Customer Ratings & Reviews

I was excited to receive these game buds because I felt that they could make my gaming experience even better, however after the first few minutes with them I realized that they were going to be unusable. Once I paired the Game Buds to my phone and downloaded the app, I then connected to my PC and updated the firmware via the Steel Series Engine App and made sure I was properly setup and up to date before I used them. Once I started using them, I noticed the Sound was really good. Playing games on XBOX sounded great. Lots of bass for explosions and there was decent level of detail in the game. I then proceeded to play some music through them and was again surprised that they sounded decent. I was now excited to use them as my primary device. Once I joined my friends through the XBOX party, the first thing they said to me was " you sound like you're in a tunnel" meaning there was a noticeable chamber like sound, almost an echo coming from me whenever I would talk. I wasn't bummed yet as I figured there was a setting I could adjust to fix this. I went through the app and even reached out to technical support. The app did nothing to solve this and technical support was useless. They told me to make sure they are up to date and then reset the Game Buds. This did not work either. So, the fact remains that since I play online with my friends in a party chat every single day, I cannot use these. They say it's really annoying to listen to the way my voice sounds and so I have gone back to my other Artis Headset. Other features of the headset are the ability to use them via Bluetooth with your phone as well as 2.4Ghz mode for XBOX or PC. You can fully customize the EQ via the phone application as well as change your sidetone and microphone volume. If only the microphone quality was better, they would be awesome. Another feature that I find is not particularly good is the transparency and ANC modes. The transparency is lack luster at best and the ANC barely sounds different then ANC OFF. These headphones feel rushed and not well thought out. I wanted to love these but the microphone being on the sides of your head means that your voice just won't come thru the same as if you were using a conventional headset with a mic right Infront of your mouth. I guess this is why no one has tried this before. I feel like if you don't regularly participate in voice chats, then they could work for you as they do have decent sound, but I cannot use these for how I game.

bad quality case , bad connection, feels cheap compared to the price

No good bad sound no bass. For what you paying you would think they would be great. Honestly my 40$ headphones are better

these lasted for 3 months and died, pure trash. DO NOT BUY

I am happy with my purchase. I've used Sony linkbud S, and Pixel A buds prior to these steel series. I have small ears and comfort and stability is important to me. The Sony and Pixel earbuds would hurt and cause discomfort after 30mins of use or so as well as start moving out of place if I talk or move my jaw in anyway. I've used these steelseries for several consecutive hours multiple days this past week without any discomfort and I've only had to reposition once per session. The Bluetooth and 2.4ghz modes have also been convenient when receiving phone calls while playing games, however as they do advertise these buds do not give simultaneous audio from both sources, so while in the call I would not get any sound from the PC. This can be good or bad depending on situation or your setup but it works for me. I think the artist nova headset will do simultaneous audio if that's what you are looking for. Battery life has been good. They did not die on me in use during an 8 hour session so I'm happy. I haven't done any in-depth testing of charge rates and dissipation but I'm sure there will be someone who does. Audio quality is great, no complaints from me there. As for the mic, it's just okay. Even playing around with the settings it's no replacement for an actual mic. For me it does what I need. I give it five stars for working as advertised and meeting my needs.

Noise cancellation wasn’t good and you could be in the room by yourself and everyone still has everything around you

Didn't work on either Xbox X or Pc! So I returned them.

I'm an audiophile or something very close to it. I like the purest sound you can imagine be it to listen to soft classical, heavy rock, hip hop or whatever type of music you throw at me. I tend to get the best headphones and earbuds available just because I am too critical. But very few such devices are comfortable enough for me to wear for extended period of time. Unfortunately, I have sensitive ears and I can't stand the pressure for long. But comfort is probably what I liked the most about this device as it allows me to wear it a bit longer than others without feeling it's too much to bare. If I were going to use these earbuds on my phone for instance, I would not just because it doesn't produce the audio quality I would expect. However, when it comes to games, I am a lot less critical and I'm very happy with its performance. It's far from what I get with high quality over ears headphones, but the comfort is superior and as I said earlier, I can play for a lot longer without removing them which is a big bonus when I don't want to bother the rest of the family with my games. That's a big plus to me. And yes, the audio quality is not bad all for gaming. I just wish the noise canceling was a little better. It's okay and much better than nothing but they still let more sound in when my wife is vacuuming the floor nearby than I hoped. But I can live with that and I wouldn't expect many to complain. My main use has been with a PS5 but I have also used with my gaming laptop and gaming PC and they performed just as well in all of them. One thing to note is that these are the first gaming earbuds I ever had. Maybe I would have been more or less critical had I tried others before, buy overall, I am very satisfied, especially with the comfort for sensitive ears like mine.

