If you want to excel in online gaming or experience the high-quality audio offered by modern games, then you need a headset. However, not everyone wants to wear a bulky set of headphones for whatever reason (they aren’t practical or they aren’t comfortable enough).
Thankfully, there is an alternative, which is to buy gaming earbuds. As you might guess, these function like headphones, but they are also much smaller and more convenient to use.
In this article, we are going to be going over some of the best gaming earbuds out on the market right now.
If you want to skip the individual reviews on this list, we would encourage you to buy the Turtle Beach Battle Buds In-Ear Gaming Headset.
A Spotlight On Some of The Best Gaming Earbuds 2021:
Turtle Beach Battle Buds In-Ear Gaming Headset
To start off this review list, we are going to be doing a review of a pair of earbuds from one of the kings of gaming audio equipment, which is Turtle Beach. Among gamers, Turtle Beach headsets are always praised for their amazing audio and mic quality, so it only makes sense that they would make some pretty good earbuds to go along with the headsets as well.
In this first review, we are going to be taking a look at some Turtle Beach earbuds, the appropriately named Battle Buds. They are an overall good pair of earbuds that live up to the very lofty reputation set by other products from this company.
As with all other audio products from Turtle Beach, one of the best things about them is the high-quality sound that they have. These are not bad earbuds in the slightest. You might think that earbuds could never produce sound quality as good as a proper headset, but the Turtle Beach Battle Buds are here to prove you wrong. The audio quality of these earbuds is simply amazing. They are also surprisingly comfortable as well, which makes long gaming sessions a lot easier on your ears.
One thing that we will say about these earbuds is that they do an absolutely amazing job of offering good value at an affordable price. We really mean that too. At about $25-$30, these are pretty inexpensive when you consider the sort of sound quality that they are bringing to the table (the quality of which we already mentioned).
Sadly, all is not perfect when it comes to the Turtle Beach Battle Buds and there are some flaws that need to be considered alongside the litany of positive aspects of these earbuds. The most prominent and annoying issue that we can think of when it comes to these earbuds is definitely the built-in mic.
Turtle Beach products usually have quite well-made microphones, but sadly the one on these earbuds is very stiff and uncomfortable to use. Don’t get us wrong, the actual quality of the mic is still very good, and your friends will be able to hear your voice clearly. However, the physical aspects of the mic need some improvements.
- Superb audio quality.
- Comfortable to wear in the ears.
- Picks up your voice well.
- Compatible with every type of gaming system.
- Easy control system allows quick volume changes.
- Built in microphone is a bit stiff and difficult to move.
HyperX Cloud Earbuds
Continuing on with our trend of reviewing really high-quality earbuds, we want to do a review of another really good pair of earbuds from HyperX.
The HyperX Cloud Earbuds may not be from a particularly high-end or well-known brand, but they are still extremely good, and you should definitely be satisfied with them if you end up going with the earbuds. They combine quality and comfort into one really good package, with convenience thrown in as a nice bonus.
As is the case with every other pair of gaming earbuds on our review list, the very first thing that we want to focus on is one of the most important qualities that you can find in a pair of earbuds, which is the actual audio quality of the product.
As one would expect from such a costly product, the sound that these earbuds are capable of delivering is extremely high and will more than satisfy most gamers out there. While it may not seem like it at first, you can also rest assured that these earbuds do have a built-in microphone, so you can both hear game chat and reply as well. As is the case with every other part of these earbuds, the mic quality is also very good.
However, it isn’t just audio quality alone that sells these earbuds, it is also the comfort that they offer compared to many other earbuds out there. With a really soft, padded end, you can easily wear these earbuds for hours on end without tugging on your ears or leaving the skin sore and irritated afterward.
One issue with the HyperX earbuds has to do with their high cost. We use “high” relatively here, since $40 isn’t too expensive on its own, however, by the standards of gaming earbuds, it is pretty high.
It is certainly a lot pricier than the Turtle Beach earbuds that we just finished reviewing above, which is significant, since earbuds from Turtle Beach are already known to be quite pricey. So, being even more expensive than them is definitely a slight against the HyperX. But price aside, these earbuds are pretty well-made and that helps to soften the blow of the price quite a bit in our opinion.
- Comfortable to wear.
- Soft, padded tips.
- Amazing audio quality.
- Easy to control.
- Good quality microphone built-in to earbuds.
- Well-made, reliable earbuds.
- Slightly pricier than the Turtle Beach earbuds.
Sony MDRXB50AP Extra Bass Earbuds
Whether it be headsets or earbuds, it is hard to find a company that is more reliable than Sony. Whenever audio equipment is involved, you can trust Sony to make a good product. In this case, we are going to be looking at a pair of earbuds that, while not specifically meant for gaming, actually work quite well as gaming earbuds, which is the MDRXB50AP earbuds.
The biggest reason why the Sony MDRXB50AP Extra Bass Earbuds work well as gaming earbuds is because of the extra bass capabilities that they have. The bass on these earbuds helps to really produce full sounding audio that works for gaming.
- Moderately priced.
- Good sound.
- Extra bass works well with gaming.
- Only work on PlayStation.
- Wire gets tangled easily.
Razer Hammerhead True Wireless Bluetooth Gaming Earbuds
For the second to last review on this list, we want to take a look at what are most definitely the most expensive, but also probably the most well-built gaming earbuds that we could find on the market right now. We are talking about the Razer Hammerhead Earbuds. It is really hard for us to overstate just how incredibly made this particular set of earbuds are and how well they perform in just about every respect.
As you can see for yourself, these are wireless earbuds, so right off the bat they help to bring a nice convenience aspect that we haven’t seen so far on this list. While wireless earbuds aren’t quite as common when it comes to gaming earbuds, there are some models out there and we wanted to make sure to include at least one example of them on the list.
