SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds for PlayStation/PC/Switch/Mobile — 2.4GHz + Bluetooth 5.3 Earbuds — ANC — Mobile App Sound Presets — Water Resistant IP55 — 40H Battery with Qi Charging Case - White

I picked up these earbuds because I was looking for a portable wireless gaming headset solution that would retain the full quality audio quality while being in a voice chat or Discord call. These earbuds totally hit that mark. I normally use bluetooth headphones that while sounding good when playing something solo, if I get into a call or play a game where the mic is active, the sound quality of any bluetooth headphones goes way down to being almost un-usable. With these earbuds, you can play a game and hear your buddies without a compromise to sound quality! From my experience, they are decently comfortable. I'm not a fan of in-ear, earbuds like these. I can generally wear them for about 2-3 hours before I need a break. I prefer the comfort of Airpods Pro/Bose QC Ultra/AirpodsGen3s much better to these. Even with the smallest tips, I get some fatigue in my ear canals. With that being said, the ANC is pretty low. It might be adding a little bit of cancelation, but you're likely to get the same cancelation because these block your ear canals. Nothing close to Bose or Apple's ANC. The transparency mode is decent. My main annoyance with transparency on these is they have a constant hiss. Seems like you are outside with a constant low breeze in your ears. You can kind of place things in the room, but its no where near Apples transparency mode. I would give it a functional rating. You can carry on a conversation without having to pull out a bud. With Apple's AirPod Pros however, I feel that there is no loss of hearing. Those feel like you don't have anything blocking your ears. Good to have, but not up to par with premium bluetooth headphone offerings if you were hoping to replace those. Now for call quality. The mics are definitely really good for sitting at your desk. People usually say that I sound better than my built-in laptop mic. But not better than my Yeti mic. These aren't super good when you are moving around. Once you start moving around they seem to block out your voice or make you sound far away as you move your head. That being said, because you are using a dongle, these offere a really low latency signal, with minimal quality loss. This I would say are the biggest strength of these earbuds. Now for the subject of audio quality. When playing games, the audio quality is pretty good. I was able to place enemy movement around me when playing Hell Divers 2. I also did enjoy the cinematic feel of Final Fantasy 16. The audio quality for music I would say is decent. Its definitely not as good as my Bose QC Ultras. One song I used for direct comparison, was Persona 5's Beneath The Mask (Rain Edition). With the Bose headphone, I was able to pick up the strumming of the guitar, and place each instrument as it game into the song in the room. Each strum I felt I was able to make out the picking of each chord from the guitar. With the Steelseries buds, it seems that as more instruments came into the song, I lost quality of any instrument that was already playing in the track. The little details became harder to discern and the overall sound while not bad, became more muddied out. If you don't listen to music nearly that closely, you probably will find these great with Punchy preset. But for me it was definitely a big hit to quality in comparison to my current daily driver headphones. For me these were purchased to serve one purpose. To have a set of gaming headphones that kept higher quality game sound while being on a call. I am very happy with the functionality that these bring for that. I suspect that if you don't have any headphone you use on the daily, you can probably pick these up and be happy. They are definitely a really versatile set of earbuds that specialize in Gaming. TL:DR If you already have some Sony/Apple/Bose headphone you use regularly, these are not going to be a great replacement for those. The strength is solely a gaming headset. If you don't have those type of headphones, or are looking for only gaming headphones, you won't be disappointed with this set.

TLDR: In dropping support for MacOS these SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds will most likely have a security vulnerability from the bluetooth or other wireless attack and SteelSeries won't be patching it. So using these in public will carry that danger and you are on your own. **This is my third time posting my honest review of the Steelseries Arctis Gamebuds. My previous reviews have vanished.** I'll keep using copy/paste Pros: Sound quality is good enough but is about half of wired earbuds and IEMs, not just volume but fullness of the sound. The sound quality is best using the dongle as bluetooth audio varies greatly from device to device. The fit of the earbuds is good and comfortable for many hours. Having buttons instead of touch sensors is great. The battery life is quite good and they last many hours. The bluetooth and 2.4Ghz dongle do offer very good connectivity, I didn't notice any drop-offs even when using bluetooth. Cons: The microphones are subpar and make you sound like you are underwater and will get garbled at times. The noise cancellation is good but will give your ears the sensation of air pressure which is hard to get used to. The transparency mode is necessary while speaking. The case seems to have been designed for someone with suction type fingers. The case is small which is great, but it is so smooth it is cumbersome to even open and can pop out of your grip like a wet fish. If you only have a phone and a game console you can't update the firmware or software--NO Security updates. You are unable to adjust any settings etc., one must have a PC running Microsoft Windows--ONLY. No linux or MacOS support at all. When I bought these in April 2026 they had support for MacOS, but less than a month later all support for MacOS is now gone. The Steelseries GG client no longer functions on MacOS and previously the app would detect the gamebuds but not anymore. The company knew they would be dropping support for MacOS but the consumer buying their products were kept in the dark. This is now the second product from this company that I own, that I now have much frustration from and entirely regret purchasing.