Noise cancellation wasn’t good! Even in a room with no other people

More expensive than AirPods and feels/works like Amazon knockoff

Order has yet to arrive. It’s been stuck with FedEx and I cannot get a reason as to why or how to fix it.

Not loud at all easy on the ears but not good sound

My order keeps getting cancelled even though I have had best buy for years

The best thing I can say about the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds is that they are gaming earbuds, which is not extremely common. The sound is good for earbuds and you get some directional audio, although this is much better with an on or over ear set of gaming headphones. These are very convenient, and are easy to carry along for a game night with friends which is a huge plus. The microphone quality is also decent, it definitely works for a casual game night. The pairing process is great using the USB C dongle, and they GameBuds connected right away. I did experience a decent amount of connection loss to one side that would only be remedied by placing the single GameBud back into the case and then putting it back in my ear. After doing this the issue would be resolved for that gaming session. Pairing this to my iPhone was no problem either, but connectivity to my Android tablet was hit or miss. The ANC on this set is mid tier, defnintely not going to match what you may be used to with a high end set of ANC headphones. The GameBuds are fairly comfortable for shorter sessions, but I did experience some decent ear fatigue after around an hour. Overall I would recommend these if you are looking for a earbud style gaming setup, but you will have shortcomings that you would not experience with an on or over ear set.

Uncomfortable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awful. Didnt even get to use them. Best buy is awful

This is the first time I experienced gaming earbuds. I always thought gaming headsets are the gold standard for gaming comfort, sound performance and quality output. These buds surpassed all my expectations with my basic gaming needs and more! First of, box opening is easy and very welcoming. I don’t like too much added sheets and I don’t read manuals. Very simple instructions are labeled on the box as I opened them, and I actually read them. Lol. That is already a huge plus. Very basic button instructions and getting set up are easily presented to me in a very easy to digest manner. I think this is the most prepared and informed I have been opening any device I have ever. These white Arctis Gamebuds look nice. The case design has the right combination of whites and blacks with a prominent Arctis logo on top. It is made of hard plastic with a bit of hollow feel at the top but it is not flimsy. The hinges are tight, and the lid snaps in place. The case is not small compared to usual earbuds but they are still compact and very easy to hold. It surprisingly holds a lot in the case, considering the case size because the case also houses the radio dongle. Setting up is easy using the Arctis app for my phone. The buds itself is pretty solid and the fit is nice. It does not fall off even with sudden head jerks. I like that it has actual buttons versus taps to control the buds like volume or ANC modes because I get a precise click versus just taps from other earbuds that confuse me if I have been tapping it correctly. It even has voice notifications to let me know what mode it is on, for example, or what it is connected to (dongle or bluetooth). The PC app is also great for customizations and actually has pretty good features. Both phone app and PC app has EQ settings and connectivity options as well as where to create presets for specific games. This is actually one of the best features of either app—there are tons of game presets. I can easily select from games I play. Luckily it has the titles I play like RDR2 and GTA V to name a few. When playing on PC, I set my preferences prior to playing so whether I use Epic Games, Ubi or Steam or launch the settings are already active. When on PS5, I like it that it automatically recognizes the game I am on—when I started playing Red Dead Redemption 2, the audio preset was already there. Then when I need to tweak while playing, I simply use the mobile device. Bluetooth and dongle (2.4hz) settings do not work at the same time. When I am on bluetooth, on a call, I cannot hear the game, and vice versa. Performance-wise, the sound is great. It is very clear and I can hear steps and explosions exclusively. From flat EQ, it is already good. When I use presets, the sound is more immersive, but the difference of presets and flat EQ is not too stark for me. I think the tweaks are just for optimization, but in general, the sound quality is really great. Especially when it comes to surround quality, sound levels, highs, mids and lows are distinct and they are wide enough to recognize which part of the game a specific sound is coming from. Sound is great too. It also could be because the fit is nice, so there are no spills on the sound, so all audio goes straight into the ears. On calls, I was told how clear my speech is without soliciting feedback. This already tells me how good the microphone is. ANC is excellent as well. I would say, when it is on, it drowns out maybe 90% of environment sound. It also enhances the quality of the sound output by a lot. Battery is great and comfort is acceptable—“acceptable” being, like any other pair of earbuds, it tends to bring soreness on my 4th hour. So I have not used the buds for over 4 hours straight and it goes back to the case. Thus, I have not really measured battery life yet since for my multiple 4 hour intervals, the buds never go below 80%. The PC app by the way, has so many features beyond sound game presets and EQ tweaks, similar to gaming platform features like streaming and capture. It also has auto-enabling of captures for specific games which can all be tweaked using the PC app. It even includes a mixer however, some components of it (e.g. Sonar) adds active drivers to my PC sound settings, which can add clutter to my set up. Otherwise, the software is a very good game companion app. These are really good earbuds. I can see me using this a lot more in the future especially for playing elsewhere away from home because I do not need to use bulky headphones to get quality sound. Besides, I don't like using headphones when I am out anyway, especially when playing mobile games at a coffee shop. Maybe besides the long use discomfort, I would say, this could be my main pair; perhaps can be a good supplement, like a sidearm. It definitely takes over my headphones except for long raids. I think this is a must-have for majority of gamers out there.

