[Discussion] Do you use any headphones with your Steam Deck?

Sometimes bluetooth headphones, but I have a couple Anker Soundcores (earbuds and one over-ear) and the latency is awful , so I just end up using my HD560s when I'm at home lol

Bluetooth headphones work well with the Steam Deck, I specially like how you can pair your phone to the Deck and it will mix the phone's audio with the game audio (so you can have music or a podcast playing, for instance)

For those asking how to do it, simply enable Bluetooth on the phone and then go to the Steam Deck's Bluetooth page, find the phone and pair it from there.

I did not know this. Might have to give it a try.
- ok so I just tried it. it does work but it is kinda temperamental. and doesn't work flawlessly.
  
  the signal keeps getting interrupted and janky as bluetooth can kinda be odd when it comes to having more than one device connected to it at one time.
  
  especially audio. so yes it technically works, but its not going to be super usable.
No way, that's awesome!
- I paired both my phone and earbuds to the deck and the phone's audio was super choppy. It behaved better when in the deck's options menus but it was still bad. 🤔
And it’s a Linux thing, so you can do it with your desktop too!
Interesting! I didn't know you can mix the phone and the Steam Deck audio! I'll have to try that myself too.

Thank you for answering my question. I was wondering if the Bluetooth latency is noticeable but seems fine from what most people are saying.

I was wondering if people that did use headphones did 2.4 wireless vs Bluetooth but it sounds like both should work okay.
I wish I knew this months ago! This knowledge needs to be spread around more.

Also, if your phone doesn't show up on the deck, make sure to enable "show all devices"
Woah what? How??
- when you pair your phone to the steamdeck, the deck reports as a speaker to your phone.
Thank you for this. I'm doing this. This is awesome.
You can what?

I use Sony wh1000-xm5 noise canceling, they are amazing for immersion. Using the built in mic for steam audio and it works well

First time to hear something positive about them. Only heard that they are a step down from xm3 and 4.
- I moved from xm3 to xm5, the 5s are better. Also, handling multiple Bluetooth devices is a huge QoL improvement.
- At least they fixed the breaking hinges. On my XM3 both are held on by super glue. Apart from that, they're great, over 5 years old and the battery still lasts 3 days of more than 10 hours a day usage
- I had the xm4, the 5 is better. It wasn't a revolutionary change, but it was definitely an improvement, not worse
Thanks for your comment! I was thinking the XM4 for myself vs. The Bose Quietcomforts with like a V Moda Boom mic but was nervous about the latency and whether there were better set ups to be considered.
- I switched from XM3 to XM4 after water damage. I am very happy with both and I use(d) both with the Steam deck on a regular basis. Recommended 🏅

I got a cheap pair of bone conduction, open ear headphones. Sound quality isn't fantastic, but I keep my ears open for my family while also sparing them my game noise.

I do this too. I bought them for work but I use them with steam os (Bazzite) too.

I got a pair of Zero:2 budget earphones. Wires are annoying when you’re used to wireless, but this was a good bet. Sure my AirPods block out plane noise better, but the passive noise cancellation is perfectly adequate on these, even on flights.

For mic audio you just can’t beat a physical wire.

Edit: these are a collaboration between 7Hz, a ChiFi manufacturer with a decent reputation, and Crinacle, an audio influencer(?) who tuned their sound. They’re 20 odd US dollars and sound awesome for the price, they’re my default backup pair of earphones and sometimes I’ll even just use them when I don’t really have to. I did change the cable to a braided one, the original picked up a lot of sound rubbing against my clothes, but hey, at 20$ I expect compromises like that.

I'm a basic bitch and use my Galaxy buds. They work well enough. When docked, I have it connected to my DACAmp and blue snowball for a great audio experience.

I have mine docked under my TV but wow, the DACAmp seems awesome. I had to look that up. More money than I would like to spend but adding it for maybe a future purchase!
- They're really only necessary if your headphones are hard to drive afaik
Galaxy Buds are just so solid. The little spendy goblin in me has looked at new ear buds for years, and I even got some free Pixel Buds with my last phone, but I keep going back to the galaxies.
- Agreed! I use them all day when I go into the office, and the battery life, noise cancelation, and sound quality have been perfect.

I have a pair of the “Drop + Sennheiser PC38X Gaming Headset” that have a built-in microphone that can be flipped up and down. Unfortunately I almost never use the microphone, but the sound quality is great and I can still hear what’s going on around me.

I don’t care for ear buds very much because I find them uncomfortable.

KSC75 with parts express headband and Yaxi pads. KSC75x has mic, but no clue how the quality of the mic is.

