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.