ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova Headphones Review

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova are stemmed buds. Their silhouette is somewhat angular with flat outer touch panels, compared to other rounded stemmed designs like the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) Truly Wireless. RGB logos and rectangular light panels adorn the outer-facing housings and the interior of the charging case. Their size and RGB effects give greater visual impact than most true wireless earbuds. Your choices are between 'Black' and 'Moonlight White' colorways. 'Black' has blue contrasting branding, while 'Moonlight White' has red contrasting branding.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova feel decently comfortable. They're lightweight and come with three pairs of silicone oblong ear tips. However, the slightly bulky shape and volume of the buds' inward-facing side can place disproportionate pressure against your ear canal and concha if you have small ears. Over longer listening sessions, the pressure can lead to discomfort, but if you have larger ears, it's not an issue.

These buds have good controls. You can check out the default control scheme here. On the flat side of the earbuds' housings, you'll find the touch-sensitive surface, and it accurately registers taps. The buds emit voice prompts for power, pairing, and listening modes such as ANC on, but there aren't any sounds for playback and volume controls. Also, by default, volume adjustments require four taps for a single incremental volume change, which is quite a lot of tapping, making it time-consuming to alter volume. You can toggle through listening modes, too, but you have to use the app to change the strength of the noise cancelling mode.

They're very portable earbuds, like most true wireless models. You can easily stash them in your pocket.

The charging case for the ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova is good. The shell is sturdy, as evidenced by a second layer of plastic reinforcing the interior of the lid. The plastic itself is matte and pretty dense. A large LED displays the battery and pairing status, while the interior of the case has flashes of RGB lighting on the logo. It can also charge wirelessly with a Qi pad or with a USB-C cable. That said, the bottom of the case is rounded, so it can spin and slide around on a flat surface like a desk. Plus, it's a bit bulky as far as charging cases go.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova build quality is good. The earbuds are made of a nice-quality plastic and are certified IPX4 against water splashes. They come with an unremarkable selection of three ear tip sizes. Similarly, the case feels sturdy. The case shape is a bit bulky, and the case weight is slightly on the heavier side but not at all exceptionally heavy. Due to the rounded underside of the case, it can spin on flat surfaces which likely will cause surface scratches to develop faster.

They are impressively stable. The earbuds will stay in if you want to headbang to your favorite band. Their shape is a bit large for smaller ears, and the snug fit leaves very little room to move about, which aids in their stability despite the absence of stabilizers.

• ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova earbuds
• Charging case
• Three pairs of silicone ear tip sizes
• USB-C wireless dongle
• USB-C to USB-A adapter for wireless dongle
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable (24.4" or 62 cm)
• Quick Start Guide
• Product information paper

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova sound quite bass-heavy by default with a rather bright top end. This default sound profile supplies a lot of boominess and rumble to kick drums and sub-bass synths. Meanwhile, mid-range instruments like melodic keys sound pushed down in the mix, though they can come across as a bit cluttered in the low-mids and somewhat honky in the high-mids. Trebly instruments sound excited, but on the whole, they're over-emphasized, leading to harsh and piercing cymbal hits and fatiguing articulation in the vocals. The sound profile doesn't change when using the wireless dongle instead of the Bluetooth connection, as shown here. If you use them without ANC on, they sound a bit different, being slightly less boomy and cluttered in the high-bass and low-mids. If you use them with the microphone active, the buds are much quieter and cut out the highs and bass; you can check out the difference here.

What's more, though, is that these earbuds have a host of other features to alter how they sound in their app and PC software, and it gets confusing quickly because you can combine them. So, you can use the in-app equalizer to change the sound profile to your taste (here's a comparison of the EQ presets). Next, there are Sound Options, which combine effects like EQ with other processors, such as compression, Dirac Opteo (a digital signal processor), reverb, virtual surround sound, and ambient sound into selectable presets. While features such as virtual surround sound do more than change the frequency response, you can get a sense of how a given Sound Option alters the sound profile here. Lastly, Sound Optimization covers more sound adjustments (like EQ and compression) based on your usage, like RPG (role-playing game), FPS (first-person shooter), and Movie modes. As a result, you could spend a lot of time fiddling with the various modes and combining them, but hopefully, these comparisons can help you out when it comes to figuring out what your ears prefer if you reach the threshold of decision paralysis.

