Best gaming earbuds

If you’re not all about those giant wireless gaming headsets, or you need something more portable for gaming on the move, you should definitely consider getting a pair of gaming earbuds. Especially if you regularly play games on your mobile or on portable consoles like the Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck when you’re out and about and need active noise canceling. Or if you want to ditch the bulky headphones at home, these earbuds have got your back for console and PC gaming alike. Not all earbuds are made for gaming, so we’ve handpicked some of the best wireless and wired options out there for everyone.

Best gaming earbuds overall: SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds

The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds solve one of gaming’s most persistent problems: the incompatibility between Bluetooth earbuds and major consoles. With a clever dual-connection system featuring both Bluetooth 5.3 for mobile devices and a 2.4GHz USB-C dongle for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, and even Meta Quest, these earbuds can connect to anything. The dongle also conveniently stores inside the charging case, making it perfect for both home gaming and on-the-go play.

Comfort is where these earbuds truly excel, with a triangular ergonomic design. The result is a pair of buds you can wear for hours without discomfort, perfect for marathon gaming sessions. They also deliver impressive active noise cancelation that reduces perceived loudness by around 78% — nearly matching flagship ANC earbuds.

What really sets the Arctis GameBuds apart is the Arctis Companion app, which includes over 175 game-specific EQ presets for titles across all platforms. This allows you to optimize audio for whatever you’re playing, from competitive shooters to story-driven adventures. With good spatial awareness for pinpointing enemy locations, solid 8.5-hour battery life, and IP55 water resistance for sweaty gaming sessions, these represent the most versatile and well-rounded gaming earbuds on the market today. For gamers seeking a true do-it-all solution, the Arctis GameBuds are the clear choice.

Best gaming earbuds under $100: EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid

Well-built, lightweight, and featuring an IPX5 water-resistant rating, the EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid are designed for versatility. Using a USB-C dongle with aptX Low Latency technology, they deliver impressively lag-free audio across Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC, and mobile devices, overcoming the latency that has traditionally made wireless earbuds impractical for gaming. They also have Bluetooth multipoint for connecting to multiple devices simultaneously.

These gaming earbuds had an original MSRP of $199.99 but are half that for only $99 on Amazon in 2025, making them a much stronger value proposition. The IPX5 water resistance rating provides peace of mind during intense gameplay, while the premium aluminum-accented build quality feels substantial without adding bulk. Battery performance hits the advertised 5-hour mark, with the charging case providing three additional charges for around 20 hours of total gameplay.

Where sound quality is concerned, the GTW 270 Hybrid delivers strong performance with a profile well-suited to gaming despite some under-emphasis in the treble frequencies. The slightly boosted bass enhances gunshots and explosions while still maintaining enough clarity to hear crucial gameplay elements like footsteps.

For anyone who hates the heft of traditional over-ear gaming headsets, these earbuds offer an elegant solution that outperforms many competitors in both portability and convenience. They are an excellent value in the sub-$100 category despite lacking microphone functionality when using the USB-C dongle.

Best gaming earbuds for PC: Sony INZONE Buds

The Sony INZONE Buds are designed specifically for PC gamers. These earbuds deliver exceptional sound quality, with a frequency response that closely follows our headphone preference curve; they deliver clear highs for pinpointing enemy movements and precise mids for dialogue without over-emphasizing any particular frequency range.

Playing on PC and PC only, you’ll have access to the INZONE Hub software. This Windows-exclusive app unlocks the earbud’s full potential with features like customizable EQ settings, dynamic range control, microphone adjustments, and game/chat balance mixing. Battery life is another standout feature, lasting nearly 12 hours on a single charge. The active noise cancelation is also remarkably effective, reducing environmental distractions across the entire frequency spectrum, unlike many competitors that only address low and mid frequencies.

For PC gamers who value portability but still need competitive audio performance, the INZONE Buds offer a compelling package. The USB-C dongle connection minimizes latency for competitive play, while the IPX4 water resistance rating means they’ll survive even the most intense gaming sessions. Though they lack standard Bluetooth connectivity, their exceptional comfort, sound quality, and PC-focused feature set make them the ideal choice for dedicated PC gamers.

Best gaming earbuds for PS5: PlayStation Pulse Explore

Purpose-built for PlayStation 5 owners, the Pulse Explore wireless earbuds deliver an uncompromised console gaming experience through Sony’s proprietary PlayStation Link technology. These earbuds feature planar magnetic drivers—a first for gaming earbuds—that provide exceptional audio clarity and separation during gameplay. This premium driver technology combines with the PS5’s 3D Audio system to create truly immersive soundscapes, allowing you to precisely locate sound sources from all directions, whether it’s encroaching whispers in Alan Wake 2 or fighting monsters in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

Despite their unique, twisty design, the earbuds are comfortable. The Pulse Explore buds include four sets of silicone ear tips to ensure a secure fit. The sleek black-and-white aesthetic perfectly complements the PS5’s design language, while the secure charging case features a satisfying sliding mechanism that ensures they won’t go flying with an accidental drop. Battery life offers nearly 9 hours of continuous gaming on a single charge—more than enough for extended play sessions.

