After spending weeks testing 13 of the best earbuds for gaming, the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds stand out because of their comfortable fit, balanced audio, and massive library of built-in equalizers that adapt your sound to specific games.
But players who need an open-ear design or strong noise canceling for their commute should pick a different set of gaming earbuds. Here's why.
I'm a journalist and reviewer with more than 12 years of experience writing about games and tech. I reviewed my first audio product seven years ago, and for the past year I've been IGN's lead earbud reviewer, primarily testing gaming earbuds that pack a wireless USB dongle for their connection to your PC or console, rather than relying on higher-latency Bluetooth.
How I Picked the Best Gaming Earbuds
Great gaming earbuds must tick lots of boxes: they should be comfortable to wear for long stretches, hold enough charge for long gaming sessions, and deliver audio without any significant delays. They should sound clean, balanced, and rich when playing games in any genre, and should clearly distinguish between audio elements. Ideally they'll tell you the directions of in-game sounds, such as an enemy's footsteps. They should, in most cases, have a decent microphone. And they must connect quickly and reliably across multiple gaming devices.
I consider some other features useful but not essential for gaming, including powerful noise canceling and a transparency mode.
Using this criteria, I built out a longlist of gaming earbuds to potentially test and recommend here. I wanted to include any pair of earbuds I thought had even an outside shot of being the best, so I spread the net widely. As well as adding earbuds I've tested and enjoyed in the past, I read hundreds of reviews from critics – across sites such as IGN, Sound Guys, RTings, and Eurogamer – and users, primarily on gaming and audio subreddits.
I prioritized dedicated "gaming" earbuds. These buds usually include a USB-C dongle that you can plug into your PC, PS5, Switch or Steam Deck, reducing the latency of your connection. Bluetooth is fine for some casual games, especially with high-end modern earbuds, but if you pay attention you can notice a delay between the action and your audio – not ideal. Still, a couple of non-gaming earbuds made my longlist by virtue of their repeated recommendations elsewhere.
I made sure I selected earbuds that would work with PC and a variety of consoles, including some for Xbox (because of Xbox's proprietary wireless tech, only certain earbuds work with Microsoft’s console). I also wanted to accommodate a variety of price ranges, so I made sure to include multiple budget options that cost $50 or less.
After all of this, my longlist stretched to 25 earbuds. The next step was to whittle down to a shortlist of around a dozen for hands-on testing.
I researched every earbud on my longlist in detail, seeking out more reviews by critics and users. Any that appeared to have consistent quality-control issues or nagging flaws, I eliminated. I also eliminated any that were not widely available or appeared to be discontinued (for example, Logitech's G333 earbuds are often recommended, but aren't in stock in official stores).
I decided that I would cut any earbuds that did not have a dedicated lower-latency mode. This is a guide for buying earbuds specifically for gaming, so I wanted to recommend buds that will work across the board, not just for casual gaming. That meant earbuds like my beloved Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 Earbuds – which can achieve low latency, but only with an extra dongle purchased separately – were gone, as were the brilliant-sounding Technics EAH-AZ100 earbuds, whose lower-latency mode only works on phones.
I also started to consider my subcategories at this stage. I decided I wanted a budget pick, an open–ear pick, and a pick for earbuds that worked for everyday use alongside gaming. Thinking of my longlist in this context helped me whittle it down: I could, for example, cut out the HyperX Cloud Mix Buds 2: having reviewed them, I knew they didn't have a chance to win any of my categories.
After finalizing my shortlist, I called in products from manufacturers and began testing.
It’s worth noting, there were a few earbuds on my shortlist that I wasn’t able to get my hands on in time for this round of testing, namely Logitech's G Fits, the Sony WF-1000XM6 and the Truthear Hexa. I will endeavor to test them soon and when I do, I'll update this guide.
How I Test Gaming Earbuds
I tested each pair of earbuds, although I often swapped between buds to compare them. Not every earbud made it through to the end of my testing: If it was clear after a couple of hours that I would not recommend them, I moved on.
I started by simply opening the case, assessing its quality, and then feeling the buds in my hand. I squeezed them and swivelled them – I wanted to know how sturdy they were, how cheap or premium they felt. I then popped the buds in my ears without any sound, feeling the fit and deciding whether I needed to adjust the size of the eartips (most came with various sizes).
Given that I was testing buds for gaming, that's where I spent most of my time. I put the buds in their lowest-latency mode, either through the dongle or a dedicated Bluetooth gaming mode, and jumped straight into a couple of games on my PC. My go-tos were Marathon and GTA 5. These, I felt, tested the full range of audio capabilities.
Marathon's complex sound design – gunshots, footsteps, abilities, item noises, and background audio all at once – tested the earbuds' detail and clarity. I was looking for distinctions between each noise, plus a sense of distance and directionality, which are vital in a multiplayer shooter like this. It was also easy to notice any delays between gunshots and their audio (although I performed a standalone latency test outside of the game later on).
GTA 5, meanwhile, tested the buds' auditory punch, and how well they created a sense of atmosphere. I moved between roaming the city, driving with radio stations, dialogue, and gunfights.
At this stage I had been wearing the buds for a couple of hours, so I could tell how comfortable they were and also how their battery compared to the manufacturers' promise (I consider five hours to be fine for earbuds, and 10+ hours to be elite).
Then I conducted one simple latency test, and one for noise canceling.
