9 Of The Best In-Ear Monitors (IEMs) and Earbuds for Gaming
Out of the hundreds of options out there, our list narrows down to the best 9 earbuds across three categories: Entry Level, Advanced Tier, and True Wireless. All of these stand out for how well they actually perform in the things that matters most in gaming:
- Clear spatial and positional audio
- A good tuning that doesn’t drown out or muddy details, and
- A listening experience that holds up comfortably, across long sessions.
And let’s be honest:
While all earbuds can be used for gaming, not all earbuds let you game your best.
Our goal is to help you learn which options are the ones worth buying right now if you need some gaming earbuds in your life.
How We Picked These Earbuds
Every earbud in this list got its place based on how well we believe it would do in gaming. We looked at the core gaming experience first as the base of our assessment – judging on aspects such as sound imaging, separation, and the tuning. And then, we look at how well these would perform as earbuds for other things like listening to music or watching videos with, because we would rather not recommend unitaskers.
Then, we considered compatibility across devices, and the overall experience outside of gaming as well. Some earbuds sound great on one setup but sound horribly on another system. And from our own testing, when you use certain earbuds marketed as “gaming IEMs” outside of gaming, the sound tends to just be absolutely horrible for music, or watching movies and videos, etc.
In games where there’s not a lot of background music playing (most notably multiplayer fps games), or if it’s just listening to podcasts, watching talk-based YouTube videos, or making voice calls, these “gaming” IEMs are fine. But when you actually add in music and special effects, from our experience it simply does not work.
And finally, we grouped our picks into 3 main categories: Entry Level, Advanced Level, and Wireless.
Entry level is a good starting point that most people should begin in, especially when coming from big over-ear gaming headsets.
However, as we’ll explain later on, what we really recommend are those in the Advanced level and up, since both the sound and build quality are much, much better.
And, who shouldn’t forget the included a Wireless tier for those that love the convenience.
Entry level – $50 and below
These are the earbuds and IEMs for those with either a really tight budget, or are super new to using earbuds for gaming and are hesitant to spend too much just yet. While there may be some compromises in this budget category, we believe the earbuds in this tier to be leagues above your average bargain bin earbuds.
Precise and accurate spatial audio is usually out of the question since, while a decent amount of audio separation when listening to music can be expected at this tier, how wide that separation is can be highly variable. Tuning can also be a hit or miss since some units have bass that’s either too much, too muddy, or barely there at all.
This is because most of these earbuds come from audiophile IEM manufacturers, whose main target market are audiophiles who use these to listen to music, not play games with.
Overall, despite their budget status these are fairly competent earbuds that you can use for gaming. However, we have to warn you: this is the tier where you will get the quality and performance that you pay for.
KZ ZSN and ZS10 series – A Good Entry Point If You’re New To Earbuds
Source: KZ
There’s a very good reason why a lot of reels and shorts from Tiktok, IG, and Youtube recommend these IEM’s: they’re the best entry point for someone who’s never had good earbuds or IEMs before.
We’ve been very vocal about this in our other posts, because most people have only ever had sh*tty earbuds: Dollar Store discount bin wired earbuds and generic wireless ones that are at best, “okay”. The KZ ZS series is far from the best earbuds for gaming, or any of the other IEMs for that matter. But at its price point of about $20 to $25 SRP, it helps you understand exactly what you’re missing out.
By just being a tiny bit better compared to what you’re probably used to, it (hopefully) opens up your world to new possibilities you never knew existed if you were raised on huge gaming headsets, generic bluetooth earbuds, and those flat-tuned Apple earbuds.
The KZ ZS series is the best entry point for someone new to earbuds. The tuning is fairly neutral, and while some ZS units have slightly more bass than the others (especially the newer versions), these aren’t too bass-heavy either. The real pro of these is in the soundstage (i.e., your perception of these sounds in space), which is a lot wider than most earbuds most people are used to.
Again, hold your horses! These aren’t the best earbuds in this list so don’t expect precision spatial audio from these things. They’re more like the level 1 quality that you should begin to expect, when you start spending a bit more money on headphones. But at the same time, you also can’t really beat its SRP of about $25 either.
They’re capable in gaming and, although the other earbuds will outperform them significantly, they can definitely work in a pinch. Especially as an EDC earbud that’s always in your bag or pocket.
