TL;DR: The ROG Cetra Open Wireless is an open-ear gaming earbud with low-latency 2.4GHz wireless. It’s comfortable for long sessions and lets you stay aware of your surroundings. Its bright, treble-forward tuning makes directional cues crisp, especially in competitive games like Overwatch, and the battery life is excellent (around 15 hours from the buds plus 47 from the case). Bass is light and depends a lot on positioning, so it isn’t a great pick for music. At AED 822, it’s a niche but genuinely interesting option if you specifically want open-ear comfort with proper gaming connectivity.
Gaming earbuds usually follow a familiar formula: compact in-ear designs, low-latency wireless connectivity and enough isolation to keep you focused on the game. The ROG Cetra Open Wireless takes a different approach.
ASUS has built an open-ear gaming headset that sits outside the ear canal, letting you remain aware of your surroundings while still offering dedicated 2.4GHz wireless connectivity for gaming.
That makes the Cetra Open Wireless an unusual proposition, and after spending considerable time gaming, listening to music and using them throughout the day, I found that the concept works surprisingly well.
There are however some compromises, particularly when it comes to bass response, design and price, but gaming is where these earbuds make their strongest case.
Design and connectivity
The Cetra Open Wireless uses 14.2mm diamond-like carbon diaphragm drivers and has a quoted frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz. ASUS has included Bluetooth alongside its ROG SpeedNova 2.4GHz connection, with the latter accessed using the included USB-C dongle. ASUS also supports hybrid multipoint connectivity between Bluetooth and the dongle.
The open-ear format means the drivers sit close to your ear rather than sealing the ear canal. This is important because positioning has a significant effect on the sound. Moving the Cetra slightly forward or backward changed the balance noticeably during my testing, particularly the amount of bass I could hear.
Once I found the right position, they were easy to use for extended sessions. The lack of a silicone tip also removes the pressure that traditional earbuds can create inside the ear.
There is IPX5 water resistance on the earbuds themselves, while customization is handled through ASUS Gear Link, where you can alter EQ settings, lighting and other audio options. Personally with big ears and a shallow ear canal, I wished ROG did make the same traditional earbuds with the rich features the cetra packs in.
Music performance
For music, I used Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which has long been one of my personal benchmarks when testing audio equipment. Its shifts between quieter vocals, layered harmonies, guitar and the heavier latter sections make it useful for hearing how a device handles a complicated mix. The Cetra Open Wireless sounded adequate, although I would not buy them primarily for music.
Treble is quite prominent. Vocals and higher-frequency detail come through clearly, and individual elements of a recording are relatively easy to pick out. At the same time, that emphasis can make the overall presentation feel somewhat bright.
Bass is the more noticeable limitation. There is bass present, but it lacks some of the weight and physical impact you get from good sealed earbuds. This is partially an inherent limitation of an open-ear design because there is no acoustic seal around the ear canal. This means you’re getting reduced bass emphasis accompanied by comparatively stronger treble, with positioning having a particularly large impact on how you hear things.
Gaming performance
Gaming is where the Cetra Open Wireless became much more convincing.
I tested them extensively with Helldivers 2, Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Overwatch, primarily using the 2.4GHz SpeedNova connection. The brighter tuning that can occasionally work against music becomes useful during games. Sound effects are crisp, and positional information is surprisingly effective considering the open design.
Overwatch benefited most obviously. Being able to identify the general direction of footsteps, abilities and combat happening around me made the sound profile feel suited to competitive games. ASUS’ focus on the upper frequencies helps smaller audio cues stand out instead of getting buried underneath heavier effects. Helldivers 2 demonstrated the compromise more clearly. Directional audio worked well, and the chaos of combat remained easy to follow, but explosions lacked some of the low-frequency impact I would expect from a larger gaming headset.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword sat somewhere between the two. Environmental sounds and combat effects came through with plenty of detail, while the open sound presentation gave the game a good sense of space.
Latency over the 2.4GHz connection was also never something I became conscious of while playing, which is exactly what you want from wireless gaming audio.
Battery life
Battery performance was excellent in my testing.
ASUS advertises up to 16 hours from the earbuds and another 48 hours from the charging case under its specified testing conditions. I managed around 15 hours of mixed use from the earbuds, which is remarkably close to ASUS’ claim. The case delivered approximately 47 additional hours before needing to be charged.
That means battery anxiety is unlikely to be an issue even if you regularly use them for long gaming sessions.
Verdict
The ROG Cetra Open Wireless makes much more sense once you stop judging it purely as a pair of wireless earbuds and look at what ASUS is trying to achieve with it.
For music, the sound is competent, with clear detail and strong treble presence, although the lighter bass prevents it from competing with the best conventional earbuds for pure listening enjoyment. Positioning also matters more than I expected.
For gaming, those characteristics become far more useful. The clarity of directional effects works particularly well in competitive titles such as Overwatch, while the 2.4GHz connection provides the responsiveness required for serious gaming. Battery life is another major strength.
The main obstacle is price. At this level, the Cetra Open Wireless competes with some very capable gaming headsets and premium conventional earbuds, many of which provide stronger bass or greater isolation. At AED 822 on its listed price on Amazon at the time of this review, you’re going to decide if the premium is worth it.
What ASUS offers instead is something genuinely uncommon: open-ear comfort with proper low-latency gaming connectivity. If that combination appeals to you, the Cetra Open Wireless is one of the most interesting gaming audio products I have tested recently.
