SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds review: small in stature, huge in performance

SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds: Two-minute review

The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds might be the best gaming earbuds I’ve ever tested. As an overall package they deliver on every front; from battery life to audio quality, to comfort and fit, to features. They are truly impressive and are one of the easiest recommendations I’ll ever make.

Coming in chic white or slick black (depending on the platform variant you go for), each GameBud is of a compact and neat design that sits nicely in the ear, with a simple push-and-twist motion to keep them secure. They’re lightweight too, and the touchpad makes for easy control. The case is also compact and can easily slip into a pocket neatly.

The GameBuds’ stature may be small, then, but they cram in a bunch of features that make the proposition incredibly compelling - before you even put them on. With active noise canceling (ANC), IP55 water-resistant rating, and multi-platform compatibility, the feature set is off to a strong start - but it gets much better. 

The inclusion of a quick-charge function and a wireless charging-compatible case is an excellent bonus and means you have another chance to keep your case and buds juiced for longer use, while dual 2.4Ghz and Bluetooth 5.3 offer the latest wireless connectivity. The headline feature and bonus however is, like this year’s addition to the SteelSeries headset lineup, the Arctis Nova 5 Wireless, the GameBuds work with the SteelSeries Arctis App giving you access to more than 100 expertly designed audio presets for an enormous amount of games. 

A good design and extensive feature set are all well and good, but it needs to be backed up with quality and excellence in gaming audio - which the GameBuds do by the bucket load. Channeling all that makes SteelSeries gaming audio gear excellent and outrageously good for all games, the GameBuds provide brilliant audio, across all genres and gameplay situations, be they quiet and tense, or busy and wild. Our testing revealed barely any weaknesses in work, play, and entertainment use, and the GameBuds are some of the finest-sounding buds I’ve used.

Caveats and negatives are few and far between on the whole. You will get a better fit with third-party foam tips as the standard rubber ones provided are basic at best, and the controls do take a noticeable amount of pressure which means you will rock or push the earbud into your ear a bit every time you engage with them. However, beyond that, there’s very little to detract from the GameBuds’ performance in any way. 

Some competing gaming earbuds may fulfill their particular brief with more specificity - like the PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds and their PlayStation Portal compatibility, for example - but if you’re looking for the most complete package generally, then these might just be the best gaming earbuds you can buy right now.

SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds: Price and availability

• List price: $159.99 / £159.99 / AU$359
• Launch at retailers on October 29
• Pre-order stock fluctuated due to popularity

Squarely in the same price bracket as the Sony Inzone Buds, the Razer Hammerhead HyperSpeed buds, and the PlayStation Pulse Explore buds, the GameBuds find themselves in good company. All are targeting the high-end wireless gaming earbud market, and all earn their place in it, with the GameBuds certainly doing enough to rub shoulders (or ears, I suppose) with the aforementioned sets.

Already proving incredibly popular, the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds have sold out on the brand’s own storefront in the pre-order phase too, and I’d expect interest to remain high after launch.

Given the feature set on offer here, I think the GameBuds are priced fairly and almost aggressively; they can run a race with any other premium earbud set, and go a long way to justify the price tag. 

SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds: Specs

SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds: Design and features

• Neat, tidy, and compact design
• Push controls are intuitive but need a bit of pressure
• Wireless charging is a great bonus

Weighing only 0.19oz / 5.3g each, it only takes a simple push and a slight twist to make them sit nicely and fit comfortably in the ear. SteelSeries says it has used scans of 40,000 ears to help shape the design of the GameBuds, though gaming earbuds will always be subject to your own unique ears. I have found them comfortable, on the whole, while also easy to interact with, and not subject to falling out of my ears easily.

Much like the Pulse Explore earbuds, however, I have found in my testing that the included ear tips are bang average; serviceable at best, but not brilliant for really long sessions. I have much preferred using third-party foam tips as a solution for a better fit - and one that aids sound isolation and quality too. It's slightly disappointing that another purchase is needed to augment and really get the best out of the GameBuds’ fit.

The GameBuds ditch the usual touch controls often seen on earbuds and instead, opt for something more akin to a laptop touchpad. This makes accidental inputs much harder which is welcome, but I have found that the touchpad still requires a decent push to actuate, thus slightly rocking or pushing back the earbud while it’s in your ear. It never quite feels like I’m pushing them out of position or making them loose, but it’s still not quite perfect.