Official product page:
KZ Axas – A Competent Gaming IEM
Source: KZ
If the ZS series above didn’t do it for you, KZ released an actual gaming IEM called the KZ Axas.
Arguably, this is the better version of the ZS series since they did build these specifically for gaming, however in our testing we found that it was more of a unitasker that excels well in gaming at the cost of everything else.
It is by no means bad, but in our opinion it is too mids-forward. The overall tuning is fairly flat, albeit with a significant improvement in the bass compared to the ZS series; nothing too amazing (or bad) to write home about but it is good. That said, some bass-heavy songs like Post Malone’s Wow, really test what these IEM’s drivers are capable of in the bass department. When the bass really drops you can start to hear the beginnings of distortion – but only if you listen very carefully.
The tuning did improve significantly when we used their standard 3.5mm jack over their USB-C DAC cable, since certain IEMs have interchangeable cables. Somehow, the DAC chip in that cable made the naturally mids-forward tuning much harsher than they need to be, while the normal 3.5mm cable rounded the tuning out, and made it much more enjoyable to use. Our thoughts: just go for the 3.5mm version over the USB-C one.
On the gaming side of things, the soundstage is around medium-sized so it’s not too wide or expansive, but also not too squished together like in most bargain bin earbuds. You can’t get a good sense of scale or distance when it comes to gaming.
Because of its mids-forward tuning it is also fairly easy to detect sound cues like footsteps and enemy movement in general. However locating them accurately is a bit less precise than what you’d want especially in a competitive match. Rather than a direct line telling you where these sounds come from, it’s a bit more broad like a cone/general area – which is still a huge upgrade from simple L-R stereo. However, don’t expect to get good and accurate drops on the opps with this one consistently.
We should point out that KZ has another gaming IEM called the KZ Gale which, from our research, is a tier lower than the KZ Axas so when it comes to IEMs by KZ built for gaming, the Axas are not bad!
Official product page: https://kz-audio.com/kz-axas-gaming-earbuds.html
SteelSeries Tusq – “Beware of an old man in a profession where men usually die young.”
Source: SteelSeries
The Steelseries Tusq was released in 2021, making it the oldest product on our recommendation list. Granted, 5 years isn’t that old, however 2021 does feel like a long time ago, especially when we talk about tech.
While the whole gaming world was still raving on about giant over-ear headsets (with the cat ears, gotta have em!), the Tusq felt super alien. It followed the IEM form factor far before IEMs started becoming popular..
They added a boom mic (which we assume inspired the name) – on top of the conventional mic that’s built into the cable of most earbuds. And even after 5 years you’d find very little, to no complaints about the Tusq …which we see as a bit of its problem.
It’s like a good sedan that won’t wow you with top-tier comfort, or that 15%-more-horsepower-that-car-companies-managed-to-sneak-in to make driving just that little bit more fun. The Tusq simply does its job well enough that you simply can’t complain.
The tuning is fairly neutral, but that’s alright when you’re not listening to Tiesto’s Club Life with these things; you’ll be gaming on these things more than not. So mids naturally come forward without too much harshness, the bass and highs are serviceable so they’re comfortable to use for long periods of time, and the soundstage is alright especially again, considering the fact that this was released in 2021!
The only other negative we’ve identified is that it still uses a single 3.5mm headphone jack which can be underpowered in 2026. Not all IEMs need a DAC/AMP, but these things do help in giving a consistent and good signal, as well as providing a stable energy source so your headphones won’t ever dip when things become too heavy. So a small USB-C DAC/AMP will be another thing you might need if you want the Tusq to keep up to gaming in 2026. But for a price of $39.99? We don’t see the Tusq fading away anytime soon.
Official product page: https://steelseries.com/gaming-in-ear-headsets/tusq
Advanced Level – $50 above
The price tier of $50 and above is where the good stuff is.
Not because we’ve got commissions or affiliate links (we wish!), but it’s a simple fact that at this price range, companies can simply make headphones with better materials and improved build quality. Again, nothing too over the top here, just a little more breathing room in the production budget.
But at the same time, just because things cost more we can’t automatically assume that it’s gonna be better. There’s a lot more that goes into it such as the engineering and the tuning approaches – but regardless, this level is where IEMs and gaming earbuds can truly come into their own.