TLDR: had 2 pairs of these fail on me and sunk many actual hours fighting with each pair over the course of about 6-8 weeks. This is the second pair I have had in about 2 mos and BOTH pairs have had the left earbud completely $>?! out... like it turns on, it plays audio at like 10% volume while the right side is blaring. I have tried everything. reconnect, clean the mesh (which has no wax on either because I haven't had them long enough to develop any buildup) change registry settings, let the batteries die and do a full system refresh including reconnecting to the PC. I have followed every tip and trick I have found on the Steel Series site, Reddit, youtube, heck I even consulted AI (which I hate) and I still come out with the same issue. Why the left one? why at all? I have had 6 different earbuds over the years including the ROG Ceteras (which I will be going back to) and literally none of them have needed as much hand holding and troubleshooting as these god dang Gamebuds have. The GG app for the most part is great but either the Gamebuds are absolute dogwater or I am incredibly unlucky. I wanted to like the Gamebuds so badly too. They look nice, they fit well, they sound great when they are actually working... well as good as you could expect from earbuds. The virtual surround works really well, in fact I prefer it to my Logitech Pro over the ears but again... only if it's actually working... I love having physical buttons, even though it is hard to have on such small devices. My biggest issue with my ROG Cetera's is that they are touch buttons and like ANY amount of repositioning in my ear pauses my audio or changes volume or something. Physical buttons eliminate that issue altogether. HOWEVER............... I am going back to touch buttons because with my ROGs, I pull them out of my case, put them in my ear, and they work... with my Gamebuds they only work if everything is JUST right... is the GG app open in the background? is it in 2.4 mode? are my drivers up to date? Have I sacrificed a virgin goat to the gods of audio on an altar made of Marantz amps and Bowers monitors? is the wind blowing from the east or west? Is Mercury in Gatorade? I know I am being snarky but it really feels like everything needs to be just right for them to work properly. Case in point. the last pair of Gamebuds I were a nightmare to setup. I know, I know, it *should* have been as easy as plugging the dongle in and taking the buds out of the case, but it wasn't. pairing didn't go well and I had to futz with it. Once it all started working (which seemed like a choice that the buds made rather than anything I had any part in) I spent a week changing NOTHING just because I didn't want to have to fight with them again. Well, in that week I discovered that the silicone cushion on my left ear was a tad too big. Not a problem right? They pop right off and a new size goes right on, just like any other earbud, no setting changes or anything. WRONG. I popped the cushion off and suddenly that left side didn't work anymore. turned on, no audio... Fought with it for 3 days and exhausted all options, returned to amazon and swapped them for a new pair. The second pair paired to my PC much better and before pairing I changed the cushion out right away, everything worked, this is where the false hope set in. Using them went well... for a week... then literally out of nowhere I was listening to a YouTube video, didn't change any settings, didn't even touch the buds, they were working fine for 20+ mins and then mid-sentence of the video my left ear volume dropped almost completely out. I genuinely thought it was the video so I backtracked it by a min, nope, still nothing in the left channel. I opened Spotify on my PC, sure enough left bud is out still. hopped onto google to pull up troubleshooting, did all the things, LITERALLY 3 hours later the only change I can claim is that I was able to technically get audio back in the left ear but it is now capped at maybe 10% while the right will go all the way to 100%. I even went as far as to pull out a magnifying glass to inspect the ear holes and the speaker mesh, clean as a whistle... Given the fact that it dropped out mid video without any input from me, either physically, digitally, or spiritually, then I am inclined to think that maybe the product is just trash. Especially seeing as this happened twice now and the second time I can 100% say that it was not user error. I will be returning these and asking amazon for a refund. I will not be giving a third pair a new try. I might consider earbuds from Steel Series in the future if they make a new model of Gamebuds or something but this current model is just not worth the amount of babysitting and handholding that I have had to do with them and even after all of that, they seemed to die on their own anyway. As I said, the hardware is good, the fit is good, the PC software is good, the features are great, but something sinister is hiding in the code somewhere that is just waiting to cause a fault and until Steel Series figures out what that is, it is a big fat no from me dawg. I hope this saves someone else some pain and I really REALLY hope I am in the minority but judging by reviews on other sites and from Reddit, I am far from the only person that has had these exact issues with these buds.