For latency, I used an online tool called Sound Tester. The tool performs a "control" test of your reaction time by asking you to click when a light flashes – then, you close your eyes and click whenever you hear a beep. I wouldn't trust that the figures are fully accurate to the millisecond but I got a ballpark figure for latency and, crucially, could compare latency between buds. I conducted the test five times per set of earbuds and took an average.
For noise canceling, I turned the setting to maximum and wore the buds around the house, seeing how well they cut out the sound of a person speaking, the whirr of a fridge, the TV, and background music. For a slightly more objective test, I played some white noise through the buds at a set level each time and some pink noise through a speaker. I stood the same distance away from the speaker each time and turned up the volume of the pink noise until it was clearly distinguishable. The higher the volume, the better the noise canceling.
Away from PC, I tried the buds on the Nintendo Switch 2, PS5 (via a USB dongle) and Steam Deck: for the games I picked The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Switch, Astro Bot on PS5, and the plinky-plonk sounds of Balatro on Steam Deck. I was testing the audio quality in each case, but also the connection. Were they easy to connect to the console? Was the connection stable and reliable throughout my playing? Were there noticeable differences between each console?
After this stage the bulk of my testing was done, but for those buds still in contention of being a top pick, I used them in more mundane scenarios. A walk in the park, a bus ride, a gym session. I also listened to podcasts and to music, making sure I heard, at a minimum, the same two tracks with each buds: Dave's bassy rap track "100M's," and the complex orchestral Britpop of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve. I also used them in a bunch of other games across my various consoles, including EA FC 26, Dishonored 2, Slay the Spire 2, and Super Mario Odyssey.
Throughout my testing I used the dedicated app for each bud, where it was available, assessing its depth and ease of use. I was also tapping the buds constantly to test their touch controls.
I had extensively tested some of the shortlisted earbuds already for existing reviews. In those cases I re-tested them to see if my initial verdict stood.
The Best Gaming Earbuds
SteelSeries Arctis Gamebuds
SteelSeries Arctis Gamebuds
The supremely versatile GameBuds sound vibrant no matter what you're playing, with a library of equalizers specific to hundreds of games. Switching between between Bluetooth and their low-latency wireless dongle worked every time.
Connectivity
USB-C 2.4GHz Wireless, Bluetooth 5.3
Audio codec
SBC
Earbud battery life
Up to 10 hours
Case battery life
Up to 30 hours
IP rating
IP55
Balanced, lively sound
Impressive single-session battery life
Easy switching between devices
In-built audio profiles for more than 1,000 games
ANC is merely passable
Mic isn't the best
They sound rich and clear in every genre. The SteelSeries Arctis Gamebuds are a balanced, lively pair of earbuds that sound consistently good. Gunshots punch and echo, rain pitter patters, music thrums. No one element dominates and I always felt I could pick out individual details of a game's soundscape. Outside of games they're not as rich as the absolute best earbuds, but I enjoyed the vocal clarity of podcasts and listening to music: while they're not particularly bassy, I still felt a thump.
You can customize them easily to fit the game you're playing. The GameBuds app is relatively sparse, but its library of equalizers – EQs – is massive. EQs boost or dampen parts of the audio frequency range to create a different sound profile, and the GameBuds have prebuilt EQs for hundreds of individual games. I loved how easy it was to boot up a game, open the app, and tap a few buttons to get sound tailored to what I was about to play. The EQs meaningfully changed the audio and, in nearly every case, made it sound better. I also enjoyed selecting EQs from different games until I found one that suited my ears.
It's obvious where sounds are coming from. This helps create atmosphere in games such as Breath of the Wild when a fire crackles behind you, but it's arguably most important in multiplayer shooters. Guessing an enemy's direction and rough distance from their footsteps, gunshots and gadgets creates a huge advantage – the GameBuds won't be as good as over-ear headphones at this, but I still felt confident that I knew exactly what was going on around me. I could, for example, pinpoint the exact location of a buzzing claymore in Marathon.
They can last up to 10 hours on a single charge. That's the official figure: in practice, I got between eight and nine hours, but I was also draining the battery by flicking between noise canceling and transparency mode, constantly adjusting EQs, and swapping devices. I felt confident these buds would last through even my longest gaming sessions, and with three full charges in the case you can probably go a week between plugging them in.
They connect quickly and switch between devices seamlessly. I had zero issues switching between PC and consoles, whether I was using the USB dongle or Bluetooth. They always connected fast, and never dropped signal. Notably, they can simultaneously connect to your console through the USB dongle and to your phone via Bluetooth. Not every bud can manage this, and it meant I could fiddle with the EQs on my phone app while playing.
They'll work on every console, including Xbox. You'll need to buy a specific Xbox version of the earbuds if you want to play on Microsoft's console, but it will also work on PS5, PC, Switch and Steam Deck (it comes with a small switch in the dongle to flip between Xbox and everything else).
Their physical button is more reliable than touch controls. This is personal preference, but I find physical buttons far more reliable than tapping, hoping that your input has registered. The GameBuds' button is snappy and reliable.
They're comfortable to wear all day. Everyone's ears are different, but they fit me well. They never irritated my ears and when I wore them for a walk or run I felt no discomfort. Most other reviewers agree.
Their ANC and mic are good enough. The ANC was below-average among the buds I tested, and the mic is merely passable. I still think they're fine for most people: they'll reduce surrounding noise so you can focus on the game, and your teammates will still be able to hear your call-outs.
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