Thoughts on the Arctis GameBuds – SteelSeries’ debut in the market, plus how Magic: The Gathering Foundations is an excellent entry point.
If you’re a gamer, you’ll likely know that gaming-specific buds often come with a few concessions. Maybe you’ll nab RGB lighting or low latency, but it might come at the expense of mainstream music listening. SteelSeries is well aware of the struggle and has done its best to buck that trend with its new Arctis GameBuds. The end result is a bud that does susprising well to provide to tick more boxes than it has any right to.
Taking the Arctis GameBuds out of the box, you’ll note that SteelSeries has put a fair bit of consideration into its bud market debut, smartly choosing not to stray too far from what works. The all-important case, for example, is neat and compact, keeping a flat profile that although not as small as something like the AirPods, can still easily fit inside your pocket. That’s an especially respectable feat considering the company has also slotted in a USB-C dongle for low latency gaming audio.
Aesthetically the buds look pretty great and aside from the SteelSeries logo on each side, don’t scream gamer, meaning you can use them for your commute to work or out and about without feeling self-conscious. I also appreciate the fact that the Arctis GameBuds include physical buttons, meaning you don’t have to worry about accidental commands from adjusting the fit.
Speaking of which, according to SteelSeries, thanks to the company’s ties to Jabra (the parent company now owning both brands) the Arctis GameBuds have gone through vigorous testing to ensure that it snuggly fits in almost every ear type, and as somebody who has always struggled to get inner-ear buds to actually stay in place, this bodes well with me. In practice, it actually worked pretty well. The silicon ear tip consistently provided a pretty strong seal, and while I did need to tinker with them from time to time, they never took a tumble out of my ear.
That seal also bodes well for active noise cancellation, performing above average amongst the competition at cutting out background noise. Transparency mode doesn’t excel as much, but still gets the job done.
Where the Arctis GameBuds do excel is in audio performance, especially if you have the 2.4GHz dongle in place. Using the buds with my PS5, every game I tried felt full and well-weighted, amplified by a great use of 360° spatial audio. It feels as though the name of the game here is balance, meaning you don’t have to worry about big bass overriding all. Plus, paired with the SteelSeries’ mobile app you’ll have access to a boatload of customised EQs tailored for specific games – ranging anywhere from Alan Wake 2 to EA Sports FC.
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As always, it’s worth noting that while the Arctis GameBuds do come in PlayStation and Xbox-specific flavours, the Xbox variant of the buds do work with all systems, making it the easy choice if you’re platform agnostic. If you want the aesthetic pleasures of an all-white unit though, you’ll have to side with the PlayStation variant.
At $359 the Arctis GameBuds are by no means a cheap earbud, especially considering you can pick up the AirPods Pro for slightly less. But for the price tag you’re getting a surprisingly solid debut that doesn’t just competently handle regular listening needs, but excels in the gaming domain.
Plus, if you can nab them at a bargain (at time of writing Amazon is slinging them for $299), they’re well worth the investment.
The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds are available now for $359.99 from JB Hi-Fi.
Also out now…
Magic: The Gathering Foundations
Up until now, getting into Magic: The Gathering is intimidating. It’s that simple. Sure adding in mainstream properties like Lord of the Rings, Transformers and Marvel might help lure newbies to the longstanding series, but that still doesn’t detract from the fact that there’s a hell of a lot to take in. Magic: the Gathering Foundations hopes to fix that and largely succeeds with a suite of goodies that is bound to bring in new legions of fans.
It all starts with the introduction of the Beginner Box, which fits you out with everything you need to get started. There are guided decks, some playmats, a life counter and even a how to play and reference booklet to keep you in the loop should you get lost. It’s an incredibly thoughtful pack that does exceptionally well to get you up and running for a pretty reasonable cost (the Beginner Box retails for $54.95).
The Beginner Box does exceptionally well to break down the complexity around Magic: The Gathering via two pre-made decks on offer (one cat themed and another vampire themed) and an accompanying guide filled with clear step-by-step instructions based on that deck. As somebody who had a group of friends chaotically introduce me to the game, I can assure you that this approach is a much gentler and clearer introduction. Even better is that once you do have the basics down pat, the additional jumpstart boosters also provided in the box will do well to showcase much of Magic: The Gathering’s flexibility and adaptability. Simply shuffle two decks together and you’ve got a whole new strategy, meaning the beginner box isn’t just a one trick pony where newcomers will become bored from using the same deck over and over again.
I was also impressed with the included playmats, namely because Wizards of the Coast has made them out of sturdy board rather than a cheap paper alternative. It might seem small, but it means that newbies can actually use the mat for years to come rather than consistently worry it’s going to gradually deteriorate.
Once the addiction does kick in, Wizards of the Coast is also smart enough to provide Foundations with the usual slew of extras as well. That means Play Boosters and Collector Boosters can also be nabbed, making it perfect for longstanding players wanting to get in on the action and see fresh variations of some of their favourite characters.
Honestly, I’m flawed with how good Magic the Gathering: Foundations is. It’s the perfect way to introduce friends, children and parents to the longstanding game, is very reasonably priced and has hit shelves just in time for Christmas. Well played.
The Magic The Gathering: Foundations Beginner Box is available now for $54.95 from The Gamesmen.
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