These buds have superb frequency response consistency. Due in part to their stable fit that leaves little room for error or variation in how you place the buds, you can expect your audio to sound the same between wears. It's possible that the high frequencies can differ slightly between wears, but overall, your audio sounds consistent.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova have passable bass accuracy. Because the entire range is significantly exaggerated, it appeals to bassheads and folks who want a lot of added thump and boom in the mix. For songs like Dance by ESG, which rely heavily on the bassline, you'll hear a lot of low-end relative to the vocals, which can obscure the vocals a bit. In busier mixes, this can sound bloated for classic rock but sound good for drum and bass genres, for example. For gaming, the added bass can sound more immersive during explosions and low-tense atmospheric soundtracks.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova have good mid accuracy. The low-mid is comparably elevated, which causes rhythmic guitars to come across as cluttered. It's accurate in the center of the mid-range, but because the rest of the frequency response is exaggerated, it tends to push lead instruments to the back of the mix. Meanwhile, the high-mid sounds a touch honky on the vocals, but again, relative to the rest of the sound profile's exaggerations, it's not egregious. The downside of this is that parts of speech and vocals can sound less clear.

Their treble accuracy is mediocre. The low-treble through mid-treble are over-emphasized, which leads to very bright and piercing voicing that can cause premature fatigue. Vocals and cymbals sound harsh, shrill, and piercing. This is likely offset somewhat by competing bass emphasis. However, during fight scenes in Hades II, the excited treble on effects like casting spells can pull you more into the game.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova's peaks and dips performance is fair, and they control their sound okay, but not well. Most of the bass region has a peak, emphasizing the rumble and boom, which extends into the low-mids and can muddy the mix. A dip in the center of the mid-range pushes lead parts down in the mix. Through the treble range, a couple of sharp peaks and dips lead to alternately harsh, hollow, and shrill vocals and cymbals.

Their imaging performance is satisfactory. This is the first set of headphones we've tested by this manufacturer, so we can't really compare their quality control and ergonomics to other ASUS headphones. That said, the group delay is pretty good, with only a bit of looseness in the bass, but otherwise, the bass is tight, and the treble is transparent. Our unit's mid-range has a noticeable phase mismatch, though, causing mids to favor your right side more. An amplitude mismatch in the bass region is present but not audible with real-world content. Because imaging varies between units, our results are only valid for our unit.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova have a dismal passive soundstage, which makes sense for in-ear fitting headphones with a closed-back design. Because they don't interact with your environment or outer ears, they can't create an open or spacious-feeling soundstage. Instead, your audio sounds like it's inside of your head rather than in a room.

You have two options for virtual surround sound. The earbuds use Dirac Opteo DSP, which doesn't create the surround sound effect, but is advertised to help with the staging accuracy. In the phone Armoury Crate app, it's a simple on-or-off configuration and isn't as immersive because it lacks head-tracking. If you connect to a Windows PC, you gain access to ASUS Armoury Crate, which supports a 7.1 virtual surround sound as well. Neither requires audio specifically mixed for virtual surround sound.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova have a great weighted harmonic distortion performance. It's quite low in the bass through the mids. However, it's a bit more elevated in the treble range. Even so, you won't notice it in everyday content, so your audio remains clean and pure.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration. We also performed select tests more than once using the wireless dongle too, which are noted in the applicable sections.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova have great full-range noise isolation performance, in part because of their passive isolating fit. When set to maximum strength, the ANC filters low-pitched and deep rumbling with solid effectiveness. The ANC is less powerful with mid-range sounds like chatter, although their passive isolation blocks these sounds somewhat too. As expected, their passive isolation also does a pretty good job with high-pitched noise.

In the companion app, you can select different noise cancelling strengths, and here's a comparison of the ANC modes to see how they differ.

