Join The Club
What probably springs to mind when I say 'upgrade for competitive gaming' is a new lightweight gaming mouse. Maybe a high-refresh monitor. Or, at a push, maybe even a slick new mouse pad. But just as important is audio, and honestly one of the best improvements I've made to my Counter-Strike gaming setup over the past few months has been a humble set of in-ear monitors (IEMs, ie, earphones) that are now just $24 at Amazon for Prime Day (Prime members only).
Audio isn't massively relevant for all games, but for a bunch of competitive FPS games it's crucial. Placing your enemies using audio can sometimes separate a win from a loss. Anyone else remember the Xbox 360 era where being accused of using Turtle Beaches (peculiarly specific) was considered an insult? If you can't beat 'em—or rather if you want to beat 'em—join 'em.
The mistake a lot of people make, and which I made until recently, is to assume that if you want to be able to place your enemies with good audio imaging, you need to spend a fortune. That's true if you want headphones that are great in a bunch of other respects, too, but if competitive shooters are your goal then something like these Linsoul Tripowin x 0DiBi IEMs should take you far.
IEMs in general tend to be good for helping you place enemies ('sound localisation') and these ones in particular are great for the price.
I swap from the very pleasant Razer BlackShark V3 Pro to these Vivace earbuds whenever I'm booting up CS2 for that very reason. Since I've made the switch and spent some time getting used to its sound profile, I've been able to place enemies easier and am often hearing things that my teammates aren't. I can even almost tell the difference between A and B plants on Nuke, now, which is a nigh-on miracle.
The IEMs come with a few different tips, and the cable which you have to attach. I'd like the cable to be a little longer as it doesn't reach the back of my PC to plug into my motherboard, and the power from the case's connector on the front doesn't seem to be enough. This meant I had to buy a separate DAC, but a cheap UGreen one has done the trick just fine—this way I can use it with other USB-C devices, too, so it's a win-win.
Outside of the sound localisation, these earphones sound pretty reasonable across the spectrum, without much of a boost in any particular frequency range, to my ears. They're not the bassiest, and mids are perhaps a little far back, but overall they're very balanced and compare well against some much more expensive wireless earbuds with fancier tech (ANC, etc) I've tried.
And for the discounted price here, I'd say that's a damn good proposition.
👉 Check out all of Amazon's gaming earbud deals 👈
1. Best overall:
Razer BlackShark V3
2. Best budget:
Corsair HS55 Stereo
3. Best wired:
HyperX Cloud Alpha
4. Best mid-range wireless:
SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3X
5. Best audiophile:
Beyerdynamic MMX 330 Pro
6. Best wireless audiophile:
Audeze Maxwell
7. Best for streaming:
Audio-Technica ATH-M50xSTS StreamSet
8. Best noise-cancelling:
AceZone A-Spire
9. Best earbuds:
Steelseries Arctis GameBuds