We’re also beginning to look at actual gaming earbuds, and not just audiophile IEMs hastily repurposed for gaming, like in the previous tier. This is where we can get actual “in-ear monitors” meant for gaming.
SANWEAR HARDWIRE – *THE* Earbuds Made For Gaming
Source: SAN Sound
We first learned about SAN Sound over in PAX West 2025, where we got a chance to try out their SANWEAR-GT’s. We signed up to their email list and after a few months, we got an email asking us if we’d be interested in testing out their prototype for their first wired earbuds ever, the Hardwire, and that’s how we managed to get a few units early.
The best standout here is the tuning. Most gaming earbuds and IEMs push the mids too much, which does the job, but at the cost of everything else like weak bass or losing out on details. Because somehow, conventional thinking in gaming tuning is by boosting the mids and highs, you’ll get more detail – which isn’t exactly the case.
However, with Hardwires, somehow they were able to pull off cinematic deep rumbly bass and sub-bass regions, while still having amazing audio separation, even in intense firefights; so you don’t really lose any detail. Seriously, the only other place we’ve gotten this type of bass is through studio headphones but somehow these can go a lot further than most headphones.
The real star here is its spatial audio capabilities, which they quite appropriately call “holographic audio”. Everything sounds exactly where you think they should be from what you see in your game. And these start functioning more like VR for your ears where every sound is easily identifiable, trackable, and a breeze to locate.
The mic is clear and has AI learning that learns and hones in your voice over time. And while it’s not a boom mic, it performs as well as one and is more discrete for use outside gaming too. And one of the big innovations they have is this thing called the “Audio Cortex”, that is essentially its own integrated sound card, plus everything else that makes it sort of like its own on-board computer.
This Audio cortex includes everything from the DAC/AMP and DSP, to the mic and sound profile storage (which carry over to any device you’ll use it with, and you can use. And of course, there’s some RGB if that’s your thing. It’s because there’s a lot more in this thing than most IEMs, unfortunately this is a USB-C only earbud, so no 3.5mm audio jack for this one.
However, you’re probably not really gonna miss 3.5mm – or, at least we didn’t. Especially when it’s so much easier to find and cable manage a bunch of USB extension cables than AUX cables. And it produces a cleaner, and much more consistent sound.
Then, there’s the comfort… it’s a bit weird at first with their wing tips and all, but once you’ve gotten the right fit, these things are very comfortable. There’s no fatigue or dull sensations, and if it weren’t for the wires (which make things just a tiny bit less convenient than wireless earbuds), you could easily wear these for the entire day and they’ll still be comfortable.
All that said, these aren’t perfect.
While the audio quality is amazing, Hardwires do have their cons which are mainly on build quality. The first being that the cable is just long enough for personal use with a pocketable device. So for desk users you will need extension cables or hubs with USB-C and adapters.
We’ve also occasionally had issues with microphonics, where the cable would rub against our shirts and have this rubby sound. They’ve since announced that newer models will have a longer cable length, and with different materials that should solve the microphonics issue.
The audio cortex does also get slightly warm and from our understanding, all DAC/AMPs do this. But maybe it’s just how it’s built into the wire which you’re more likely to get in contact with in everyday use, versus most DAC/AMPs which are in dongle form. Maybe the heat would be an issue for you, maybe it won’t.
Overall, we consider these to truly be earbuds meant for gaming, and in-ear monitors in the truest sense that are on-par with your actual monitor. And the best part is that you can get the Hardwires from their website for just $99! (SRP)
Official product page: https://sansound.com/products/sanwear-hardwire
Moondrop Rays – A Successful Gaming IEM From Hi-Fi Legends
Source: Moondrop
If you’re more into the classic IEM look, the Moondrop Rays follow a more conventional design, with cables that loop over your ear that help secure these earbuds comfortably for your long gaming sessions. Plus, the iridescent purplish-green finish is just straight up trippy!
At $99.99 SRP, you get a hybrid 10mm Sapphire Plated Diaphragm Dynamic Driver, and a 6mm Annular Planar Magnetic Driver that gives good spatial detection and precise imaging, and it’s able to do so without compromising on a good tuning.
