Asus’ new gaming earbuds haven’t won me over yet – but I’m not sure they can
2 days ago
2 minutes read
Open earbuds are all the rage — in fact, if you asked me to name some consumer tech trends from the past 18 months and put AI-powered bans on that list, I’d put earbuds near the top. Everyone and their nan were trying to enter the market that seems to be growing.
People want earbuds to continue their uninterrupted content, but they don’t always want to be inspired by the best noise-cancelling bubble offered by many in-ear models. Open options make it easy to stay aware of your surroundings, make it safe to run outside and bike, and not worry about people in the office.
That voice is very familiar now, but I’ve never heard it used in gaming – the middle of which the conventional wisdom would be that you’d like to stay covered by the immersive sound and be able to block out the background noise. That didn’t stop Asus from making the ROG Cetra Open earbuds, though, and I’ve been using them for a few hours now.
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I have to say, for all that they are solidly made earbuds, I am yet to gain an impression on them. Like few open earbuds of its kind, the ROG Cetra Open comes with a charging case that’s much larger than the earbuds. This houses two earbuds folded together, along with a USB-C connector for your console, PC, or other device.
This makes them stand out from the usual open earbuds, as they allow 2.4GHz communication with very low latency, perfect for gaming, but Bluetooth is nearby for standard wireless use.
These aren’t small earbuds, thanks to the large tubes that rest behind your ear while you’re wearing them, but they’re actually nice and comfortable thanks to that over-the-ear design, which makes them comfortable to wear for long sessions.
However, that doesn’t mean I have a good time using them in game. First impressions matter a lot, I’d argue, and it wasn’t all that great to plug the Cetra Open earbuds into my PS5 Pro and be greeted with disconcertingly low volume that I couldn’t get up to the level I wanted. I’ve never had that problem with any other audio device on the console.
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Using them with my PC and Switch 2, so far, I haven’t had that problem, but I’m still not sold on their core concept. It’s rare that I play in passive mode, where distractions are welcome or ambient noise is happily captured.
Sure, I played a lot of games in silence as a kid, back in the Game Boy Advance days, but as an adult, I’m lucky enough to use a SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite, and its noise cancellation doesn’t compare to the Cetra Open experience. Portability is a factor, sure, but the case here is huge, and I’d rather use my AirPods Pro 3 via Bluetooth with my Switch 2 on the go.
This leaves me feeling that the ROG Cetra Open is a bit of an odd pair, which leaves me with one big question: who are these earbuds for? I know the answer isn’t for me, now, but I’m curious if there really is a market for gaming open earbuds in the first place.