Extremely happy. I bought these for work, actually, and do not use them for gaming. There aren't many 2.4G options in ear buds, and these are certainly the best for my situation - though it may not be yours. I'll explain. I previously used Sony Linkbuds because they are open ear earbuds (maybe the only ones on the market). I appreciate being able to hear my colleagues around me so that we can work or people can get my attention. These Arctis buds retain that transparency even being closed-ear. In fact, the Arctis Gamebuds solve a lot of complaints I had about the Sony Linkbuds - namely battery life and audio delay. In 2.4G mode, delay is an invisible 2ms or so, and the stream appears to be uncompressed at the device's sampling rate of 16bit 48000. The flat sound profile is also exactly what I need for the small amount of basic audio editing I do, and the speaker quality is more than good enough as a middle ground between my desktop monitors and my high-profile headphones. As a work headphone, you do have to install the desktop or mobile app, either one, to set the buttons on the gamebuds up for media consumption, but you can then uninstall the app and the buds will remember the settings. By default, the buds are set up for mic control and noise cancelling, but I swapped the single tap controls to pause and advance media. I'm especially pleased that you can double-tap-and-hold to change volume, which is something most buds don't offer. They're also comfortable enough for a full day of work. Try the small caps they provide, as I was surprised how well they fit. Negatives: ANC is nearly useless on these, like all earbuds, but I don't care because I don't use it (and I want the open-ear transparency as much as I can get, without using the bud's own "transparency" mode with relays outside sound through the buds). You will also note that bluetooth only supports SBC, so while most people will be happy with that an audiophile will very much notice the huge hit of compression artefacting when using bluetooth instead of 2.4G. The 2.4G radio is also not particularly strong, which is common of this technology, so be sure you have a mostly clear line of sight or few metal obstructions. Pairing time on 2.4G is also extremely dependent on that clear line of sight. You may also want to turn off the "auto shutdown" feature on these in an office environment, as you cannot wake the buds without placing them back in their case first.

Construction - these feel very plasticky and cheaply made. The gaskets for your ear canal are especially bad as they are made of very thin material that frequently flips inside out and doesn't hold its shape well. The case is prone to popping open in bags and doesn't feel especially sturdy. Sound - The audio quality is fine, but feels less full than the Pixel Buds-Series A they were replacing. The active noise cancelling doesn't seem to do much compared to leaving it off, and the pass-through mode pipes in and amplifies a lot of small background noises like computer fans and appliances. Connectivity - I had the ear buds connected to my phone via Bluetooth and my computer via the dongle. You have to mash the big button on the side to switch modes but it generally failed to connect to my phone without me going into the Bluetooth menu on my phone and forcing it to connect. The buds were also prone to going to sleep and disconnecting after a certain period of time, which was a problem for incoming phone calls from my computer. I would have to place them back into their case and then put them back on in order to get them to reconnect.

If You're Looking For High-Performance Wireless Earbuds That Seamlessly Blend Elite Gaming Functionality With Everyday Convenience, Look No Further Than The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds. Whether You're Gaming On Your PlayStation, PC, Nintendo Switch, Or Mobile Phone, These Buds Deliver Exceptional Audio With Zero Lag And Premium Comfort. After Daily Use Across Platforms, Here's My Full Review: --- Pros Lag-Free QuickSwitch Technology – Easily Toggle Between 2.4GHz Wireless And Bluetooth 5.3 In A Split Second. Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) – Truly Impressive For Earbuds—Blocks Out Background Distractions While Gaming Or Commuting. Massive Battery Life – Up To 40 Hours Of Total Use With The Charging Case (Qi Wireless Charging Compatible). Over 100+ Game Audio Presets – Optimized Sound Profiles That Bring Games Like Call Of Duty, Fortnite, Or Elden Ring To Life. Compact & Durable Carry Case – Portable And Sturdy, Great For On-The-Go. Low-Latency Audio – A Huge Plus For Competitive Gaming Sessions. --- Cons No On-Ear Volume Control – Volume Must Be Adjusted Via Your Device. Not Ideal For Intense Workouts – While Secure, These Aren’t Sports-Specific Earbuds. Premium Price – Worth Every Dollar, But Not The Cheapest Option If You're Only Using Them For Casual Listening. --- Useful Features Quick-Switch Dongle – Plug-And-Play USB-C Dongle Included, Allowing Near-Instant Connection To Gaming Consoles Or PC. Bluetooth 5.3 Support – Offers Wider Range, Faster Pairing, And Improved Battery Efficiency. Customizable EQ Settings Via Companion App Qi Wireless Charging Case – Drop It On Any Wireless Charger—No Cables Needed. Integrated Microphones – Crystal-Clear Voice Chat, Great For Discord Or Multiplayer Lobbies. Compact Form Factor – Sleek White Aesthetic, Fits Securely In The Ear For Long Sessions. --- Why These Should Be Your Everyday Earbuds These Aren’t Just “Gaming Earbuds”—They’re Your All-Day, Every-Scenario Solution: At Home: Game Lag-Free, Stream Movies, Or Take Zoom Calls. At Work: ANC Helps You Focus, And The Mic Handles Calls Cleanly. On The Go: QuickSwitch From Bluetooth To Console Means No Pairing Headaches. In Transit: Lightweight With Long Battery Life—You Can Use Them All Day Without Running For A Charger. Bottom Line: These Are The Only Earbuds I Need, And The Only Ones I Recommend. --- Final Verdict: 9.6/10 — Highly Recommended The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds Are Built For Gamers, But Designed For Life. They’ve Earned A Permanent Spot In My Gear Bag, And If You’re Someone Who Loves Gaming, Music, Or Just Great Tech, They Deserve To Be In Yours Too. Buy Them Once. Use Them Everywhere. Game Like A Pro, Live Like A Boss.

