the bud while in the ear to press the button.

I get this a lot too. Headset is “connected” but I have to go in the Xbox accessories app and turn off from there, then manually turn on the buds and they reconnect.

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

I wanted to try the Sony Inzone earbuds, got some used for $50. Specs say they have the same drivers as the XM5 and, they probably do? They sound good, I just don't know if they are XM5 good. Might be the silicone ear tips hampering it and lack of LDAC. Why did I get them? Just looking for the perfect earbud for PC use / phone use. 12+ hour battery life on Bluetooth / PC was a selling point for me. It holds up. After 3 hours they are both at 78% with ambient sound and custom eq on. Anyone else have these? I have some issues, wanna know if someone else does too. 1. Changing the volume on my phone there is a slight delay between the two, there is also a delay between the two when voice notifications sound off. Is this normal? Not syncing up? "Blu-blu too -ooth con -on ect-ct ed-ed." 2. PC connection doesn't allow me to pause / play YouTube, or volume up / down. These control options only work on Bluetooth, and not the dongle. Is this right? 3. I already got one random disconnect after the first hour. Was listening to a podcast on the dongle and it just randomly stopped. Hope it doesn't happen all the time. I'll now do a quick comparison to the other USBC "Gaming" all-in-one buds that I've tried. Sony Inzone buds - 12 hour continuous battery life is huge, no matter what settings are on. Best sound quality of them all. Best mic of them all. Downside is no wireless charging, large case that doesn't hold much of a charge, and I'd say ambient mode is too quiet. Steelseries Artic buds - Best ear fit for me. Functions and controls are the best. Best total battery life at 10 hours per charge and another 30 hours in case. Wireless charging. Smallest earbud and case. Downside is friends will sometimes complain about the bad mic quality, ANC is barely there, and case feels kinda cheap. Jlabs Epic Lab - Best Build quality. Nice aluminum case. Includes foam tips. Not many options for sound settings but they are rock solid. ANC / Transparency mode get the job done. Downside is battery life isn't as advertised, Maybe 5 hours at most with another 24 hours or so in the case, they don't stay in my ear sometimes falling out, and their mic sounds a little robotic. Also for whatever reason I get like 100 notifications that it's connected to my phone every hour. Anker Oculus P10 - Affordable. Best sound Quality for it's price. Cool LED lights. USBC passthrough that works on most devices. Downside is notification sound will set off auto switch, USBC dongle isn't compatible with any cases, no ANC/transparency, and a short battery life at around 3 hours. Overall, I would like the Jlabs the most if they would stay in my ear and not annoy me every minute with a new notification that they are connected to my phone. I would like the Steelseries more if their mic was a better quality. I would like the Sonys more if they had wireless charging and a smaller case with a bigger built in battery. I feel like after weighing the Pros and cons, the Sonys might be my new favorite. They have really come down in price for a used pair probably because of their limited Bluetooth connection to most smart phones. Can't beat $50 right now for a used pair though.

