SteelSeries TUSQ Headphones Review

The SteelSeries TUSQ have a similar design to the Turtle Beach Battle Buds with an in-line mic and controls as well as a thin, flexible, and detachable boom mic. The earbuds are oval-shaped and have a shiny metallic silver finish. The manufacturer's logo is also on both buds. Unfortunately, these headphones only come in one color variation: 'Black'.

The SteelSeries TUSQ have a decently comfortable fit. They have malleable ear hooks and come with three sets of differently-sized ear tips so that you can find the best fit possible. They also don't put too much pressure on your ears. However, they're not as comfortable as the Logitech G333. Some users may also find they have a deep in-ear fit, and the ear hook can be a bit bothersome over time.

The SteelSeries TUSQ have sub-par controls. While they're very easy to use and are located on the audio cable, there is only a multi-function button and a slider, which is limiting. Unfortunately, they lack volume controls, and there are no beeps or voice prompts, by design. However, the button and slider feel clicky and responsive. It's also very easy to know when you've registered a command.

Multi-function button:

• One click: Plays and pauses audio.
• Double click: Skips your track forward.
• Triple click: Skips your track backward.
• Hold: Activates voice assistant.

Slider:

• Slide left and right: Mutes and unmutes the microphone.

LIke most in-ears, the SteelSeries TUSQ have incredible breathability. Since they don't cover your outer ear, they don't trap in much heat, so you shouldn't sweat more than usual, even if you're wearing them during moderate physical exercise. They're not designed for this purpose, though.

These headphones have excellent portability. You can detach their boom microphone for improved portability, and they should fit into most pockets or bags without too much of an issue. They also come with a carrying case to help protect them when you're on the go.

The carrying case is sub-par. It's very thin and made of fabric, meaning it can protect the headphones from dust and light water exposure, but that's about it.

The SteelSeries TUSQ have a decent build quality and are mostly made of silicone and plastic. They also have a detachable boom microphone, but the mic's connection point on the bud is fairly loose, and the mic can disconnect easily. They also lack an IP rating for dust and water resistance, although this is to be expected from gaming headphones.

The SteelSeries TUSQ In-Ear have good stability. Thanks to their flexible ear hooks, they shouldn't move around, even during moderate physical activity. They're not designed for this purpose, though, and their audio cable can easily get hooked on something and pull them out of your ears.

• SteelSeries TUSQ In-Ear headphones
• Carrying case
• 3x ear tips
• Detachable boom mic

The SteelSeries TUSQ have a very excited sound profile that delivers intense thump, rumble, and boom, which can help emphasize sound effects in your gameplay. While dialogue and lead instruments sound bright, they're easily muddied by the overemphasis in bass. Unfortunately, they lack a companion app or built-in EQ presets to help you customize their sounds to suit your tastes.

The SteelSeries TUSQ have outstanding frequency response consistency. Once you achieve a proper seal using the included ear tips, you should experience consistent bass and treble delivery each time you use them.

The bass accuracy of these in-ears is poor. It's overemphasized across the range, resulting in intense thump, punch, and boom. However, it sounds very overwhelming and muddy.

The SteelSeries TUSQ's mid accuracy is okay. There's overemphasis coming from the bass range into the low-mid, which clutters and muddies your mixes. The rest of the mid-range is well-balanced and neutral, so vocals and lead instruments sound slightly forward but present and clear.

The SteelSeries TUSQ have satisfactory treble accuracy. The low-treble is fairly neutral, so the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments sound detailed and articulated. However, the mid-treble is very overemphasized, resulting in sibilants like cymbals becoming piercing and painful.

The peaks and dips performance is satisfactory. A bump in the high-bass to low-mid makes your mixes muddy and cluttered, while a prolonged dip in the mid-mid to low-treble nudges vocals and lead instruments to the back of your mix while weakening their clarity and detail. A peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants such as S and T sounds piercing.

The SteelSeries TUSQ's imaging performance is outstanding. The group delay falls beneath the audibility threshold, ensuring tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. While there's a small peak above the phase response's audibility threshold in the mid-mid, it shouldn't be an issue with regular content. The L/R drivers are well-matched in terms of phase, amplitude, and frequency response, resulting in the accurate placement and localization of objects like footsteps in the stereo image. However, our results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The SteelSeries TUSQ In-Ear's passive soundstage is bad, but this is to be expected from in-ear headphones. To create an out-of-head and speaker-like soundstage, your outer ear needs to be activated by sound resonances. However, these headphones bypass your outer ear altogether, resulting in a passive soundstage that seems closed-off and as if coming from inside your head.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is great. All frequencies fall within good levels, resulting in clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when using these settings.

The SteelSeries TUSQ's noise isolation performance is disappointing. They don't have active noise cancelling (ANC), and even though they have an in-ear fit, they barely block out the low rumbles of bus and plane engines. That said, they do a much better job of cutting down ambient chatter and can help reduce the high-pitched sounds of an AC unit.

The SteelSeries TUSQ In-Ear's leakage performance is great. Leakage is mostly concentrated in the treble range, and escaping audio sounds thin. If you like to listen to your audio at high volumes, it shouldn't be too noticeable in a moderately noisy environment such as an office.

These headphones have both a detachable boom mic and an in-line mic. Our results reflect the boom mic's performance.

The boom mic's recording quality is excellent. Your voice sounds clear, accurate, and natural.

We also tried the in-line mic's recording quality using Windows Voice Recorder, and it sounds very similar to the boom microphone, although a little less clear.

The noise handling performance of the boom mic is mediocre. The mic has a hard time separating your voice from moderate ambient noise, and it can get drowned out if there's a lot of activity going on around you.

The in-line's mic has a worse noise handling performance. It sits further from your mouth than the boom mic and has a harder time capturing your voice clearly. As a result, your voice can get lost in moderate background noise, such as an open window with traffic outside.

The SteelSeries TUSQ In-Ear have a non-detachable 1/8" TRRS cable that you can use on any device that has an AUX port.

You can connect these headphones to your PC using the 1/8" TRRS cable and receive full mic and audio compatibility.

The SteelSeries TUSQ are fully compatible with PS4 and PS5 consoles when connecting their analog cable to your controller's AUX port.

These headphones have full audio and mic support when connected to your Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S' controller via analog.