Customers value the sound quality, battery life, and comfortable fit of the Arctis GameBuds. Many appreciate the effective noise cancellation and the inclusion of a customizable equalizer. However, some users experienced issues with low volume levels and occasional connection problems. The price point was also cited as a potential drawback by some customers.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 1 Showing 1-20 of 192 reviews
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Bluetooth
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Bang for your buck!
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Pros:
+ Bluetooth 5.3 & 2.4GHz connectivity
+ Includes a USB-C to USB-A adapter
+ Toggle ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) and transparency with the push of a button
+ Clear phone calls to listen and
Cons:
- Custom EQ presets requires modifying via Sonar software on computer
I'm not typically a big fan of in-ear headphones. I have used the likes of JBL, Pixel Buds, and other types that would never stay in my ear. I have had great success with these!
The first use of these after a full charge in 2.4GHz mode (connected to a desktop PC) lasted me about 13 hours. This included listening to music, gaming, watching social media vids, and more.
I'll be testing in bluetooth mode soon to see how they fair, but first impressions are great for these GameBuds!
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Paul
Posted .
Hello - Thanks for your review! we are glad to learn you have enjoyed our GameBuds and found that the device functions well.
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Sound quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great Versatile Earbuds
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I bought these to replace my Logitech G935 gaming headset. The G935s started to have a problem with powering on the first time. Sometimes well more than the first. I'd been looking for something I could use with my PS5 and PC. I also travel with a laptop from time-to-time and use the headsets with it.
Since I have been using my AirPods Pros for a while with my phone I thought I'd look for some in-ear option for gaming.
First a shout out to BB for always being there when I need/want something! Great price and ordering online and picking up in the store was a breeze.
The main reason I bought these was the ability to connect to the PS5, PC and my iPhone.
It does all of that.
What I didn't know was the extended battery life these have. I've used them throughout the day for the past two days and have not managed to get them below 25% in a single use.
My first connection was with my iPhone. Followed the instructions and was connected immediately. I had looked at a number of reviews and noticed all had said to turn off the limiter in the app. I haven't listened with the limiter on, but it gets very loud with it off.
I've used these in Warzone with my phone and it has made the game much more enjoyable. Footsteps are very distinct and the sound is very immersive. I've also watched some videos on YouTube on listened to music. I'm debating on if these will become my everyday earbuds.
I have used the mic in phone calls and was told it sounded good. I have not used it in-game or recorded it.
Next was on my PS5 to check out the 2.4Ghz. They were very easy to pair and within minutes I was playing COD: BO6 and these truly shined. I clearly hear and distinguish the locations and types of sounds. The G935s were very good, but this is on another level.
Lastly, I connected to my laptop. We're traveling so I thought it'd be a good test. They quickly connected with the GG software which seems really good, so far.
Overall, these are a good option for me so far. I like the convenience, the long battery life and really good sound. I would recommend these if you are looking for great earbuds for gaming.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Paul
Posted .
Hello - Thanks for your review! we are glad to learn you have enjoyed our GameBuds and found that the device functions well.
Pros mentioned:
Fit, Sound quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Nice little on the go get the job done beastly dev
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Man ol man I grabbed these right before pitch the Nova Pro wireless after my Pro wireless started going out. These are amazingly good and come with tons of presets to use for so many different games. You still have the freedom to take calls while playing just like their big brother and they fit in ear so comfortable. I’ve had so many headphones and steel series has impressed me by far!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Sound quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
The best earbuds ive ever had!!!
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Honestly i love these things and I just bought them today 12/26/2024. The audio customization is amazing, the sound is phenomenal (coming from someone whos had airpods), and the case is a little on the “bigger” side but i dont mind that either. Harder to lose lol. The battery life is also great. Overall 10/10
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Sound quality
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Amazing for PC and Switch. Terrible for PS5.
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Steelseries is my go to brand for any gaming products and I will always choose them if they have something available.
That being said, I was extremely excited when I heard they were releasing gaming earbuds. I picked them up from my store immediately upon release.
The first thing I did when I got home was connected them to my PC to update the firmware on Steelseries GG app. I then tinkered with the settings and it sounded phenomenal whether it was gaming, or music, or just watching Youtube. Everything was loud, crisp, distinguishable.