I use exactly this (minus the Yaxi pads), and also a pair of Grado SR80i at home.

The two sound remarkably similar. The KSC75 are just a lot more portable.

I plug my Behringer UMC404HD into the Deck using a hub adapter. Then I have my Sennheiser HD599 for audio and Shure SM57 for microphone. :-)

Yes, because my OLED’s speakers sound terrible. Especially when compared the LED I had previously.

I use a Bose QC45.

See this if your interested in knowing more: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/1329

Bose QC45 gang
- the gaming edition came with a microphone and aux cable, it's beautiful

sorry I just paly with the sound on and don't use a mic. all single play.

I don't usually play games with friends, so I just use whatever pair I currently have available. Right now it's just a cheap enough pair of wired over the ear skull candy headphones. Don't know how good they'd be for things like audio calls that go on for extended periods of time, but they've been pretty good to me so far.

I've got some "fancy" $20 headphones right now. I used to use $10 headphones from Miniso, but they only last a year before one ear bud will go dead.

I've had expensive headphones, and have a nice pair of Sennheisers, but really it's cheap in ear headphones most of the time for me.

They are small, and I keep them rolled up in a little pouch with a USB drive that's pretty much always in my pocket. They never need to be charged. The audio quality is good enough that unless I start listening to FLACC files on my SD, I'm never going to notice. Their wired, so no lag or syncing issues ever. If something happens to them, I have another $10 pair tucked in a drawer, plus I can always buy more.

The Steam Deck is portable, can't beat wired earbuds for portability and reliability.

Also, the mic is fine. The mic is on a wire, close to my mouth. It's simple, but it makes the audio about as good as my Sennheisers. Or at least I've never noticed.

Sennheiser Momentum 3 bluetooth headphones. They work amazingly well.

I tried using my Bluetooth earbuds with my LCD Deck but there was a very noticeable audio delay which made them basically useless. Nobody else seems to be having this issue so maybe they fixed it with an update. I have an OLED Deck now, I should try it again.

I had the same issue with an OLED deck. Maybe an update fixed it, like you mentioned. I'll try it again too.

I use these wired headphones. They are not noise cancelling, they aren't even the new in ear style, no. They sit in your ear like old school ear buds, but built using modern technology.

They sound great, the bass is a little lacking but that can't be helped. The benefit is that I can still hear my family around me, so if someone starts talking to me I don't accidentally ignore them. They work great!

I don’t do voice chats on Deck. But when I only have a short time to play, I just use standard Apple earbuds that I’ve had for years.

When I get to game for more than an hour and feel like gaming on the couch, then I use my JBL Quantum TWS earbuds with the USB C adapter. These are primo ear buds, incredibly low latency, sound excellent, and are immersive with the noise canceling and noise isolating. Built in microphone, but I don’t use it for that purpose. I’d imagine for the price point the mic quality should be somewhere between good and great, depending on preference.

Edit: I chose the JBLs primarily because of the low latency. I can’t do Bluetooth because the input lag is so noticeable. Some Bluetooth headphones are great at reducing it, but nothing beats a USB receiver if you’re looking for low latency wireless. A note of caution that you’ll use up your USB C port so you can’t sit and charge your Deck. This setup works great for me though when I feel like having a semi long gaming session, but if I’m gonna game longer or play a more demanding game I head to my gaming PC instead.

Thank you! I was wondering how noticeable BT latency is. Unfortunately, my gaming PC is currently outdated (970) and that's a significant reason why I got a deck. I wanted to play newer games and with my friends again. Setting up audio for a full PC is something I'm more used to than the deck.
- BT latency depends so much on the exact model of headphone it's almost impossible to give an accurate answer, other than "If it supports AptX LL, it's going to be as good as gets."
  I personally can't notice it while using Airpod Pro 2's (around 125ms) with my Deck unless I'm playing an actual rhythm game. Then it completely messes me up and I switch to wired ones.
  
  my gaming PC is currently outdated (970)
  
  GTX 970 is faster than the GPU on the Deck, though...

On a plane I’ll use my Airpods Pro 2. They have worked shockingly well for the Deck being a non-Apple product.

I will say though for seemingly no reason they don’t work with God of War Ragnarok. They work fine at first but after roughly a minute, everytime I launch the game, the audio starts to get glitchy and eventually just disappears entirely until I disconnect and reconnect, when it starts that cycle over. I can’t tell in any way why it happens but it happens everytime.

I don't have a Steam Deck, but I do have earbuds I use with Linux, which is similar. I have the EarFun buds (3, I think), which allow connection to multiple devices at once, have good compatibility, noise reduction, long battery life, and are relatively reasonably priced, under £60.