The mix of bass, mids, and highs is pretty decent, with the bass in particular coming out strong during deep, rumbly sections such as when (mild spoilers!) Brittle Hollow starts collapsing into itself, while being bombarded by its volcano moon in Outer Wilds.
So you can definitely use these as an EDC earbud, however in our testing we found that the highs tend to come off a bit harsh at time, causing a bit of sibilance especially in some treble-maxxed recordings like from 80’s hair metal that’s not really present in a lot of games.
One of the main downsides for some people (again, which we don’t share), is that it only comes with a USB-C connection because of its built-in DSP. The cable, however, is detachable and swappable with any other standard IEM cable.
Through its app you can tweak the EQ settings and that will carry over through any device you’ll use the Rays with. You can even make and share your own EQ profiles, as well as get community profiles for particular games; some of these coming from esport athletes in collaboration with Moondrop.
If you already own IEMs and are looking for something familiar that’s built specifically for gaming, and you don’t mind a bit of extra management switching up the profiles to get the absolute optimal tuning for each game, the Moondrop Rays might be the pair for you.
Official product page: https://moondroplab.com/en/products/rays
Simgot EG280 – The Last Of The Great Gaming IEMs
Source: Simgot
To say that the Simgot EG280 is a slightly lower-level Moondrop Rays might seem insulting at first, until you realize that these are probably the last of the “great” IEMs that are actually designed for gaming, and are competent in them too.
The reality of the current “IEM” market is that a lot of companies like to either sell audiophile IEMs meant for listening to music, or cash in and offer very cheap IEM-looking earbuds that aren’t even actual IEM’s to begin with. They’re just regular earbuds with an IEM housing and form factor.
They’re usually about $10 and below, they have some gamer aesthetic or gimmick going on, and some of them come with a boom mic …but that’s about it. Once you try them out, the sound is usually a hit or miss, and when it comes to gaming, they may not even be accurate with directional or spatial sounds.
What we’re saying is that we consider the Simgot EG280 as a legit gaming earbud, and is far from those fake gaming IEMs.
From its price point alone at about $79.99 SRP, it places itself at the same level as the good IEMs like Sanwear Hardwires and Moondrop Rays. Like the Moondrop Rays, they pack a hybrid system with a 10mm dynamic driver and 6mm planar magnetic driver, which they claim delivers “seamless frequency response with rich detail, powerful bass, and natural treble extension,” and we find this to be exactly the case.
The dynamic driver handles the bass very well while the planar driver makes sure that the mids and highs are crisp and clear even when the bass is working overtime. The imaging accuracy might not be as good as the Rays, or as pinpoint accurate as the Hardwires, but the Simgot EG280’s are just slightly below that, at least from our testing. So locating target positions would be fairly easy, though this will depend on your EQ setup – but more on that below.
The EG280 comes with the default 3.5mm jack, however it also includes a USB-C DAC that you can use for clearer and better sound quality. And you can also program and customize your EQ in this DAC through Simgot’s app.
Much like the Moondrop Rays’ app, you can get community profiles for different games if you want, or you can tune your own EQ though the 8-band app which you’ll likely need to do. From our testing, we find that these are a bit too sharp for our taste (a very common trait among Audiophile IEM brands) so it’s best for you to customize the EG280’s tuning for your ears.
However, this will affect the clarity especially for gaming when you accidentally muddy things up too much if you go crazy on the EQ sliders. That said, there are also community profiles so if you’re good managing multiple profiles to get the best sound, go for it – but for us, this is a bit too much and loses some ease-of-use points.
Even if it’s rougher around the edges compared to the Moondrop Rays and SANWEAR Hardwires, we definitely recommend looking into the Simgot EG280.
Official product page: https://www.linsoul.com/products/simgot-eg280
Wireless Gaming Earbuds
With all the craze about wired earbuds coming back, and the increasing popularity of IEMs in gaming, we cannot ignore Wireless.
Wireless gets a bad rep because of Bluetooth, how much of a hassle it is to pair multiple devices, and obviously the higher latencies. But there are solid choices out there that have addressed not just the latency and connectivity problems, but also give amazing sound quality fit for gaming.
And, obviously you can’t beat the convenience of wireless.
Here are our top 3 picks for Wireless gaming earbuds.