So imagine my surprise when I go to test them on my PS5 and the sound is....well...nonexistent. No matter what I did, everything on the PS5 sounded extremely low volume despite all of my settings being at max. Fortunately I'm not the only one who was having this issue and I found some threads on Reddit, however no one has found a solution yet and that's a shame.
And don't even get me started with the mobile companion app. For an app that only supports two products (Nova 5 and the Gamebuds), what an absolute headache it was trying to get the app to recognize the Buds. I tried on multiple occasions and it was a 10+ minute effort each time despite my phone being connected via bluetooth already.
As the title goes, these are amazing for PC and Switch, but absolutely STAY AWAY if you're trying to pick these up for Playstation. I wonder if the Xbox version actually works on Xbox now.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Comfort, Sound quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Headphones
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
These are comfortable earbuds has 3 different silicone sizes so that helps, quality is good, don’t use it for the mic, it’s good enough to hear at best mic wise.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Sound quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Good quality gamebuds, even with the price
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Works great
Good quality look and feel
No issues whatsoever so far
Price is a bit crazy, but so are most peripherals in PC gaming market these days.
Work great with Sonar, easy to configure like other Sonar devices
Decent range if you need to step off for the fridge
Tested wirh Discord and many AAA titles along with some Indi.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Blown away with these well worht the money.
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I have a massive head and a bald one as well. I wear glasses as well if that helps picture why i needed these. I love my ps5 i love music too. The only complaint is having to switch the earbuds to bluetooth to listen to lisic or donanything on my phone but thats why we have the apple music app on ps5 for this issue. The spatial audio is amazing. Insurgency Sandstorm is amazing when paired with the app. You feel the gun shooting through the combo of controler and ear buds. This so punchy ive never had a ear bud like this. Just buy it. I also updated the buds through my laptop and have had no issues with these. I will be buying agian or ising my warranty if they break or wear out im in love.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Sound quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Awesome
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Struggled to pair them to my PC initially but once I got them hooked up they work wonderfully. Solved all my issues with one product (being tethered, cable clutter, connection issues effecting sound quality). They sound amazing and happy not to have a clunky headset anymore.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Amazing in ear buds!
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Posted . Owned for 3 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Great in ear buds! Use these all day everyday! Super comfrotable especially since i have small ear canals! Doesnt fall off and are able to pair these with multiple devices making it easy to transition using them from your computer to your phone!
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
My head dislikes headsets. Gamebuds S tier.
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The sound quality rivals top tier headsets. It’s comfortable and fits well. I did get foam tips for it. Battery life lasts at least 8 hours. I like that the controls are tactile and not touch sensitive which prevents accidental triggering.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Steel series gaming buds
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Awesome earbuds i use them for my ps5 and pc battery life is good as well
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Unfortunately they broke the first week.
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Bought these a day or two ago, two pair of them. Haven’t even gone through a whole charge yet. My set literally only plays bass and not even the bass with the song or show, random loud bass out of the left earbud, and my wife’s just crackle and disconnect on and off. I’ve tried other phones and consoles but it’s all the same, I’m so disappointed because my other steel series stuff is wonderful.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Comfort, Sound quality
Cons mentioned:
Volume
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Footsteps Pro - Volume Poor
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Travel a lot for work and needed a new headset for Warzone and hearing footsteps.
Comparing to Astro A40TR Pros, Astro A50s and Steel Series Arctis Nova Pros.
Best to Worst
1. Steel Series Gamebuds
2. Steel Series Arctis Nova Pro
3. Astro A40 TR Pro
4. Astro A50
Pros: With custom EQ that I use, these by far have the best footstep hearing capability. Comfortable in ears. Music and video playback is better than my Sony wf-1000xm4. Playback time and compactness.
Cons: The volume is lacking. In order to hear footsteps, I had to remove the Audio Limiter and max out volume on pc and earbuds. With the largest ear silicones on, they are still not snug feeling and would fall out if you tried to use them for say, running. If you are concerned about noise cancelling, these are garbage compared to my sony earbuds but they sound better and fit in ear better.