The main reason to buy these earbuds is their integration with the PlayStation ecosystem. PS5 owners gain exclusive access to customizable EQ settings and seamless connection via the included USB dongle. The PlayStation Link technology also delivers virtually zero-latency audio transmission. While they support Bluetooth 5.3 for connecting to mobile devices and even allow simultaneous connections to take calls while gaming, these earbuds are optimized specifically for PS5 owners who want an audio solution that matches both the performance and aesthetic of their console.

Best gaming earbuds for Xbox: Razer Hammerhead HyperSpeed

The Razer Hammerhead Hyperspeed offers the perfect balance of performance and affordability for Xbox gamers. Officially licensed for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles, these earbuds feature a sleek black and green aesthetic that perfectly complements the Xbox ecosystem. The included USB-C dongle delivers a lag-free 2.4GHz connection crucial for competitive gaming, along with Bluetooth 5.2 support for casual listening.

The Hammerhead Hyperspeed is comfortable, with a rounded design that rests comfortably in your outer ear. Razer also includes six different silicone ear tip sizes plus a memory foam option, and the long stems make adjusting fit simple. Active noise cancelation performs admirably for a gaming earbud, substantially quieting low-frequency environmental noise like computer fans or air conditioners, helping you stay focused during crucial gaming moments.

Sound quality benefits from Razer’s partnership with THX. The frequency response closely follows our consumer curve with only slight under-emphasis in the treble range, which can be easily corrected using the EQ in the Razer Audio app. The app also lets you control the distinctive Chroma RGB lighting effects that give these earbuds their gaming flair.

The microphone quality is surprisingly good for true wireless earbuds, delivering clear voice chat whether you’re coordinating with teammates or trash-talking opponents. With 4-6.5 hours of battery life per charge and an additional 16-26 hours from the charging case, the Hammerhead Hyperspeed offers Xbox gamers an elegant, portable alternative to bulky gaming headsets without sacrificing the features that matter most.

If you can spend a little extra, the Razer Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed ($199 at Amazon) is a more premium version of these earbuds that packs a few additional features, such as better ANC and lower latency.

Best gaming earbuds with boom mic: Turtle Beach Battle Buds

For gamers who prioritize clear communication but prefer the lightweight feel of earbuds, the Turtle Beach Battle Buds deliver a unique solution with their detachable high-sensitivity boom microphone. This wired headset stands out from typical gaming earbuds by offering microphone quality that rivals many gaming headsets, ensuring teammates can hear your callouts clearly even in noisy environments. When you’re on the go, you can remove the boom mic and use the built-in inline mic instead, making these versatile for both competitive gaming and casual mobile use.

Featuring 10mm drivers that produce crisp highs and punchy lows, the Battle Buds come with three sizes of interchangeable ear-tips and stabilizers to ensure a comfortable fit during extended gaming sessions. The multifunction inline controller puts essential controls at your fingertips, with master volume adjustment, mic mute, and a multifunction button for supported devices. With universal compatibility across Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and mobile platforms, these ultra-affordable earbuds offer an excellent communication-focused alternative to bulkier gaming headsets.

Best IEM earbuds gaming: Truthear x Crinacle Zero

The Truthear x Crinacle Zero offers a bass-forward signature that makes it perfect for immersive gaming experiences. During testing, we found its strong sub-bass emphasis particularly excellent for bringing out explosion effects and footsteps while maintaining good spatial awareness and localizability. The included foam tips provide excellent noise isolation, and the comfortable, lightweight 5g design makes these ideal for long gaming sessions. What really sets these apart for gamers is the ability to fine-tune your experience — from different ear tips to an included bass+ resistor that can enhance low-end impact when you want even more boom in your games.

Is the 1MORE Quad Driver In-Ear worth it?

If you want durable in-ears with good sound for gaming, the 1MORE Quad Driver In-ear could be a good choice. The cable is wrapped in kevlar, making it super durable, and the 3.5mm jack is L-shaped, which, while inconvenient in your pocket, is more durable than a straight cable. The sound quality is amazing, perfect for anyone who wants to hear everything going on in their game. The price is a bit steep at $114, so there are likely better options for you out there. But if durability and sound quality are top of mind, it’s worth considering.

