Asus ROG Cetra Open earbuds review: comfort at a cost | Tech Radar

Overview

I tested Asus’ new open earbuds for weeks, and I love their great sound and comfort level — but they’re so ugly I’m actually impressed

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Details

Asus has made a decent pair of open earbuds in the ROG Cetra Open thanks to their strong microphones and surprisingly good sound, but they’re just far too expensive for what you get. While hugely comfortable, there are countless cheaper options by non-gaming brands that offer even more functionality for a fraction of the cost.

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The best open earbuds, all real-world tested by our experts

The best wireless earbuds for all budgets, all tested by our reviewers

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I’ve become very fond of open earbuds recently, and was pretty excited when Asus announced the ROG Cetra Open. If you’re not familiar with the open ear style, they’re basically earbuds that clip onto your ears and have drivers that sit a few millimeters away from your ear canal rather than plug with a silicon tip.

They’re incredibly comfortable to wear and help you maintain awareness of your surroundings, which is great when you're out and about and would rather avoid getting hit by passing bikes and the like. The trade-off is generally that you lose out on noise cancellation, isolation, and the earbuds’ ability to effectively produce bass.

Open earbuds seem like a bit of a strange choice for gaming, given the fact that they are usually towards runners or gymgoers, but I think Asus might be on to a winner with the concept. The level of comfort they offer is second to none, and I always appreciate the ability to hear myself while chatting in a match.

Unfortunately, the Asus ROG Cetra Open really stumble, presumably as a result of being the brand’s first pair of open gaming earbuds. For starters, they’re ridiculously expensive at an eye-watering $229.99 / £174.99 - that’s more than many of the best wireless gaming headsets and triple excellent non-gaming alternatives such as the Huawei Free Arc Buds. While the Asus pair does sound much better overall and has vastly superior microphones, they’re still not worth such a higher cost in my eyes.

The case that they sit in is also absurdly massive. It’s big enough to be uncomfortable in your pocket and, at the point you have to carry around a rucksack just to have space for your earbuds, it’s safe to say something has gone seriously wrong in the design department. To make matters worse, it feels very hollow and plasticky, which is unacceptable in a product at this price.

All of this leaves the Asus ROG Cetra Open difficult to recommend outside of a sale or if you’re really, really desperate for an open gaming pair. Hopefully, the brand’s next attempt is cheaper and more feature-dense, because there is real potential here.

The Asus ROG Cetra Open earbuds retail for $229.99 / £174.99 and can be purchased via the Asus website in the US and UK, in addition to Amazon and Newegg in the US.

At this price, they’re substantially more expensive than our current favorite premium gaming buds, the Steel Series Arctis Game Buds, which go for

159.99 / £159.99 / AU

359, and you’re paying a massive premium for the open design.

For Play Station owners, the

199.99 / £179.99 / AU

249.95 Sony Inzone Buds are another major competitor, while the Play Station Pulse Explore earbuds are also in the mix, and offer out-of-the-box Play Station Portal compatibility too.

They’re also pretty pricey compared to other open earbuds, costing much more than the Huawei Free Arc Buds and Honor Earbuds Open, but less than the super premium Bose Ultra Open Earbuds.

PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, mobile

I’ll be completely honest here: I absolutely hate how the Asus ROG Cetra Open looks. They’re bulky and weirdly angular for a pair of open earbuds, and look nowhere near as sleek and stylish as the alternatives by Huawei and Honor. In fact, they look more like they’re by a weirdly named off-brand that you would find scrolling too far down Amazon rather than a major hardware manufacturer. This certainly isn’t helped by the RGB lighting with its overly garish default rainbow pattern, or the fact that the plastic materials used on each bud don’t feel too premium.

The case is just as hideous and, worse still, comically large: it’s only slightly more compact than the average mid-size phone and about four times as thick. This makes it difficult to fit in a pocket and annoying to bring around with you. Sure, lots of open-ear buds have cases on the bulkier side, but I’ve not used any quite as impractical as this. I don’t quite understand why Asus is advertising these earbuds so heavily as suitable for sports, as a result of this, as surely anyone running or at the gym would favor something with a case that's more compact.

Part of the reason the case is so big is to make room for the 2.4GHz USB-C wireless dongle. The dongle has a pass-through feature, with its own USB-C port that you can use to charge a controller, for example, but it’s an odd L-shape that tends to block more than one port when it’s plugged in.

Rather than a traditional application, the Asus ROG Cetra Open relies on a browser-based program called Gear Link. I really appreciate this, as it removes the need to install any software bloat and gives you immediate access to settings on practically any PC or phone when you need them. Major features it lets you tweak include equalizer settings (with pre-sets for gaming, movies, music, and so on), RGB lighting effects, and Immersion Mode. Immersion Mode seems to be some form of active noise cancellation (ANC), though I found that it wasn’t particularly effective at blocking even low-level background sound.