These buds have impressive noise isolation for common scenarios. They handle real-world situations like airplane cabins, offices, and street noise fairly similarly by filtering out low-rumbling noises and blocking high-pitched sounds evenly. Mid-range noises like the din of traffic or ambient airplane cabin sounds are reduced, but not quite as efficiently, although they certainly make those circumstances less distracting as well.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova don't have a wind reduction mode. They're a bit sensitive to wind interacting with the ANC mics straight on. The subsequent 'anti-noise' produced is a little annoying and impacts the efficacy of the noise cancelling system by adding more noise.

These earbuds have a great leakage performance. Unless you're blasting your music, your office mates won't hear what you're listening to. What does escape is thin-sounding, being primarily bright cymbals, high vocals, and a bit of quiet bass.

Their bone conduction mic isn't completely compatible with our testing rig. As you'll notice partway through the Recorded Speech audio file, the artificial intelligence (AI) system used to detect and prioritize speech adapts, albeit with a possible delay. The recording quality has pretty low total harmonic distortion, and while speech is intelligible, it sounds thin. In subjective testing, the mic sounds better than the graph suggests, with more body and fullness, rather than sounding quite so thin and piercing.

As noted, the testing rig isn't fully compatible with the bone conduction mic system on these earbuds. These mics pick up the vibrations through your head to more easily prioritize your voice, so your results will likely sound better than our audio samples. That said, with consistent background noise, the system doesn't completely reject the noise but still prioritizes your speech. Sudden background noises are suppressed somewhat, and a passing train will obscure your speech.

Their battery performance is good, and it varies depending on whether you're using Bluetooth or the USB dongle. When connected via the 2.4GHz wireless USB dongle, the buds last eight hours with ANC on and RGB lighting enabled. Under the same conditions, only over Bluetooth, the buds last 10.5 hours on a single charge. Your results may vary depending on variables like how loud you set the volume, whether you turn off the RGB light effects, and which listening modes you use. Their case stores just shy of three extra charges. Luckily, they're advertised to also supply 90 minutes of playback after a 10-minute quick charge.

You have two choices for apps that are compatible with the ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova: the ASUS Armory Crate software for Windows PC and the Armoury Crate app for iOS and Android. If you already own a compatible ASUS peripheral like a mouse, you won't need to download yet another piece of software to Windows, which is nice. These apps allow you to manage RGB lighting, which is unusual for true wireless buds.

You get several ways to adjust the earbuds' sound, such as Dirac (DSP), the 10-band custom EQ and presets, various Sound Optimization modes, adjustable ANC and ambient sound strengths, chat mix, and virtual surround sound. Plus, there's device switching over Bluetooth, and the ability to set an auto-off timer that ranges from two minutes up to 30 minutes. However, in a surprising omission, you can't remap the controls in the app. You can take a look at the phone app here. It's also the same app that the standard Bluetooth-only model, the ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless, uses, although the pared-back model lacks DSP and the USB dongle.

These earbuds only connect wirelessly over Bluetooth or with the USB dongle. Their included USB-A to USB-C cable is meant for charging their case.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova have great Bluetooth connectivity. You can pair to two devices simultaneously through the app. They support basic SBC and AAC codecs, but the latency is too high if you want to stream video or play games over Bluetooth. Although the manufacturer advertises a gaming mode, there's no way to get it working through the mobile app or onboard controls.

However, if latency is your concern, instead of the convenience that Bluetooth provides, you could use the included USB dongle for wireless audio. Of course, latency varies between devices, and some apps compensate for it, so your experience can vary.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova's wireless connection via the USB dongle is excellent. Latency levels are low enough for gaming and streaming video without lipsync issues, though this can vary between devices. You can connect to your computer's USB-C port or to your phone if it has a USB-C port. The connection's range gets slightly unstable after a distance of about 145 feet, but this will be fine for most people's uses.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova are compatible with PCs with both their wireless USB-C dongle or over Bluetooth for full mic and audio support. Using the dongle will provide more consistent connectivity than Bluetooth with your PC.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova are compatible with PlayStation 4 and 5 consoles when using their wireless dongle to connect. You get full audio and microphone support.

The ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova aren't compatible with Xbox consoles using their USB-C wireless dongle or over Bluetooth.

The charging case recharges the buds and stores the wireless USB-C dongle. The case charges either with a USB-C cable or if you place it on a wireless charging pad.