In terms of sound quality, the Razer Hammerhead Earbuds are absolutely amazing. They have nearly unparalleled sound quality, and we can’t imagine a single gamer out there being disappointed with either the mic or speaker quality that they offer. They work equally well for atmospheric horror games as they do for multiplayer games.
One thing that we will bring up regarding the Razer Hammerhead Earbuds is that they are extremely pricey. At close to $100, these earbuds are by far and away the most expensive option on our entire review list. If you are looking to save some money when it comes to your earbuds, then stop and look elsewhere because these are not the earbuds for you.
One other minor issue is actually due to the wireless nature of these earbuds. See, while the quality of these earbuds is quite high and they are very good when it comes to maintaining a solid connection, the reality is that whenever you are dealing with wireless earbuds, you have to confront the fact that sometimes they may lose connection; this happens to even the best wireless earbuds.
- Great speaker and mic quality.
- Wireless earbuds that are quite convenient.
- Designed to be water resistant.
- Do a good job of maintaining a strong connection most of the time.
- Wireless earbuds can lose connection.
- Easily the most expensive pair of earbuds on our review list.
KLIM Fusion Earbuds with Microphone
To end off our review list, we are going to be reviewing a pair of earbuds that are the polar opposite of the wireless earbuds that we just finished reviewing. Whereas the Razer earbuds were quite expensive, the KLIM earbuds are easily the least expensive pair of earbuds that we have reviewed on this list.
At under $20, if you are looking for a cheap pair of throwaway earbuds, then you absolutely can’t go wrong with the KILM earbuds. They are super inexpensive and very easy to use. While they aren’t top of the line earbuds by any stretch of the imagination, the quality is decent, given the price.
Now, we have made a big deal of the inexpensiveness of the KLIM earbuds in this review, but as always, that inexpensiveness does come with some downsides. After all, one can’t exactly expect a product to be offered for so cheap and there not to be some sort of downside.
In this case, the issue with the KLIM earbuds is that they aren’t quite up to par when it comes to both mic and speaker quality. Are they bad? No, especially not when one considers the sort of price that you are paying for them. However, temper your expectations and make sure that you aren’t expecting them to be on par with the more expensive earbuds in terms of either quality or performance.
- Very inexpensive.
- Easy to use earbuds.
- Good budget option.
- Mic and speaker quality can’t compete with pricier models.
Gaming Earbud Buying Guide
Buying earbuds for your gaming setup isn’t particularly difficult, but there are still some important things that you want to know to ensure that you don’t end up with a bad pair of earbuds.
In this part of our article, we are going to go over the most important information that anyone in the market for gaming earbuds should know before they decide on a purchase. While we are happy with the product reviews that we did above, we hope that this part of the article will act as an additional bonus for those who are still unsure about how they can find the best gaming earbuds.
The Best Brands
One thing that we didn’t really get a chance to emphasize during our review list, but that we feel is very important has to do with the brands that make gaming earbuds. Anyone familiar with gaming can tell you that there are a lot of frankly subpar brands out there that makes some subpar products.
These products can be quite cheap, but they are also unlikely to last for very long or provide the sort of performance that we imagine most of you are looking for. The way to solve this is by only buying from reliable brands that one can trust. The clearest example of a reliable brand when it comes to gaming earbuds and audio tech in general is Turtle Beach, but there are others (many of which you saw on our review list).
Comparability
A seemingly obvious point, but one that we still really want to emphasize, is how crucial it is to make sure that the particular gaming earbuds that you buy are compatible with whatever system you happen to own.
This isn’t generally too big of a deal since most gaming earbuds, both on our list and on the greater market, tend to be able to be used with every type of gaming system. However, one does occasionally run into earbuds that can only be used properly with one type of gaming system or only on PC, so make sure you double check before buying anything.
Comfort
If we had to pick the two most important things to consider when buying a pair of earbuds, they would easily be comfort and audio quality. Let’s start with the first of the two, which is comfort. We think that comfort is an underrated aspect of buying earbuds, if certainly isn’t mentioned all that much on advertisement and Amazon pages.
However, it is extremely important. Uncomfortable earbuds can cause sore ears and make your gaming session less enjoyable. We would really recommend making sure that the earbuds that you buy have some sort of padding on them, and that they fit nicely in your ear. You definitely don’t want any tugging on the ear.
Sound Quality
Alongside comfort, the next most important thing that we want to talk about is obviously audio quality. It is extremely important that the earbuds that you get have good sound quality and the ability to project audio in a way that you find satisfactory.
There is no real way to measure the sound quality of earbuds except through reviews. So, make sure to check out reviews on any potential earbuds before you commit to one. Ideally, you also want earbuds that have the sound control options (volume, pitch control, etc.) close by. You don’t want to have to open up a menu to change your earbud settings, you want to be able to change settings just by flicking a few dials that are close at hand.
Wired Models vs Wireless
While wireless earbuds are all the rage in general (see the Apple airpods), the truth is that when it comes specifically to gaming earbuds, they aren’t anywhere near as common. However, as we showed on our review list, one can find wireless gaming earbuds out there, and there are a few good models that are worthy of being noticed. As always, one has to balance the pros and cons when deciding whether to go wireless or wired.
Wireless models are obviously very convenient due to the lack of a cord to get tangled up. However, they are also typically pricier and even the best models tend to be liable to losing connection, although this varies heavily from model to model.
Wired is probably the better option overall because while the cord can be annoying, the trade-offs are that they are cheaper, the sound quality is usually about the same, and there is no real risk of losing connection.
Conclusion
If you have anything that you would like to say regarding our best gaming earbuds list, feel free to leave us a comment down below, we would love to hear from you.