I just tested the world’s first open-ear wireless buds for gaming — here’s my verdict on the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless

The best gaming headsets can make or break your immersion, and they should be comfortable enough that you can play all day long. Well, the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless do one of those things. At the time of writing, they’re the world’s first and only open earbuds designed for gaming, and thanks to their ear hook design, you can wear them all day long without breaking a sweat.

For stealth-based and dialogue-heavy games, the Cetra Open Wireless are almost perfect, as you can hear footsteps and spoken words loudly and clearly. They also pack good mic performance and long battery life. But are they worth nearly $230? I’m not entirely convinced, especially because they have a niche appeal and both the bass and treble performance proves poor.

To find out if these are right for you, read my full Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless review.

Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless review: Specs

Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A pair of open-ear wireless earbuds designed specifically for gaming
• Who is it for? Anyone who wants to remain aware of their surroundings while playing
• How much does it cost? These are expensive buds, retailing for $229
• What do we like? The comfortable design, performance in stealth-based games, good mic, long battery life, and user-friendly software
• What don’t we like? The underwhelming bass, overzealous treble, niche appeal, and premium price

Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless review: The ups

The Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless are extremely comfortable and great for dialogue-heavy and stealth-based games. They boast long battery life too, and customization is easy via the user-friendly app.

All-day comfort

If you’re familiar with open earbuds, you’ll know that they’re preferred by runners and people who work out as, a) they help them remain aware of their surroundings, and b) they don’t fall off and are very comfortable. The Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless are open earbuds designed for gaming, and boy are they comfy.

Each bud features an ear hook that wraps over the top of your ear, and the actual speaker housing the drivers rests just outside your ear opening. This means that, unlike in-ear earbuds, you don’t feel any pressure in your ear canal, enabling you to wear them all day long. I wore the Cetra Open Wireless for an eight-hour gaming session and never once felt like removing them.

This is also thanks to the earbuds’ light weight, as each weighs just 0.38oz. Though that’s a little heavier than, say, the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds (0.18oz, $199), the weight distribution is fantastic and my ears never felt like they were being weighed down. Oh, and the Cetra Open Wireless are lighter than the PlayStation Pulse Explore (0.48oz, $199) too.

Multi-platform compatibility

If you want a pair of gaming earbuds that’s compatible with nearly every console and smart device you own, the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless buds are for you. Thanks to Bluetooth and a 2.4GHz dongle, they’re compatible with PS5, Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch, Steam Deck, macOS, PC, iOS and Android.

The Cetra Open Wireless also feature simultaneous multipoint connectivity. With the 2.4GHz dongle plugged into my PS5 Slim, I paired the earbuds with my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL at the same time, and I was able to listen to music on my phone while playing games (hence the ‘simultaneous part, as standard multipoint would only allow you to do one at a time). Multipoint connectivity is something I desperately missed on the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds, while simultaneous multipoint is something we loved on the premium SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite ($599), so I’m really pleased the Cetra Open Wireless feature both.

Great for footsteps and dialogue

The Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless are excellent earbuds if you play a lot of dialogue-heavy games or stealth-based games that require you to listen out for footsteps. They utilize 14mm carbon-coated diaphragm drivers to cover a frequency response range of 20Hz-20KHz — so the entire spectrum of human hearing. With the 2.4GHz dongle plugged into my PS5 Slim, I played a range of games, including Control, Cyberpunk 2077, and Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is chock-full of dialogue: in-depth conversations with your party as well as idle chatter from NPCs. Through the Cetra Open Wireless, I could hear every single word loud and clear, as the soundstage’s mids packed plenty of detail and depth. Words never bled into one another, and I could also make out the emotion in certain character’s voices — as their voices quivered when they were upset or overwhelmed, for instance.

It was a similar case in Control, where I could feel Jesse Faden’s apprehension and anxieties in her voice as she traversed the shifting floors of the Oldest House. When NPCs in Control spoke devoid of any emotion to convey a sort of emptiness, I could feel that too, and even when there were multiple voices speaking at once, they never overlapped one another to the point that I couldn’t understand them.

For stealth-based gameplay, the Cetra Open Wireless are fantastic, as I found while playing Cyberpunk 2077. When I was infiltrating heavily guarded enemy bases, I could hear footsteps loudly and clearly. This helped me pinpoint exactly where NPCs were positioned so I could strategize accordingly and take them down without being noticed. I also appreciated being able to hear NPCs speaking with each other even when the techno, synthwave soundtrack was playing loudly, and it never once compromised my character.

One of the biggest advantages of using open earbuds is that you can still hear those around you, so I never once missed the doorbell, and I could still have conversations with my partner without having to remove the Cetra Open Wireless.

Decent mic performance

If you play online and need your friends or rivals to hear you loudly and clearly, you’ll be pleased to know that the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless boast good mic performance. The omnidirectional mics feature AI-powered noise canceling which means that only your voice is isolated and all background noise is cut out.

I tested the Cetra Open Wireless’ mic performance out in two ways. I first recorded myself speaking with nothing else playing in the background. As you can hear in the clip above, my voice sounds clear and textured.

I then recorded myself speaking with an episode of Schitt’s Creek playing in the background at 90% volume. In the clip above, the Cetra Open Wireless’ AI noise canceling mics do a good job of isolating my voice. While you can hear a little bit of the sitcom creeping in, it doesn’t overpower my voice.