If the akgs are a hundred bucks more in your area versus The Inzone, probably keep the Inzone. But Inzone feel like a only use at your house type of bud. AKG are more of a use at your house and take with you to work kind of Bud. There's also the steelseries gamer buds that's another great option. Sony Inzone have a pretty big case and not a lot of charge in them. They do last like 12 hours on a charge which is crazy. Mic is still pretty good. Once you custom eq them, bass is booming, mids are pretty detailed, highs could be a little more sparkly but they work. The dongle is kind of huge. lol. The one problem I have with them is when they go into a standby mode and come out of it, the mic stops working, both on Bluetooth and with the dongle. I don't know if you have that problem or not but I do. So like if I'm in a Discord chat and I mute for 20 minutes and come back, I have to put the buds back in the case and take them out for the mic to work again. Inzone buds are great for your home. Set them next to your computer, use them mostly with that. Connect them to your phone's Bluetooth when you need to. You said the akgs are like a $100 more, then are they then worth it compared to the Inzone? You get better mics when connected to the dongle. You get better sound quality no matter how it's connected. You get a cooler dongle that's smaller with more features. Case is still kind of big but still pocketable if you want to take it with you to work. I think the ANC is better on the Inzone but the transparency is better on AKG. One of the problems with the AKG is you can't fully customize the touch controls on them. Makes them difficult to use with one bud. So if you want to use them for work or maybe you can have one bud, the controls either have to be play and pause and skip. Or switch between ANC, transparency or off. They don't seem to remember which mode you're on. So if you want them with transparency, but like to be able to pause your music like I do, with one earbud you have to go into the app each time and turn on transparency. Unless I missing something that's what I have to do. Another pair to look at is the steelseries gamer buds, the Xbox version. They work on everything including PlayStation 5. See how much those are in your area, I think they're better than the Inzone if they are similarly priced. The case is smaller, you can take them to work with you. They have physical buttons. You can quickly switch between Bluetooth and dongle. You can quickly mute your mic as well, and switch between sound modes. They're more secure, more comfortable. I would say they have less of that boomy bass but better highs than the Sonys. They have a cool PC app with a lot of features on it. There's a Sonos feature that opens it up to a lot of customization. Game volume, Discord volume, Mic volume, and operating volume can all be customized. Or you can turn it off and not have to mess with it. Pretty long battery life with them too. Like 10 hours on a single charge, I think another 30 in the case. Problem with them though is the mic is just good. It's not bad but it's not great. Like other people you talk to are going to think you're on earbuds and not a headset like the AKG. The case feels kind of cheap too but it works. ANC doesn't work at all with sidetone turned on. With it off, it's just decent. It works but it's not great. Transparency is really good on these with sidetone turned on. If I were to rate these three? AKG - overall 8.8/10. Mic 9/10. Sound 9.3/10. Battery life (8 with ANC, 4 with dongle) 8/10. Case 8.7/10. Inzone - Overall 8.4/10. Mic 8.2/10. Sound 8.7/10. Battery life (12 hour continuous + 12 hour case) 9.1/10. Case 7.3/10. Steelseries Xbox buds. Overall 8.6/10. Mic 7.5/10. Sound 8.7/10 battery life (10 + 30) 9.3/10. Case 8.9/10 Yeah that seems about right

They use a higher quality when using the usb-c dongle, but the quality is on the lower end. The Sony Inzone, Jlab Epic Lab, and AKG N5 Hybrid all have a better mic with Jlab and AKG being the best. But the Gamer Buds mic is still better than most Bluetooth mics. I'd say it's close to like a airpods Pro quality. The advantage the gamer buds have is the 12 to 9 hour battery life per charge, wireless charging, physical buttons make controls easy to use, and it's just a couple click to swap between two devices on USB/Bluetooth. They have a fully custom EQ which is also nice and sidetone to help with hearing your own voice and ambient sound. But yeah I've gotten a few complaints with this mic I'm discord with my friends every once in a while. I don't know if I have a bad set or if my settings are affecting it, but they don't ever complain about my other buds. I've almost sold mine a few times but I've kept them around. They have one of the smallest lowest profile dongles that is also case friendly for phones and tablets and handhelds which I love. So yeah, probably the best overall value for a true gaming earbud. Edit: I will say if you buy these, try and get the Xbox version, they also work on Playstation. It works on everything. The Playstation version works on everything, except Xbox.

My favorite higher end for sound quality, build quality, ANC/transparency, features, and mic quality? AKG N5 Hybrid. My favorite mid-range all around? Probably Steelseries Gamer Buds Artic X. Another good all-around are the Jlab Epic Lab. Let me know if you want them, I'm trying to sell them and I can post them on hardware swap. Best deal? Sony Inzone buds. I think you can still find these used for under $60, sometimes under $50. I wouldn't spend a full $200 price for brand new though. Best budget? Anker P10. New they are around $60, used they are around $30.

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 bought the Steelseries Gamebuds for PS5,they sound great for music and come with a wireless dongle for gaming,they are more or less Jabra earbuds,and are so comfortable to wear for hours.