Custom EQs: You can use your companion app or the steel series gg. At this time I still cannot save a custom eq to the earbuds/software is dumb. If you are using the steel series sonar on your pc, then you are good to go. Per friends in Discord, they mic quality is poor byt they can still hear me fine.
Primary Use: PC and Phone
Would I recommened? If you are looking for quality sound and hearing footsteps, 100%.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Sound quality
Cons mentioned:
Connection
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Fantastic choice for Gaming Earbuds!
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
So far, I've been beyond impressed. That battery life has been decent. The weight is light enough to help keep them seated. The sound is great once you get it setup. That is the tricky part of their whole setup. It does take time to get things dialed in to your liking. I've found that the sound has a great range. The bass is adequate without being overbearing. The only issue I had was it was turning off after awhile in bluetooth mode. I found that it was simply a setting in the app, and I turned it off. Overall, I can't recommend these enough.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Arctis Gamebuds
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
As someone who preordered these, I can say they check about every box for me aside from two minor issues. The first issue that really can't be fixed is the mic on the headphones themselves. Then again it's really a non-issue because I can't really expect much more out of such a small package. Especially when it lives up to the 10 hours it claims to give on a single charge.
The second issue is one that has persisted across two different sets of buds (I exchanged the first pair I received because of this issue) which is that in "Transparency" mode if all is quiet or I have the volume low on either the 2.4 connection or a bluetooth connection, you get a very low volume bit high pitched sort of distortion/interference that started in the first pair in the right bud. Now I have the same issue with the second set of buds that I recieved as replacements where the left bud does the same thing.
Other than that I can say these buds are amazing when paired with the Steel Series Alias Mic and Sonar software on PC.
Ive thoroughly tested their battery life and have never has to switch back to my over ear wireless headset during a gaming session and sometimes those vary between 5-8 hours.
Overall 4/5 because of previously listed issues but compared to my Arctis Pro Wireless headphones, theyre a wonderful replacement if you want to move away from an over ear set up.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Sound quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Best PS5/phone earbuds
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Love these earbuds. At first I didn’t think these were capable enough to replace my AirPods for music but once I hooked it up the the GG engine on my laptop and made a custom eq setting, it changed my mind and they’re now my daily carry. The fact that it’s versatile to be able to use them for my PS5 and my phone when I’m traveling is amazing. The sound is great, and it’s bassy if you change the EQ around, the black version is very stealth which is what I was looking for. One of the best parts is the battery life as well, it lasts so long. Could possibly also be due to the fact that I don’t use the ANC feature, but either way I’m very impressed by these. Mic is also clear when using them for phone calls, haven’t tried gaming mic since I don’t play multiplayer.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Fit, Sound quality
Cons mentioned:
Volume
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Best Gaming Earbuds Yet
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I’ve been looking for a great pair of gaming buds that offered Bluetooth and a 2.4 dongle and I always preferred Steelseries in the gaming headset department, but they never made a pair of buds until now. I didn’t really like the offerings from Inzone, Razer and others so this was on my radar when they released. The sound quality, connectivity, fit and sonar eq software for pc make this my top choice. The volume can be a little low for some but the master volume can be tweaked in the sonar software to push these a bit further. Whether it be for music, movies, and games for essentially all gaming platforms and mobile devices I think people will find these as their top choice for gaming buds.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Paul
Posted .
Hello - Thanks for your review! we are glad to learn you have enjoyed our GameBuds and found that the device functions well.
Pros mentioned:
Fit
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Backup for Pro Wireless
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I have had these for a week now. They work bery well for most gaming. Good fit, over 100 pre nade eqs. Missing one for Black Ops 6 though. That truly needs to be addressed. Overall another great Arctis ptoduct.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Sound quality
Cons mentioned:
Volume
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
So much quality in such a small package.
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I love these, the sound quality is great for gaming. I’ve started using these more than my Arctis Nova Pros. And I mainly bought these for my PCVR and Quest 3. And they work in both ways. Stand alone is great too just need to increase the volume.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Paul
Posted .
Just wanted to drop a quick message to say thanks for the awesome feedback! We're thrilled that you're enjoying our products and being a part of the SteelSeries family and community.
Your comments mean a lot to us and we're always striving to improve and provide the best possible gaming experience for our users.
So, without further ado, let's get back to what we all love - gaming! Good luck and have fun!