Notable mentions

• 1MORE Triple Driver ($68 at Amazon): For less than $100, the durable cable and solid audio quality make these earbuds a must-have for anyone who wants a plug-and-play solution.
• Edifier TWS1 Pro 2 ($49.99 at Amazon): For only $50, there’s a lot to like about the Edifier TWS1 Pro 2. It’s rare to find quality wireless earbuds at this price, let alone ones with ANC, water-resistance, and a good companion app. These are some of the best bang-for-your-buck earbuds on the market.
• Logitech G333 ($28 at Amazon): The Logitech G333 is well built, and it’s great for online gaming or having a pair of buds that you can easily toss in a bag. It falls short when it comes to a more analytical listening experience however. If you can find it for the right price it’s still a good choice.
• Logitech G Fits ($229 at Amazon): The Logitech G Fits brings a novel approach to finding the right in-ear fit, and it offers impressive acoustic isolation. However, this is an expensive gaming audio product, and the battery life and slightly unsteady fit make for a dicier proposition if you’ve got even marginally different priorities.
• ROCCAT Syn Buds Core ($34 at Amazon): This pair of earbuds is super affordable and has in-line controls and a microphone. It’s a very basic and easy-to-use option, though it’s worth noting that they sound very bass-heavy.
• SteelSeries Tusq ($54.99 on Amazon): The SteelSeries Tusq earbuds feature a boom mic and an in-line mic, so talking to others while you’re gaming will be a breeze. They connect to a 3.5mm headphone jack, so they will work on most consoles and phones that still have a headphone jack. Among SteelSeries’ line of headsets, this is its only pair of earbuds.
• Turtle Beach Scout Air ( $42 at Amazon): This is a set of true wireless earbuds that uses Bluetooth 5.1 and works with mobile devices like your phone and Nintendo Switch. It may not look as premium as the Hammerhead Pro from Razer, but they work just as well.
• Razer Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed ($199 at Amazon): These wired earbuds are great for gamers who don’t want to deal with Bluetooth latency or unreliability and want the benefits of active noise cancelation (ANC).
• HyperX Cloud Mix Buds ( $99 at Amazon): Using a USB-C dongle or Bluetooth, you can game with these earbuds on mobile or console. It has a five-band equalizer in the NGENUITY app for sound customization, and it has an IPX4 rating, so you don’t have to shed a tear if you get them a bit wet. There are caveats to these buds, like the hyper-sensitive in-ear detection, the bulky USB-C dongle, and the fact that the NGENUITY app doesn’t retain all of your settings.

What you should know about gaming earbuds

Are wired or wireless gaming earbuds better?

Latency can definitely be a concern when gaming, so it’s important to consider your options and preferences when buying earbuds for gaming. Wired earbuds will consistently have the lowest latency because they’re wired, and you can run into issues when looking for wireless options.

Wireless earbuds with receivers can have lower latency, but Bluetooth can be a mixed bag. AptX Low Latency is a good option, while SBC and AAC run the risk of lagging. Some earbuds will come with a gaming mode with lower latency, which helps reduce latency. If you’re looking to avoid latency as much as possible, wired is the way to go. Remember, lower latency codecs require a device that supports it—it doesn’t matter how many great codecs your earbuds support; the Nintendo Switch still only uses SBC, after all.

What are isolation and active noise canceling?

Isolation is a really important factor when it comes to earbuds. It is the physical barrier that your earbuds make with your ears to ensure environmental sounds stay out of your ears and that your earbuds don’t leak sound. Achieving a good fit is crucial for isolation. Isolation works best against higher-pitched sounds like dishes clanging or fingers snapping.

Active noise cancellation uses microphones to pick up sound from outside of your earbuds and cancel it out with the opposite sound waves, or anti-noise. Since there’s a delay in picking up sounds and identifying them, it works best with droning noises since it can predict what to cancel out. With good isolation and noise canceling working in tandem, you can keep most outside sounds out of your ears.

How should gaming earbuds sound?

If you’ve read any of our reviews, you’ve probably seen our frequency response charts. These charts show how closely headphones (cyan line) will reproduce audio compared to our house curve (pink line). Our house curve represents what consumers tend to prefer in headphones. While some people will prefer a flat curve, most people will prefer more bass and treble. If you want to learn more, you can read more about the SoundGuys house curve.

The best frequency response will be one that doesn’t boost certain frequencies so much that it’s hard to hear others. If you have too much bass and too little treble, you’re not going to enjoy what you hear as much, and when you’re gaming, you might miss out on some important environmental cues.

How we choose the best gaming earbuds

At SoundGuys, we perform objective tests to measure things like frequency response, isolation, microphone quality, and more. To do so, we use a Bruel & Kjaer 5128 head and torso simulator (HATS) with an anatomically realistic ear canal and outer ear. We also use a standardized setup to test the microphone quality of products with pre-recorded phrases from a calibrated artificial mouth in our test chamber. This allows us to present standardized microphone samples to you so you can judge the quality of various products and compare them across the board. After we collect all of this data, we then score each product through various objective and subjective measures.

Our team then confers with one another regarding the best products for a given category before presenting our list to you. It’s not over after we hit “publish,” though. Instead, we treat every article as a living document that we update as new and worthy products come out.

Why you should trust SoundGuys

Each writer at SoundGuys has accumulated years of experience reporting on the consumer audio market, and our staff adheres to a strict ethics policy. We don’t use ads or sponsored content on the website at a time when doing so is the norm. SoundGuys’ survival depends solely on readers enjoying their purchases. We pride ourselves on transparently outlining objective facts while accounting for the subjective experience to contextualize an audio product’s performance. When we do misspeak, we correct and own up to it.

Frequently asked questions about gaming earbuds