Customer Ratings & Reviews

They took a crap on day 15 of use. Best buy refused to return or exchange them. I picked them up on april 30th. Agent said im 3 days over due for returns or exchanges. Waste of money. Nice paper weight i guess. Will not be returning to best buy for any purchases

when in a party chat. my friends alway complain to me that i sound far away.

First time ordering from Best buy online and having delivered. Once delivered and opened no earbuds just empty box and I reported right away. They reviewed it and said there is nothing they could do. They couldn't even replace the item. So upset will never order from them again. It happens from reviews I've read but they treat it like no big deal.

These weren’t worth the money. I was very disappointed.

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.

Was hoping for AirPods Pro, but for PC. Not really great sound for the price you’re paying. The Arctis nova pro wireless is still their best offering. The mic on these straight up do not work no matter what you change. It IS possible to have decent mics on earbuds like these.

honestly not a good buy for console gaming.. you need a pc to update these headphones and personalize them which is a huge inconvenience. Audio is ok, but the real problem is the mic.. my friends no matter what I did cold barely hear me

Bad mic goes in and out all the time hard to get working right

I really liked these until the right ear bud began making a constant low bass sound after just over three months. I’ve factory reset them multiple times but it always come back.

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.

Sound quality is lacking. Followed the directions on connection and I have to reconnect at least 5 times for sound to come through. For this amount of money, I expect a crap load more.

Bought PS5 version. Satisfied with product. Bass is better than average for TWS earbuds and overall sound quality is great. However some games do have a crackling sound that emits during low sound effects. App has nice features and battery life is better than average TWS earbuds as well. Even with volume limter setting off, volume is a bit too low on PS5 but that seems to be a PlayStation problem. Maybe with future firmware updates, this can be improved. Overall, best gaming earbuds that are out right now in my opinion.

I really didnt like it stays in your ear but the quality of the sound wasnt for me I will stick to my arctis nova pro wireless

In the box is the headphones with charging case, USB-C to USB-C charge cord, a dongle (USB-A to female USB-C in which you can use to plug the headphones into your Xbox), a quick start guide and different sized buds for the headphones. First Impression - This is my first pair of in-ear gaming headphones and I can’t wait to test the comfort and sound and battery life of this product. Connection - Out of the box, you will need to connect the headphones to your phone (or PC) Bluetooth first. (I would like to add to don’t forget to disconnect them or you won’t be able to connect via 2.4GHz the first time. The App - When using the Game Buds on PC there is an update that requires your PC to restart, which was less than ideal but didn’t take long so it wasn’t too much of a hassle. After that you can connect them both ways (thank goodness because you have to have them connected in order for the app to work.) But the app itself is very user friendly, there is a side tone feature, so you can hear yourself speaking in case you want to know how clearly or loudly you’re coming through to your peers; as well as variable settings for the button presses and Active Noise Canceling (ANC). Sound/Mic - The ANC works great, mutes most background noises like fans running etc (my computer fans are very loud so this is a huge bonus); transparency is great for playing when you want to listen to your surroundings on the go. Fair warning these game buds can get very loud. I myself didn’t need to turn up the volume past around ten or fifteen percent if the ANC was active. Playing at full volume makes various game sounds feel like they are quite literally next to your ear, which is very fun when exercised with caution. The microphone equipped to these game buds is better than any mic I currently own; both on Xbox and PC. I am known to have a softer voice, but I am heard clearly with no need to adjust settings or my go-to which is to shout every word. Battery Life - The buds also have an extremely long battery life. I am known to play until I fall asleep, and thankfully about 5 minutes of inactivity (no sound at all); the buds will turn themselves off. When I wake, the battery level seems unchanged and ready for another long night of gaming. Overall I expect these to be my number one headset for a long while; as their comfort and sound exceed all of the other headsets in my collection. I would recommend this product to friends and family.

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

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

They’re easy to use but the sound quality isn’t great and the mic didn’t work well people had trouble hearing me.

Overall these are great – the sound quality is outstanding and the overall functionality is great. Setup – setting them up via Bluetooth was easy and straightforward. To use the WiFI setup I had to have the app but once I did it was pretty easy to flip back and forth. The app asks for an account so I had to set one up and assume there be the weekly promotional-type emails – I’m sure there will be a way to opt out but haven’t really seen anything other than a welcome and there are a couple of features on the earbuds. Functionality – let’s start with the sound – these may in flat response be the best-sounding earbuds I have ever used – I tried a bunch over the past 2-3 years some good some bad but not found anything that I would replace my Big A pros with (based on sound and feature) but these may make me think twice. The app is very useful and really needed to assist in functionality, especially if you use the WiFi feature or in gameplay. As far as that goes I didn’t notice delays or lag. I did try out some of the preprogrammed eq for the games and it did increase the game sounds but nothing that I would say was a “gamechanger’ – In other words if that went away it would not change my opinion. I really like the fact that you can easily switch between Bluetooth and wifi – makes them a one-stop solution. I will comment on the noise canceling not the best I ‘ve heard but not bad – I’m not sure that you can get great NC out of earbuds and there are better ones out there but at this price point it's really pretty good. Comfort – I was able to wear them for about 4 hrs with no discomfort – using one of this nature of fit gets tiresome after a couple of three hours Battery life – played for 4 hours with NC on and still had life left Overall I would give this a 5-star rating – they are by no means perfect but the sound quality and flexibility far exceed any shortcomings.

Never really thought about using earbuds for gaming so I was really looking forward to see how the Arctis GameBuds would perform and to see what type of use I could get out of them. The quick decision is these Arctis are really good at everything, but not great. So not only do I play games, I also work out at the gym almost daily so I was hoping that these would be my 1 earbud for all situations. In the box you get the earbuds itself, different size eartips, usb-c dongle that sits in the case (very convenient), usb-a to c adapter and a usb-c charging cable. The case itself is slightly larger than my other earbud case but nothing that is out of the ordinary and the case is capable of wireless charging, which IMO, should be the norm on all earbuds today, but it's not. These earbuds are also very light and comfortable making long time use not a problem. The fit is good for my ears but I did have it come loose during gym sessions. Not a big deal because I don't mind just adjusting them when needed. The noise cancellation is good but the hear through mode could have been better. The mic noise cancellation was excellent. When I took phone calls at the gym, people couldn't even hear the music in the background. Battery life is good as well, really like the 15 minute charge for 3 hours of use feature. For gaming and music, these are very good. Again, not great. I think for gaming, a good over ear headphones are better and for music, there are earbuds that sounds better. But, the Arctis is the only earbuds that does both very good. At this price point, I don't think you can go wrong. It is perfect for multiple uses and works on different platforms.

Taking back because we couldn't get mic to work and need phone for app to make it easier to trouble shoot.