SteelSeries makes exceptional audio equipment. Whether it’s the headsets, speakers or microphones, the bulk of what I use for both listening to and creating audio has the little circular logo-thing on it, whatever that’s meant to be.
One thing I didn’t have previously was something truly portable, for my Switch or music listening on the go. Now, thanks to the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds I do have an option for that too. These, too, show all of SteelSeries’ capabilities with audio, comfort, and general usability, with just one tiny caveat that is only an issue if you don’t know how to fix it.
To run through the standard features of the GameBuds first: Though they’re designed with a console in mind (PlayStation or Xbox), the GameBuds have Bluetooth, which means they can be paired up with just about everything. The fast 2.4GHz wireless is there for games that require it, whether you’re on Switch, PlayStation or one of the PC handhelds like the Steam Deck or ROG Ally, but even were you to never use these buds for gaming (despite the name), you’ll have no issue with them. The only time you’ll miss out is if you want to use your GameBuds with both Xbox and Playstation, in which case you’ll need to invest in both dongles.
The GameBuds are backed with excellent battery life, giving you at least 40 hours when combined with the storage dock, and roughly 8-10 hours before needing to recharge the GameBuds themselves. Basically, you’d need to be using them for a ridiculously long time to need to worry about the battery.
The dock itself seems surprisingly bulky and inconvenient at first, but as soon as you open it you’ll realise that it’s actually incredibly convenient indeed. With magnets and all, the dock also stores your 2.4GHz dongle. Having lost these with at least two other devices now I can confidently say that every single device that has a 2.4GHz dongle needs to work in storage on the device going forward, because that feature is brilliant.
The GameBuds themselves are constructed brilliantly. At no stage was I ever worried about them falling out of my ears, despite the design looking like every other pair of earbuds I’ve struggled with in the past. They’re light, comfortable, and, importantly, water resistant, which is just enough that means I can take them with me for dance training. You have no idea how important it is to have earbuds when the studio’s full and everyone’s fighting for time with the sound system.
Management of the GameBuds is a snap as well, thanks to an app that you can connect the device to and then manage. Similar to the app in the Nova 5 headset that we reviewed earlier in the year, this app lets you swap between noise cancelling and transparency, and select from 179 equalizer profiles on the fly. These profiles are essentially custom settings that have been designed to maximise the sound quality for individual games. So if you’re going from Call of Duty to Mario Kart, you can have fully optimised sound with a single button press, rather than needing to set up your own. Now, 179 games is by no means every game and you’re going to find stuff like Elden Ring rather than Hatsune Miku, but it’s pretty easy to find an approximate game for most of what you’ll be playing.
As these are high-end earbuds, the ANC is pretty compelling and blocks out most of the ambient noise around you. Jump on the quiet carriage of a train and you’ll be able to immerse yourself in music and not be bothered that, being in Australia, there are inevitably going to be people on the train who have no interest in reading the signs and being polite. Jump on a plane and you’ll be able to overcome enough of the aircraft noise to enjoy the movie on the entertainment system. It’s not as powerful as what headsets can achieve with higher frequency noise, but it’s good enough.
The sound quality that these GameBuds deliver is excellent. Play a horror game and the clarity of the ambience will put you nicely on edge. Play a game where it matters if you can distinguish small sounds from loud – a multiplayer shooter where you want a satisfying gun sound but also to hear the footsteps around, and the GameBuds have you covered there, too. Rhythm games are great (when paired with the dongle to minimise lag), and for those games that are less bombastic, dialogue-heavy, and with orchestral soundtracks, you can relax into them with ease. The GameBuds even do a great job of perfectly capturing the vinyl quality of retro music when you’re listening to the Nintendo Music app or playing something in an emulator.
The only issue I had was a minor one, but it’s worth mentioning in this review because it’s easy to fix if it starts to happen to you and you’re concerned something’s wrong with the device: With quite a few of the equalizer settings, if you’re doing something the setting isn’t designed for (such as listening to regular music), and you have ANC turned on, you may well start hearing an uncomfortable “pop” if you’re listening at a louder volume. Just make sure you switch it back to the ”Flat” setting with the equalizer and you’ll be right at any volume.
Speaking of volume, the GameBuds do have a maximum volume that will seem a little low to some people who have tinnitus in their future (I’m one of them). That’s the pesky European’s fault. You just need to drop into the app again and turn the “Volume Limiter” off. It’s on by default as a consequence of European regulations. That can’t be turned off if you happen to live in Europe. Thankfully we here in Australia are entitled to break our eardrums rocking out to Pseudo Echo if we so wish to. And yes, I wish to.
The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds aren’t cheap. At $AUD359.00 they’re priced in the same space as earbuds from audio fetishist manufacturers like Denon, and that’s a brave space to be. The GameBuds certainly have the generalist edge, though, thanks to the 2.4GHz option, and the excellent use of equalizer profiles to tailor gaming experiences. Sure, I might not choose them over my Denon PerL earbuds when my only goal is to listen to music, but then I’m very rarely planning on doing one thing at a time, and for that mix of gaming, video conferencing, music and more, the GameBuds are going to be very difficult to top.