I'm a headphones geek. But even my favorite set of cans can be uncomfortable, like when I'm trying to lay back in my recliner while playing Xbox. The cans are so big that unless my head is perfectly flat against the back of the chair, they end up bumping against it. And with most headsets these days having important controls and dials on the back of the earpieces, I'm always turning them off or changing the volume inadvertently. Laying down is also an issue with them. For comfort's sake, I had to find something else to use for my late night gaming sessions on the recliner or while settling into bed. So yeah, I have another set of wireless earbuds now. "Gaming" earbuds. But you know what? These earbuds are way better for gaming than any other earbuds I've tried pairing to my consoles. The difference is the 2.4 Ghz dongle. Regular earbuds connect via bluetooth (which this pair will also do, in case you want to use them for your phone or tablet), which can introduce lag. You know how annoying it is to watch a show and the actors' lips move slightly out of sync with the audio? Well, it can be an outright dealbreaker to try and play some games with audio lag. What's more is that the dongle can be used on any system, no more pairing and reconnecting and disconnecting and unpairing and so on trying to use the same earbuds on multiple devices. The dongle is USB Type C, but there's a C to A adapter in the box. The dongle has a switch on it labeled PC/Xbox, but don't be fooled. PC mode works on Playstation and Nintendo Switch, it' s only the Xbox that needs a proprietary communication protocol for full use of features. What I really like about this set is the dongle actually fits in the earbuds case! You can take it with you easy peasy! Listen to music through bluetooth on the phone on the commute to work, then plug the dongle into the work pc for a the morning teams meeting. Swapping from bluetooth to 2.4ghz mode is done by triple tapping the right earbud. There is an actual button with a tactile click, instead of capacitive buttons that tend to be finicky. Those are the only "gestures" that I have figured out, since it seems that every earbud manufacturer seems to assign tapping and holding a set number of times to different functions. What is volume up on one set is pause on another, so I never bothered to memorize any of the actions. The audio is pretty good with these in. I was surprised by the bass levels when pumping out some old school jungle tracks. Even though it wasn't bone vibrating, I could still catch all the subbass hits with the appropriate amount of thumping instead of a weak puff. Instruments weren't as crisp and tightly individualized as they are on my reference cans, but it doesn't detract from the overall audio experience. Unfortunately these don't have multipoint bluetooth, they can only connect to one device at a time. So my dreams of a complete all in one solution for all of my consoles, pc, phone & tablet were temporarily dashed. That is, until I remembered my iOS tablet has USB-C. So I did the only logical thing and plugged the dongle into that. A notification popped up asking if the device was headphones, so I said yes, and lo and behold, it worked! So yeah, this is it, the mimimalist solution to listen to every device with one set of wireless earbuds. One thing that I don't like is how quickly these go on standby mode. While I'm working, I like to keep them in for the impromptu teams call, but if no sound is playing for a few minutes the buds turn themselves off. While the app says it's only after 30 minutes, it really feels like a lot less. It can also be changed in the app or the PC program. The instructions say to turn them back on, put them back in the case momentarily (annoying if you don't have case on you) or according to the FAQ on the website, press and hold the button on each side for 3 seconds (which at the time it happened to me I hadn't yet read the instructions). Only a minor nuisance, but one I seem to run into often, usually while picking something to watch while also getting setup to settle in for some cozy couch gaming after the rest of the family has gone to bed.

