Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless review

I'll admit one thing to you right now: I don't like in-ear headphones. I never really have. They just don't feel right in my ears for longer than an hour or so. Maybe it's because I've never been keen on the idea of having a piece of silicon shoved in my ear to listen to things, or the whole form factor, although of course it is all down to taste.

After all, lots of people swear by wireless earbuds for day-to-day productivity loads, and even for gaming. The likes of the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds and Sony Inzone Buds are two bright sparks in this regard.

Enter the Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless, a new $230/£185 set of 'open back' gaming buds that could be the answer to my problems. There isn't the need to shove any silicon tips in your ears with these buds, as they simply rest 'on' your ears, rather than in them.

For a quick refresher, open-back headphones refer to ones that don't have closed cups, thereby letting sound in and out for a wider and more expansive presentation at the expense of potentially annoying those around you.

In this instance, the ROG Cetra Open Wireless are designated as 'open' from more of a comfort perspective. It's a strange sensation having them resting on your ears for the first time, especially if you're used to more traditional earbuds and over-ear headphones. In my experience, it took just a few minutes for me to acclimatise to these ROG earbuds, although there was still an odd sensation when I put them back on after taking them off.

Moreover, the inclusion of an ear hook in their construction makes the fit secure and helps position these buds as more of a fitness/running choice, as well as for gaming. Asus also bundles a neck strap in the box to tie the two buds together, so they can't go walkabouts together, and also helps them remain in place if you're running and such. Also helping their fitness credentials is the presence of an IPX5 water resistance rating, meaning these should be alright for water splashes and such from rain or sweat.

One thing I certainly appreciate about these earbuds is that there aren't any finicky touch controls, as Asus has opted for proper buttons instead. Given how small the main frames of these are, the buttons are understandably quite small, requiring a certain degree of precision. Get it right, and you can control media playback and such with relative ease without having to swipe incoherently.

Owing to the larger nature of an open frame, the ROG Cetra Open Wireless' charging case is chunkier than you might be used to—it's more in length than in thickness. The case is still pocketable, just, and you'll need deeper pockets to accommodate. The case has a bit of a plastic feel to it, which is okay, and has some flair with ROG branding if that's your kind of thing.

Open the case up, and you'll find the earbuds sit flat down and magnetically attach for charging, complete with status LEDs so you know juice is going back into them. In the middle sits the USB-C receiver for a low-latency 2.4 GHz connection, complete with a USB-C port in itself for a passthrough so you can still charge your phone while using the buds, or so you don't lose out on the functionality of a front panel USB-C port on your PC, which can be quite hard to come by.

On the point of connectivity, the ROG Cetra Open Wireless connect via both the bundled 2.4 GHz receiver and Bluetooth, and two devices can be connected simultaneously for ease of use. The 2.4 GHz low-latency 'Speednova' connection is handy for gaming powers, while having an additional Bluetooth channel frees these buds up for listening to music or podcasts through your phone when you're travelling, for instance.

Battery life here is generally strong, too, as these Asus earbuds can run for a total of 16 hours from the buds themselves, with the case supplementing this with an additional 48 hours of use. That's 64 hours in total, albeit only if you're happy to turn the mic and RGB lighting off. Leave all of it running, and your runtime will be brought down closer to the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds' 40 hours, if not slightly less.

A handy feature the ROG Cetra Open Wireless has is wear detection. This is ported over more from 'lifestyle' focused devices than gaming-centric ones, and means the buds will stop whatever you're listening to when it detects you've taken the buds off.

Far too often, I'll take a set of headphones or earbuds off to do something else, only to put them back on and find they've had a party to themselves while I've answered the front door. Now they stop when you do.

It's taken me long enough, but time to get to the important bit: audio quality. Usually, open-back headphones and headsets come with an increasingly wide and expansive presentation—after all, that's the whole point of them—which sets them apart from their closed-back counterparts.

The ROG Cetra Open Wireless largely impressed me in this regard in my usual testing ground of Counter Strike 2, with surprisingly precise directional audio and an excellent soundstage to boot. Combined with this, I got some great overall detail for pinpointing footsteps, distant gunfire and explosions, making these a very competent set of buds for FPS titles.

The big surprise at how these buds sounded, though, was the power of their bass. When not working, I'm usually listening to a good range of rock tracks, be it Marillion, Rush or otherwise. Spinning up Rush's YYZ revealed the punch and power of the bass, providing a great sense of atmosphere and warmth to proceedings. It wasn't to the extent you could feel the subbass as such, but more of a reassuring heft that works away in the background.

I also didn't find that the prominent low end coloured the sound of the ROG Cetra Open Wireless too much, as the mid-range of vocals and footsteps felt clear, while the top-end on the likes of Steely Dan's Do It Again extracted solid detail and sparkle.

I'd probably be inclined to describe these earbuds as a purposeful listen, rather than being a fun or energetic type. The sound signature serves a purpose for their gaming-centric workload, although there is still plenty of room to stretch their legs and have some fun with an array of music.

Even though these are open-back buds, I didn't experience much in the way of seepage from the ROG Cetra Open Wireless. Sure, it was possible to slightly hear the audio from a foot or two away, but that's only at unnaturally loud volumes where you're probably going to do some damage. For the most part, you won't bother people too much using these for a commute or in a busy cafe.

The microphone in these buds is perfectly cromulent for calls and in-game comms, with decent clarity and body overall that I'd wager surpasses a lot of its key rivals.

Then we come to the dilemma of price and appeal. The fact is that the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds are likely to appeal to more people due to a lower price, a more conventional fit, and as much versatility as these. It's also worth noting you can get some top-class noise-cancelling buds from Sony and Bose for a similar price to these, and more fitness-focused open buds that don't cost as much.

The Asus ROG Cetra Open Wireless are an intriguing addition to the market sector of gaming earbuds, adding the convenience of open-back powers to a form factor it isn't usually associated with. I like the way they fit and the way they sound, although at the price they are, it's an expensive experiment.