Gaming earbuds have the reputation of being good at just one thing. While I certainly could use the PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds outside of my house, I wouldn’t because they’re bulky, ostentatious, and lack noise canceling and a transparency mode. It is this situation that the Asus ROG Cetra SpeedNova attempts to address: one pair of headphones that can be used for both gaming and everyday listening. And while they are not perfect (nothing is) and their strengths lean more toward the latter than the former, these are the closest to achieving that goal that I’ve used.
Asus ROG Cetra SpeedNova – Design and Build
Right out of the box, it’s immediately apparent where the design inspiration for the SpeedNova came from: they look very similar to Apple’s AirPods. While it might be seen as a design cop-out by some, there is a very good reason the bud-and-stem style design is used: it works.
The second thing that I noticed is the RGB, which is very “gamer,” but something I happen to like. I do think that integrating RGB into earbuds is unnecessary for most (you’ll never see the color while you’re wearing them), they would make sense if you stream because your audience will get to enjoy the pop of color. The LEDs in the buds can generate a wide range of colors and do so with standard effects like pulse, strobe, and cycling through colors. It can also remain static or be turned off entirely, which you’ll want to do if no one’s watching because it reduces battery drain. As far as the quality of the build, the SpeedNova earbuds feel high-end and, though they’re packed with features, the buds are very lightweight and comfortable.
The application of LEDs here is quite nice, as it isn’t just one giant LED in each bud, but what must be several small ones that allow the SpeedNovas to display more than one color at a time. That’s most visible when it cycles through colors. It looks nicer and more premium than RGB effects I’ve seen on other headsets. These lighting effects are controlled via Asus Armoury Crate, which is both an app on iOS and Android as well as software that is available on Windows PCs, and it’s where all of the customization options for these buds live.
The other half of the earbuds equation is the charging case. The SpeedNovas’ case opens and closes in a clamshell manner, and between the two magnetic charging points for the buds is another RGB LED logo. The case is compatible with wireless charging and also sports a USB-C port on the back, behind the hinge. Size-wise, it’s not the biggest charging case I’ve encountered but it is slightly bigger than that of the AirPods Pro. It easily fits in my pants pocket.
When you go to use them with a phone, PC, or console, the SpeedNovas can connect via Bluetooth and the included USB-C (it comes with a USB-C to A adapter, too) dongle simultaneously, but it can’t play audio from more than one source at a time. It’s not technically Bluetooth multipoint, but what ROG is calling “hybrid multipoint.”
What this means is it’s easy enough to connect to multiple devices for the purpose of switching between them as needed, but you can’t play game audio and take a phone call at the same time, as you can with PlayStation's recent Pulse Explore earbuds and Pulse Elite headphones.
That said, the dongle works with both a PC and a console, and the plug-and-play capability makes it easy to swap devices at home. I can go from Playing Apex Legends with my friends on PlayStation, to making a call on my iPhone, to (with a quick dongle swap) Baldur’s Gate III on my PC.
Adding to their usability in everyday life, the buds are IPX4 rated, which means they’re protected from splashes, rain, and sweat, so you can comfortably use them while exercising – but they won’t survive being dropped in the toilet or a pool like your phone and smartwatch can.
Asus ROG Cetra SpeedNova – In Use
I like the ROG Cetra SpeedNova buds, but I don’t love the control implementation as it relies exclusively on touch. This isn’t just an ROG issue, as I’ve found any devices as small as an earbud to be unreliable when it comes to getting the result you want from being tapped with your finger.
In theory, tapping the right and left earbud in different ways allows you to adjust the noise canceling, play controls, and volume, but fitting that many different features into taps means you’re going to be constantly thinking very hard about how many times you’re tapping which bud. It’s a lot to keep in your head, and just as often I find myself forgoing this altogether and just using the app to control the buds via my smartphone or smartwatch.
I also find these controls to be fiddly and easy to unintentionally hit. ROG put the touch pad on the body of the earbud right on the RGB LEDs, and I touch them unintentionally all the time while trying to adjust the fit in my ear. I also have found that the multiple taps it might take to do something don’t always have the desired effect.
Overall, I would consider the touch controls to be adequate but fiddly. By comparison, Apple gets around this by relying on haptics and placing control in the stem. While this limits how many controls it could cram into the AirPods Pro, I don’t activate any features unintentionally.
Moving on to the microphone: while these earbuds may look similar to Apple’s design, ROG employs a pair of technologies in an attempt to improve mic audio quality. SpeedNovas mix both beamforming tech and what ROG calls a “bone condensing AI microphone” together to better isolate and focus on your voice.