Pros: -Good battery life -Wireless charging -2.4GHz dongle with no lag -Works great on my PC and Steamdeck Cons: -Only 1 set of earbud tips, no other sizes -Random earbud disconnects even when dongle is 2 feet away -Talking or eating makes them loose in my ears -Hurt after wearing them for more than 90mins, maybe just my ears -No pain or hurt when I wear my Beats Earbuds

I was looking for an earbuds that I can also use for gaming. My 1st choice was the Sony top of the line buds; however, it lacks versatility. My next choice was the JBL; however, I'm not very familiar with the brand and when I saw the news on SteelSeries releasing an ear bus for gaming, I know it should be the one. I had to build up the patience since the release is still a few months away and the delivery also took a few weeks but it was all worth it. Comfort: light on ears and really fits nice, you won't ever feel it will fall off. Sometimes you won't even feel that it's there. Sound and Connection: BT connection is good. With the addition of equalizer you can enjoy music more based on your taste. 2.4 connection is great, I never had any disconnects and when I use it for voice chat in PS5 while playing Throne and Liberty, there is no lag and my friends can hear me clearly. You also have the options of Transparency, ANC and no controls which is very useful on different uses. i usually just wear 1 buds when outside to make sure I still hear my surroundings and transparency help on those instances. ANC is good as well, there was a construction outside our office and you can hear the tractors banging and this mode helped my reduce those noises; however, I had to be more aware since I also can't hear my colleagues at times. LOL Build: I can say that it is premium. The design and materials used are so good, it doesn't even look awkward when you're wearing it. Not like other earbuds that looks like a tumor on your ear that will fall off any time; however; it would be great if they can reduce the size and make it more compact and square or cylindrical more? So it won't look as bulky in my pants. Battery: Good, maybe it is because of the added features but it is enough for my daily use of music and gaming. I get around 8 hours more or less depending on the features I use (ANC/Transparency/None) Overall, it was worth the price and wait. It is one of the beds buds I've used and will likely be my main go to when gaming. Cheers Steelseries! Great Job on this one!

Good

I dont like the sound, it has alot of clipping and the headphones dont feel premium at all. i sent them back.