There’s also optional multipoint connectivity, letting you pair two devices at once for the times when you want to game while listening to music or taking a phone call.

For a pair of open earbuds, the Asus ROG Cetra Open sounds great with some surprisingly punchy bass. The sound is crisp and clean, with decent tuning out of the box - though I would still recommend selecting the flat EQ in its software. It’s hard to overstate just how comfortable they are to wear, too. I have used them for an entire day of work with absolutely no discomfort or fatigue, making them some of the most comfortable earbuds that I’ve ever used.

They’re very secure on the ears too, and can easily withstand walking or even running. The included neck band can be used for some added peace of mind, too, ensuring that they will stay on your person even if they do come loose.

The ability to hear your surroundings is also surprisingly useful, though it does come with some drawbacks. If you’re using these headphones in an office environment, you can easily chat to others without taking them out of yours and when exercising outdoors, you don’t need to worry about drowning out oncoming traffic. In a gaming context, though, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword. You’re going to hear pretty much everything in your surroundings, even if you’re playing at home, which makes it difficult to get truly immersed. The headphones do have an Immersion Mode feature, which seemingly enables some kind of ANC, but it’s not effective at blocking noise at all.

The microphones of the Asus ROG Cetra Open are decent for a pair of earbuds. They’re not broadcast quality by any means, but they do a decent job picking up your voice and will ensure that you can be heard clearly in most situations. The battery life is also nothing to complain about, with around 16 hours of use for each bud and an additional three charges held in the case.

The included dongle makes it easy to use the headphones with consoles, and cuts down potential latency, though I do find its L shape design a little awkward. If you’re not careful, it can block adjacent USB ports, though it does offer USB-C passthrough that somewhat mitigates this annoyance.

You're after open gaming earbuds If you want a pair of open earbuds designed specifically for gaming, there really aren’t any real alternatives to the Asus ROG Cetra Open, making them your best option by default.

You’re desperate for earbuds suitable for both gaming and sport If, for some reason, you really, really want to use the same earbuds for gaming and sport, then the Asus ROG Cetra Open is one of the few products geared towards both.

You’re on any kind of budget The biggest drawback of the Asus ROG Cetra Open is easily its massive price tag. If you’re after a pair of open earbuds, there are plenty of cheaper options out there, and if you can sacrifice the open design, premium gaming earbud models come in much cheaper.

After some alternatives to the Asus ROG Cetra Open? Here’s one gaming model and one more general pair of open earbuds to consider.

PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, mobile

Game Buds for Play Station: PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, Meta Quest 2/3, mobile; Game Buds for Xbox: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, Meta Quest 2/3

360° Spatial Audio, Qi Wireless Charging Case, 6mm neodymium drivers, four-mic ANC, transparency mode, in-ear detection/sensor, IP55 rating, fast charge, companion app with more than 100 presets

Arctis Companion App (mobile), Steel Series Sonar (PC)

Steel Series Arctis Game Buds My go-to gaming earbuds and easily the best premium pair that money can buy right now. They boast excellent sound, great companion software, and some highly effective ANC to keep you immersed in your game.

For more information, check out our full Steel Series Arctis Game Buds review

Huawei Free Arc Buds This more affordable, general-use pair is my current open earbuds of choice for when I’m outdoors. They’re just as comfortable as the Asus pair, but much more stylish. They’re not designed for gaming, though, and you lose some sound quality.

For more information, check out our full Huawei Free Arc Buds review

Compared against other open earbuds and gaming earbuds

I tested the Asus ROG Cetra Open earbuds for more than a month, using them as my go-to headphones for practically everything in that time. I spent hours using them for gaming on both PC and PS5 in addition to taking calls with friends over Discord. I took them with me daily to the office too, wearing them outside to listen to music and for taking meetings at work,

Throughout my time with the earbuds, I compared them frequently to many of the best gaming earbud models, particularly the Steel Series Arctis Game Buds. I also evaluated them against open earbuds that I have tried, like the Honor Earbuds Open and Huawei Free Arc Buds.

Dash is an experienced tech journalist who currently serves as the Gaming Editor at Tech Radar, where he helps oversee coverage of video games and related products.

Before joining the team, he was Contributing Writer at PLAY (formerly Official Play Station Magazine) and has also written articles for many of the UK's biggest gaming magazines including Edge, PC Gamer, and SFX.

Now, when he's not getting his greasy little mitts on the newest hardware or gaming gadget, he can be found listening to J-pop or feverishly devouring the latest Nintendo Switch otome.

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Key Takeaways

I tested Asus’ new open earbuds for weeks, and I love their great sound and comfort level — but they’re so ugly I’m actually impressed
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission
Asus has made a decent pair of open earbuds in the ROG Cetra Open thanks to their strong microphones and surprisingly good sound, but they’re just far too expensive for what you get
Best earbuds: top buys, all Tech Radar-tested and recommended
The best open earbuds, all real-world tested by our experts