Customer Ratings & Reviews

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

These earbuds exceeded my expectations. I was very weary of gaming headsets that aren't "headphones" but this one seemed very interesting because it seems very similar to other earbuds that you might use on the daily so it's very portable and I'm not disappointed with it so far. The customization you get with it is very in-depth SteelSeries GG app on the PC. You can customize your 5 channel equalizer to your liking. You can choose to have more chat or game in your earbuds too. You can also choose to have the spatial audio as well which can give that sense of direction to your hearing. I personally cannot figure it out too much so I leave it off. There is a volume boost option as well which might be useful for some games. The phone app has customization options too like the ANC option but if you really want to customize this, you have to use their PC app. The ANC seems to work fairly well and it'll get you by just fine. The sound quality is superb though and I find it very nice listening to music, playing games, and watching movies. You can obviously customize the EQ to fit your liking so your mileage will vary with this one, but it does come with a lot of presets already so you might just have to tinker with that. The case itself is pill shaped and it can easily fit in your pocket. The earbuds design is very slick and stylish, but I find that it's hard to grasp when in your ear. I end up clicking the button on it. Overall, this earbud is a great portable setup for whatever you might need. Gaming at home and on the go.

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

More expensive than AirPods and feels/works like Amazon knockoff

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

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! Even in a room with no other people

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.

In general I am an over-the-ear headphone person for just about anything audio when I need discrete sound, they just are more comfortable for me. I think I sacrifice some active noise cancellation with this, but it’s a comfort thing for me. I have always used over-the-ears for gaming because that has been the only thing available for dedicated gaming sound historically, especially if little to no lag is crucial. The GameBuds by SteelSeries change all that. Two things come into play for me when gaming sound is needed. An immersive experience, and no lag. These GameBuds provide both very convincingly. First, you have two modes for connecting to a device, Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless by dongle into your controller or computer. This is where the no lag comes in. I tested both BT and the wireless dongle modes and had a noticeable difference in lag between the two, with the dongle connection being superior by far. One goal hit for me. The other is immersive experience. Here I plugged into the companion app (free download for computer or mobile device). In the app you can tweak the sound of these buds and make them your own sound. This includes toggles for computational effects (like surround), and a graphical equalizer. The toggles work about the same as most headphones with these features, it’s ok, but for many sources they are marginal at best. The equalizer is truly great though, especially on the computer. You are able to select preset configurations based on specific games, or actually use sliders to create a custom profile These profiles stay with the GameBuds and will be your sound for any source. The mic is fine for earbuds, I do prefer a boom closer to my mouth for clearer communication, but these have decent pickup and do suffice. The side tone feature is ok, it reduces the “pressure” you might feel when you talk, but it’s nothing remarkable. I’m glad it is there. For music sources these are pretty good actually. I believe it relies solely on one codec (SBD) so it’s not going to be high bit rate, but the equalizer gives you a level of sound elevation that many earbuds do not. As for active noise cancellation and pass through I would say these GameBuds don’t deliver class leading performance. Pass through sounds muffled compared to other options and ANC works, but it’s not enough for me to keep the volume of my sources lower. I would overall recommend these if you like earbuds and want a no compromise, anti-lag solution for gaming, as long as you use the dongle connection. For BT connections, music listening, video, etc, I’d say there are better solutions out there.

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

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

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

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.

When I think of an ideal headset for gaming, rarely if ever, prior to trying out the arctus game buds, do I think of earbuds instead of headphones. That has all changed with the Arctis Game Buds. Let me first talk about convenience. I have a great gaming setup, but every time I get something new, it becomes more cluttered. These are one of the first accessories that I have gotten that do not clutter the area more, and in fact, keep it much. Tidier. Another feature that these have that you do not expect out of earbuds is both Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity via a USBC dongle. I can confirm that these work on PC, PlayStation, Nintendo switch, and my cell phone. I suspect, however, that using the dongle these may even work on Xbox One. I mentioned before space saving, these are also great for people who can live in more confined spaces and don't have a dedicated gaming area. The active noise canceling and targeted microphone make these excellent for use even in a crowded apartment. For those audiophiles out there, you can download the app for these to get hundreds of preset audio settings for various games on PlayStation 5, tweaked to enhance the enjoyment of each individual game. On a lighter note, I found it very funny that there were so many warnings on this product, presumably because it is for children, but talking about how you can die if you swallow these. So just in case you were thinking about it, these are not edible.

I prefer these over the Steelseries Nova Pro Wireless headphones since they isolate noise much better and don’t cause my ears to overheat. I haven’t used my NPW’s since I got these. The battery runtimes seem adequate for my gaming sessions and I play mmorpg’s. Time will tell how the battery holds up though, since they can’t be freely swapped out like the NPW’s. Sound is good enough and I’m using the same custom EQ from my NPW’s (from GadgetryTech on youtube). They’re also loud enough but I haven’t tested for distortion at the higher output levels. Hooks into the Steelseries software platform just like any other hardware just fine. It automatically switches to my speakers when I place the earbuds in the case. Sometimes I need to remove and place again because it doesn’t register but so far it just one retry. Minus 1 star because they’re not as comfy as I would like.

Steel Series newest gaming audio device. These are pretty simple to setup they come with a usb-c dongle to plug into your pc/laptop (usb-a) adapter included. They sync automatically to the adapter but you can also add a 2nd device via bluetooth and switch between them easy enough tapping on the earbuds themselves. The 2.4ghz connection to the pc is rock solid and have not experienced any issues there. The sound quality is medium I was not blown away by anything here but in my use case I like having just one earbud in to game and still have an open ear to deal with real life family drama. Bluetooth is pretty average what you would expect from any other pair of earbuds, nothing fancy to write home about here. The buttons themselves on the earbuds are mechanical meaning they actually press/depress which is nice and I didn't feel like I was crushing the earbuds into my ear canals using them. Of course there is yet another app to customize everything via steel series on your phone. Battery life is solid I have not had to stop gaming to recharge yet they have lasted through all my gaming sessions without interruption. Case is wireless charge compatible and charges via included usb c to usb c cable. Overall I think the best use case here is if you are dead set on wanting to game via earbuds instead of headphones this is it. You won't find much better suited for gaming and comfort, the connection over 2.4ghz is what really sets it apart from something like a bose or sony option. I'm not overly impressed overall I would rate them as average sound wise but they are perfect for what I was looking for in my particular gaming setup. Make sure you grab the right ones for your console/pc (xbox ones have a special chip so make sure to pay attention you are buying the correct ones).

I have always been a big fan of SteelSeries headsets and I have used them regularly throughout the last few years. Their quality has always been top tier even on less expensive sets, so I was very excited when I saw they had come out with a new pair of earbuds and with good reason! While the earbud design doesn't allow for quite as much sound quality as a full headset, the drop off would only be noticed by the highest tier of audiophile. These earbuds come likely as close as can reasonably be expected. When paired with the companion app on your mobile phone, these will really shine. There are tons of audio presets for a variety of situations and listening modes. I have primarily used these on my Xbox Series X and my mobile phone. Setup on both was super easy and convenient. Same goes for switching between bluetooth and Xbox. I highly recommend connecting to both and using the phone app to control things and set everything up. These earbuds fit comfortably in my ear which as far as I know is fairly normal sized. The noise cancellation works amazingly as I have tested running on a treadmill in the gym since there's not a lot of outside noise interference at home. Not once in the miles I put in did they fall out while running which is a very important requirement for the gym so as to not have any funny security videos of you falling off the treadmill trying to catch them go viral. Directional sound in gaming also works excellent as I do tend to play a lot of the online games such as Call of Duty or Fortnite.