SteelSeries TUSQ Review: Nifty Gaming Earphones For Just US$40!

If you’re a gamer, you’ll know Steelseries. They have some of the best gaming peripherals on the market, but they’re typically a bit on the pricey side. Well, the new TUSQ gaming earphones aren’t just affordable, they’re actually really convenient as well.

It’s a pretty simple product. You get earbuds that are actually pretty big, with most of the electronics sitting outside the ear, and on the left side, there’s a mic port where you can plug in the included boom mic if needed. The mic does rotate rather freely when plugged in, which can be an issue if you want to adjust how it’s bent since you’ll need one hand to hold onto the earbud and plug while you adjust the mic with the other hand.

With that being said, the earbuds do sit quite securely in the ear, and the memory wire ear hooks work perfectly fine as extra security.

If you’re out on the go and don’t want to use the boom mic, there’s also a built-in mic that has a mic-mute switch.

But what’s great about this headset is that it works perfectly on other platforms and not just when you’re playing games on a phone. I used it with my Nintendo Switch and it worked just fine. I plugged it into my desktop and it was great too, my friends could hear me clearly and if you’re not a fan of gaming over-ear headphones, these are lightweight and won’t result in wearing fatigue.

It’s even great for listening to music. Sure, it’s a pair of US$39.99 earphones that’s meant for gaming, so you can’t expect sound quality to be excellent here. The soundstage is a bit shallow, but it’s a relatively balanced sound with a OK amount of bass and a pretty good treble response.

Gunshots and explosions were impactful, and my friends thought that my voice when we were in chat sounded okay, but it was a little thin compared to a proper gaming headset.

There’s definitely room for improvement though. I think including a scroll wheel for volume control would be excellent. As it is now, you have to use your phone, computer or Nintendo Switch’s own volume controls, which isn’t great when you’re in the middle of a game and want to turn the volume up or down.

Secondly, I think including an adaptor in the box would be nice. Plenty of phones nowadays have gotten rid of the 3.5mm headphone port, so including a 3.5mm to USB-C would be really convenient. I reckon the price doesn’t really allow for extra accessories though, since the TUSQ really is priced quite affordably.

If you’re looking for a gift for someone who’s big on playing mobile games like PUBG Mobile, Call Of Duty Mobile, or even on something like the Nintendo Switch, this is definitely a pretty nice option. Or even if you’re looking for lightweight earbuds that won’t leave your ears a sweaty mess after long gaming sessions on your PC, these work perfectly.

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Content by Cheryl Tan