Steelseries is a popular option for competitively-priced gaming audio products. In many online groups, their headsets are often top recommendations. Now they’ve taken all they know about gaming audio and put it in a smaller package – the Steelseries Arctis Gamebuds.

On paper, it has all the bells and whistles of any TWS earbuds worth your time. Among them are 360 Spatial Audio, Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), a companion app, and more. 

SteelSeries Sound 

The SteelSeries Arctis Gamebuds is my second listening-type audio device from the brand. With that, I think I have a better understanding now of what to expect from them in terms of sound. 

For context, my preferred sound tuning tends to be full, rich, and round. I’m not exactly sure how to explain that last one, but sometimes I hear things and associate them to shapes. Anyway, I mostly get that type of sound from Sony’s WH series of headphones. For earbuds, it’s the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro that delivered this type of sound for me. To a lesser extent, there’s also the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 from a couple of years ago. 

In contrast, the SteelSeries Sound feels sharper. Instead of full, rich, and round. It’s more spacy, airy, and sharp. I understand I’m describing them way too differently from each other. In practice, they do sound close, but I feel like it’s something you can only really tell if you’ve listened to both. 

That’s not to say the SteelSeries Sound is bad. It’s just a different type of good. And this is true whether you’re listening to it straight out of the box or after tweaking the equalizer from the companion Arctis App. 

Phenomenal for play

Connected via dongle on an ROG Ally. For visualization only. We mostly played while it’s connected to a PlayStation 5.

Where it shines the most is the tuning for each game. Much like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5, the Arctis Gamebuds has access to a wide selection of pre-tuned equalizers for specific games. 

The best part is you have recently released games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Black Myth Wukong, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and the list goes on and on.

The 360 Spatial Audio really comes into play with games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. With the Arctis Gamebuds on, the feeling of immersion goes up a few notches. The sounds rattle off in and around your head feels as if you’re actually in the game environment. 

It also elevates the experience for games like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – a game that features a wide variety of tracks that shape the mood of each encounter, gameplay, and scene. The game is a treasure trove of tracks that will have you bopping or feeling somber. And having the Arctis Gamebuds on delivers these sounds flawlessly. 

In NBA 2K25, I had fun with it by turning off the commentator audio. With these on and with in-arena, crowd, and on-court volume blaring, it almost feels like you’re watching a live NBA game. It’s a fun way to experience 2K. 

If the specific game you’re playing isn’t available on the app. Simply select a similar genre or a title in the same franchise or series. Chances are, those are bound to perform just as well as if it was pre-tuned for your chosen game. 

Skip the Music Presets 

I found the existing Music presets to be a little lacking. Flat is a little too flat, Bright almost takes out the lows too much, and Deep Bass threads the line to sounding muffled. You get the picture. 

For a while I stuck with the Punchy preset and I was okay with it for the most part. But what unlocked things quite a bit for me is when I stuck with the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth preset. It was a glass-break moment when I opted for it as my main equalizer. 

The way the variety of music and sound that the game delivered translated nicely into music listening. I had a blast playing on repeat TWICE’s 14th Mini Album Strategy which you should totally check because it’s a banger. 

I haven’t gone through the entire equalizer list — cause there’s literally so many of them. But I reckon you’d find a game preset that will match your music listening sensibilities. 

Connectivity and control 

Like the Arctis Nova 5, the Arctis Gamebuds can connect in a couple of ways – via direct Bluetooth 5.3 or through the included 2.4Ghz dongle. It’s also easy to switch between the two. That means you can have the dongle inserted to your gaming device of choice and then have the Bluetooth paired to your phone.

The dongle also having a slot on the charging case is a great touch. Too often, headphones and earbuds that have a similar dongle in the package don’t have a way to adequately carry the dongle making it easily misplaceable. I know I’ve lost more than my fair share. 

Another really nice touch is that the area on the buds where you see the SteelSeries logo is actually pressable. They are real, tactile buttons. How they managed to include that mechanism in such a tiny body is a marvel. 

It’s a nice change of pace from most other earbuds out in the market today who rely on different sensors for touch, tap, and pinch gestures that don’t always connect. This makes the controls on the Arctis Gamebuds extremely easy to manage. 

The gestures include single press, double press, triple press, short hold, single press then press hold, 3-second-hold in case, and 3-second hold. That’s a wide gamut of actions and you can program a different one for each earbud. It gives you granular, customizable control. 

The default settings also already make sense and feel intuitive. Previous and Next tracks are mapped as double presses on the left and right earbuds respectively. A single press on the right earbuds is for play/pause while the left one has ANC/Noise Control. 

You can charge the Arctis Earbuds wirelessly

This is a great addition and something I hope more brands will try to emulate or apply in their own earbuds products. 

Is this your GadgetMatch?

As great as it is, we can’t say the SteelSeries isn’t for everyone. It also comes at a price range that might turn some off.  It’s available at SteelSeries.com and at select retailers in the Philippines starting at PhP 10,458.00. In the US, it’s priced at USD 169.99.

But let’s break it down. 

Swipe Left if you’re not a gamer. The product is very clearly a gaming lifestyle device. It’s squarely aimed at gamers who are willing to spend a bit for quality audio. If you’re only after good audio quality for music/podcast listening, you’re better off looking elsewhere. 

Swipe Right if you’re a multi-platform gamer. PlayStation, PC, and mobile gamers will have a field day with the Arctis Gamebuds. Even if you only really game on a couple of devices, you’ll still get the most out of it. If it’s outside your budget, our advice is to hold and save up a little more. It’s worth it. 

Super Swipe if money is no object or if it’s within your budget and you play on multiple platforms, then this is a no-brainer pick-up. Even if you prefer headphones, it’s always nice to have an in-ear option that you can easily and discreetly carry. 

If you’re dead-set on getting one, just make sure you get the right version. If you play on Xbox, then make sure to get that version as it has drivers specifically made for Microsoft’s gaming console. But if you’re mostly on PlayStation, PC, Switch, or gaming handhelds, then you should be fine with the non-Xbox variant. The black & white color combo looks cooler too in our humble opinion. 

The Arctis Gamebuds is a dream in-ear headphones for multi-platform gamers. It sounds phenomenal for play and more than adequate for other listening activities. The customization and control capabilities are cherries on top that make this deserving of the GadgetMatch Seal of Approval.