User-friendly app

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To customize the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless, you’ll need to download the Gear Link app on your Android or iOS smartphone. The app sports a clear interface and offers plenty of customization options. You can remap the touch gestures and commands, customize the equalizer or choose an EQ preset, make extensive adjustments to the colors and effects of the RGB lighting, and of course, update the firmware.

Gear Link is a delight to use, and reminds me of other apps I’ve used for earbuds designed for music. And truth be told, I’m just glad I don’t have to deal with Asus’ Armoury Crate bloatware, which is a pain to use but often required for tweaking the brand’s other gear.

Long battery life

Last but not least, the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless boast strong battery life. Asus says that the earbuds can last up to 16 hours before having to go back in their case, and the case provides an additional 32 hours of battery life — so 48 hours in total. Having used the earbuds for nearly 24 hours, I can confirm that they do indeed last for 16 hours. That’s amazing.

The Cetra Open Wireless’ rivals pale in comparison when it comes to battery life. The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds are rated for 10 hours (30 hours with charging case) while the PlayStation Pulse Explore last a measly 5 hours (10 hours with charging case). Over-ear headphones, like the Asus ROG Delta II (110 hours, $229) and the Alienware Pro Wireless (70 hours, $229), naturally last longer as there’s more room for bigger battery packs, so the Cetra Open Wireless do well in that regard.

Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless review: The downs

Alas, the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless aren’t perfect, as they’re designed for a niche audience, the bass is underwhelming while the treble is overwhelming, and they cost a premium.

Niche appeal

The Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless earbuds clearly have a very niche market. They’re the world’s first open earbuds designed specifically for gaming. Most gamers, including myself, use either over-ear headphones or in-ear buds for gaming, like the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro ($249) or the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds. Who, exactly, are the Cetra Open Wireless for? The trade-offs are losing out on active or even passive noise cancellation and powerful bass (more on that shortly) — all the things that make your favorite games immersive and more enjoyable.

Open earbuds are usually meant for runners or gym goers who want to be aware of their surroundings or maintain some level of situational awareness so as not to get run over by a bike. You’re not going to be gaming when you’re walking, right? Unless you’re dabbling in some Pokémon Go, if that’s still relevant. I suppose if you’re a gamer and a runner, the Cetra Open Wireless negate the need for having two separate pairs of open-ears.

But at this price, it’s hard to recommend them outright purely for playing games indoors, especially when other headsets and earbuds offer better value for money.

Underwhelming bass and overzealous treble

While in-game dialogues and footsteps in the mid-range sound great through the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless, I’m not convinced by every other aspect of the soundstage. The earbuds deliver underwhelming bass and overzealous treble. I don’t know about you, but I love feeling a thump in my chest and ears whenever a loud explosion takes place in a video game, as it helps with my immersion, and in horror games too. Strip that away and you’ve got a soundstage that feels lackluster and hollow — that’s what the Cetra Open Wireless sound like to me.

Regardless of the game I played, I found the bass lacking while the treble felt way too emphasized. For instance, Control is a horror game that relies on low frequencies to ensure The Hiss sound terrifying, but the earbuds just didn’t pack the oomph needed to convey the terror. The creaking sounds of the Oldest House felt more clinical and less haunting, which for a horror game, isn’t good news.

Similarly, the soundstage felt devoid of any weight to it in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 too. A game in which every battle is soundtracked by powerful orchestral melodies suddenly felt thin and nowhere near as impactful. While the Cetra Open Wireless ensure that the mids are crisp, complex tracks sound tinny or muddy, and more fatiguing than epic. Also, the sound effects for counter-attacks and finishers are layered with heavy sub-bass distortion which I simply couldn’t appreciate through the Cetra Open Wireless.

Lastly, the treble. On the Cetra Open Wireless, the high-pitched sounds of bullets ricocheting off steel pillars in Cyberpunk 2077 felt too pronounced and like they were piercing through the soundstage. Combined with explosions not being very loud or bassy, it didn’t make for a very enjoyable experience.

Costs a premium

Another drawback of the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless is the price tag. These open earbuds cost a whopping $229 at Amazon, and is the price justified? I’m not entirely convinced. When you can get either equally as good or even better earbuds and headphones for the same price or less, the Cetra Open Wireless feel like an easy way to burn your hard-earned money.

Of course, if you want open earbuds specifically for gaming, this is realistically the only pair you can buy. But even so, they don’t provide the best sound quality, and in my opinion, it’s worth considering other over-ear headsets and in-ear buds. The Asus ROG Delta II ($229) and the Alienware Pro Wireless ($229) are my top picks for over-ears in this price range, while the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds ($199) are excellent in-ears.

Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless review: Verdict

If you spend a lot of time playing first-person shooters and other stealth-based games, and need a pair of comfortable earbuds, then the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless are sure to please you. They’re extremely comfy, and they make footsteps sound detailed and textured. Good mic performance, long battery life, and easy customization make them a winner.

But is all of that worth $229? The Cetra Open Wireless will appeal to a niche audience, as there aren’t any other open gaming earbuds out there, at the time of writing. That’s not even the biggest drawback, though. Unfortunately, bass through these earbuds lacks the oomph you’d expect, and the treble cuts through the rest of the soundscape.

You can get better value for your money elsewhere, as long as you’re open to considering over-ear headsets or in-ear earbuds. Personally, I’ll be sticking with my headphones.