Necesitaba unos auriculares gaming para cualquier plataforma: si me llevo el portátil para jugar con amigos, o bien si quiero estar en la cama con la Switch 2, necesitaba unos auriculares con cancelación de sonido y que se pudieran llevar fácilmente. Y a ser posible que fueran bastante multiplataforma. También era importante el tema que no fueran Bluetooth, o mejor dicho, que se pudieran conectar con un dongle para evitar problemas de latencia (ya que los que usaba, eran Bluetooth y había una latencia más que considerable, con lo cual en FPS se nota bastante si escuchas pasos o alguien que se acerca). Tras leer muchas reviews, me decanté por estos. Tenía dudas acerca de la versión que comprar (blancos, negros, versión Playstation, versión Xbox). Y un poco lo que he visto es lo siguiente: - La versión Playstation funciona para PC, Playstation, Switch 2. - La versión Xbox funciona para los anteriores sistemas y además para Xbox. Estos, en el dongle, tienen un interruptor para elegir si queremos usarlos en Xbox o en los otros sistemas. Principalmente mi miedo era si funcionarían con la Switch 2. Y sí, puedo decir que los versión Playstation, funcionan con Switch 2 y PC que es con lo que lo uso. Y funcionan MUY bien! Son pequeños, cómodos, fáciles de transportar. La caja es elegante, y aunque se resbala fácilmente de las manos, con un poco de cuidado lo tenemos solucionado. Decir que son cómodos. Parece que no los lleves puestos, apenas pesan, y tras sesiones de un par de horas de juego, no notas dolor o molestia alguna (al menos en mi caso). La calidad de sonido, muy bien. Teniendo en cuenta que son unos earbuds, tenemos que ser realistas y saber en qué terreno se mueven. Disponen de una app en el móvil la cual nos permite tocar algunos parámetros (ecualización, modo de uso, límite de volumen, etc..). Decir que por probar, conecté el adaptador al puerto USB-C del teléfono y lo detecta, como podéis ver en las imágenes de la aplicación. También tenemos un gran listado de ecualización con ajustes optimizados según el juego (se puede ver en la foto). En el momento de hacer este análisis hay 261 juegos. Si lo preferimos, podemos elegir nuestro estilo personal de ecualización. La cancelación de sonido es buena, no excelente. Eso quiere decir que en entornos ruidosos seguiremos escuchando ese ruido de fondo. En cualquier caso, normalmente juego en casa y es un entorno bastante tranquilo por lo que activo la cancelación por defecto para centrarme más en el juego. Estoy realmente encantado con ellos. Funcionan perfectamente. La calidad de sonido es muy buena y lo mejor, para mi, son la ausencia de latencia y la comodidad al usarlos. Los recomiendo, sí, al 100%. Son pequeños, fácilmente transportables. Eso sí, entiendo que el precio, puede ser una limitación y que para muchos, por este mismo precio, elegirán unos auriculares grandes. Sin embargo, en mi caso, preferí decantarme por estos ya que me resultan más cómodos y se transportan fácilmente.

Ich bin wirklich begeistert von diesen kleinen Dingern! Mit diesen Buds von Steelseries habe ich endlich die richtige Headset Alternative gefunden. Bevor ich diese Buds gekauft habe, habe ich noch die Sony Inzone Buds getestet. Steelseries ist dabei der klare Gewinner. Was mich überzeugt hat: Klangqualität: Wow! Ich war wirklich überrascht, wie klar und satt der Klang ist. Man hört jedes Detail, egal ob leise Schritte im Spiel oder die volle Wucht einer Explosion. Auch beim Musikhören machen sie eine super Figur – klare Höhen, ausgewogene Mitten und ein ordentlicher Bass, ohne zu übersteuern. Dazu kann man mit der Steelseries App individuell einiges anpassen. Tragekomfort: Ich habe oft Probleme mit In-Ears, die entweder drücken oder ständig herausfallen. Bei diesen hier ist das anders. Sie sitzen perfekt und sind so leicht, dass ich sie manchmal fast vergesse. Auch nach Stunden kein unangenehmes Gefühl. Verbindung: Die Einrichtung war kinderleicht, und die Verbindung (sowohl über den Dongle als auch Bluetooth) ist super stabil. Ich hatte bisher keinerlei Aussetzer oder Verzögerungen, was gerade beim zocken extrem wichtig ist. Mikrofon: Klangqualität soll gut sein. Meine Telefongespräche verliefen ohne irgendwelche Kommentare und auch beim zocken gab es keine Kommunikationsprobleme. Akkulaufzeit: Für so kleine Kopfhörer hält der Akku erstaunlich lange. Ich komme locker den ganzen Abend (20-24 Uhr ca.) durch, ohne Akkuprobleme zu haben. Und das Ladecase ist super praktisch für unterwegs. Design und Verarbeitung: Die Buds machen einen sehr hochwertigen Eindruck. Sie fühlen sich gut an und sehen auch noch schick aus. Nur das Ladecase fühlt sich im Vergleich zu den Airpods Pro 2 minderwertig an. Kleiner Hinweis: Man sollte sich bewusst sein, dass In-Ears bauartbedingt nicht den gleichen Raumklang erzeugen können wie Over-Ear-Kopfhörer. Für mich persönlich ist das aber kein Nachteil, da ich den direkten, immersiven Klang dieser Buds sogar bevorzuge.

the sound in it is decent but when I use the ANC and noise control I got distortion and cracking sounds I tried every thing to fix it but there is no fix for it, so I googled it and I found out thats everyone have the same problem and the fix for it is turning off ANC, it is one of the features for this earbuds that is not working correctly. (writing this after 9 months, they didn't fix the problem aslo it does not have good lifespan battery)