Steelseries is an established gaming brand that puts out quality accessories for PC and gaming consoles. The Arctis Gamebuds do not disappoint. The color scheme fits right into the PS5 design. Connecting it to the PS5 or even PC couldn't be easier with the 2.4GHz wireless receiver that is conveniently tucked into the case. Speaking about the case, the received is held in securely by a rubber grommet via the male USB C plug and the buds themselves are held in place magnetically along with the lid. A strong shake or drop will dislodge the buds, but the receiver will likely stay in the case. Another note about the case is the inclusion of Qi charging (can also be charged via USB C). Should be a expected of ALL WIRELESS earbuds; entry level OR premium! The ear buds themselves are comfortable to wear for me. I have been wearing them while working for several hours or gaming without out discomfort or itchiness I sometimes get with silicone tips. It seems the silicon tips (comes with 3 different sizes) are a bit smaller than standard tips. Connection is handled via Bluetooth or the 2.4GHz. Switching between the 2 involves 3 taps to the right bud. I found this convenient to switch from gaming on the PS5 to switch over 2 my phone. I also liked that the face of the buds have a clicky button as opposed to touch capacitive surfaces which I usually struggle with to get the taps or swipes right. The defined clicks work for me since I can audibly hear if I successfully clicked the bud. There are more audio profile presets than I will ever be able to use. But the sound of music, movies and games sound as good as most other buds I have used. Tweaking the different settings will help but it's something each user needs to play with. What sounds good for me may not sound great for the next guy. I usually use one but when I'm watching something so I don't get yelled at while watching/listening to something, but with the transparency mode, I can listen to something with both buds in and still hear what is going on in the house around me. If I wanted to block out the house, then could quickly block it out with the ANC. While it isn't the Bose of ANCs, it does well to block out most of background noises. I look forward to flying with them later this month. Overall I am pleasantly satisfied with the Arctis buds in how they operate and sound. I have nothing bad to say about them and would recommend them to anyone looking for a solid set of wireless earbuds.

Right out of the box - They are attractive, lightweight, and feel like they have a good durability / quality. Set up - I didn't have any issues pairing it with my xBox but when trying to pair it to my phone it took a few tries. Once it was paired, connection seemed strong on both devices. The case doubles as a charger, storage and contains the USB dongle. This was a great idea and works well. Sound quality - These are pretty decent but I feel like they could be louder. I messed with the settings but nothing felt quite like a regular over-the-ear headset. This could just be a me thing, because my teenage son prefers these over the over-the-ear style. When playing COD or Fortnite, I just didn't think I heard the footsteps as well as I could have. The noise canceling was decent, but definitely not up to par with some of the more established noise cancelling headphones. I could still her kids in the backgroud while wearing them, but it definitely did lower the outside noise. Comfort - These are comfortable and you won't have to deal with your ears being squished. Overall - I'd give them 4 out of 5 stars as they are serviceable depending on the style of game you play.