The 2.4Ghz wireless connectivity is not new but is excellent, and the corresponding dongle is wonderfully compact and has been designed with the PS5’s USB-C ports in mind, ensuring it doesn’t block one port while plugged into another. Teaming this with Bluetooth 5.3 rounds out a robust pairing of wireless connections.

In terms of compatibility, our PlayStation unit will play nice with PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, and mobile. If you want the best level of multiplatform compatibility, however, then go for the Xbox version, which follows the modern gaming headset trend of being compatible with all major consoles and devices.

The case is a small pill box, with a nice finish and compact nature, carrying the two buds and the dongle in sweetly. The ace up the sleeve of the case is the fact that it’s wireless charging compatible, however, and this is a really welcome extra feature adding a welcome level of functionality to what is otherwise just a regular charging and carrying case. Having another means of charging and potential battery life can be a critical factor for wireless gaming peripherals, and having such an extra without the need for a cable is even better. Adding this onto the claimed battery life of up to 10 hours per charge for the buds and you’ve got a robust proposition. 

SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds: Performance

• Excellent audio for earbuds
• Incredible flexibility and customizability with the app
• Great battery life

Straight out of the box, the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds have excellent sounds. Crammed into those tiny 6mm drivers is an audio soundstage that’s incredibly detailed and wonderfully vibrant up and down the spectrum. I was even nicely surprised by the amount, quality, and depth of bass. Along with the Pulse Explore earbuds (with their fancy planar magnetic drivers), these produced some of the finest gaming audio I’ve experienced in buds. From single-player games like Star Wars Outlaws and Doom (2016) to playing Diablo 4 online with a pal, the GameBuds excelled. After a while, it didn’t feel like I was receiving audio from just small earbuds, and the buds can certainly run some PS5 headsets or Xbox Series X headsets for their money on audio quality alone.

This default audio quality is made better with the Arctis Companion App. Replicating its success with the Nova 5 headset, the companion app allows you to swap between expertly crafted audio presets while playing games simultaneously. These presets and this flexibility are not a gimmick, either, and you can really find EQs to suit all kinds of games that will enhance the audio experience. The ANC does kill off the bass a little as I’ve always found with it, but it’s robust enough to remain a welcome feature.

As mentioned above, actually using the onboard controls walks the risky line between being good for avoiding accidental presses, while requiring a bit of force so as to move the buds a little with each push. It’s not a deal breaker and is another thing I have got used to with time but remains a slight crease in the experience.

Going some way to mimic a solution that the Nova Pro Wireless offers with its infinity power system (USB-C cable charging, while its dock also charges a spare battery ready to swap in at any point), I have found the case’s wireless charging functionality to be a great boon and a fine way of extending the charge and life available to me. More broadly, in my testing, I’ve found the battery life claims SteelSeries about the buds to be true to life (around 10 hours per charge for the buds).

The mic is pretty good too, for some earbuds at least. After a slight raising of the volume of the mic on PS5, my buddy reported that I didn’t sound anything majorly different from my usual headset too, and it also came across as crystal clear during work and phone calls.

With such performance on offer, layered on top of the fine design, and extensive feature set, it's sufficient to say that the SteelSeries Arctis Game Buds are some of the best in the business and could be the only pair of gaming earbuds you’ll ever need.

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How I tested the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds

• Tested over the course of four weeks
• Used on multiple platforms including PS5, PC, and mobile
• Compared to other earbuds from the likes of Razer and PlayStation

I tested the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds over the course of about four weeks for my review. Putting them to the test on my RTX 3090-powered gaming PC, PS5, and mobile, I used them for a whole host of functions from gaming to work meetings, from phone calls to music listening

They replaced my usual earbuds, the Razer Hammerhead True Wireless earbuds when going out for walks or on the commute, and they replaced my SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless on PC and PS5 for work and play. As a result, I was able to compare them directly to those headsets, as well as the PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds that I have for use on my PS5 and PlayStation Portal.

In terms of specific games, I tested the GameBuds with Frostpunk 2 on PC, and on Doom (2016), Star Wars Outlaws, Pentiment, and Diablo 4 on PS5 (the latter being an online co-op playthrough with a friend who was able to verify the quality of the mic during gameplay action). 

Read more about how we test

First reviewed September/October 2024.