The results are mixed. On the one hand, it does a better job than other earbuds, like the Apple AirPods Pro, at isolating sounds made by the person actually wearing the earbuds. Background noise is suppressed better, but at the same time it’s not nearly as effective as PlayStation’s AI at this task. On the other hand, the rendition of your voice is lower quality than what you get out of the AirPods Pro. Vocals are clear, but very rough around the edges. As a result, when I look around at what is available, I wouldn’t say the ROG Cetra SpeedNovas are either sitting at the top or the bottom; microphone quality is a perfect example of “middling.”
More successful (to varying degrees) is the active noise canceling brought to the table, as well as a transparency mode. When I evaluate noise canceling, I tend to compare the performance directly against the latest-generation AirPods Pro, which I consider to be among the best in the earbuds space. From that perspective, the SpeedNovas get about 80% of the way there. I took them on an airplane and found they were quite effective at blocking out the ambient noise, but not quite as good as the AirPods Pro, which I swapped back and forth between to really hear the difference. The ANC on the SpeedNovas has three levels, but I ended up always using it on the strongest tier.
The transparency mode is significantly worse than what Apple has done, however. It certainly works, but ROG hasn’t quite managed to replicate the experience of AirPods, which get shockingly close to the listening experience of not wearing earbuds at all without having to pull them out of your ears. The SpeedNovas still make me feel like my ears are underwater, with a sense of “pressure” that does not feel quite normal.
That transparency mode is as close as we get to sidetone (being able to hear your own voice through the headset) with the SpeedNova and it is certainly better than nothing, though I wish they did a better job at accurately representing the ambient volume: it feels just a few decibels below what my ears would be hearing without buds in.
What the SpeedNovas get right, however, is long-term comfort and reliable connectivity. The buds are very light and nestle well in my concha, and ROG ships three ear tip sizes with them so you can find the one that fits your canal the best (I swapped the default medium tips for the smallest option).
The connection quality is also exceptional. The Bluetooth range lets me easily walk around my house – multiple rooms away from my phone – and still keeps a strong connection. The dongle is just as good in this regard. For comparison, they worked just as well as my Apple AirPods. With both earbuds, I ran out of house before I ran out of connection.
The SpeedNovas also sound very good when listening to music. Out of the box, the default EQ has a lovely warmth to it, great balance of highs and lows, and even a nice level of detail reproduction. The earbuds also support HD audio, which means music can sound excellent – provided you have a good source. I prefer the sound quality of the Cetra SpeedNova over the AirPods Pro, though I recognize that was not a super high bar to clear.
But it doesn’t end there: you can customize the EQ through Armoury Crate to your liking through a standard EQ curve, as well as a toggle for Dirac Opteo. Dirac supposedly maximizes the sound performance of any sound system by addressing acoustical issues caused by hardware limitations, and I found that it can slightly improve the perceived quality of sound. I kept it on. When on a Windows PC, Armoury Crate adds even more options including a bass boost, virtual surround sound, reverb, and recording volume among other options.
Likewise, games sound very good, but I limit that statement to single-player experiences like Baldur’s Gate III because, unfortunately, they fall short of my needs for competitive shooters. In Apex Legends, for instance, everything seemed fine until I got into a gunfight (which did not take long). Suddenly, I had no idea where anyone was. Footsteps lacked any directionality and even gunfire sounded like it was just coming vaguely from in front of or behind me. I was completely lost. I don’t play shooters on PC, so I was unable to test directionality there, but at least on PlayStation, don’t expect these to be great for competitive play if you rely on sound to guide you. I expect the aforementioned virtual surround sound option on Windows machines to be a big part of making these work for first-person shooters.
Finally, battery life on these earbuds is very good, but performance varies depending on what features you’re using. With active noise canceling on and RGB on, they’ll last about six and a half hours. Turn noise canceling off, and that jumps up to 10 hours. With ANC and RGB off, it goes up to about 11 and a half hours. I don’t have gaming sessions that last six and a half hours, much less 11, but if you want to use them continuously on a long-haul flight, you have that option.
With dips into the charging case, ROG rates the buds to last a total of 46 hours. On that note, five minutes in the case gives the equivalent of an hour of listening time. That’s a lot of listening time – in fact, it’s some of the best you can get right now on earbuds.
Asus ROG Cetra SpeedNova – The Competition
For the same price as the SpeedNovas, you could instead pick up Sony’s InZone buds. They have some of the same functionality and general promises, but they don’t work at all with Apple devices, which the SpeedNovas do just fine. I also think that ROG’s buds are much more comfortable than the InZone buds.
I talked a lot about Apple’s AirPods Pro, but I don’t actually consider them to be a viable alternative to the SpeedNovas since they don’t have any EQ customization options and they’re not capable for gaming in the same way.
If you’re only on PlayStation, you could also consider the Pulse Explore earbuds, which bring much better directionality and detail reproduction to your gameplay, but they’re less comfortable, much bigger, and don’t have active noise cancelation or transparency.