SANWEAR GT – Still Great In 2026
Source: SAN Sound
Still keeping its place as the top wireless gaming earbud from last year, we are kind of suckers for SANWEAR, but also these are the best overall. And by that we mean the sound quality is exceptional, and it works with all devices seamlessly, which as we’ll see later on (*cough cough* Sony *cough cough*), unfortunately isn’t the case with all true wireless gaming earbuds. So what makes the GTs great?
Excellent sound quality + easy to use + compatibility across most devices + exceptional comfortability.
Sound quality still holds, even against Hardwires, its supposed next gen upgrade. Even with big and boomy bass (that doesn’t get muddy), there’s still clear separation between sounds and everything remains to be distinct from one another. Don’t get us wrong: Hardwires is that so-and-so % more clear and crisp compared to the GT’s – however they share about 90-95% of that sound profile’s foundation that makes these earbuds extra fun overall.
They’re easy to use since their Bluetooth connection is very stable and has some solid range to it; never once did these cut off or get disconnected in our more than a year’s worth of using these. Their 2.4GHz ultra low latency mode is such a life hack too, especially when it works with practically everything that has a USB-C connection.
It’s the most plug and play experience we’ve had. And if you’re using these as your daily driver, when you’re using these on “docked mode” you’re keeping your case topped up. So you’re never really gonna worry about running out of charge, especially since SAN Sound claims the GT’s can hold up to 33+ hours of battery life.
When it comes to comfort, these things weigh next to nothing and can easily be worn through the entire day without any problems. You do need to get the right fit and combination of ear tips and the sport hook since that’s the trick to keeping them nice and stable, as well as getting the best sound quality. But once you’ve got it, it’s gonna fit you very well and they don’t really fall out.
You’ve got the sound quality on point, excellent spatial and directional audio, top tier comfort, and extremely stable low latency connection. The SANWEAR GT’s are really good, especially if you’re more into casual gaming.
Official product page: https://sansound.com/products/sanwear-gt-gaming-earbuds
PlayStation PULSE Explore – Amazing, But…
Source: Sony PlayStation
Taking second place is PlayStation’s PULSE Explore. This beats the third through sound quality thanks to its planar-magnetic drivers that they claim are able to “reproduce sound with near-perfect accuracy along the entire audible spectrum”.
Spatial audio and imaging is excellent, which you can expect with the planar-magnetic drivers. And its sound tuning is on point as well, which is largely neutral with a nice dash of some good bass mixed in as well.
Since this is made by PlayStation themselves, you can expect better support for the PS5, and 3D Audio support for certain PS5 titles. This, unfortunately, is where these earbuds lose out to the SANWEAR-GT since, although we can rank them in the same category, the PULSE Explore is only built for the PlayStation experience.
Yes, these have good Bluetooth in them and these will work fine on that, but to get the best experience, you will need the PlayStation Link dongle, which does come with the box. You will need to use the PlayStation Link dongle (which connects via USB-A) whether you’re using it with your PS5, PC, or Mac. You can also connect the dongle to Android phones and tablets with various degrees of success (using a USB-A to USB-C adapter) but this is why it gets knocked off the top spot by the SANWEAR GT’s.
Sound quality, especially for gaming, is quite comparable and very much in line. However the GT’s are simply easier to use across a lot more devices than the PULSE Explores, which are built more for the PS5 experience. To get the best experience, especially through the PlayStation Link dongle, there’s a lot of workaround you need to do – and there are features such as the EQ and 3D Audio Profiles, that are only accessible when using these with the PS5.
But despite the drawbacks, these are very comfortable to use and easy to recommend. As long as you have a PS5, that is.
Official product page: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/accessories/pulse-explore-wireless-earbuds/
SteelSeries Arctis – Pretty Good
Source: SteelSeries
Where the PlayStation PULSE Explore lacked in ease-of-use and compatibility, SteelSeries Arctis lacked in sound quality. Or at least compared to the other two in this category, these were just alright. Here’s why…
It’s not as impressive as the GT’s or the PULSE Explores, but they are pretty good. The tuning is a bit more mids-forward which can be a bit jarring, while the bass and trebles are just fine. Fortunately you can tweak the EQ through the app, which we fear may be necessary for a large number of you out there.
Where the Arctis shines though is exactly where the PULSE Explore lacks: compatibility and ease-of-use, and a better plug-and-play experience. Funnily enough, this was also built with the PS5 experience in mind, just with different features.
