One of the most commonly neglected aspects of a video game is its sound design. Every small detail, from the sound of a weapon click to the muted footsteps of an enemy on the floor above you, helps cultivate both a richer and more informative experience. But you probably don’t hear half of that. And whether you know it or not, that’s holding you back.

Today, we’re taking a look at the Ares Clear Gaming Earbuds by AZLA. The Korean brand has a long and established history with high quality audio, and the Ares (and Ares Clear) is their gaming-focused take on how to ensure the user has the best sense of information awareness in a game.

What To Expect Out The Box

The Ares Clear is a wired in-ear headphone bud pair with a clear body and white braided cable, measuring about five feet long. It has a microphone module (with button) on the left side cable. It comes with a fabric zipper container, an adapter for both USB C and A, and two sets of ear tips, SednaEarfit SE1500 in every size and XELASTEC in small small, medium small, and medium large.

Internally, the dual-driver system has a Knowles balanced armature and a dynamic driver. But numbers wise, that essentially means a frequency response from 10Hz to 40kHz.

They are almost entirely plug-and-play, requiring no configuration, updates, or any of that nonsense. Thats for any device I tested it on. The single button located on the microphone module has various functions, depending on the system you’re using it on, but it generally was a pause button.

The Good

AZLA totes the Ares as being “professionally tuned using 47 real in-game sound scenarios” to be perfectly crafted for providing crisp and clean audio for gaming. So it comes as no surprise that this is what these earbuds do best.

The audio output is super sharp and clean, and I can hear every small detail of a game. While primarily promoted as something to help you hear enemies in shooter games, I also found it was an excellent way to soak in those smaller ambient sounds in games like Starfield. One could make the argument that it wasn’t the warmest sound possible. But in the context of gaming, they were a perfect fit.

The directional awareness also comes through very clearly, making it easy to get a sense ot direction from the game. Not all games were great about this, but I suspect this was more due to the game’s development than the earbuds.

The sound is the most important thing with headphones, and the Ares Clear delivers. But it’s build is also very solid. The earbuds (both the SednaEarfit SE1500 and XELASTEC models) fit wonderfully well and stay very secure. There was no instances of closed ear sound or improper fits. The braided cable does an amazing job of preventing any tangling, too.

The Bad

The Ares aren’t perfect, though. There were three things that I felt held it back. One is unavoidable for a product like this, one is only a problem for real audiophiles, and the third just depends on how fidgety you are.

The most noticeable issue was a remarkable degree of microphonics. The sound isolating nature of the earbuds meant that almost any rubbing against the braided cable was heard in the ear. The semi grippy texture and braided pattern made this worse. It’s less noticeable when sitting still or for sound heavy scenes, but this made it a poorer choice for PC gaming or a secondary use as a walking-about music headset.

Below that was the microphone quality itself. As a little module connected to the wire, I’m not expecting studio level clarify in my voice input. But that’s my problem: I have a studio microphone setup I use for almost all multiplayer gaming. I want my voice to transmit beautifully. From the Ares mic, however, it was a bassless, tinny version of myself. For anyone other than picky audio nerds, this won’t be a problem.

The last is, as mentioned, not something to expect or desire from standard earbuds, but are super helpful when playing multiplayer games: monitoring. With a standard experience, you can’t hear yourself speak. The only way to fix that is by using an external audio mixer that supports monitoring. I have that in my aforementioned studio setup, which means I can hear myself clearly when I speak, so I know whether i’m being too loud or quiet when talking with friends in a multiplayer game.

Get the best of both worlds by using the Ares with your mixer as your headphones, and using your usual studio mic instead.

In the grand scheme, the latter two problems are unfair to spurn the Ares for. Those are matters of expectations that aren’t intended for gaming earbuds. I only mention them because as an all-around audio user, I noticed them, and folks with a similar mindset should be aware.

Consensus

With a retail price of $119 in the US on Amazon, this can be considered a bit on the higher end for earbuds, but AZLA justifies the cost with a very well designed set of earbuds. The sound is solid and the downsides are tremendously minor, if not inapplicable. I’ve certainly bought worse headphones before for the same price.

All in all: Recommended

The AZLA ARES Clear Gaming Earbuds are available on Amazon for $119 at time of publication.