It comes with both a Bluetooth and 2.4GHz dongle, however unlike the PULSE Explore’s, it is a USB-C dongle that’s stored right in the same case as your earbuds. Yes, you may need to use USB-C to USB-A adapters for your desktop setup, but we believe a USB-C dongle is much more practical for handheld and mobile/on-the-go setups.
In terms of battery life, the Arctis is the most impressive with about 10 hours just on the earbuds alone (in comparison, both the GT and PULSE Explore are about 6+ hours), and up to 40 hours total with the charging case.
And you also have access to the Arctis companion app, which has hundreds of sound profiles optimized for different games, as well as for different genres. The downside of this is that it will require some extra effort on your part to keep switching between these profiles.
Official product page: https://steelseries.com/gaming-headsets/arctis-gamebuds?color=black&primaryPlatform=ps5
Our Top Picks
Budget Tier – SteelSeries Tusq if you want to play it safe; KZ Axas if you wanna roll the 
Source: SteelSeries
Source: KZ
Why? We really can’t stress this enough: budget earbuds aren’t made with the best materials so compromises need to be made. The KZ Axas happened to come off as decent but flawed (see our experience on 3.5mm vs the USB-C DAC above).
While the Tusq, as we’ve said, is Ol’ Reliable. The Axas is much newer and would have learned from all the lessons of previous IEMs and gaming earbuds (including the Tusq), but KZ’s quality control isn’t as solid and consistent as SteelSeries’, and it’s why we’d recommend the Axas IF you’re willing to gamble.
Why not the others? The ZS series is not really built for gaming. They’re more of audiophile Hi-Fi IEMs that people from TikTok happened to discover that they’re good for gaming too – so you won’t really get good directionality or audio separation with these; at least not as good as the Axas’ in this price point.
The Tusq is also the most expensive among the three given that it’s from SteelSeries, but we believe you’re really paying for the peace of mind that you’re gonna get something decent but maybe not “good” – which is really the theme of budget earbuds: a lot of it is gambles and compromises.
Official product page (to play it safe): https://steelseries.com/gaming-in-ear-headsets/tusq
Official product page (if you wanna roll it): https://kz-audio.com/kz-axas-gaming-earbuds.html
Advanced Tier – SANWEAR HARDWIRE
Source: SAN Sound
Why? The Hardwires have the best, most holistic tuning compared to the Moondrop Rays and the Simgot EG280 – which you can also use to listen to music and watch movies with. They’re basically a surround sound system you can bring anywhere.
Why not the others? Simplicity and ease-of-use.
Hardwires are the most plug and play among the three and while the Hardwires’ app doesn’t offer as extensive of tuning options as Moondrop’s or Simgot’s, the Hardwires don’t really need it.
You won’t need to be constantly flipping through EQ profiles whenever you play different games or do different non-gaming things. Somehow these guys made their tuning work on everything – and you simply plug these bad boys in and you’re good to go!
Official product page: https://sansound.com/products/sanwear-hardwire
Wireless Tier – SANWEAR-GT
Source: SAN Sound
Why? It’s more or less the same reason we picked Hardwires above: SANWEAR just has a better sound tuning that’s cinematic and immersive, but you also don’t lose any of the audio separation even during busy scenes and moments.
The best we can describe their sound tuning is like being in a car with really good speakers – you just know you’re gonna have a good time the moment you first hear it. And on top of that, these can get loud and no details are lost when you’re gaming – crazy to think that these are even earbuds to begin with!
Why not the others? Again it has to do with better user experience: ease-of-use and compatibility. The PULSE Explore’s planar magnetic drivers actually rival the SANWEAR-GT’s, albeit with some tuning tweaks. However, both the PlayStation PULSE Explore and the SteelSeries Arctis are fundamentally built for the PlayStation experience, so you’ll have to find a lot more workarounds just to use these with non PS5 or PlayStation Portal devices outside of its Bluetooth connection. And, some features will not even be present at all, like the PULSE Explore’s EQ which is locked behind the PS5’s interface, locking you in the stock tuning whenever you use it with your phone, Switch, or anything else; meanwhile the GT’s just work with practically any device with either Bluetooth or USB-C.
Official product page: https://sansound.com/products/sanwear-gt-gaming-earbuds
